Lifecam Studio stopped working after firmware upgrade?!?

Anonymous
2011-02-22T07:17:34+00:00

Hi All.

I bought a new LifecamStudio 2 days ago. I installed the camera, following the instructions of course. In the end of the installation, I could se my self in the Lifecam software window, so far no problems, the camera worked. Suddenly a popup message appeared, telling me that the firmware of the camera needed to be upgraded, so I pressed OK. The firmware upgrade started but was shortly aborted with an errormessage, saying the upgrade was not succesfull. I tryed to reinstall  the firmware, but now it tells me hat I already have the most recent firmware installed. So the nproblem is now that, when I instert my camera into the USB port windows finds the camera, but as soon as I start any program the uses the camera it goes from a Lifecam Icon (in the hardware manager that is) to a unknown unit. The Lifecam studio software tells me that no camera is installed. I have installed the camera on other computers without any luck. 

/Stefan

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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Anonymous
2011-04-11T21:46:02+00:00

Fixed it :)

In device manager underneath imaging devices I saw "Webcam" -- before the botched fw update it said "Microsoft LifeCam Studio" and had a diff driver.  I rolled back the driver (or if that doesn't work you can force it to use the one inside program files \ lifecam) then re-installed lifecam -- my cam now works.  Now -- what's the deal with this update utility and why's it changing what driver the camera uses?

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-06-01T20:43:13+00:00

    I have had the same problem since upgrading the firmware on a new LifeCam Studio.

    It is not a driver problem for me.  I have a second Studio camera here that did not get the faulty firmware upgrade, and all the software and drivers work perfectly with it.

    There is clearly a problem with the firmware upgrade software, but no one appears to be acknowledging it.

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-05-18T02:43:29+00:00

    I don't understand why rolling back the driver worked for me and no one else...

    Also fyi -- never update the firmware of ANY usb device if it's going through a hub (even a powered hub)....always direct connect it.

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-05-18T02:32:08+00:00

    Lifecam worked perfectly for 3 hours. Then, up pops the message "firmware upgrade needed" and then, it has not worked since. Fortunately, I can return it since it is only 1 day old. I will try a second camera, NOT do the faulty, bricky firmware update and see if it works. If not, return and done with it. It is clear that there is a problem and simply asking everyone to reinstall the drivers is ridiculous. BTW, I did, and it made no difference. Please, please, please Microsoft, don't give the Apple world more fodder.

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  4. Anonymous
    2011-05-15T02:58:43+00:00

    It's not a firmware issue.  IMHO It's a problem with the fw update utility.

    Here's what I suspect is happening -- the camera updates itself and when it restarts it's internal firmware, windows device manager grabs it under a different driver -- so the firmware updater utility thinks something went wrong because it can't find it.  Lifecam software can't find it, it thinks there's no cameras in the system.

    Do the following please:

    1.) Uninstall the lifecam software, unplug your webcam, and reboot.

    2.) Plug the cam back in to a different usb port than it was plugged into originally.  

    Next, tell me the following:

    1.) What shows up in device manager (I'm guessing it will be listed as "Webcam" and using a MS generic driver that's dated 2006 -- but if this is NOT the case let me know)?

    A screen shot would be appreciated (example:http://i53.tinypic.com/16hklr5.png)

    2.) What camera you have (exact model)?

    3.) What version of windows are you using, and is it 32-bit or 64-bit?

    If you need help getting to device manager and finding the camera and looking at the driver info \ properties let me know.

    Also FYI I'm not a "Microsoft" person (lol), just a regular end user ;p

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