Webcam Problems only in Yahoo Messenger

[linus_at_home]

Aggh! My webcam was working perfectly, but the machine had memory problems. It was shut down for two weeks while waiting for new memory. The memory arrived, was installed, tested, everything is working fine.

Except the Webcam in Yahoo messenger. I can't even get to the configuration buttons on the preferences pop-up. I've followed everything I could find on the yahoo site. Nothing.

I've un-installed and re-installed Yahoo Messenger.
I've un-installed and re-installed camera Drivers.

The worst thing is that yes, it works with MSN Messenger, so it is not the internet connection. It works from a different PC, so it is not the router or network.

If I just click on "Webcam" everything Yahoo Messenger related just hangs. I can't even terminate the process using TaskManager. All I can do is reboot. Any help would be appreciated.

Details:

Yahoo Messenger Version: 7.0.0.437
Windows XP SP2, Firewall disabled
Camera: Logitech QuickCam Pro 4000
Hardware list under Control panel shows no red "x" and no yellow !
Works in MSN Messager
Router has port 5100 open

Thanks in Advance,

Linus

Have you tried unplugging your webcam, and trying to get to the webcam configuration in Yahoo Messenger? If yahoo messenger still freezes then the problem can't be your webcam but something else. If you can access the webcam configuration options while your webcam is unplugged, then just plug in the webcam again and adjust them. See if that works.

[linus_at_home]

Thanks for the tip.

Yes I tried unplugging the camera. But just to be sure, I did it again. And then clicked on "My Webcam".

Results:
Pop up box reminding me of the abuse policy, etc. I clicked 'Ok' and Yahoo Messenger is now "frozen".

Since I am able to get the camera working with MSN Messenger on the same computer, I'm sure that what I'm seeing is the 'symptom' and not the problem. It's almost like something in YM is not configured correctly, but I don't know where to look. The registry looks about the same between the working and non working systems, and the only difference between when this system was working and now is:
New memory installed in machine
uninstall/reinstall/reinstall of Yahoo messenger

Anything else I should try?

[linus_at_home]

I wasn't able to fix the problemthe normal way, but I did find a way to solve the problem!

What I finally figured out was that the 'real' problem was that Yahoo was trying to use my Video Capture Card instead of my Camera!

I did some more Registry sluething. Found the following:

HCU\Software\Yahoo\Webcam\Upload\PreferredSrc

it had value of 0xffffffff

I changed it to a value of 0 (0x00000000) and viola! The cam test at Yahoo asked me to choose my source!

Yahoo Messenger asked me to choose my source!

I'm back on-line.

Interesting that the value has stayed at zero, and Yahoo has never asked me for which cam to use again (though I am able to go to the selection screen now). So I think this is more of a flag, rather than the actual selection criteria.

Hope this someone else when they are having problems