Inspiron 15 5566 Integrated Webcam Not Working

Question

A few months ago, the integrated webcam in my Inspiron 15 5566 started malfunctioning. The laptop is about 3-4 years old and is running Windows 10. When I opened the camera app or Google Meet, the camera would initially turn on and then within a few seconds would fail. I have uninstalled the device more than once and have attempted to update the drivers. A few days ago, I ran Support Assistant to scan the hardware and update drivers, which seemed to fix the issue and I was able to use it for a day. The next morning though, it once again failed. It also worked briefly this morning for a few minutes. Since then, I have tried running the tool and it didn't indicate that anything was wrong with the hardware so I'm not sure what to try next. Please advise.

TIA!

marthaqcad · Answer

I have two Inspiron 15 laptops in my household. One is 5000 series and one is 7000 series. Over the past few months the integrated webcam for each laptop developed the same issue you describe. It will only work for a few minutes in a video conference. It does not matter what platform I use. Zoom, Skype anything.

I uninstalled and re-installed and did all possible troubleshooting.

The only solution is to buy an external camera. Logitech sells them for about $40 . They work fine.

JavanPlunkett · Answer

I had this exact problem and troubleshot EVERYTHING. The camera wasn’t available. At first, when it did open it would shut down after a s second or two. Eventually it wouldn’t even start. Windows Camera application would show an error message about the camera. After having this issue for many months I stumbled on the answer!

Here is the solution:

Download Dell Webcam Central
Dell Webcam Central

(**http://ftp.us.dell.com/monitors/Dell_SX2210-Monitor_Webcam%20SW%20RC1.1_%20R230103.exe**)

which is a discontinued dell application that does a few extra things with the webcam like take pics and video. Note: it has nothing to do with the actual driver used by Windows.

Since I had already tried everything else I gave it a shot. Sure enough after the install of the Dell webcam software and a reboot, Zoom, Skype, and the Windows Camera application finally showed us a video image! I have no idea why this ancient webcam software fixed the problem, BUT IT DID!

JavanPlunkett · Answer