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
    2011-07-03T16:48:57+00:00

    Hi.

    I've suffered from the same problem after the firmware upgrade. But I've solved the problem.

    As I'm using Windows 7 professional x64 in Korean, please consider some differences in expression  between in English and Korean.

    #1. Run the firmware update program 'StudioFW1042.exe' by clicking right-button and selecting 'Run as Administrator'

    #2. Follow the instruction of firmware updating.

    #3. When the dialog says 'to finish the update, unplug the USB cable of the camera for 5 seconds and reconnect',

    unplug the USB cable of the camera for at least 10 or more seconds and then reconnect to the USB port.

    #4. The firmware updating will be finished and the camera will work fine.

    This solution worked for me well.

    I hope this solution can help you.

    Thank you~

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-07-03T20:41:21+00:00

    I called microsoft after my failed firmware update. I now have a replacement that will be sent to me for no charge (and no mention of having to return my current webcam either). I should have it within 7-10 business days.

    For those experiencing problems with the webcam, you can probably get replacements too.

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-11-11T23:53:38+00:00

    Hi - just the standard disclaimer - I am a Microsoft employee but not on a team that has anything to do with webcams. However this exact problem happened to me, and I was able to get another camera and reach out to someone who works on the webcam team.

    In my case the problem was almost assuredly due to the fact I had the webcam plugged into a hub and not directly into the PC. The communication between a brand new cam and my PC was glitchy at best when running through a USB hub. I'd be curious to know how many of you were using a hub, and if that's a common failure scenario.

    Hopefully in the future the firmware updater can check for this condition and block updates when running via a hub. It may save some grief going forward.

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  4. Anonymous
    2011-11-12T00:00:01+00:00

    That's pretty cool of you to post -- if you were an apple employee I'm sure you'd be handed your walking papers just for posting "hi" on a public forum (lol).

    In any case, I was going through a hub as well when this problem first happened to me; and although I do not recall exactly if I moved it to a non-hubb'ed USB port to "fix" the problem, I'm almost positive that had to have been the case.

    But it seems that however I was able to fix mine; it doesn't seem to work for anyone else.

    So I guess to summarize if you're having this problem right now:

    1.) Move the camera to another non-hubb'd usb port and try my instructions to fix it

    2.) If this doesn't work -- contact MS for an RMA.

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