There are almost no laptops on the market today that lack a peephole. It is understandable - such models are certainly in low demand, and all due to the fact that our compatriots very often began to use the Internet to communicate with relatives and friends. Why not, if the connection is completely free? The cameras in most laptops are relatively weak, but this is enough for communication. But whatever the camera is, it can stop working unexpectedly for the owner of the laptop. What is causing the problem?
In fact, faults fall into two categories: hardware and software. It is easy to guess that in the first case, the problems are directly related to the inside of the laptop, and in the second - with the software that can malfunction.
- The first thing you should do is reboot your device. You find it funny? And this, by the way, can save you time, and in especially neglected cases - also money. When rebooted, the camera service may start.
- Still not working? Then you need to check if the camera itself is turned on. But it's not entirely easy to do this, because in different laptops it is turned on by pressing different buttons. Try holding down the Fn key and alternately pressing the buttons, starting with F1 and ending with F12. In addition, on some older models, the camera is turned on with a separate button hidden somewhere on the back of the gadget.
- The next step is to check the drivers. First, you need to find out if they are installed at all on the computer. To do this, go to Device Manager, find your camera and see if the drivers are installed. If installed, they will most likely need to be updated. The latest software version can be found on the manufacturer's website. Of course, you can download drivers from third-party sites, but we do not recommend doing this - you can download a virus. Before you start installing new drivers, be sure to remove the old ones through the same "Device Manager", otherwise the new ones may not be installed correctly. After completing the procedure, be sure to restart your laptop. After turning on the device, you can see whether the camera appears in the list of available programs or not - to do this, go to the Start menu or simply find the utility on the desktop that is responsible for the operation of the camera. If nothing was found by you, then just open Skype and check the functionality of the gadget.
- If you cannot find the camera in Device Manager at all, it seems to be a software glitch. Click on the "Update hardware configuration" button and wait until the system displays the detected devices. Your camera should be among them. Install it and update the drivers - it should work.
- By the way, a very important detail. If the camera does not work directly in programs such as Skype, etc., then the case may be directly in the program, which for one reason or another does not want to display the image on the screen. Try to go to the settings section and see the image output parameters.
- If none of the above helped you, then with a high degree of probability it can be argued that the problem is hardware. Most often, either the camera itself or the ribbon cable that connects it to the motherboard fails. In such cases, it can be dangerous to disassemble it yourself - it is highly likely that you simply will not be able to assemble it in its original state. But if the device is under warranty, then you are in luck - the camera should be changed or repaired for free.
Conventional landline phones are now replaced by the Internet and mobile phones. As for the Internet, a lot of people these days are actively using video calls. Indeed, what could be more interesting than calling, say, your relatives from another country and using a webcam and Skype to chat about this and that? All this idyll can be disturbed only by the fact that the webcam is out of order. Let's talk in this article about why the webcam does not work and how to fix it yourself.
Problems of the software part
- If the webcam is new, you plug it into the corresponding slot on the computer, but nothing happens, that is, it makes sense to think about the drivers. Not all, but some of the webcams will not work until you install the appropriate programs on your computer. They are usually found on the disc that comes with your webcam. If there is no such disk, the webcam may be Plug and Play, which does not require drivers. Or, you will have to search for and download drivers from the Internet yourself. Install drivers and restart your computer.
- The second common cause of webcam malfunctions can be a faulty USB port on your computer. Check this by connecting the webcam to a different port. If there is only one on your computer, then take the webcam to a friend and connect it on another computer (the main thing is not on your own).
- By the way, try to connect your webcam to another computer anyway. If it works on another PC, then you will be one hundred percent sure that it is not broken, but the whole thing is in the computer. For example, in its software part.
- It will not be superfluous to check your computer for the presence / absence of viruses. Run deep scan and wait until the program completely scans all your folders and files. After finishing, remove viruses, if found, and restart your computer.
- It so happens that the webcam does not work due to the fact that it is allegedly busy with some other application. Moreover, it is not clear which one exactly. To fix this problem, try uninstalling all programs from Windows Startup. If it does not help, probably nothing remains, just reinstall the operating system.
Mechanical damage inside the webcam
Alternatively, if you have already tried everything, plus the webcam does not work on other computers, you can disassemble it. This is not a mouse for you, and inside there everything is not so simple. But, if inside you find some kind of fallen off wiring, then it becomes clear - the point is in it. Gently solder it back (the main thing is to understand where exactly it fell off) and assemble the webcam in its original form.
Now you know why the webcam doesn't work. Start fixing. We really hope that our advice will help you, and you can continue to enjoy communicating with family and friends through video calls.
Let's take a look at the most common reasons why a webcam does not work on your Windows 10 operating system. The new version of the OS has a system-wide option that completely disables your webcam.
