Webcam not being detected

edit: Decided the easiest way to take care of the problem was to get rid of the camera. Webcams are stupid anyway!

This just came out of the blue. I unplugged my Logitech ClickSmart 310 webcam which also doubles as a digital camera to take pix at the park today. I came back and plugged it in and Windows treated it as an unknown USB device and installed some drivers for it, but the camera's detection program Lvcoms.exe never detected it and didn't download the pix from the camera automatically like it's supposed to.

I repaired the Logitech Image Studio's installation and tried having it autodetect the camera, but the program tells me that the camera is unplugged. I then completely uninstalled it and downloaded the latest version (from last December) off Logitech's website and went through the process again, no change.

I checked in my hardware properties and it shows an unknown USB device with a red X over it in the USB section. I clicked to enable it and rebooted the machine. When Windows restarted Lvcoms still didn't detect the camera. I went back to Hardware Properties and this time there was a yellow exclamation mark over the USB device.

I clicked to update the driver and it found USB.INF on the hard drive and installed it. But then when I rebooted and went back in, the device is disabled with a red X over it.

I also tried unplugging and replugging the USB cord at both the camera and computer end. When I did it at the camera end nothing happened. When I did it at the computer end, it would reinstall drivers for that unknown USB device again, but wouldn't detect the camera.

I'm at the end of my rope here as to what to do. The camera has always worked perfectly before and I don't know what I could've done to merit this treatment by it.

 

Did you see this page? It is the support page for your camera.

 

Yep I tried the stuff their site recommended. I downloaded the Win98 SE USB patch and the Via USB patch. Nothing made any difference. I uninstalled/reinstalled, repaired installation, etc etc. It just won't work anymore. I wanted to buy a real digicam but if all USB devices are this flaky, I won't bother!

 

On a lot of those webcams, you can't (shouldn't) install software or drivers when the camera is plugged in. Don't ask me why, but thats the way it is. Sure, we all know that USB devices are made to plug in and unplug without shutting down one's computer, but this is what I think happened to you. Its not uncommon.

So, what to do now? Unplug that puppy and then uninstall anything and everything you can with regard to your camera software. Reboot. Then run RegCleaner and select all registry entires associated with your camera and the corresponding software that you just unistalled (if found by Regcleaner). Reboot and reinstall your webcam software. Now, reboot again and then plug your camera back in once you are up and running.

 

I did reinstall it with the camera unplugged and didn't plug the camera back in until it got to the part where it wanted to autodetect the camera. Where can I get this RegCleaner and how much does it cost?

 

http://www.vtoy.fi/jv16/shtml/regcleaner.shtml

Its free

Note: In reading your system description below your post, I noticed you over-looked the type of thermal paste you are using. Aaargh!

 

I never said what type of thermal paste I use. But if you must know, I use Arctic Silver which is highly recommended by the online community.

 

Well that RegCleaner thingy did the trick. I took the webcam out of the hardware listing and used RegCleaner to remove all Registry entries of it, rebooted and reinstalled. Finally after 2 days the **** thing works again! This time I'm never unplugging it again, EVER!!!!!!! I'm gonna get a real digital camera and take pix with that and use this thing ONLY as a webcam. Thx for the advice about the RegCleaner Rockster!

 

Hehehe - gald you got that Artic Silver in there.

What? ......... No Floppy Drive? ............ Hehehe

Glad it worked - good tool, huh?

 

Yeah RegCleaner rules! My floppy drive's a Sony. If you like I can also give you detailed specs about my fans, the rubber sticky feet on my modem and cmputer and my speakers too.