From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-11

I'm running a Lenovo +









































I'm running a Lenovo Idea Pad 5 laptop. It's a couple of years old,
old enough that the warranty has expired.

It's very nice: Win 11, 16GB RAM, 1TB Solid State Disk. The problem is
that the built-in camera doesn't work. If I bring up Device manager,
it does not show a camera. Running the MS Camera app yields "No
Cameras Are Attached".

The only physical on-off switch is a shutter that you can slide over
the camera. That shutter is open.

Here's an odd thing: If I reboot the machine, then start a Zoom
session, the camera seems to come up for a minute, then ... I don't
know. I get a frozen picture, and when the Zoom meeting actually
starts "Could not start camera".

I've tried the MS troubleshooter, and it gives no joy.




























-
--
Tim Slattery
timslattery <at> utexas <dot> edu
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From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-11

On 9/24/26 3:40 PM, Tim Slattery wrote:

I'm running a Lenovo +

I'm running a Lenovo Idea Pad 5 laptop. It's a couple of years old,
old enough that the warranty has expired.

It's very nice: Win 11, 16GB RAM, 1TB Solid State Disk. The problem is
that the built-in camera doesn't work. If I bring up Device manager,
it does not show a camera. Running the MS Camera app yields "No
Cameras Are Attached".

The only physical on-off switch is a shutter that you can slide over
the camera. That shutter is open.

Here's an odd thing: If I reboot the machine, then start a Zoom
session, the camera seems to come up for a minute, then ... I don't
know. I get a frozen picture, and when the Zoom meeting actually
starts "Could not start camera".

I've tried the MS troubleshooter, and it gives no joy.
It sounds like the camera does work if you at least get Zoom working even if fleeting.

So obviously a windows thing.

Have you tried in safe mode?

And not because I run Linux Mint, but if you could make a bootable usb, ventoy, or CD with
Mint on it, then there is a program called 'cheese' (cute play on words huh) that will let
you take selfies and test the camera. Just to make you feel warm and cozy inside.
--
Mint 22.3, Thunderbird 153.3.1esr, Firefox 156.0.1
Alan K.
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From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-11

On Thu, 9/24/2026 4:22 PM, Alan K. wrote:

On 9/24/26 3:40 PM, Tim Slattery wrote:

I'm running a Lenovo-a +

I'm running a Lenovo Idea Pad 5 laptop. It's a couple of years old,
old enough that the warranty has expired.

It's very nice: Win 11, 16GB RAM, 1TB Solid State Disk. The problem is
that the built-in camera doesn't work. If I bring up Device manager,
it does not show a camera. Running the MS Camera app yields "No
Cameras Are Attached".

The only physical on-off switch is a shutter that you can slide over
the camera. That shutter is open.

Here's an odd thing: If I reboot the machine, then start a Zoom
session, the camera seems to come up for a minute, then ... I don't
know. I get a frozen picture, and when the Zoom meeting actually
starts "Could not start camera".

I've tried the MS troubleshooter, and it gives no joy.
-a It sounds like the camera does work if you at least get Zoom working even if fleeting.

So obviously a windows thing.

Have you tried in safe mode?

And not because I run Linux Mint, but if you could make a bootable usb, ventoy,
or CD with Mint on it, then there is a program called 'cheese' (cute play on words huh) that will let -ayou take selfies and test the camera.-a-a Just to make
you feel warm and cozy inside.

Windows has its own Cheese. It's the "Camera.App" and should be in a menu
as "Camera".

Device Manager can show devices. In the properties, is a HardwareID giving
the two numbers that identify the camera. Whereas this, can show the config space
reported by a USB device, which is a lot more information.

https://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbtreeview_e.html

https://www.uwe-sieber.de/files/UsbTreeView_x64.zip # Links are close to the bottom of the page

If I plug in my test camera, Device Manager (USB section) says

"USB Composite Device" # Too bashful to call it a camera

Details Tab : Hardware Ids USB\VID_0AC8&PID_3630&Rev_0100 # Vmicro controller, sensor unknown

The Camera.App calls it the "Venus USB2.0", it's a VMicro product.
It only does uncompressed 640x480, and it focuses at infinity. Such cameras typically sell for $10 for the sensor and the USB interface chip. And while
it is a composite device, it has no audio, so it's not exactly a
prince among webcams. The class seems to be usbccgs (generic parent).
The camera itself should be UVCvideo (the OS should have a driver for UVCvideo devices, custom video devices require a custom driver from the manufacturer). The custom video driver can be automatically downloaded from catalog.update.microsoft.com ,
if the manufacturer submitted the driver.

