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July 23, 2009 02:14 AM
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Holly

Member
Joined: 07/23/2009

Hi

I am having a problem getting my webcam to work in the video tile. When i go into the video tile the webcam button at the bottom of the screen is not lit up. I can use the webcam in notes but not in the video tile.

Hope someone can help 

Thanks Holly

Discussion:    Add a Comment | Comments 1-20 of 24 | Latest Comment | 1 2 Next »

Holly Avatar
Member
July 23, 2009 8:27 PM

Hi
I am not sure if this is the service 2 pack upgrade problem, as the web cam still works in the notes app. The whole restore point fix sounds difficult. Maybe i should ring HP?
Holly

DaveTN Avatar
Expert Member
July 23, 2009 8:34 PM

Hi Holly,
I'm not ignoring you... ;-) I think there was a similar post about thi, or at least a mention of it in another post and I have been digging looking for it.

Geektieguy is the touchsmart software "expert" and I think he's browsing the boards now. He should be able to give you a decent answer.

So if I understand correctly, the webcam is working fine in all your other programs EXCEPT the touchsmart video tile.

Hopefully GTG will be able to give you an answer.

David

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/HPMagicGiveaway.jpg

Woohoo! I won my Touchsmart!

GeekTieGuy Avatar
Member
July 23, 2009 9:46 PM

Unfortunately I've never heard of this issue either, so I don't have anything to suggest. Maybe download the latest updates from the HP support site. Which model of TouchSmart do you have?

Holly Avatar
Member
July 24, 2009 12:59 AM

Hi
thanks so much for your input, i really appreciate it. Yes the web cam works in all other apps (notes and cyberlink you cam) except the video tile. I have the touchsmart 518a. I have also downloaded all the latest updates from HP. I have solved many problems with my touchsmart by searching this site, and i really am grateful for all the work you put into it.
David -Sorry I was not sure if i put enough information in my first comment.
Thanks Holly

bouncer Avatar
Member
  • member since: 10/30/2008
  • rank: 12511 of 12546
  • 6 comments
July 24, 2009 5:34 PM

Hi Holly,
I have the same problem. Awhile back someone posted that Vista64 bit SP2 was the cause but after searching I can"t find that post. I know for sure that SP2 is the cause since my wife and I both have IQ506 touchsmarts and I applied the update to my computer and the webcam function in the video section is now greyed out. I did not apply the SP2 upgrade to my wife's computer and her webcam function in the video module is still functional. Except for SP2 all upgrades are current.

DaveTN Avatar
Expert Member
July 24, 2009 8:33 PM

Yup, just checked on mine and its grayed out too.

David

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/HPMagicGiveaway.jpg

Woohoo! I won my Touchsmart!

Holly Avatar
Member
July 24, 2009 10:34 PM

Thanks bouncer,
I found a comment by badmoon8081 on July 9th. He had the same problem, and said he had to do a system restore to a point prior to adding SP2, and then add all updates except for SP2. I am not sure if i know how to do a system restore.
Holly

DaveTN Avatar
Expert Member
July 25, 2009 9:49 AM

First, just to be safe, back up all your important data (documents, pictures, etc.) to an external drive if possible...just to be safe.

Click on start > all programs > accessories > System tools > system restore.

You'll get a UAC prompt asking you to confirm. Click OK

System restore will open.

Click/choose "choose a different restore point" and click NEXT

Check the box "show restore points older than 5 days"

Scroll through the list until you find the date you want and click on it.

Click NEXT

System restore will begin and may take a while to complete. It will prompt you through the process.

Sometimes you may get a message saying it can't complete the restore process and rolls back (actually forward) to the current date.

I've never had a system restore fail on me but its always a good idea to back up your data just in case.

A more "destructive" way of fixing things would be to use your recovery disks and start over clean. Doing a recovery with the disks will erase everything so a backup of your data is imperative. It will take your touchsmart back to the configuration it was in when you took it out of the box. From there on, you can install all your programs and updates again. Since SP2 seems to be the culprit, I would stop short of that update.

Try the system restore first and see if that helps.

If you haven't made your recovery disks, do so now in case you decide/have to do a full recovery.

Be prepared to spend a day doing all this, so wait for a rainy day. ;-)

Hope that helps.

David

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/HPMagicGiveaway.jpg

Woohoo! I won my Touchsmart!

Generic Member Avatar
Member
July 28, 2009 8:39 PM

The SP2 is with out a doubt the issue. I will say that I was surprised that a system restore on my IQ816 was actually easy and simple. I guess the only real trick is to try and find the point prior to the update to SP2. I like the fact that when you run a windows update, it automatically creates a restore point in case of issues. It's a shame the same thing doesn't happen when you run HP updates. Let us know how it goes.

Holly Avatar
Member
July 29, 2009 1:35 AM

I cant find a system restore point older than 30/6/09. SP2 was installed on 22/6/09.
i go into system restore
check the 'choose a different restore point'
check the 'show restore points older than five days'
i then scroll down and the last date is 30/6/09
I have had my touchsmart since March so there should be more restore points, i also have 349 GB of free hard disc space, so i don't know why it would be deleting old system restore points. Does this mean i will have to do a system recovery?

DaveTN Avatar
Expert Member
July 29, 2009 8:49 AM

There is a certain amount of alotted space on the drive for system restores. It uses the first in/first out principle, so old restore points are discarded as new ones are created. If you had done lots of updates or installed programs that created restore points, its possible that you "rotated out" your older restore points.

