Webcam Problems in Alienware 15 R3

Question

I got a brand new Alienware 15 R3 about two weeks ago.  I first used the webcam several days after receiving the system and it worked just fine.  One week later, I tired to join a video conference and found that, while the mike worked, the camera did not.  I did some trouble shooting and discovered that, as far as all my software, and Windows itself, was concerned, my camera no longer exists (they all so no camera is detected).  It appears to show up in Device Manager as a unknown USB device (marked with a Device Descriptor Request Failed error). Naturally, I tried restarting, reinstalling the drivers, updating the BIOS, removing and redetecting that unknown USB device, and going through the various Windows camera settings, all with no effect whatsoever.  I even rolled back my system to several days before I noticed the problem (unfortunately, I did not have a restore point dating back to a time when I knew the camera was working), also without effect. I can't think of any new software or other changes I might have made to the system that could have caused the problem and, of course, I didn't physically damage the laptop in any way.  After quite a while on the phone with Alienware tech support (which involved retrying all the things I did before), it was determined that it might be a hardware problem.  A tech came earlier today and swapped out the camera for a new one...but that also had no affect. They're offering to swap my entire system for a new one, but I'm wondering if the problem might be caused by a recent Windows update, or some such, rather a deep seated hardware issue.  And if that's the case, I don't want to go through the time and effort of replacing the entire system. So, I'm wondering if anyone else with a R3 is experience the same problem and if anyone has any ideas as to the cause.

Eimy_B · Answer

Hi,

I don't think this was related to a Windows update, If it had been so, it must have been solved with the system restore. The best option at this point will be the system exchange.

Let me know if you need something else!

Locked Topics – Alienware General

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