Running Windows7 on an Asus K52F laptop with a built-in webcam which worked fine until about a week ago. Suddenly Skype told me that there is no webcam.
I have searched the web far and wide for a solution but the only advice I found was to check the device manager for a yellow warning sign in imaging devices and then reinstall the driver.
I looked up the device manager and there is only one Imaging device registered which is my USB scanner.
If I unplug it there is no other imaging device, thus my web cam does not exist anymore for the device manager and there is no ordinary way to reinstall a driver for a device that is not recognized.
I contacted ASUS support and they sent me a reply that looks like a standard reply with no reference to the particular problem. They advise to reinstall the entire Windows7 from scratch.
This looks like an easy way for them because they don't have have to even think about the problem but complete nonsense for the user who would lose all installed softare including its settings and it would take days to set up everything again. It's like throwing a bomb on a town to get rid of an annoying rat. The collateral damage would be bigger than the problem. Why not just kill the rat?
Indeed before doing this I would rather buy an external webcam.
Now looking more into my laptop I found that not all has disappeared.
In the system info I found that there is a device registered with the ID USB\VID_046D&PID_C05F\6&1790F111&0&3 and its controller is at c:\windows\system32\drivers\hidusb.sys (6.1.7601.17514, 29,50 KB (30.208 bytes), 23/06/2011 10:58)
I further found out that this is a Logitech device:
usb\vid_046d&pid_c05f - Logitech Inc USB Input Device
Hardware id: usb\vid_046d&pid_c05f
Vendor id: vid_046d
Vendor name: Logitech Inc
Device id: pid_c05f
Device name: USB Input Device
GUID: Human Interface Devices
GUID name: {745A17A0-74D3-11D0-B6FE-00A0C90F57DA}
Compatible id: usb\class_03
usb\class_03&subclass_01
usb\class_03&subclass_01&prot_02
usb\vid_046d&pid_c05f
usb\vid_046d&pid_c05f&rev_5300
In the chapter "System controllers" I found:
name snp2uvc
description USB2.0 PC Camera (SNP2UVC)
file name c:\windows\system32\drivers\snp2uvc.sys
type Controlador kernel (kernel controller)
started No
mode Manual
status Detenido (Halted)
status Correcto (correct)
Error Control Normal
accepts pause No
accepts halting No
Under my installed software I found:
USB2.0 UVC VGA Webcam by SONIX
By searching the Sonix website for "snp2uvc" I found under Drivers:
SN9C25x_5.8.53000.0_WHQL_WinXP/Vista/Win7 (11712KB)
USB 2.0 compliant video/audio single-chip processor
SN9C255 is a USB 2.0 High-Speed (HS) compatible PC Camera controller.
(more info following)
So summing it up, it looks like the webcam controller is "halted" but OTOH it is not meant to accept halting.
But what does this mean? How can I make the controller run again? I did not find anything in the Admin tools of Windows 7 which would allow me to manipulate this controller.
I have also used a driver search tool and downloaded the corresponding drivers but this does not help if the device is not seen by the system.
Does anybody have more insight?
I have searched the web far and wide for a solution but the only advice I found was to check the device manager for a yellow warning sign in imaging devices and then reinstall the driver.
I looked up the device manager and there is only one Imaging device registered which is my USB scanner.
If I unplug it there is no other imaging device, thus my web cam does not exist anymore for the device manager and there is no ordinary way to reinstall a driver for a device that is not recognized.
I contacted ASUS support and they sent me a reply that looks like a standard reply with no reference to the particular problem. They advise to reinstall the entire Windows7 from scratch.
This looks like an easy way for them because they don't have have to even think about the problem but complete nonsense for the user who would lose all installed softare including its settings and it would take days to set up everything again. It's like throwing a bomb on a town to get rid of an annoying rat. The collateral damage would be bigger than the problem. Why not just kill the rat?
Indeed before doing this I would rather buy an external webcam.
Now looking more into my laptop I found that not all has disappeared.
In the system info I found that there is a device registered with the ID USB\VID_046D&PID_C05F\6&1790F111&0&3 and its controller is at c:\windows\system32\drivers\hidusb.sys (6.1.7601.17514, 29,50 KB (30.208 bytes), 23/06/2011 10:58)
I further found out that this is a Logitech device:
usb\vid_046d&pid_c05f - Logitech Inc USB Input Device
Hardware id: usb\vid_046d&pid_c05f
Vendor id: vid_046d
Vendor name: Logitech Inc
Device id: pid_c05f
Device name: USB Input Device
GUID: Human Interface Devices
GUID name: {745A17A0-74D3-11D0-B6FE-00A0C90F57DA}
Compatible id: usb\class_03
usb\class_03&subclass_01
usb\class_03&subclass_01&prot_02
usb\vid_046d&pid_c05f
usb\vid_046d&pid_c05f&rev_5300
In the chapter "System controllers" I found:
name snp2uvc
description USB2.0 PC Camera (SNP2UVC)
file name c:\windows\system32\drivers\snp2uvc.sys
type Controlador kernel (kernel controller)
started No
mode Manual
status Detenido (Halted)
status Correcto (correct)
Error Control Normal
accepts pause No
accepts halting No
Under my installed software I found:
USB2.0 UVC VGA Webcam by SONIX
By searching the Sonix website for "snp2uvc" I found under Drivers:
SN9C25x_5.8.53000.0_WHQL_WinXP/Vista/Win7 (11712KB)
USB 2.0 compliant video/audio single-chip processor
SN9C255 is a USB 2.0 High-Speed (HS) compatible PC Camera controller.
(more info following)
So summing it up, it looks like the webcam controller is "halted" but OTOH it is not meant to accept halting.
But what does this mean? How can I make the controller run again? I did not find anything in the Admin tools of Windows 7 which would allow me to manipulate this controller.
I have also used a driver search tool and downloaded the corresponding drivers but this does not help if the device is not seen by the system.
Does anybody have more insight?