Hi all. I'm a new member.

[maxmolson]

I have a friend who has Windows XP and installed a Logitech Quickcam Pro 5000 on her PC. She keeps getting the error message.. "Camera is already in use by another program". She's re-installed it many times, and still the same error. Occasionally if she reboots with the camera plugged in, it will work, but now even that doesn't help.
Has anyone heard of this problem before? She had a different webcam before this one, that she wasn't happy with, and uninstalled it. I wonder if something from it is still on the PC, interfering. If so, how can she find it, and remove it?
Any help would be greatly appreciated

maxmolson...

[sarahtowny]

Hi and welcome to bbb!

I had a look on the logitech forum and there is a section to do with your problem, the following:

Troubleshooting

"Camera is currently in use by another application"

• If you receive an error of this type, check the following:
  • Another application may be utilizing the camera. Only one application can use the camera at a time.
  • Verify that the camera is connected to the USB port.
  • Verify that the USB port on the computer is enabled (check the computer documentation)
  • The USB port is not functioning. Connect it to another port. If using the camera on a hub, connect directly to the back of the computer.
  • The camera driver is not installed. Reinstall the QuickCam software.

To test the above she needs to go to the device manager If you are unsure how to get to that then you need to go to this then go to:

• Start

• Control panel

• Hardware

• Device manager.

She can then test the webcam hardware.

Thanks for your post and hope to see you again soon. Let us know how it goes.
:0)

[patndoris]

Hello and welcome to BBB! Most cameras today come with some kind of software that goes with them. If your friend has a camera she is no longer using, she should go to add/remove programs and delete the software from that old camera. Logitech has it's own software she can install for tweaking and adjusting the camera.

As for the error message...is there a chance she is using the built in mic from the cam as the default for multiple programs? I've seen this error most often when I'm trying to use a cam and have both Yahoo and Windows Live Messengers open. If both of these programs are loading at startup they could be competing for use of the resource (the cam or the mic.) Or by chance, does she have any other program using the cam as a default at startup?

I'd recommend any programs that might use the cam NOT be enabled at startup but started manually, then see if the problem continues. If you can narrow down the programs trying to use the resource you'll be able to figure out how to (hopefully) stop the conflict.

-Doris-