Logitech Cam Not Working

Hi everyone,
Want to thank all of you in advance for any help you can provide.

Having a problem with my work system that's a P3 733MHz with Win98, a Logitech Quick Cam Web cam, and the Remote Witness software.

Things were working fine up until a few months ago. Now, the cam isn't working. I have tried to install the latest Logitech Software, including their software package which provides surveillance monitoring. But even that doesn't work. I thought the problem was with me having to cancel a "new hardware found" box when starting up Windows. The box finds a PCI USB card that I've had installed with no problems. But, I didn't have the CD so I'd cancel out of it.

Well, tonight, I ran the CD (it's a StarTech 4-port PCI USB card), but that still didn't help.

I'm not in front of the system right now, so some of the things below will be from memory, so please bear with me. When Starting Windows, it's now looking for a Windows Multimedia Capture card. A box come up looking for the device, and it has a drop-down window. The only option is "Logitech Quick Cam Web ", I select it, press "OK ", and the box comes up again. Eventually, it says that it can't find a windows compatible capture device. Similarly, Remote Witness is now looking for the cam. It too has a drop-down box with Logitech Quick Cam and WDM Windows Multimedia Cam (or something similar). No matter which one I select, it says the camera is unavailable.

I uninstalled Logitech's software I downloaded, thinking that might be putting the cam in a "in use" mode. Didn't help. In fact, prior to uninstalling it, I tried their surveillance, and it said the camera was in use by another device.

Here's what I found:

When going into Control Panel, and selecting "scanners and cameras ", I find "Logitech Quick Cam Web #2" and "Logitech Quick Cam Web #3 ". When going into the properties, both say "unavailable ".

When going into Control Panel and selecting "multimedia ", I go to the Video tab, and there's an area where I can make the Logitech Camera "inactive" as well as the WDM Windows media one. I've tried activating one and deactivating the other, activating both, and activating neither. Seems the only thing that happens after I reboot, is when opening up Remote Witness, selecting "new camera ", it either comes up with one cam (logitech) or the WDM one, depending on what I activated/deactivated in the "multimedia" icon in Control Panel. Either way, the camera doesn't come up.

Also tried swapping the camera to different ports on the USB card, and also the 2 resident ports on the motherboard to no avail.

Weird thing was, was that it was working fine. Then I'm sure one of my employees came into my office and ******* around with some settings or something.

There are no conflicts (!) when going into Control Panel and selecting "system" and then the "devices" tab. Although there are a lot of USB Hub's and USB Host Controllers under the USB section.

Any ideas??

Thanks so much for all your time. You guys and gals never cease to amaze me with your knowledge and solutions !!!

Paul
(cintoman)

Any ideas???

 

I think you should do a complete driver and software clean out.

Boot into Safe Mode and use Add/Remove Programs to uninstall all the software. Go to Device Manager and uninstall the drivers (especially check for that non-Logitech webcam).
While you are there check for long lists of the same device, that means Windows is having trouble with those drivers (for example, there will natually be many USB Root Hubs, there is one for each USB port, but there should be only one listing of each of the USB controllers). If there are long lists where there should only be one or two, you will need to "remove" all the listings and have the correct drivers available when you boot back into normal Windows.

When you boot back into normal Windows, do not immediately install the software and drivers again. Check the USB system is working well with other devices if you have them. I would be inclined to look for any updates for the (onboard) USB system, which will be included with the chipset drivers (if it is an Intel chipset the last release for Win 98 was in 2004).

After checking that everything seems to be working, reboot the computer before running the Logitech installation. Check through the installation instructions, it will probably say not to connect the webcam until all the software and drivers are installed.

One other thing I think may be important. Update DirectX if you seem to have any further troubles.

Matt

 

Hello again,
Well, I tried uninstalling all the USB hubs and controllers as well as all the software. It disabled my mouse, which is USB. No biggie. I rebooted into Windows normally, and then it began installing all the "new" devices. Now, under "Universal Serial Bus controller" in Device Manager, I have the following:

ALi PCI to USB Enhanced Host Controller
ALi PCI to USB Open Host Controller
ALi PCI to USB Open Host Controller
ALi PCI to USB Open Host Controller
Logitech USB Camera (Web)
USB 2.0 Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
VIA VT83C572/VT82C586 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
VIA VT83C572/VT82C586 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller

All I have for USB ports are 2 on the motherboard, and the 4-USB port PCI Card.

When I open the remote witness program, I select "New Camera ". It then prompts me to select a camera. I have 2 choices: Cam0: Logitech USB Video Camera and Cam1: Microsoft WDM Image Capture. I select the first one, and then is says the camera is not available, and would I like to search for another one. I select "Yes ", and then it brings me to a "Video Source" window with a "capture source" tab. In the tab, there's a "select a Video Device" drop down window, and in it, there's the "Logitech USB Video Camera." I select it, hit "apply" then "OK ", and it wants me to select it again, which I do. I then get a "Unable to locate a Microsoft Video For Windows capatible video capture device in your system or all devices are in use" message. Any ideas???

One other thing...when I go into Control Panel and select Scanners and Cameras, I have 1 device: Logitech QuickCam Web #2. When I check the Properties, for status, it says: unavailable. Why is that? There are no other devices using this camera, and this camera is a USB one plugged into my 4-port USB PCI card.

Any ideas?
Thanks again,
Cintoman

 

Anybody???

Thanks,
Paul