webcam installation probs - heeeeelp!
 

Have done a search, and webcams don't seem to be a popular subject here, but I'm going to try anyway.

Bought myself a Logitech Fusion, so the grandparents can see the new baby via Skype. Took it home, and I think I've spent the last 4 hours at least trying to get the damn thing to work. PC has 2.0GHz chip, reasonable RAM, XP Pro.

First mistake - not reading the instructions. Plug in webcam, install software. All goes tits up. Read the instructions, and in big letters "install software BEFORE plugging in webcam, only plug in when told to do so." Rats. Uninstall software, restart, try again.

Install software, restart. "Now plug in your webcam." Do so, pooter freezes. Totally. Hard reboot. Uninstall drivers, Go for a clean install.
Restart. Plug in... same story. Feck.

Read instructions closely. "Switch off any AV progs". Ah, but the problem is that upon reboot, the request for plugging in the camera comes BEFORE the AV loads. OK, so wait until everything from the Startup menu has loaded, then plug in camera. Freezes.

Restart, uninstall camera software, uninstall AV software (McAfee, and a bit of Norton left over from previously). Reboot to clear things up. Reinstall cam drivers, reboot, request cam to be plugged in. Wait until everything has finished loading from Startup menu, just in case. Plug it in. Freezes.

Hard reboot, uninstall the world and his wife, reinstall drivers, reboot, this time without unplugging cam, see if it will automatically recognise when the cam setup wizard runs (trying to be clever here). Er, no. "Your camera is not plugged in." Ok, I'll unplug it and... freezes.

:brickwall :cry:


Thank you if you've read this far. Does anyone know what software usually clashes with webcams, and how I can successfully get rid of it? Have ZoneAlarm, Skype, QuickTime on the startup menu, I don't see why they should clash. The problem is that upon reboot, the cam wizard starts BEFORE any of those programs so I can't just switch them off, as I can't get to them in time, I have to uninstall them totally.

One final point. Until recently, the PC had DrWeb AV running on it. Then I uninstalled that and put Norton on, but that was too old so I uninstalled that and put a new McAfee on. I have a suspicion that my registry paths are now crazy-paved, and could do with a damned good jetwash, but not sure that I am the person for the job.

I will now refer to these things as not so much Plug and Play as Plug and 'Plode.

It's driving me mad as I would prefer not to reinstall McAfee until it's done - on the other hand, that means running a PC without a AV :(

All help very gratefully received.

Chances are the AV has nothing whatsoever to do with the webcam. We're just easy to blame.