Acer Aspire E5-575G - Laptop integrated camera resolution reduced after Windows 10 update

perfy
perfy Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
My Acer Aspire E5-575G laptop's integrated webcam resolution is 720p. This was working at 720p resolution for few months of purchase. Some update in 2019/2020 had spoiled the camera resolution and now though it says 720p, the actual resolution is only 360p as tested by webcamtests dot com. The low resolution clearly shows in zoom or other video conversations. The drivers are up to date as reported by Windows and no update is available. Roll-back option is disabled as well. There are some related threads in this forum but without any working solution. Can someone help with a solution?
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Answers

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,865 Trailblazer
    edited April 2022
    Download and install iobit's Driver Booster freeware to see if it can find any better drivers on line that may correct the issue. If not, we can always try some chipset and buss updates or a factory reset while saving your personal data.

    Jack E/NJ

  • What drivers appear here?

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  • perfy
    perfy Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    @egydiocoelho , thanks for the response. Please see below the details from device manager.

  • perfy
    perfy Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    JackE said:
    Download and install iobit's Driver Booster freeware to see if it can find any better drivers on line that may correct the issue. If not, we can always try some chipset and buss updates or a factory reset while saving your personal data.

    I tried this and it says the drivers are up-to-date.

  • Try uninstalling and deleting the camera driver, through device manager and then restarting windows.

    Oi! Eu não sou sou a cortana! Mas estou aqui para ajudar! Hi! I'm not the cortana! But I'm here to help!
    Se você gostou da minha resposta, marque como solução clicando em sim! If you liked my answer, mark it as a solution by clicking on yes!
    Aceite somente a resposta que ajudou a solucionar o seu problema! Please accept only the response that helped to solve your problem!
    Detection tool click here to find the serial number or partnumber of your model!                                                          
                                                      
                                                     egydiocoelho Trailblazer
     
    ProductKey clique aqui para descobrir o serial do windows! click here to discover the windows serial!
    Para usuários da comunidade inglesa, espanhola, francesa e alemã, usarei o google tradutor! :)
    For users of the English, Spanish, French and German community, I will be using google translator! :) 
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,865 Trailblazer
    >>> Some update in 2019/2020 had spoiled the camera resolution and now though it says 720p, the actual resolution is only 360p as tested by webcamtests dot com. >>>

    Try some other webcam testers to confirm. There are many of them. Some more accurate than others.

    Jack E/NJ

  • perfy
    perfy Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    Try uninstalling and deleting the camera driver, through device manager and then restarting windows.

    Did it. But no change in resolution and quality.
  • perfy
    perfy Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    JackE said:
    >>> Some update in 2019/2020 had spoiled the camera resolution and now though it says 720p, the actual resolution is only 360p as tested by webcamtests dot com. >>>

    Try some other webcam testers to confirm. There are many of them. Some more accurate than others.

    In the first place I checked it only because the quality was too bad. The video is too grainy. I did try multiple test tools, all reported lower resolution of 360p.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,865 Trailblazer
    >>>Some update in 2019/2020 had spoiled the camera resolution and now though it says 720p, the actual resolution is only 360p as tested by webcamtests dot com.>>>

    Unfortunately, this errant update is way too old  ow to be saved as a restore point. You have two options. (1) Reset the Windows system to the original ACER OEM factory fresh version of Win10. (2) Install a generic Microsoft Win10 version from 2018.

    In either case,  you should back up your personal files. Once installed, System Protection must be enabled in the older version so that when the errant update reduces the resolution again, it can be identified, reversed and blocked from resinstalling. 

    Jack E/NJ

  • perfy
    perfy Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    JackE said:
    (1) Reset the Windows system to the original ACER OEM factory fresh version of Win10.

