3Com HomeConnect USB WebCam and WinXP - Help

[Souka]

I have a 3Com Home Connect USB WebCam, an IBM Thinkpad 570 (p2-300 w/usb), and I rebuilt this system with Windows XP Pro(from Windows 2000).

The 3Com Camera works just fine on my desktop, which runs Windows 2000 Pro and this laptop when it ran Windows 2000Pro or Win98.

I've tried usin the 3Com and the ViaCam drivers, but the device shows as "Unknown Device" in Device Manager. Looking at properties of this Unknown Device, it clearly states no-driver loaded.


My question is how can I get this WebCamera to work? The driver packages available are .EXE that run an install program. I Tried pointing to various directories for driver install, but no luck. I have also followed the device install instructions on ViaCam's site, but no luck.

ViaCam's site, which provides the "newest" drivers indicates it should work, but also state they don't support WinXP.

So.....does anyone have ideas? or suggestions? I'd like to hear them!

Thanks

 

[Souka]

*bump*

 

[Souka]

*bump bump*

Bummer....guess I should post this in the "highly technical" forum.

 

[Souka]

One last bump of hope....

 

[Trashman]

Souka....I downloaded latest drivers from ViCAM and it works fine for me on XP....I downloaded them from here.....link...I'm assuming they are the same ones you have.
Not sure how you installed, but I downloaded and ran ViCAM6858.EXE, rebooted, then I hooked up my 3Com webcam....it detected new hardware at boot-up.. asked if i wanted to install drivers...did the recommended install.
Now....when i opened up the software, VidCap, upon starting it said no video detected or something like that, then I had to go in the VidCap Options and change it from MS Image Capture to ViCam AVI Driver.....now i have video.
I would uninstall the ViCam software and try over, and make sure you don't have the webcam connected to your USB ports.....then install software, reboot, then connect.
I hope that works for you, good luck

 

[Souka]

Trying it now.

I noticed on that webpage it states "Note: Errors have been reported when using these drivers with Windows XP Service Pack 1 installed."

I forgot to mention I'm running XP-SP1.....bummer.

I didn't archive when I applied SP1 either....oh well

Thanks for the link.

 

[Souka]

Ugh...I feel silly....I got it working.....

Turns out my USB port on my laptop is dying....it can't provide 500mva of power anymore. If I put a USB mouse (draws 300ma) it works fine....if I put a powered usb hub and attach the camera through then it works fine....

It looks like the internal USB controller is dying...oh well, it's a P2-300 laptop...long out of warranty.

The Hub solution works fine as I'm just using the laptop as a security monitor....

Thanks!