Vista - Enforced Live Update & Now Microsoft Webcam Problems

Now getting really fed up with this Windows Live and the way it forced me to
update to an inferior updated build of the Windows Live 2009 Messenger.

The original build (don't know which this was as never made a note of it) of
the Windows Live 2009 Messenger was downloaded by myself requesting it and
worked perfectly. However then I cam across the problem that on attempting
to log onto the messenger system I was confronted by a screen telling me
there was an update available and the option of clicking to receive it or to
reject it. But what option was this as when you rejected it you weren't
allowed to log on so the update was forced upon you.

Now this was bad enough but whilst the original build I had worked, this
poor update fails to allow the webcam to fully work. And guess what? Its
even a Microsoft webcam (Microsoft LifeCam VX-6000), and not cheap, which
you would have thought they'd have working with their own software!
Apparently not!!

The problem is that when the webcam icon is clicked the Show my Webcam
option is greyed out so unable to send the webcam. The Video Call option is
occasionally there but when used it connects but only with icons in the
screen of a webcam with a big red cross on it and then disconnects again.
People have been able to initiate the webcam but only if they request it
from their end. The webcam will work in all other programs and works
perfectly when checked under the Tools - Audio and video setup... It is
purely a bug in the so called update (Build 14.0.8064.206) preventing the
webcam from being sent.

Is there any way to fix this problem or to reinstall the previous build that
worked perfectly? Or is this something Microsoft is preventing us from
doing? Perhaps I ought to now try Yahoo.


Stephen

Greetings Stephen,

I'm not really sure why there was this mandatory update when officially all that's in this
new build is bug fixes. In fact, I was expecting the very problem you're mentioning here to
be fixed by that this version.

Two quick questions for you.

The first, which version of Windows are you using? I'm going to make a hunch that it's
Windows XP.
The second, could you send me an e-mail? I'll help you install/sign in with the previous
version to see if that solves the problem.

--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger
MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com
Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com
(c) 2009 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation
--

"Stephen" <newsmail03@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uhwTuPQlJHA.1248@xxxxxx

"Jonathan Kay [MVP]" <msnewsreplies@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Ol1B%23xWlJHA.5920@xxxxxxYou're correct Jonathan as it is Window XP I'm using. The computer is slow
enough as it is with booting up under XP without it getting any slower with
Vista.

I will send you an email direct as requested.


Stephen

Jonathan,

I experienced a similar problem. I was quite happily running 8.5 until
yesterday when it kept crashing. After sending error report, msg returned
directing to page which indicated I need an update. I followed the "trail"
and ended up with 2009 (Build 14.0.8064.206) [I'm using XP Media Center
edition SP3, FWIW]

First indication that there's a problem was when I tried to use Tools->Audio
Video setup. All I get is "We are unable to run audio and video setup". In
light of this, my expectation that neither audio call, nor webcam would work
proved to be correct.

Since then, I have tried:

updating router firmware, port forwarding [ports 1863-1863 and 6970-7170]
with no joy. However, I don't experience any problem with Yahoo messenger
(which I typically don't use, because I prefer MSN Messenger!) but I did try
it ... and had no problems there.

If you have a cure for this problem, that would be great! But if not,
perhaps you could suggest the path of least resistance to getting 8.5 again
installed on my system.

Thanks in advance for your help!
"Jonathan Kay [MVP]" wrote:

Hello Stephen,
Seems that I too have a similar problem. I have XP, took advantage of the
update and when installed, the connection appeared to be faster, but I saw
video only, no Audio. I then asked that he call me. He saw me, no audio. That
would be OK since I could send instand messages, but we tried to call later
and we both got a reversal, We had audio, but no video. Now I thought to
remove the new update version, but could not locate it. I am ready to try
"system restore" to get back to the old version, which happened to work. The
new one - not happy at all.
My web cam is the VX-6000 and it worked fine till now.
Hope that you have some usable advice on how to fix the problem. Thank you.
Rick Wolfe

I too just updated live messenger and my webcam doesn't work. I have vista 64 though, not xp. Everything else works fine. i can receive webcams, but when I click on the camera, it opens my webcam window, but doesn't initialize the camera itself. Have they posted anything about this? fixes?

Hello there,

I have tried the [Sign-in ... Sign-out] solution, which is done to sync WLM with Live Services I suppose. But this is not working every time. I'm using Vista 32bit, and I figured out If I disconnect the webcam and wait for Windows to recognise it's absence [you would hear a sound on Vista every time a device is connected or disconnected] and then reconnect it, the option to "Show my webcam" becomes available.. and it will be avaiable till you sign out.

Hi there,
Im having exactly the same issue and I have a VX-6000 also.
My HD crashed, I had XP with SP2.
Bought a new one and updated to the latest everything SP3,
but the camera isnt being recognized, says USB20 CAMERA.
So much for updates.
Tried uninstalling the driver, pointing to location, uninstalling LifeCam
software
reinstalling, nothing is working.
Getting a Code1 error when I look at it through Device Manager.
But how can I fix if it wont recognize the drivers?
Any help greatly appreciated.

"Stephen" wrote:

Similar problems as others here on 2 PCs, both running XP Home and SP3. My mother first had the problem. "Upgraded" from Messenger 8.5 to 9 build 14. Immediately, she lost her audio. We installed a new sound card and she has audio now but when she video calls me (XP Home/SP3) she can see me on her screen but her image has a webcam with a big red "X" across it. On my end, I see mysellf but her image has a big red "X" across a webcam icon.

When she does a video call with my sister, who has an older version of MSN, both see each others' cameras fine.

Oh, and we both have Logitech Quickcam Pro 4000 cameras. Works fine in Yahoo messenger.

I tried deleting MSN from add/remove and reinstalling the older version but the older version would not install. Apparently, version 9 wasn't removed completely. Came across this command line to run to uninstall MSN but haven't tried it yet:

RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove

Anyone have any luck with that command line and then installing an earlier version of MSN?

Here's a screenshot of what I see when I do a video call with my mother:

http://myweb.cableone.net/nolasue/nsn.gif

Might as well show you what my mother sees when she does a video call with me:

http://myweb.cableone.net/nolasue/msn2.JPG

Oh, and one final thing. When my mother does a video call with my sister (who has MSN 8.5), the video works perfectly on both ends.