Why can't I take pictures with my Laptop Camera?

One of the usual problems of laptop owners, or sometimes it can be like this --> "bakit di gumagana laptop camera ko?"", "sira ba ang laptop camera ko?", "dati ok naman pero nang ipinareformat ko, bakit ngayun wala na?" or "panu ba ako makaselfie using my laptop camera?"

These are the usual suspects.

1. There are no drivers installed in your web cam.
2. Inappropriate drivers are installed.
3. Not enabled or activated. (usual problem)
4. No application to be used to take pictures. (second usual problem)

If you do not know the cause, you can inspect and do-it-yourself by following the steps below. (This can save your money and time)



In windows 7 or windows 8 do the following:

1. Right-click my computer, click properties.
2. In the upper -left side of the window, click device manager.
3. You will see something like this below

Under Imaging Devices, you will see your web cam, mine is BisonCam. This indicates that drivers are correctly installed. If drivers are not installed correctly, you will see a question mark(?) or sometimes an exclamation point (!) which means that there is a problem during the installation of drivers or drivers that you installed are not compatible. If you see any of these, you need to install the drivers before proceeding to the next step. How to install? These are the sub steps and there should be an INTERNET CONNECTION.

                     Right-click your web cam, then click update driver software. Then you will see something
             like this

                       This time click search automatically......Let the program look for the appropriate drivers. If
               it  is successful, you will see something like the first picture above. If not then you have to install
               the drivers using the DVD driver of your laptop. The DVD is included when you purchased your
               laptop. Sometimes the store forget to give the DVD driver, in that case you need to get it from
               them before going home. Sometimes because of excitement and lack of know-how we tend to
               disregard simple but yet very important things. "Kung magpaparepair ka later on at hahanapan ka
               nang techician kung saan na ang DVD driver, ang isasagot mo lang ay ---> may ara pa gali na?".
              
4. If you can see your camera now, proceed to step 5. If you cannot see your web cam, probably it is disabled. All you have to do is enabled it by pressing the right key or keys in your keyboard. Look for a button that has a picture of a camera. Press it and wait until it appears in the device manager tab.

5. Install a camera application program like Cyberlink, Avacam or any available in the web. You just need to download it.(BTW, be careful in downloading programs. Most of the time it contains viruses, PUP's or Adwares. Check also your DVD driver it might contain free application for camera.    

6. If everything goes well then you are ready to go. Be responsible netizens! Happy surfing!

NOTE: This post may be used in troubleshooting your WiFi, card reader and Bluetooth. Now if you can't really do-it-yourself then its probably the right time to consult a technician. :)