    How do I get the original ACER OEM factory fresh version of Win 10?
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,865 Trailblazer
    (1) Shut machine off.
    (2) Turn it back on again and immediately tap F2 key to enter BIOS menu
    (3) Make sure F12 and D2D options are enabled in BIOS MAIN tab.
    (4) Press F10 to save settings and exit BIOS menu
    (5) Shut machine off again
    (6) Turn it back and and immedialtely press and hold the ALT key while tapping the F10 key
    (7) A reset menu should appear to allow you to fully reset the machine to a factory fresh state or a refresh option to try to save your personal data

    The full reset is preferred. In either case, you should back up your personal data before doing this.

    Jack E/NJ

  • perfy
    perfy Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    JackE said:
    (1) Shut machine off.
    (2) Turn it back on again and immediately tap F2 key to enter BIOS menu
    (3) Make sure F12 and D2D options are enabled in BIOS MAIN tab.
    (4) Press F10 to save settings and exit BIOS menu
    (5) Shut machine off again
    (6) Turn it back and and immedialtely press and hold the ALT key while tapping the F10 key
    (7) A reset menu should appear to allow you to fully reset the machine to a factory fresh state or a refresh option to try to save your personal data

    The full reset is preferred. In either case, you should back up your personal data before doing this.
    Did a complete reset. But still same problem. Even re-installed Windows. But again the same issue.

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,865 Trailblazer
    If you did a full erase everything ALT+F10 cold boot reset AND immediately enabled System Protection in Control Panel's restore point app, this is the complete factory installed Windows setup version as received when you first purchased the machine. You should have immediately opened the restore point app to see if an errant update might've gotten in there during setup. If you didn't do this, you should have at least turned off wifi during or immediately after setup  so an update couldn't mess things up again.

    Sorry, looks like you're back to square one on ruling in or ruling out a camera hardware via the factory reset. I suggest re-doing ALT+F10 cold boot ACER OEM Windows reset preferrably with the wifi turned off (press FN+F3) so the errant update can't re-install. Then test the camera again. If it's still the same, then the camera is probably damaged or its LCD connector needs to be re-seated to help clean its contacts. New replacement cameras are only about $30.

    Jack E/NJ

  • perfy
    perfy Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    Looks like I had messed up a few things in following the instructions. Any other way to get the drivers back?
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,865 Trailblazer
    Yes! I suggest trying to  re-do ALT+F10 cold boot ACER OEM Windows reset preferrably with the wifi turned off (press FN+F3) so the errant update can't re-install. Then test the camera again.

    Jack E/NJ

  • butthurt_86
    butthurt_86 Member Posts: 74 Devotee WiFi Icon
    perfy im using E5 575G.. Acer doesnt provide camera driver for our model.  only microsoft windows provide. how does update mess your camera? im using windows 10 21h2 os build 19044.16045. my camera was fine


  • perfy
    perfy Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    @butthurt_86 The camera settings are fine and can be seen as below.


    However the image quality is as below.


    Webcam tests report I am using the camera at 640x480 resolution, though Camera App reports the resolution as 1280x720.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,865 Trailblazer
    Did you repeat the ALT+F10 cold boot ACER OEM Windows reset yet? Preferrably with the wifi turned off (press FN+F3) so the errant update can't re-install? Just skip or ignore installation steps that require on line connectivity. Then test the camera again.

    Jack E/NJ

  • perfy
    perfy Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    JackE said:
    Did you repeat the ALT+F10 cold boot ACER OEM Windows reset yet? Preferrably with the wifi turned off (press FN+F3) so the errant update can't re-install? Just skip or ignore installation steps that require on line connectivity. Then test the camera again.
    @JackE , as I mentioned before, I messed up a few things and lost the primary and recovery partitions of my SSD. I did a clean Windows install after that. I presume the ACER OEM resides in the recovery partition. :(
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,865 Trailblazer
    In the US and Canada, you can usually get the factory recovery USB stick for about $40 from the on line store. In other regions, an ACER service center might be able to provide it. The other option that might work is to install a Win10 version from about the time that you acquired your machine I usually use v1511 as a starting point for the E5 series.

    Jack E/NJ