Webcam not connecting? Why? HELP

[The Mailman]

Okay so the rundown is this: my built in webcam on my laptop stopped working and I was getting this "webcam not connected / maybe used by another app" message

I uninstalled and reinstalled all drivers and software several times, no dice

I then got out my logitech webcam and plugged it into the USB. Windows installed the drivers and I checked to see if that worked.....annnnd same message.

Windows has installed the correct drivers for all hardware and even recognizes the devices by name, yet, neither webcam works.

What could be causing this? What else can I do to try to fix this? Is it a registry issue??

 

[gsaldivar]

Just to clarify: Did you rely on Windows to choose and install the correct driver? If so, I would recommend going to the laptop manufacturer's website to download the driver. Remove the driver manually using Device Manager, then install the driver you downloaded. Also make sure you quit all apps (including instant messenger apps, and stuff that is in your system tray), some of them might be competing for "control" of the camera, causing the error you described.

 

[The Mailman]

for the built in webcam, sony provides no individual driver, just a software package for it

that said, when i first installed windows and WIN picked the driver for me, it worked no problem

for the logitech i plugged in to test, I did both let windows as well as download the logitech driver. no dice. same error all around.