PC Pals Forum

Technical Help & Discussion => Windows PCs & Software: Help, News & Discussion => Topic started by: Clive on August 22, 2011, 14:15

Title: Webcam unpluigged
Post by: Clive on August 22, 2011, 14:15

My sister-in-law has an Acer netbook which worked fine when I handed it over to her ...no really!  :D  Now it has lost the built-in webcam claiming that it is unplugged.  I can't even find the thing in Devices.  What can have gone wrong with it?   :dunno:

Title: Re: Webcam unpluigged
Post by: Simon on August 22, 2011, 16:00

Could she have dropped it, and it really has become unplugged?  :dunno:

Title: Re: Webcam unpluigged
Post by: pctech on August 22, 2011, 17:01

Sounds like damage caused by a drop to me.

Title: Re: Webcam unpluigged
Post by: Clive on August 22, 2011, 21:31

That's worrying.  Everything else appears to be working OK with it. 

Title: Re: Webcam unpluigged
Post by: Simon on August 22, 2011, 22:14

Is the webcam itself removable from the laptop, or solidly built in?

Title: Re: Webcam unpluigged
Post by: Rodders on August 22, 2011, 23:03

What model of Acer lappy is it, and what OS is it running?

Once we can identify the hardware, we'll then be able to identify the driver software required, and start making some really wacky suggestions.

Hope this works helps.

Title: Re: Webcam unpluigged
Post by: Clive on August 22, 2011, 23:23

It's an Acer eMachines E350 10.1 inch Netbook (Intel Atom N450 1.66GHz, 2GB, 160GB, WLAN, Webcam, Win 7 Starter) - Black.  I think it's more likely to be a driver issue rather than a drop.  Possibly caused by a flurry of Windows updates? 

Title: Re: Webcam unpluigged
Post by: Simon on August 22, 2011, 23:30

Over to you, Rod.  :)

Title: Re: Webcam unpluigged
Post by: Rodders on August 22, 2011, 23:45

1 GB RAM, eh?  Oh deary me.  OK, assuming your sis has already backed-up any stuff she wants to keep, does the Acer have a Recovery partition that might enable you to restore the machine to 'factory' settings?

I found the eMachines website (http://www.emachines.co.uk/ec/en/GB/content/drivers) to be a bit light on support and useful info, but you might have better luck.

Title: Re: Webcam unpluigged
Post by: Simon on August 23, 2011, 00:00

Is this any help?

http://drp.su/drivers/notebooks/?v=eMachines&m=eM350&id=1556&l=en

Title: Re: Webcam unpluigged
Post by: Rodders on August 23, 2011, 00:12

Only if we can discover whether the webcam is a Suyin or a Liteon.  Got a pin?   :dunno:

Title: Re: Webcam unpluigged
Post by: Clive on August 23, 2011, 06:56

Yes, I believe it does have a recovery to factory settings, so that's a very good idea since all she has on it is Skype and Open Office.  It actually has 2Gb of RAM because I fitted a replacement chip.  I'll collect it from her later this week.

Title: Re: Webcam unpluigged
Post by: Rik on August 23, 2011, 10:25

The driver is certainly where I'd start looking, Clive.

Title: Re: Webcam unpluigged
Post by: Clive on August 23, 2011, 11:54

 8-)