How to identify your webcam (and then find its driver)

Hello,LookinAround and all the other members of the Techspot forums.
I hope it's not too soon to be asking for help(again).Assuming it is not I have another problem ,this time with an Acer 5920g laptop that runs win 7 ultimate 64 bit.The problem is specifically with its built-in webcam.Having learned from our previous session I searched the forum and followed instructions and finally downloaded a zip file from driverguide.com that is labeled 82801.zip.So far everything was o.k,but unzipping and opening the folder I found inside many entries and no info as to which one to choose.Any help would ,as always, be really appreciated.Thanks in advance.
 
Capture.JPG
I'm sorry.It seems my post wasn't clear.It's not that I need help on how to install an .inf file but on how to choose from the files that are in the 82801 folder.As you can see there are many and all are pre windows 7.
 
Ahhhhh...

Suggestion for best practice: When looking for drivers, always start by going to the support site provided by the vendor of your computer or motherboard.

If you download the driver from the Acer site for your model, you'll see the driver provides a Setup.exe file to run
Acer.jpg
 
Boy! Am I glad to "hear" from you!First ,the driver you mention does not install and says "device not found".I found a workaround that by downloading and installing another version ( v.5.2.5.3) which installs fine but trying to run it I get the same result.When I look at dev. manager I can see no conflicts and in details I see 2 sys drivers installed:1-usbvideo.sys 2 ksthunk.sys.I was wondering and if you can answer please,at what level windows check the hardware to get the id's.Does it check the actual cam or does it get the info it needs from previous drivers?If I uninstall the driver than do a "check for hardware changes"the web cam is detected and the driver reinstalled which leads me to believe that the hardware is o.k.but if win gets the info not from the cam but from somewhere else or is not capable f "seeing "if there is a malfunction than I am not sure what I can do.In short is there a way to tell if the problem is with a driver or with the cam itself?I should also say that this laptop had a flickering screen eversince my nethew upgraded from Vista to 7 so I updated the nvbios with this http://panam.acer.com/acerpanam/notebook/0000/Acer/Aspire5920G/Aspire5920G_VBIOS.zip and the flickering is gone .Did it cause the cam to not function properly?And that's why I started my reply like that.
Best regards ,
 
Good questions!

Windows doesn't need the device driver to detect and recognize Plug and Play devices (like your cam). It only needs the device driver installed before it can actually use the device functionality.
  • Device "recognition" happens first. Device recognition means Windows can receive those cryptic looking Plug and Play IDs from the device - which were burned into its firmware by the vendor.
  • Only AFTER "recognition" succeeds, Windows searches for a suitable driver (using the IDs it received)
Previous drivers have no affect on the IDs the cam sends to Windows during the "recognition" phase.

If you try manually installing a driver, and install fails with a message like "Hardware not found" it means the driver you're trying to install is looking for IDs that don't match your cam IDs. So, it says the right hardware (I.e. the IDs it supports) isn't found

I gotta run for now but more to come some time tomorrow :)
.
 
Hi,
My lap's series no is E - VPCEH26EN. In my lap, webcam is there. Now 'm using windows 7. I couldn't able to see the webcam driver anywhere in device manager. could you help me to access webcam in system
 
Hi,
My lap's series no is E - VPCEH26EN. In my lap, webcam is there. Now 'm using windows 7. I couldn't able to see the webcam driver anywhere in device manager. could you help me to access webcam in system
This is the link to the official Sony support site.You can download drivers there.I was n't able to fully understand your problem nor am I sure I can help you as I'm also seeking help here.If you could describe it better(your problem),I'm sure if not me ,somebody else,could guide you better through the process.

http://www.sony-asia.com/support/product/vpceh26en.
Best regards,
P.s Just a thought,did you look at dev manager Capture.JPG
and click to expand it Capture1.JPG

or in your case it might say something like "image capturing device" or something.
 

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@Iraklis1957 Part II
this laptop had a flickering screen eversince my nethew upgraded from Vista to 7 so I updated the nvbios and the flickering is gone .Did it cause the cam to not function properly?
Good thinking :) (y) Fixed the flickering but I don't think affected the cam (is my guess)

As to the cam:
> Win 7 comes with a generic video driver. )That's the usbvideo.sys file you're seeing) Right now, Windows loaded the generic driver for cam as it doesn't find any other better choice
> Some vendors design their cams to work with the generic driver (then the vendor need not develop and provide their own driver). While other cams need a hardware specific driver from the vendor (the generic may or may not work for the cam in this case)
> How to tell which is which?? My rule of thumb: If I don't see a video driver on the vendor support site, it must use the generic driver. But, as in your case, when a video driver is explicitly listed, then there should be a hardware specific driver for the cam

Find your cam in Device Manager, right click->Properties->Details tab. Use the pull down to select Hardware IDs. (These are the some of the cam's plug and play IDs). Copy/paste them into your next post.

Maybe I can figure out why the driver on the support site doesn't think it's a match.
 
