HP Pavilion Notebook Webcam Woes

Do you own a HP Pavilion Notebook with an Integrated Webcam? The one that’s built into the top of the lid? If you own one such notebook, has its webcam ever stopped working allovasudden? You probably did some wee bit of Windows Update or Microsoft Update only to realize later that your webcam is no longer responding…its blue light is no longer glowing and you are unable to use it from within any applications such as Quick Play or Instant Messengers.

If yes, you’re in the same boat as me. At least I was in the same boat until today. The Webcam had gone kaput and no longer was recognized from within the messengers I used. A wee bit of troubleshooting (and some insightful advise from Mr. MK of HP Support) later, I nailed down the culprit.

What happened was that during a routine update, the driver was replaced by a newer one which somehow caused the device to get slotted as an USB Serial Bus device rather than a webcam. Uninstalling the driver and re-installing the correct one resolved the problem and voila! my friends can now see me as I chat with them (not that its any added incentive!). The detailed troubleshooting procedure’s outlined after the jump…

OS	Microsoft Windows Vista SP 2
Model	HP Pavilion Notebook dv6000 Series
Problem	Integrated Webcam stopped working allovasudden
Symptoms	Yahoo/MSN Messengers said “no webcam detected”. HP Quick Play didn’t show the HP Webcam in the Video/Images section
Cause	(In all probability) A driver conflict
Solution	Uninstalling an existing driver and re-installing the correct driver

Troubleshooting:

• Open Device Manager (Control Panel > Device Manager) and expand the Universal Serial Bus Controllers tree
• If you see a Sonix ST50220 USB Camera listed within the devices, right click it and click on Un-install
• Click on yes for any prompts that appear
• You should hear a ‘device disconnected’ sound (if configured) and Vista should automatically detect your webcam and install the correct driver
• If it doesn’t, click on ‘Actions > Scan for hardware changes’ in Device Manager and the webcam driver will be installed by Vista
• Once done, you should see the ‘USB 2.0 Camera’ under ‘Imaging devices’ in the device manager tree.
• Now fire up Quick Play or Yahoo Messenger and see your webcam back in action!

Couple of pointers: If your webcam make/notebook model is different, you may see a different name under the Universal Serial Bus Controllers tree. Identify under which name your webcam has been masquerading as under there and follow the same steps to re-install the driver not as a USB Composite Device  but as a webcam instead.

If that too doesn’t solve the problem, head over to HP Forums or Contact HP Support for more detailed troubleshooting techniques and help.

Disclaimer: This post is derived from my own experience in troubleshooting and resolving the HP Webcam problem on my notebook. It should not be construed as a be-all-end-all guide for any webcam problem on any HP notebook. I am not to be held responsible for any damage that might occur to your notebook as a result of your following the steps herein.