Webcam issue for Aspire 5736Z

I'm having trouble with the webcam on my mother's Aspire 5736Z. For some reason, Skype no longer sees the webcam so it won't send video of her to me when I Skype. I'm not sure where the webcam should show up in Device Manager or Control Panel and that makes it hard to debug/troubleshoot. There is an Unknown Device under USB Controllers in Device Manager but that wouldn't be a webcam would it?

I posted about this a week or so ago and was told to use the Hardware Assistant since her laptop has three possible webcam vendors. I ran that tool today and determined that she has the LiteOn webcam. I downloaded the drivers and tried to install them but the installer complained that my mother's drivers were NEWER than the ones in the installer. That is plausible since the drivers are dated 2010 but the laptop was purchased in March 2011. However, it leaves me wondering what I need to do to get the webcam working again.

I'm confident that no one has attempted to take her laptop apart. She is 87 and this is her first computer: she wouldn't have any idea how to take a laptop apart and wouldn't attempt it since she knows her limitations.

How do I get this webcam working again? The laptop is out of warranty by now but I'll tackle whatever I can do first, then think about a repair shop if I can't fix it with your guidance. I have no experience with dissassembling laptops and would not attempt it unless I could find a very clear video for a very similar laptop that explained everything and even then I would only do that if I didn't need to buy any expensive tools for the task.

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n2gc

I don't know if this will help, but go into control panel > Devices and Printers > and see if the

camera app is there. You can also type in web camera in the search bar and see what pops up.

You say you have an unidentified USB device ? Go to it, right click for Properties and uninstall,

then reboot. I would load the Liteon driver onto your desktop and as soon as it

boots and stabilizes, load the driver and see if the camera will show up in PROGRAMS.

Never know.. You might try Cyberlink's Youcam free software and see if it recognizes your camera.

http://en.kioskea.net/download/download-16958-cyberlink-youcam

Sharanji

hi...

The harddrive on the computer has a recovery partition that can be used to execute recovery , install driver and application or to create recovery disks.

First, you may uninstall the Unknown Device under USB Controllers in Device Manager and click on Action > scan for hardware changes >restart the computer , this would install the correct driver from eRecovery manangement, then check if the webcam is displayed under imaging device in device manager.

You can also install the webcam drivers and application by Click Start, and then All programs > Click Acer and then Acer eRecovery Management > click Restore > Click Reinstall driver or application. Select Content and choose the driver or application you want to reinstall. On the right, click the installation link and follow the onscreen instructions

If the above steps fails, you may try restoring the computer to previous date.

Open System Restore by clicking the Start button In the search box, type System Restore, and then, in the list of results, click System Restore.

Follow the steps in the wizard to choose a restore point and restore your computer.It won't affect your documents, pictures, or other data.

If the issue is still nor resolved, you need to restore your computer to factory settings using Recovery Management outside of Windows Restore Windows 7 to Factory Settings

RhinoCan

I tried what you suggested. I didn't see any camera app in Devices and Printers but there was an Unknown Device there; I assume that was the webcam. I went to Device Manager and saw (the same?) Unknown Device in the USB section; I uninstalled it. When I rebooted the laptop, I saw a popup indicating that it was storing device drivers. But when I went into Devices and Printers again, there was an Unknown Device again, NOT a webcam. I tried to install the Liteon Drivers that I found at the Acer site but, again, it insists that it can't proceed because the drivers in that bundle are older than the ones currently installed.

I had previously installed ManyCam, which I think is similar to the Cyberlink software you suggested, and that software starts but doesn't show anything from the webcam. I really don't understand what is going on. Why is the device unknown if the drivers are there? If the drivers are there, why aren't I seeing the device under Cameras and Devices except as an unknown device? Why don't programs show me the webcam feed?

It's as if the camera and drivers are both there but the camera has been physically disconnected from the computer. But how could that happen? No one has dissassembled the computer. I wouldn't begin to know how to do that and my mother has no idea either.

RhinoCan

First, you may uninstall the Unknown Device under USB Controllers in Device Manager and click on Action > scan for hardware changes >restart the computer , this would install the correct driver from eRecovery manangement, then check if the webcam is displayed under imaging device in device manager.

I tried this but it failed. I uninstalled the Unknown Device in Device Manager without difficulty and rebooted but saw no sign that it was trying to replace the driver; I just have an Unknown Device under Devices and Printers after completing the reboot; it is also back under USB controllers in Device Manager.

You can also install the webcam drivers and application by Click Start, and then All programs > Click Acer and then Acer eRecovery Management > click Restore > Click Reinstall driver or application. Select Content and choose the driver or application you want to reinstall. On the right, click the installation link and follow the onscreen instructions

I tried this and wasn't sure whether to choose "Modify" or "Repair" so I chose Repair; the InstallShield Wizard popped up a message that said "The video web camera isn't found! Please plug in the camera and try the installation again." I tried it again, choosing Modify instead of Repair but got the same message. So I tried it a third time using the Remove option and got the same message! (Apparently, it isn't possible to remove drivers if the device itself is misbehaving, which seems very odd to me. But maybe this symptom will help you figure out what's wrong.)

If the above steps fails, you may try restoring the computer to previous date.

Open System Restore by clicking the Start button In the search box, type System Restore, and then, in the list of results, click System Restore.

Follow the steps in the wizard to choose a restore point and restore your computer.It won't affect your documents, pictures, or other data.

I opened System Restore and listed all of the restore points. Unfortunately, they are all within the last two weeks and I know the problem began before that. I don't see much point in doing a restore to a point AFTER the problem began but will do it anyway if you really believe it might help.

I'm holding off on resetting it to factory specs until I hear more from you or someone with equivalent knowledge.

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