W530 - Windows 8 and Integrated Camera [ Edited ]

[ScoobyDownUnder]

Hi

After receiving my w530, I wiped the drive and installed a nice fresh copy of Windows 8 Enterprise (volume licence work copy).

I have installed all the latest drivers, etc. and taken note of the various documents about Windows 8 upgrade/install, but cannot make use of the integrated camera?!

The driver is listed under the device manager:

Imagine Devices -> Integrated Camera (Ricoh 1.0.0.19) - BTW I tried the beta one to see if that helped, and it made no difference to I rolled back to the proper release again.

The docs I have read said NOT to install the Communications Utility, and at this point in time there is not a Windows 8 listed compatible version of that.  I did give it a try when the camera did not work, but although there were no errors, etc. it didn't help either :-(

Skype/messenger/windows 8 camera seem to know it's there, but cannot make use of it (I get the placeholder image).

Under Control Panel->Hardware and Sound, there is no appropriate entry for me to toggle/configure.

I see the green light come on, but no picture.  Running latest bios G5ET65WW (2.07).

Any help/advice on moving this forward would be greatly appreciated :-)

Regards

Paul.

(Did notice another similar post, but given that was focused on Windows 7 and more hardware related, created new post...)

[Wendel]

By any chance did you try the camera when you first received the W530?

[ScoobyDownUnder]

To be honest: no :-(

I just (stupidly) assumed it was all fine given it was a 5k lenovo, and would have been tested before being dispatched.

My bad...

However, instructions on installing/using the camera under Windows 8 are somewhat sketchy...so I want to confirm it should work, and that I've taken all the correct steps with installing drivers/software before going to the hardware faulty one.

Also, the green light does appear...but I guess that's a separate connection to the camera itself, so could be a disconnect?

Regards

Paul.

[aaroneo]

Hi, it doesn't work for me either. Originally it worked on Windows 7, then I installed Windows 8 completely fresh and reinstalled all the lenovo drivers and the cam worked again. But, now it mysteriously stopped working just after a short time, AND it never worked very well....as in, it was supposed to be 720p HD but it has been ridiculously grainy, like, absolutely horrible. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the driver but now it won't work at all - at first even the green light stopped coming on, but at least now after reinstalling the driver again that will come on. However, still does not work. I think there is some sort of weird bug going on here with the camera and windows 8? Very frusterating.

[aaroneo]

So, I actually got it to work again by uninstalling the driver and then also uninstalling this other Ricoh app that showed up farther down the uninstall programs list, it had the word "media" in it or something. So, it works when I have NO drivers installed, but it is SUPER grainy, and I'd really like to fix that....

[Fullmetal99012 · Accepted solution]

I had to uninstall the camera, checking the box that said delete drivers, then clicking the check for hardware changes button in device manager.

seems that the Driver installed by system update breaks things.

[dmckenzies Retired Support Specialist]

Hi ScoobyDownUnder,

Here are a couple forums where some other people were having the some problem:

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/Cannot-find-T420S-Windows-8-Integrated-Came...

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-Edge-S-series/Help-with-E430-Integrated-camera/m-p/963235#M1340...

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/Thinkpad-T530-Integrated-Camera-no-longer-w...

There are various suggestions for resolving this issue.

Let us know which steps you took so we can pass that info along.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

[zhenbin]

I had camera issue with my new W530+Win8 and it turns out  the camera needs to be set to "Normal" mode as oppose to "Privacy" mode. This can be done by Fn+F6 to bring up "Lenovo Settings" and change settings under "Camera". 

This must be the "Communications Utility" program and it works under Windows 8. 

[zhenbin]

I now understand that the placeholder image means camera is in privacy mode. The Communications Utility which comes as part of the original Win8 installation can be used to change the mode back to normal.

[dmckenzies Retired Support Specialist]

Thanks zhenbin!

Seems like a pretty easy solution

How did you figure that out...?