The Camera.App Settings tell me the camera is currently running
at 640x480, which is its only resolution setting.

Paul
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From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-11

On 09/24/2026 3:40 PM, Tim Slattery wrote:

I'm running a Lenovo +

I'm running a Lenovo Idea Pad 5 laptop. It's a couple of years old,
old enough that the warranty has expired.

It's very nice: Win 11, 16GB RAM, 1TB Solid State Disk. The problem is
that the built-in camera doesn't work. If I bring up Device manager,
it does not show a camera. Running the MS Camera app yields "No
Cameras Are Attached".

The only physical on-off switch is a shutter that you can slide over
the camera. That shutter is open.

Here's an odd thing: If I reboot the machine, then start a Zoom
session, the camera seems to come up for a minute, then ... I don't
know. I get a frozen picture, and when the Zoom meeting actually
starts "Could not start camera".

I've tried the MS troubleshooter, and it gives no joy.

Fyi...there are reports of built-in cameras for Acer, Lenovo, and Dell
devices with built-in cameras failing to be recognized on Windows 11
25H2 and earlier os(24H2).

Resolution(fix) is somewhat sketchy.
- Camera lens failing
- Camera shutter not opening(toggled off or not opened when toggled on)
- disabled by Function key(F8 or other F-key)
- Security setting for the Camera app accessing the camera toggled off
- Camera driver corrupt
(Note: Not all built-in cameras have a unique driver, in those cases
the camera is hard-coded to connect to and use the o/s built-in usb
included driver, normally usbvideo.sys. The usbvideo.sys can be corrupt)
In some cases, the usbvideo.sys can be fixed(repaired or replaced)
by running in the following order in command line 64-bit mode(Cmd.exe or Powershell)
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
sfc scannow
- Refreshing device in Device Manager(including removing the device
and then refreshing. (if not seen in Device manager, this option may
not be available).
- UEFI/BIOS settings(not always available) for camera - if present and toggled on, toggle off, exit save UEFI/BIOS, restart, access UEIF/BIOS
and toggle back on, exit save UEFI/BIOS, restart to Windows.

Worst case: The camera is dead and replacement with a external usb

web cam is necessary. In some cases, the presence of an external
plugged in usb camera also makes the internal present, accessible, and functional.
--
...w-i|#-o-#-n|#
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From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-11

Tim Slattery wrote:

I'm running a Lenovo +

[snip]

Did the camera ever work?
--
Graham J
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From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-11

Graham J <nobody@nowhere.co.uk> wrote:

Tim Slattery wrote:

I'm running a Lenovo +

[snip]

Did the camera ever work?

Yes, it certainly did. This is a recent oroblem.
--
Tim Slattery
timslattery <at> utexas <dot> edu
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From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-11

On Fri, 9/25/2026 10:05 AM, Tim Slattery wrote:

Graham J <nobody@nowhere.co.uk> wrote:

Tim Slattery wrote:

I'm running a Lenovo +

[snip]

Did the camera ever work?

Yes, it certainly did. This is a recent oroblem.

I generally find the Privacy & Security in Settings
to be a mess. In that the dates recorded and the icons
showing for certain things, to be wrong.

https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/ca/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/5-series/ideapad-5-15are05/solutions/ht118432-webcam-or-camera-not-working-or-cannot-turn-on-in-windows-81-10-ideapad-thinkpad

I am able to preview my test camera, in the Camera.App
and also in VLC.

In Device Manager, mine has no entry in "Sound, video and game controllers".
It shows up in USB as a new USB Composite Device entry.

But it must be "registering" properly, because the Camera.App
and VLC both report it.

OK, I see it now. In Device Manager, mine now shows up near

MachineName
Audio inputs and outputs
Audio Processing Objects (APOs)
Cameras <===
Venus USB2.0 Camera

A lot of cameras that fill the "hole" at the top of the panel,
are USB modules, and the connector would be a USB 2.0 connector (4 wires).
As camera resolutions have risen, eventually you need a USB3 connection
(which would be ugly to implement in the top of a display panel). One
of the limitations, is routing cabling through the hinges. You would need
a USB3 connection, if the OS only supported uncompressed video streams.

There are general camera types (not webcams as such), that have
used other interfaces. Their prices preclude usage as a
hole filler at the top of a panel.

Your camera could be overheating, but there's no particular
reason for every hardware device to have a thermal readout.
They could be implemented. And hosted as part of the composite
device. The manufacturers are a lot simpler people than
this and they don't put that kind of effort into it. For a lot of
laptops, that webcam is a joke and it's not very good. And it's
not an attempt to compete with a smartphone sensor. Many times,
the audio on a laptop webcam is pitiful, the signal full of noise,
the noise amplified as the AGC (automatic gain control) goes up and down.

