Windows

LifeCam Problems

Posted by on Jan 30, 2007 | 8 Comments

One of my Christmas presents was a Microsoft LifeCam NX-6000. I was very much looking forward to using it instead of my dated Intel Camera Pro (which I’ve been using for at least the past five years). However, the LifeCam just doesn’t work in Vista – at least, for me. I’m running the 32-bit version of Vista, and I’ve tried installing / uninstalling / deleting / manually updating, etc. – to no avail. They say there’s new software available, but “new” didn’t help my “old” problem.

After the recent round of Windows Updates, I could get Vista to recognize that (indeed) it wasn’t an “Unknown Device” but a “Microsoft LifeCam NX-6000.” However, when I tried to troubleshoot why Windows would recognize the device in the LifeCam software’s setup wizard, but give me an “installation error” in the video preview window (as well as not work in Windows Messenger), everything seemed to go belly up again after a reboot. I’m surprised, as just about every other driver problem on Vista has been managed quite effectively and efficiently – and I’d only assume Microsoft’s own hardware would work with Microsoft’s own software.

I don’t know. I was expecting basic Vista compatibility with a device so new – unveiled so close to launch. The LifeCam doesn’t work for me today, though – no matter what I’ve tried. The known device remains an “Unknown Device.” And yes, I’ve tried installing the latest software from the Web site. And yes, I’ve tried extracting and browsing for the INF file. And yes, it looks as though I’ll have to wait for a future solution to avail itself.

[tags]microsoft, webcam, web camera, netcam, lifecam, nx-6000[/tags]

  • Jim Pickering

    Drivers are available from Microsoft for LifeCams. See this link:
    http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/digitalcommunication/downloads/default.mspx

  • Phillip

    I was having a similar problem on one of my co-worker’s laptop. Found this solution that did the trick for us:
    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929087/en-us

    I implemented #2(hehe) and it worked great.

  • Tracy

    Hello Phillip,

    Was your co-worker running Windows Vista or XP? I even call Microsoft and stayed on the phone for 2.5 hrs with no resolution,finally I came the the same conclusion as Chris” you would think and Microsoft product would work with any Windows platform, exspecially if they give you the download link.

  • Barry Tuck

    I had a different problem where the program would not run (lifecam.exe) and kept bombing out with the ‘ecountered an error and will now close’ message.
    I managed to fathom this one out quite quickly without much thought. I simply set the lifecam program to run in compatibilty mode (right click on the shortcut and goto compatibility tab) and set to run in Windows 2000 mode. This fixed my problem and it is now working fully. Hope it works for you guys and let me know what results you get!

  • Chris

    My problem with the lifecam nx-6000 is that it installs it into the sound and media ok but under cameras it shows usb camera and lifecam both with problems have tried a lot of different work arounds but no go

  • jay

    I followed all of the steps on the MS links above and still no joy. Anyone know why this is not taken care of yet?

  • http://paris Mariam

    thinkyou

  • Joe J

    I think that the HORRENDOUS effort and time I had to pursue to get the .NET reinstalled, DEP disabled/enabled, DTS disabled, etc (see Aaron Stuebner’s blog)

    … just to get the lifecam software to FAIL

    is a ridiculuos waste of my time.
    No one should have to pursue a PhD into “how did microsoft break, and how I can get it to work”

    This CRAP is going in the trash