Webcam Freezing in XP

[Laurie]

I've been using dual boot setup Win98 / XP for about 3 months now. My Intel webcam worked perfectly in both OS but the last month my cam quit working in XP. Once I start a video conference in Net Meeting my video is fine but with in 30 seconds to 5 mins my video freezes and anything I have open that relies on my internet hangs. Then NM automatically shuts down. I've tried other video conferencing programs and my cam freezes in all of them. What's weird is that cam works perfectly in Win98 partition.

I have installed the latest drivers for my webcam, sound card, video card, modem so I know it's not a driver problem. In device manger all looks good. I checked my IRQ #'s and noticed my dial up modem and USB Universal Host Controller both share IRQ#5. I tend to believe it's an IRQ conflict. I tried disabling my unused COM 1 port in BIOS but that did not help, the modem and USB hub moved to a different IRQ which they continued to share once again. After a reboot they both went back to #5. Through much research I've learned it's about impossible to manually switch IRQ #'s in XP. I've heard that moving cards around inside computer really doesn't work either in XP. I am at a loss what to do to fix this problem. This is the only incompatability issue I'm facing with XP. If its an IRQ issue then buying a new cam probably won't fix it either. I'd really appreciate it if someone could help me fix this problem.


Thanks,

[PrairieDawg]

Not that it helps much but my Logitech webcam refused to work with XP as well. Mine would only run for about two frames b4 it died. Turns out that it is not really XP compatible but I do know lots of people who get away with it anyway. Only answer that I ever found was that it might be a power allocation problem ... I have no idea if that makes sense at all. Picked up a cheap ($25 Canadian) older Sceptre webcam yesterday that seems to be working so far although it is not supported on XP either.

Good luck. I'll be interested to see if anyone else has the answer.

[Laurie]

I just hooked up my brand new Sony camcorder via usb to my PC for live streaming video and the same problem happened. It worked great for about 4 mins and then it froze and shut NM down.


__________________

[Laurie]

I did an experiment and initiated a video conference with my webcam lense shutter shut. The person on the other end only saw a black screen but the connection remained intact and Net Meeting did not crash. The conference kept going strong. I repeated this with other video chat programs and they all worked as long as my shutter remained shut. But as soon as I opened up my shutter, my video froze and the video chat program crashed and shut down. This is also the case with newer cams tested on my PC. I don't understand what is happening here. It's almost like XP can't handle the extra bandwidth needed to send moving video images when shutter is opened. This is not a problem in Win 98. I'm just wondering if using a self powered usb hub or installing a usb card would solve this problem and boots the power to my cam. Any thoughts?

[Wiggo]

Sorry guys I can't help ya's as I have a Logitech Quickcam 510 that works fine in both SE and XP.
<center>:cheers:</center>

[PrairieDawg]

Just to update ... I had to give up on the Sceptre cam as well. Too many driver problems. I could make it work but it was just way too much trouble and was not recognized by some windows programs at all.

[Laurie]

I might be a step closer to fixing this problem. I deleted Windows Messenger completely from my system. It was running constantly in the background according to Task Manager even after disabling it. Now that this is completely gone my cam will run for about 15 mins before freezing. This is an improvement to the 30 seconds to 5mins before.

I have also done some research with one of the XP services called QoS RSVP. It states this service is needed to run certain programs and it will reserve a percentage of bandwidth to run the program. One of these programs include streaming video. It also states you can manually change these percentages. The Windows default value is 20%. I am gonna change this to 30% in hopes that this will give my webcam more reserved bandwidth to run longer and more stable while online in NetMeeting.

On the other hand I may have no idea what I'm talking about and it'll not make a bit of difference. :(

[Wiggo]

I'm goin' to move this thread to the Windows forum as a bit more help ya may get there. ;)
<center>:cheers:</center>

[asklepios]

You didn't mention that whether your Windows XP is updated with all the updates or SP1 for that matter.
Did you follow PI's tweak guide and set the "Windows Image Acquistion" service to Manual or Disabled?
Its a service that's required by XP to get images from scanners and webcams, check that nothing like this is there in your services part.
Not entirely your thing but with other camers this thing is know to happen.
read this...

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q317181

[Laurie]

You didn't mention that whether your Windows XP is updated with all the updates or SP1 for that matter.
Did you follow PI's tweak guide and set the "Windows Image Acquistion" service to Manual or Disabled?

Yes XP is updated with all updates and SP1.
Yes guide was followed.
WIA is set to Manual.

[asklepios]

i think that the problem started from that tweak with the service WIA.
It should be started when you are working with scanners or cameras. try changing that service to automatic and start it.
that should work.

[Laurie]

i think that the problem started from that tweak with the service WIA.
It should be started when you are working with scanners or cameras. try changing that service to automatic and start it.
that should work.

Problem started about 6 weeks ago way before attempting to change anything in the Services. I did though change it to Automatic and problems still occurs. Thanks for the suggestions though.

[PrairieDawg]

Resurrecting an old thread. May have found the answer to the problem finally... at least for my system and thought I'd share it.

The following "cut and paste" comes from the FAQs on Via Arena's website:



Question:

I have a VIA chipset based motherboard and a USB Web Camera which freezes under Microsoft XP. What can I do?

Answer:

General trouble shooting suggestions:

1) Ensure that you have USB enabled in BIOS.

2) Upgrade to the latest available BIOS.

3) Ensure that you are using XP compatible drivers and software for the web camera.

4) If you have tried various versions of drivers and software, completely uninstall the drivers and software and reinstall only the latest available versions so there are no conflicts.

5) Try different USB ports.

6) Some programs have known issues with Windows XP WIA drivers. Information can be found here.

7) Read this Microsoft article on troubleshooting USB under XP for further advice.

8) If all of the above general troubleshooting have not resolved the issue and you have a motherboard with KT133 chipset, buy a USB add-on card or use a previous version of Microsoft operating system. If you have any other chipset, contact your motherboard manufacturer and/or your web camera manufacturer for further advice. If you have a KT133 based motherboard and all of the above general troubleshooting have not resolved the issue, the reason we advise that you should buy a USB add-on card or not use WinXP is because, at the time the KT133 chipset went into mass production, many web cameras and Microsoft's Windows XP operating system were not even available for compatibility testing. The vast majority of motherboards based on the KT133 chipset work with new USB web cameras and WinXP with no problems. Some motherboards, however, because of board design and layout, are not compatible and the incompatibility cannot be resolved. VIA appreciates that some end users may be unhappy about this situation. VIA and our motherboard partners have stringent compatibility procedures, however no manufacturer can guarantee compatibility with future products. Owners of these motherboards will notice that they are not certified for use with Microsoft XP.