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VAIO Camera is not working


morland

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I am posting this after reaching the point of frustration and having spent 2 days trying to find a solution.

I have a Sony VAIO VGN-FZ140E Laptop and after doing a fresh XP Pro SP3 install can't get the camera to work. The chipset is Intel® GM965 Express Chipset. I have tried

1) Installing SODOTH-12946300-US.EXE (Version : 1.1.07.04020, Last Modified :05/14/2007) - Problem remained

2) Downloading and installing the Camera Driver from

ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/OS/XPDOWNGRADE/FZ19/DRIVERS/ 

but the problem remains

When I click on the USB Video Device in Windows Explorer I get the message

Video Preview Failure

Creation of the video preview failed.

Please check the device connection and make sure that the device is not being used by another application or user.

In Windows Explorer, when I right click on the USB Video Device and from the resulting dialog box, I click on Diagnostics, I get the following message. A related screenshot (if it's of any help is also attached)

Your imaging device successfully completed the diagnostic test.

Can someone help please.

post-131769-127255881963_thumb.jpg

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Ah the joy of Sony notebooks... Even me as a no newbee to drivers and so, HATE Sony software/drivers so much that I would not buy anything from SONY when it comes to computers (okay, I stop ranting now :D).

I see that the install of the driver didn't go trough and that it's using a driver made/from Microsoft some how. You could also revert back to SP1 or so that came with the notebook and install the service packs over that but let's do it a different way.

like ricktendo64 said, a hardware ID of the device could lead to the correct driver.

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Thanks puntoMX and ricktendo64 for your replies. I too would NEVER EVER buy a SONY again. Never. Period.

Regarding the Device Hardware ID: I don't know what you are asking for but am making some assumptions and based on that:

  1. I went into Device Manager
  2. Selected Imaging Devices | Use Video Device
  3. Did a Right Click
  4. Selected Properties
  5. Clicked the Details Tab
  6. From the many options in the list, I selected the 2nd one labeled 'Hardware Ids'. Don't know how to copy the text :} so am pasting a screen shoot (attached)
  7. Is this what you asked for?

post-131769-127257048909_thumb.jpg

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By the looks of your first link you definitely have the right driver

ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/OS/XPDOWNGRADE/FZ19/DRIVERS/11_CAMERA_DRIVER.ZIP

And YES!!! Sony does suck at drivers, they are so lazy to update

Edited by ricktendo64
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Some notebooks use their cameras differently. I have tested cameras on MSI, Uniwill/ECS, Intel and Asus. Here are possible things that can cause this problem:

1. The Camera option is disabled in the BIOS. Some notebooks (Asus, some MSI, 1 Uniwill) will not fully disable the device if set in the BIOS and Windows can still detect it but not make use of it.

2. The notebook requires a firmware update to enable extra button features. For example, original MSI notebooks made for Vista needed a special update to use the buttons in XP, as HotStart was a Vista only endeavor.

My brain wandered (aka i went away from this post to eat lunch) and I forgot what else I was going to say. Hopefully this is a good start. :rolleyes:

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Some notebooks use their cameras differently. I have tested cameras on MSI, Uniwill/ECS, Intel and Asus. Here are possible things that can cause this problem:

1. The Camera option is disabled in the BIOS. Some notebooks (Asus, some MSI, 1 Uniwill) will not fully disable the device if set in the BIOS and Windows can still detect it but not make use of it.

2. The notebook requires a firmware update to enable extra button features. For example, original MSI notebooks made for Vista needed a special update to use the buttons in XP, as HotStart was a Vista only endeavor.

My brain wandered (aka i went away from this post to eat lunch) and I forgot what else I was going to say. Hopefully this is a good start. :rolleyes:

Hi Tripredacus. The Camera was working before I did the fresh install so nothing has been changed in the BIOS (at least manually by myself). Nevertheless, I'll reboot and go into the bios settings after this post just to check (but I don;t know what to look for in the BIOS settings). Will report back if there's anything in the BIOS settings. Appreciate your reply.

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It's not the driver problem. Its the application problem. Try to install other Vaio camera capture utility.

Thank you for the reply.

As shared earlier, I think I have tried almost everything that came to mind and have probably tried installing everything. There however is a possibility that out of frustration/desperation, I may have skipped an important installation.

Will appreciate if you can kindly be a specific in terms of which other capture utility you're suggesting to install. Thanks.

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Hi ricktendo64. Just an update. The Vista drivers from http://www.downloadwindowsdrivers.info/usb/vid_05ca/pid_1837/mi_00/ did not work either

Just an update... Tried the suggested drivers and no luck. When I tried to install the suggested driver, the error shown in the attached image pops up and then when I try to use the camera in Windows Explorer the following message is displayed:

Creation of the video preview failed.

Please check the device connection and make sure that the device is not being used by another application or user.

post-131769-127289960639_thumb.jpg

Edited by morland
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It is no hope if you are trying to install original software Sony Vaio Capture Utility for Windows XP. Since the capture utility provided by Sony is only for Vista.

The package for installation Vaio Capture Utility (Vista) can never work on XP, since the installer package detecting windows version. I have experienced this problem before.

The drivers for windows xp is okay. You can try it (if they functional) using Yahoo Messenger.

I suggest you to install Cyberlink YouCam. It might work.

It's worth to try it. Good luck.

Edited by Semangka
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Just a note, remember that you are running XP with SP3, the notebook came with SP1? If so, install a fresh copy and update it from there to SP3, but before you do this, install all the Sony drivers and software.

It gets so bad with their software, that I even returned some notebooks to customers with the words "call Sony", you install one driver/software and it breaks the other, so, what should be installed first of 40 files that you can download for their page?... What a joy and a waste of my time. Any way, try a SP1 XP with no updates and install that webcam driver with software first to see if that works.

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Though i really don't want to do it all over again but it appears as if going with puntoMX's last suggestion (above) is the only way to solve to problem. This is ... :whistle: (being sarcastic here in my own silly manner).

Since external cams are not very expensive so the other alternative could be that I simply get myself a compact external webcam with much higher resolution as stuff (as compared with with my laptop came with) and use it. DO you think that will work or will I still end up with the same problems? Anyone?

@Semangka: You have suggested 'Cyberlink YouCam'. Based on google search it appears to be a 3rd party add-on. Right?

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