Still having problems with FZ21S Webcam working after XP Downgrade

[stephenmcavoy]

Hello, thanks to a lot of help here I managed downgrade my FZ21S back to Windows XP. I still can't get my Motion Eye camera working though. I've tried the FZ19 camera driver and the FZ29 camera driver, even the Vista driver but I still can't seem to get the camera working. I've tried to turn off the 'power management' option from device manager but there doesn't seem to be one for 'USB video device' [which I imagine is my camera listed under 'imaging devices']
Hopefully this all makes sense and if you can help then I would be very greatful....again!

Thanks,
Steve

[stephenmcavoy]

Blencogo or Thalamus perhaps you could spare a moment and shed some light on this webcam driver problem???
Google search shows I'm not alone in this but I can't find a solution or driver anywhere. Other possibly useful info from the forums here is unobtainable as I get returned to the main list of threads when I try to access many of the threads concerning this.
I know Sony does not provide XP support for the FZ21S but it seems that most folk have not had a problem getting their webcam working again when downgrading. Is their something i'm missing?

[Blencogo]

Hi Steve,

As long as you have installed the camera driver for the FZ29 downgrade to XP, you should be OK.

You need to install an XP version of the "Vaio Camera Utility". Download and install the file '13 VAIO CAMERA UTILITY.ZIP' from here: -

ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/PUB/OS/XPDOWNGRADE/BX6/UTILITIES

The camera works differently under XP. You do not have the 'Vaio Camera Capture Utility' but you can open the Camera Utility from My Computer.

Good Luck.

[stephenmcavoy]

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I've installed both the driver and the Vaio Camera utility but still nothing. The camera shows up in my computer as 'USB video device' but when I double click it the following message appears:

'Creation of the video preview failed. Please check the device connection and make sure that the device is not being used by another application or user.'

Any ideas why this is happening?

[Blencogo]

Not really Steve.

All I can suggest is to check that a program is not reserving the camera at startup. It is possible that MSN Messenger or Skype are set to reserve the camera for their exclusive use when you first start your Vaio.

Have a look in MSCONFIG under the 'Startup' tab and see if anything is opening the camera. (Start -> Run -> MSCONFIG)

You could also have a look in Windows Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del) under the 'Processes' tab to see if anything associated with the camera is running.

I don't have a FZ-Series Vaio, but several members have installed XP and I'm sure you will get some help from one of them here.

[stephenmcavoy]

thanks for the help dude. I finally got it working although i'm not entirely sure how. After uninstalling the current driver I ended up installing the driver that was packaged with all the Vista drivers [although i'm pretty sure that its exactly the same as the FZ19 and FZ29 camera drivers]. I was still having trouble when I came across this on the internet:

http://www.internetfixes.com/XP/xpContent10.htm

which says:

'Creation of the video preview failed. Please check the device connection and make sure that the device is not being used by another application or user' - This is a known problem that can occur if you unplug and reconnect an imaging device without closing My Computer. To resolve this problem close and reopen My Computer

I did this and voila, the camera works. So simple I guess, although I had restarted the comp many times before this so i don't understand it. At least it now works and hopefully this may work for other people having the same problem.

Steve