Hi ,
Thanks again. I knew it was an interesting problem,since the camera's mic is functioning fine in Skype ,I can see the green bars moving,but no image is seen.Here are the hardware Id's and hopefully we will solve it(if you don't mind the "we" entry): usb\vid_0c45&pid_62c0&rev_0100&mi_00


usb\vid_0c45&pid_62c0&mi_00
 
Hi ,
Thanks again. I knew it was an interesting problem,since the camera's mic is functioning fine in Skype ,I can see the green bars moving,but no image is seen.Here are the hardware Id's and hopefully we will solve it(if you don't mind the "we" entry): usb\vid_0c45&pid_62c0&rev_0100&mi_00
usb\vid_0c45&pid_62c0&mi_00
LOL. Don't mind it at all :)
Try THIS driver instead. Unzip, right click and "run as admin" the file that starts AcerCrystalEye
 
Well!!!I never thought I'd say this but I'm more confused now than I was when we started.I downloaded,unzipped and ran as admin the file.It installed fine with no conflicts.I tried then to open the acer crystal..... only to find that the folder contained only an uninstall option.Start/all programs/acer crystal...../uninstall.(in win7 the snipping tool can't grab a screen shot of the Windows start menu and the following actions).At least that is my guess.I then searched for any file that was altered at 4/22/2014 and ended up in c:\\program files(x86)\sonix.It seemed that everything was fine and I would be able to create a shortcut and run the program but opening the folder I found only driver related utilities and not an application, like I have in my desktop pc that gives me options on how to configure the webcam.
Καταγραφή.JPG
Sorry for my "Greek" but the vital info is still in English so I hope it is o.k.To further confuse me,I guess,I was able to find a folder labeled "SUYIN NB Cam" in computer/local disc/windows that contained the following:Acer OrbiCam.exe,LiveCam.exe and SuyinNBCamdriver.icon .When I tried to run(as admin) ,LiveCam.exe a small window opened and it was like this(I suppose that where the window is blank there ought to be the webcam's image):Καταγραφή.JPG
As you may guess I'm completely lost and my only hope is that I was precise in describing my problem and have provided enough clues for you to continue your much appreciated efforts in assisting me.
Best regards,
Iraklis1957.
 

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A quick question and a mistake.It seems that UAC was somehow disabled.Run as admin..... was not (propably)functioning.I see in details of the driver I installed for the webcam that there are 2 .exe files.Is that normal?

Καταγραφή.JPG

Thanks in advance.
 
So, from your snap shot, it looks like the driver installed now?

From your snapshots, it looks like it just installed the hardware driver itself but no specific application. Does it seem to work (such as if you try Skype?)

As to your question. On the one hand I don't recall seeing .exe (or .ini) files listed among the driver files before.... but all the files listed in your snapshot look legit. They appear to be executables that get started to support the driver itself. They're not an app the user would run and start on their own via Start->Programs
 
I don't know if I'll ever be able to thank you enough for your efforts,especially,with the complexity of my problem.The driver seems to be installed but unfortunately,the cam doesn't work.The strange thing is that the mic works in Skype,but not the cam.When I run the LiveCam.exe (post 438) and after changing some of the capturing formats,the blank space is now black ,much like the cam window in Skype,but I don't know if that's a good thing or not.This cam worked fine three weeks ago.In fact it had an orange led next to it that lit up to warn that the cam is on.Needless to say we see no led anymore.
I hope I'm not much of a bother and I wish you all the best.
 
I can't find any reliable download links for my webcam drivers, the ID is
USB\VID_0C45&PID_6242
Well Marcus as you can read in previous posts I 'm not sure I can help you as I don't have the necessary skills and maybe "no advice is better than wrong advice".You are not making it any easier by not specifying your OS(Windows,linux....)Capture.JPG
If your cam is listed look first at your pc provider's page for drivers and than we'll see.
kind regards,
 
Well Marcus as you can read in previous posts I 'm not sure I can help you as I don't have the necessary skills and maybe "no advice is better than wrong advice".You are not making it any easier by not specifying your OS(Windows,linux....)View attachment 78372
If your cam is listed look first at your pc provider's page for drivers and than we'll see.
kind regards,

Windows 7

and on that picture I think its the one at the bottom.
 
As I can see it says"
Plug and play
Plug and play, no drivers required".As soon as you plug it in Windows should recognise it and propably install a generic driver.Does it show in device manager?start/control panel/hardware and sound(or something I run Vista)/device manager

It shows up in the device manager, when I plug it in windows tries to find a driver but it cant find one.
 
If it shows in device manager than it should say something like "This device is working properly or something else if there is a problem.If it shows in device man ...than Windows have installed your webcam and you need to test and see if your cam is working .did you try Skype ?
 
If it shows in device manager than it should say something like "This device is working properly or something else if there is a problem.If it shows in device man ...than Windows have installed your webcam and you need to test and see if your cam is working .did you try Skype ?
2zRLVE5.png
 
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