The Settings app has several toggles that turn off the webcam in all apps, specific apps and device-wide. If the switches are in the inactive position, even desktop applications will not be able to use it.
In general, permission settings affect not only new Windows 10 apps from the Official Store (UWP), but some desktop ones as well. If your camera is not working, first go to System Settings.
You can do this from the Start button menu or by pressing a specific keyboard shortcut. These are the Win + I keys, press them.
WHY THE WEB CAMERA DOESN'T WORK
In the upper left part of the window, make sure that the option "Allow access to the camera on this device" is activated. If not, click the Change button and set the value to on.
In the next step, make sure that the option "Allow applications to access the camera" is enabled. Without this, no applications on the system, including desktop ones, will be able to see or use your webcam. This option has changed since the April 2018 OS update. Previously, it only affected UWP apps and did not affect traditional desktop programs.
In the "Select the apps that can access the camera" section, make sure all the apps you need can access and are not disabled. Otherwise, set it to "Enabled".
If all of the above parameters are set correctly, the operating system should not interfere with anything. These are all traditional steps to find and eliminate the reasons why your webcam is not working.
WHY THE WEB-CAMERA DOESN'T WORK ON A COMPUTER
In addition to simple disconnection, you or anyone else with access can disable / enable webcam in or UEFI on some PCs or laptops. This option is most commonly seen on enterprise laptops because it provides the ability to safely disable access to them.
Disabling is also available in the OS Device Manager. If you took this step earlier, you will need to go back and turn the device back on.
The Windows 10 operating system tries to update device drivers whenever you plug them in automatically. But this does not always work as expected. In some cases, you may need to download the device driver installation package from the manufacturer's official website and install it yourself.
If no applications can see the webcam, it is worth checking the correctness of its connection again. This applies to the cable. This also happens. For USB, make sure the cable is plugged into the USB port of your PC. Unplug it and plug it back in to make sure it is securely attached.
Some webcams have indicators. Notice if the indicator is active after connecting. It's also worth trying another USB port if available.
OTHER REASONS
If all else fails, all settings are activated, installed, the connection is correct, then there are still two options for solving the problem.
First, you may need to dig into the settings of the specific application you are trying to use. This is especially true if several video capture devices are connected to the computer. The wrong one may be automatically selected.
For example, in Skype, go to the Settings menu, then Sound & Video and select your preferred camera from the drop-down list.
Attention! On Windows 10, the downloadable desktop version of Skype and the preinstalled version are almost the same, but the downloadable version can see more types of webcams. This is because it is a classic desktop application, and the pre-installed one is UWP.
And the last second option - if it was not possible to find out why the webcam does not work using the above methods, it may simply be out of order. Try connecting it to other computers and see the result. Thank you for your attention!
Modern laptops are equipped with built-in webcams that allow video conferencing and video communication through social services, services and programs. Visual contact with the interlocutor is much more pleasant than correspondence or voice communication. But what if the laptop webcam stops working? How do I get my webcam working again? What are the reasons for these problems?
Laptop webcam software crashes
Software problems are the most common causes of laptop webcam not working. These failures and breakdowns are easily eliminated by the user with the right approach to solving the problem.
The webcam driver is not installed on the laptop
Most common problem. Especially important after reinstalling the Windows operating system. In this case, “unknown device” will be displayed instead of the camera name in the task manager in the list of imaging tools. In addition, the camera will not appear as a separate device in the My Computer folder. To restore the laptop webcam to work, you just need to install the camera driver. To do this, you need to download the appropriate driver from the laptop manufacturer's website. Study carefully the exact model name, as there may be different suppliers of components for the same series and different models - an inappropriate driver will not solve the problem of a laptop camera not working.
Laptop camera driver installed but not working
In this case, you can uninstall the driver and reinstall it again (remember to restart your laptop after uninstalling and reinstalling). If the laptop camera still doesn't work, try installing a more recent driver.
I want to draw your attention to the fact that drivers for a webcam, network card, video adapter and any other laptop components should be downloaded only from official sources from the hardware manufacturer or from reliable sites, since many Internet sites offer viruses and spyware under the guise of drivers.
Operating system malfunctions
Some older operating systems, such as Windows XP, show the camera in the My Computer window. Windows 7, 8, 10 do not have this, which can also interfere with the laptop's camera from working normally. In this case, you need to install an application that will allow you to check the operation of the camera, for example, Skype. You will be able to see the webcam in the control panel in the "Scanners and Cameras" section.
Installing an unknown device driver
If the previous methods for solving the problem of a non-working laptop webcam did not help, then installing a new device in the Windows Device Manager will come in handy. You need to go to the device manager and click on the update hardware configuration button. If an unknown device appears in the "Imaging Devices" section, you should manually install the appropriate driver from the original disc or downloaded from the laptop manufacturer's website.
