The Official Computer Tech Support Thread

[Burning Down]

Hey computer geeks of Music Banter. I need some free (and possibly very basic) tech support. My webcam has not been working for a week now. I have a Gateway, model # NV51B02h that was made in May 2011, and I bought it in October 2011. So it's not that old, really. It's running Windows 7 Home Premium x64 bit.

Every time I open the webcam program or any program that uses it (like Skype, f.ex.) I get a message saying the webcam's stopped working and then it says:

"A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available."

All drivers and software on this computer are up to date, including the webcam driver and software. I'm pretty good with computers, but I need some help on this one, before I take it to the store to get checked out.

[Freebase Dali]

Originally Posted by Burning Down

Hey computer geeks of Music Banter. I need some free (and possibly very basic) tech support. My webcam has not been working for a week now. I have a Gateway, model # NV51B02h that was made in May 2011, and I bought it in October 2011. So it's not that old, really. It's running Windows 7 Home Premium x64 bit.

Every time I open the webcam program or any program that uses it (like Skype, f.ex.) I get a message saying the webcam's stopped working and then it says:

"A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available."

All drivers and software on this computer are up to date, including the webcam driver and software. I'm pretty good with computers, but I need some help on this one, before I take it to the store to get checked out.

I'm assuming you tried uninstalling the webcam software and reinstalling it?

[Burning Down]

Originally Posted by Freebase Dali

I'm assuming you tried uninstalling the webcam software and reinstalling it?

Yeah. Nothing happened.

[debaserr]

Try the webcam with a different computer so you can determine which piece of plastic is ****in up.

[Burning Down]

Originally Posted by eric generic

Try the webcam with a different computer so you can determine which piece of plastic is ****in up.

Wish I could. The computer is a laptop, so it's built right in. All I think I can do is reinstall the software that I got for it, which I did already. Nothing changed

Maybe there is a loose wire somewhere? The microphone works just fine, no problems there. It's just the camera...

[Freebase Dali]

Originally Posted by Burning Down

Wish I could. The computer is a laptop, so it's built right in. All I think I can do is reinstall the software that I got for it, which I did already. Nothing changed

Maybe there is a loose wire somewhere? The microphone works just fine, no problems there. It's just the camera...

I could be wrong, but don't think it's a physical problem. This seems more like a conflict with drivers and/or services.
Try this:

- Uninstall the software.
- Get a webcam software that works with most webcams... you might try the free one here.

If that program lets you access your webcam and it seems to be operating correctly, then the specific software for your webcam is what's causing the problem, and we can go from there.

If that program (or another one like it) doesn't yield success, you might look into bringing the laptop in to a repair shop.

[Burning Down]

Originally Posted by Freebase Dali

I could be wrong, but don't think it's a physical problem. This seems more like a conflict with drivers and/or services.
Try this:

- Uninstall the software.
- Get a webcam software that works with most webcams... you might try the free one here.

If that program lets you access your webcam and it seems to be operating correctly, then the specific software for your webcam is what's causing the problem, and we can go from there.

If that program (or another one like it) doesn't yield success, you might look into bringing the laptop in to a repair shop.

Cool, thanks. I'll download that when I get home tonight as the Internet connection at school is painstakingly slow.

[s_k]

Before you do anything, and I know this seems like a stupid idea but... well, experience.
Try just plugging it into another USB port and see what happens.
There might be nothing wrong with your usb port, but sometimes drivers suddenly work again when you plug something into another port. You might want to change it back again afterwards, might still work. I've had this problem throughout the years with many different PC's and loads of different hardware like scanners, webcams, keyboards. I've given up trying to find out what causes it .

[Burning Down]

Originally Posted by s_k

Before you do anything, and I know this seems like a stupid idea but... well, experience.
Try just plugging it into another USB port and see what happens.
There might be nothing wrong with your usb port, but sometimes drivers suddenly work again when you plug something into another port. You might want to change it back again afterwards, might still work. I've had this problem throughout the years with many different PC's and loads of different hardware like scanners, webcams, keyboards. I've given up trying to find out what causes it .

The webcam is built in to the laptop, though. I would try it on another computer if I could, but I can't take it out. I'm going to try that software that Freebase linked to and see if that does anything.

[Freebase Dali]

Originally Posted by s_k

Before you do anything, and I know this seems like a stupid idea but... well, experience.
Try just plugging it into another USB port and see what happens.
There might be nothing wrong with your usb port, but sometimes drivers suddenly work again when you plug something into another port. You might want to change it back again afterwards, might still work. I've had this problem throughout the years with many different PC's and loads of different hardware like scanners, webcams, keyboards. I've given up trying to find out what causes it .

Yea man, it's totally built in to her laptop.
(I knew that from reading her previous comments.)