I hate to tell you (anyone) to do a full system recovery just to get a small (small, but maybe not to you) feature back as after doing a system recovery, you have to put up with reinstalling all your programs, restoring your backups, doing all the updates, etc. Its a total day wasted.

Before going this route, have you tried uninstalling the video applicatio0n and reinstalling it?

I'm not at my touchsmart now, so I really need to look at which one it is to remove and reinstall, so I'll try to post back later with a more conclusive answer.

David

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/HPMagicGiveaway.jpg

Woohoo! I won my Touchsmart!

DaveTN Avatar
Expert Member
July 29, 2009 1:31 PM

Hi Holly,
I spent hours trying to figure this one out including reinstalling the application to no avail. My "webcam" icon in the video screen is still grayed out too.
Thinking that it may have been a SP2 related issue, I went into the touchsmart files and right clicked on the video tile properties and under compatability, I chose Vista sp1. Rebooted and it still does not work

However, I found a workaround of sorts. I clicked on Start > all programs > HP HP Touchsmart and HP Touchsmart Webcam and the application launches. I'm going to dig into the tiles a bit deeper and see if I can figure this out.
I'm on a mission now.....

David

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/HPMagicGiveaway.jpg

Woohoo! I won my Touchsmart!

DaveTN Avatar
Expert Member
July 29, 2009 1:42 PM updated: July 29, 2009 2:00 PM

OK...
Addendum to workaround.
I created a webcam tile. Heres how:
In touchsmart, tap on "personalize" > Add a file > Program > Choose from a list > HP Webcam > tap the three "OK's".
a new tile with the webcam icon will appear in the inactive tiles bar. Slide it up to the active tiles to make it larger.
Tap on it and the webcam app will open. (the touchsmart app will minimize though).

More to come...

OK, did some more digging and now I have the webcam button active.
First, the Vista SP1 compatability did nothing so I turned off compatability mode.

Next, I opened the touchsmart program back up and clicked on the video tile to make it active. "webcam" is grayed out at this point.
Clicked/tapped "settings" and in the settings box, chose "allow recording to exceed 10 minutes"

Clicked "save" and now my webcam button is active again.

But.... It does not launch the program.

yet....

David

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/HPMagicGiveaway.jpg

Woohoo! I won my Touchsmart!

Generic Member Avatar
Member
July 29, 2009 4:14 PM

Holly said: I cant find a system restore point older than 30/6/09. SP2 was installed on 22/6/09. i go into system restore check the 'choose a different restore point' check the 'show restore points older than five days' i then scroll down and the last date is 30/6/09 I have had my touchsmart since March so there should be more restore points, i also have 349 GB of free hard disc space, so i don't know why it would be deleting old system restore points. Does this mean i will have to do a system recovery?

That is very odd. Like I said before, sp2 is a windows update and a restore point should have been auto created the moment you updated to sp2. there should be a restore point for that very day. i just looked at my system and it has at least 20 plus restore points saved. How many times has it created restore points since 30/6/09? You could try uninstalling Sp2 but that didn't work for me when I had the problem. a system recovery is annoying but really (if you haven't had the computer that long) it doesn't take as much time as you might think.

Holly Avatar
Member
August 6, 2009 2:14 AM

badmoon8081
I have looked at the system restore points again and now it only has them dated back to 9th July, maybe its deleting them when it gets over 30 days. There are also system schedule checkpoints every day. i think perhaps i can live with web cam tile blacked out. Thanks to everyone for their help.
Holly

GeekTieGuy Avatar
Member
August 27, 2009 1:12 PM

I've taken a bit of a deeper look at this issue, and it seems to be related to the SP2 install indeed. What happens is that the "FriendlyName" of the webcam device ("HP Webcam") is wiped out during the SP2 install and it reverts back to "USB Video Device", which is the generic name for certain devices.

The HP TouchSmart Video tile looks for a device with the "FriendlyName" "HP Webcam", and since after SP2 that name is no longer anywhere to be found, the button gets grayed out.

Not sure if this is of interest to anyone anymore (it's been a while since this thread was started), but it could be fixed by re-entering the "FriendlyName" into the registry in all the right places. If anyone is interested in this, I could put together something to help out.

bouncer Avatar
Member
  • member since: 10/30/2008
  • rank: 12511 of 12546
  • 6 comments
August 27, 2009 6:58 PM

Geek TieGuy,
I would like to know how to deal with this issue. However, will this persist when i upgrade to windows 7? thanks for your hard work in figuring out what was going wrong.

Holly Avatar
Member
August 27, 2009 7:20 PM

Thanks Geek Tie Guy
I would like to fix it, but it is not a big deal. I appreciate your hard work, if you have the time to put some thing together it would be great. I don't know how much work these things are so please only do it if you can.
Thanks Holly

GeekTieGuy Avatar
Member
August 27, 2009 11:35 PM

My guess is that an upgrade to Windows 7 will mess it up again. I haven't been able to investigate that. But the same fix should work again by just reapplying it once after the mess-up.

I may need a few "testers" who are willing to verify that my fix actually works on more machines than just mine. Anyone who would be willing to help with that, please send me a private message through this site/forum.

DaveTN Avatar
Expert Member
August 28, 2009 7:06 PM

Mine works in Win7

David

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/HPMagicGiveaway.jpg

Woohoo! I won my Touchsmart!

Discussion:    Add a Comment | Back to Top | Comments 1-20 of 24 | Latest Comment | 1 2 Next »

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