Installing original software from the manufacturer
If all the drivers are installed and the laptop webcam does not work, you may need to install additional proprietary webcam control software that came with the laptop. Asus, Dell and other manufacturers release proprietary utilities for working with built-in adapters, card readers, webcams.
Breakdowns at the equipment level
This type of malfunction is the most troublesome, as it is very difficult to identify the reason why the webcam on the laptop is not working. In addition, to restore the operation of the laptop web camera, you will need to contact a repair service center, where a specialist must identify the problem and carry out qualified repairs.
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23.03.2017
Skype software was developed by the creators of Windows OS, Microsoft Corporation. Today the number of Skype users exceeds all reasonable boundaries. People use this software to communicate with friends, relatives, carry out online conferences. It is very difficult to imagine modern life without Skype, since this program still has no worthy analogues.
Skype, being a program, certainly has its own unique features and performance problems. Often, Skype users turn to the Microsoft technical forum or search the Internet because their webcam suddenly stops working.
Solve camera problems in Skype
All sorts of problems in Skype related to a webcam can be of both technical and systemic nature. It is because of this that, before starting to deal with the problem of displaying the camera in Skype, you should make sure that the device is working.
In order to find out the functionality of your video device, you can use third-party applications, for example, the program "WebcamMax"... In the case of Windows 8-10, an application is initially present in the system "Camera", which is also suitable for health diagnostics.
Once you are satisfied that your webcam is fully functional, you can begin to troubleshoot the Skype image display problem. If the camera is broken, it is recommended to contact a specialist to fix the webcam or purchase a new device.
Method 1: install the latest Skype update
Very often, as indicated by the statistics of the asked questions, people are faced with the problem of a broken webcam, while using an outdated version of the software. To get rid of the problem, you will need to update your Skype to the latest version.
It is best to uninstall the program, go to the official Skype website and download a new installation file. After that, the downloaded program should be installed according to the instructions of the installer.
If you are using a more or less recent, but still not the latest version, you need to proceed as follows.
If you are using the latest version of Skype, but your webcam still does not work, you should pay attention to other ways to solve this problem.
Method 2: disable conflicting apps
If you have an application installed on your computer or mobile device that also uses access to the webcam, problems with Skype are quite possible. To do this, you need to find out which application is in conflict and stop it, including running in the background.
Often times, Skype's camera problems come from seemingly simple apps. These include:
- audio and video streaming programs;
- web browser;
- file sharing applications.
Everything is solved quite easily - you just need to stop the software that conflicts with Skype.
To diagnose the system for unnecessary programs, it is recommended to use the standard Windows tool - "Task Manager"... Thanks to this software, you can see which processes are running and terminate them.
Let's see how all this is done using the example of the program "WebcamMax", which is capable of intercepting an image from Skype, thereby interfering with its performance.
First you need to open "Task Manager"... This can be done in several ways.
After "Task Manager" open, you need to find out which programs can provoke problems.
As soon as all unnecessary programs are removed, you should restart Skype and check if the camera is working properly. We proceed to the next points if the problem could not be fixed.
Method 3: check the quality of the connection
This case is only partially able to solve the problem with a non-working camera, since for the most part a bad Internet connection completely blocks the ability to make calls in Skype. Skype works on such a principle that if you do not have fast enough Internet, the program automatically turns off some features, for example, video communication.
The solution to the problem with the Internet depends entirely on you. To do this, you may need to configure your modem or router yourself, as well as contact your Internet provider (ISP).
If you use Skype from a mobile device, the recommendations are exactly the same - get fast internet, in accordance with the requirements of Skype.
Method 4: check the camera through the "Device Manager"
It often happens that the webcam does not work due to incorrectly installed drivers or due to manual disconnection of the device. You can check the status of the camera through "Device Manager", present in every version of Windows OS.
After the device starts to display normally in the hardware list, you can check the camera's functionality in Skype.
Method 5: general solutions
In the event that you have the latest version of Skype, a good Internet connection, a working video device and there are no conflicting programs, but the camera still does not work, complex solutions can help.
If none of the suggested options worked for you, we recommend that you contact your device vendor. It is possible that the manufacturer of the camera is not intended to use this equipment in Skype.
Method 6: adjust the update (Windows 8)
In the case of the Windows 8 operating system, the problem with the camera may occur due to the latest updates. This situation is resolved very simply, with the exact observance of the named actions.
After these steps, the problem with the webcam in Skype should completely disappear.
If, despite all the steps taken, the camera in Skype still does not work, try replacing it. This is especially true for users of laptops and other portable devices, where the default camera is poor.