In terms of fuse protection, desktops use Polyfuses on some
of the USB ports. In a laptop, the thermal environment is such,
that a Polyfuse could open prematurely (not at the rated current),
if the temperature in the area is too high. Laptops use silicon
fuses (eight pin DIP, mosfets to kill power, two measurement
channels for controlling two devices). Those can have relatively
"sharp" current limits (working one second, off the next). Whereas
the Polyfuse can get "mushy" near the limit and the bus voltage
could drop a bit, before it turns off.

Between the camera and the rest of the ecosystem, is FrameServe.
Someone running OBS noted "for a FrameServe, it doesn't serve frames!".
That person was attempting to use OBS as well as some second
path for the signal, and FrameServe was not serving to the
second device. Whether this is a problem with FrameServe,
who could say. I don't know if FrameServe has any appearance
in the Settings as such.

Microsoft has a long term plan, to control *all* of the drivers.
They're afraid of exploits. And webcams have quite an assortment
of dodgy drivers. By delivering FrameServe (which breaks the
webcam drivers), a "side-effect" of the project is that
fewer users end up using third-party drivers. FrameServe seems to
work with UVC ("driver-less") webcams, and especially
if the format is uncompressed video output (like my test
device). My other camera, which is capable of >960 horizontal,
FrameServe does not allow the top resolution to be selected.
You might even find that the resolution choices offered
(which are derived from the config space tables), the resolution
choices can change from one run to the next.

That description is just to give some idea how things
have changed since Windows 7. If I *really* want to use
my Logitech QuickCam 9000 Pro, I use it in Windows 7,
where the third-party Logitech driver works for the
UVC compatible camera. I can select a subsection of
the captured frame, and pan it, so that during a
conference call, my profile is centered in the field
of view. I would not be able to do that in Windows 11.
The camera in that case, has Autofocus and RightLight
(exposure control) during the session.

Win7 would be impractical (impossible) for your device,
as your device is too new.

Here is an off-hand comment about the lack of documentation for FrameServe.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/53081413/windows-10-camera-frame-server-identify-actual-app-using-webcam

"Minimalistic desktop video capture applications trying to share a webcam
still receive a failure suggesting that sharing is impossible for
general purpose applications"

*******

The old video capture sample application from Microsoft, was called AMCAP. There were a couple derived projects from that. One went commercial,
and attempted to charge money for their variant. This one is
a free version with some improvements.

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/btwincap/wdmmiscutils2.73.zip?download

That uses the old interface, rather than the newer Media Framework.
The uptake of Media Framework, as I understand it, wasn't all that
strong when it came out. Maybe it was VFW or DirectShow back then ?

Just starting the AMCAP application, and not changing anything, you should be able to get a webcam preview in the thing. In terms of Privacy settings,
it is under "Let desktop apps access your camera" and it is not even named
as AMCAP there. It is named as "Capture Application".

Paul
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From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-11

On 25/09/2026 15:05, Tim Slattery wrote:

Yes, it certainly did. This is a recent oroblem.

Does it work on Linux? Have you tried booting up the machine with a live
USB stick containing the latest version of Ubuntu or Mint?

If not, then faulty hardware cannot be ruled out.











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From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-11

On Fri, 9/25/2026 1:50 PM, Faulty Camera wrote:

On 25/09/2026 15:05, Tim Slattery wrote:

Yes, it certainly did. This is a recent oroblem.

Does it work on Linux? Have you tried booting up the machine with a live
USB stick containing the latest version of Ubuntu or Mint?

If not, then faulty hardware cannot be ruled out.

The track record on diagnostics like this, isn't that good,
but it still might be worth a shot.

"Lenovo Diagnostics for Windows - Desktops, Notebooks, Workstations, Smart Collaboration Devices"

https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/downloads/ds102688

We're not allowed to access that, unless possessing a serial number,
so I can't even read the User Guide and see if it has a camera test.

*******

There was also a report of a conflict between a SunPlusIT webcam
driver and the Windows (presumably UVC generic) driver, with the
windows driver (of course), winning.

The webcams have firmware, and generally for any driver, the
firmware version has to match the driver version, for custom ones.

Still needs some Device Manager examination, to see what it is using
for a driver.

Based on the flavor of what I'm seeing in Google, the camera
is likely fine, the software/firmware, less so. Even on Linux,
if firmware is involved, someone has to submit the firmware
so it can be included. For example, a standard Linux install
will not make my TV tuner work, as the firmware is missing.
I have to install it by hand on Linux.

Paul
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