Dell Webcam Central, link, articles, FAQ

For my M4600, the webcam software is not on this site. Luckily when I had to reinstall it, the IT department was able to find the CDs that came with it and the webcam software was on one of them.

That may be the most recent version of the software that's on your computer. When I was trying to troubleshoot a problem with the webcam software, dell technicians had me install a newer / different and incompatible version (which was same version number that you have) which did not work properly on my computer and it did not coexist with the original software. The only way to remove it was to reimage the system. My computer started with 1.40.28 which upgraded to 1.40.54 which is the most recent version. Unless your webcam isn't working, I'd suggest leaving well alone.

I've said this before and I'll say it again. Dell has done a pathetic job of integrating and supporting webcams.They do not even know what version of software is for what computer. They don't understand that there are different versions of 1.40.xx (such as your version and mine) which are not compatible. A case in point is this thread which shows that they think the webcam software is a display. How long ago was that reported and it's still not fixed! The software will not deinstall properly or completely so you can't remove one version and install another version and not have conflicts. Dell blames Creative and Creative blames Dell. The users end up getting screwed.

M4600,

You said...

Dell blames Creative and Creative blames Dell

He's the situation as I have seen it.

The webcam is missing. It may have been a drivers update from Windows update, but it's not confirmed. It may also have been a virus program.

Windows 7 is supposed to provide the webcam drivers for most Dell Models, except some XPS Models. If you have an XPS Model, go to Drivers & Downloads enter your service tag number, selct your operating system and the webcam can be found under network.

We recommend looking over the Troubleshooting the Dell Webcam and Dell Webcam Central Software article first.

When you open your laptop, whenre do you open it from? Near the webcam? Yes, some webcams have come loose at the top of the screen, near the webcam. Very few, but there have been a couple that have failed.

Doing a clean installation, in the drivers are not installed in the correct order, the webcam, wireless adpater and other items will be missing.

When I post the information below, I can tell what is wrong with the webcam and tell you what needs to be done to get the webcam working.

PLEASE READ AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS THAT I ASKED, BELOW.

Did you recently install/reinstall the operating system? If yes, did you install the drivers i the correct order? How to Download and Install Drivers in the Correct Order

Try reading...

Troubleshooting the Dell Webcam and Dell Webcam Central Software

Also try running the Webcam Diagnostics

Did the webcam show in the symptom tree?

Any error messages?

Is the computer under warranty?

Rick

I explained this in other posts, but I will try and explain the situation again as it applies to my M4600. Note, what applies to the M4600 may or may not apply to other types of dell laptops. YMMV.

My computer came with dell webcam central v1.4 installed. The application has a built-in upgrade mechanism, which I used a few times and the history of the different versions was tracked by the software. (I eventually found that the different versions of software are even stored on the computer by the application as it upgrades the software.) One day, I noticed the "anti-motion blur" setting and thought I'd give it a try. That broke the software. Not only that, but the setting disappeared, so I could not unselect it. (This bug has been reported by others.) I contacted Dell technical support. They remoted onto my computer, deinstalled dell webcam central with the intention of reinstalling it, without first bothering to ensure that the software was available to reinstall. I did not have the media (it was at the office) and hard as this may be to believe, the technician could not find it anywhere on the dell internal network. (I did not know at this time that the software was on the computer from previous upgrades.) The technician had me try the above link to download factory applications and it was not there either. Maybe it is there for other types of dell laptops, but not for my m4600. Eventually, he found "v1.4" somewhere on the dell internal network and installed it. It turned out to be a different version of software and it did not work. Even though it was called "v1.4", it was a different version of "v1.4" (the one reported by mzhu026), which is installed for other types of dell laptops, not the m4600. After this, we noticed that the two versions of software were installed over top of each other and there was no way to deinstall either of them. Later, he found the version in your post (the one that calls itself a monitor driver), which also would not work. At this point, he informed me that I had no choice but to live without the webcam working or to wipe the system. The IT department at work eventually found the original CD, which I used when I re-installed the OS. The webcam has worked fine after I reimaged the system. I have upgraded it using the built-in upgrade a couple of times and it is still working fine. I have not touched the anti-motion blur setting.

Through the hassle, the dell technician suggested I contact creative to see if they could provide the software. Of course, creative said dell was the oem and I had to get support from them. What a surprise. Not.

I eventually got the software installed and working myself, despite dell's "technical support", not because of it. How do I rate the support from dell? The only way to describe it is PATHETIC! They released two completely different versions of software, both called v1.4. They do not know where the software is kept on their internal network. The uninstallers for the software don't work. They leave junk behind. The different versions are not compatible. As mzhu026 reported, his version of "v1.4" upgrades to different point releases than my version of "v1.4". The other version "v2", which is also incompatible with the other versions, is called a monitor driver. That is attrocious configuration management and who ever did it should be banished from developing software.

I replied to this thread only to warn others who try to install the software in your link to be sure it's the correct version. Unfortunately, because dell for some stupid reason declined to put the version number on the CD and even if they did, it wouldn't matter because they have two versions of "v1.4", there is no practical way to do that. If you try to upgrade the software any way but using the built-in mechanism, you risk irreparably 'fing up your system, the only fix being to reimage the operating system.

I appreciate your efforts to help the dell users, but unfortunately, dell has made that task practically impossible. For a company that is supposedly a market leader to offer such shoddy product is inexcusable. If dell cannot be bothered to read this forum, the only conclusion is that they don't give a d*mn about their users. If they did, they would offer a way to cleanly deinstall the existing versions of dell webcam central along with a new version that worked properly.

There are several versions.  Driver and app.

1/14/2009  7:11 PM       138056 dell_sx2210-monitor_a00-00_r207451.exe
 9/24/2009  8:55 PM       136976 dell_sx2210-monitor_a00-00_r230097.exe
 9/24/2009  8:59 PM      9871544 dell_sx2210-monitor_a00-00_r230105.exe
 9/24/2009  8:58 PM    155336704 dell_sx2210-monitor_webcam sw rc1.1_ r230103.exe
 1/14/2009  7:17 PM    125075456 dell_sx2210-monitor_webcam sw rc1.1_r207452.exe
  3/1/2010 11:26 PM       125952 dell_sx2210t-touch-monitor_a00-00_r227217.exe
  3/2/2010  3:12 AM      9860296 dell_sx2210t-touch-monitor_a00-00_r227218.exe
  3/2/2010  3:14 AM     84565528 dell_sx2210t-touch-monitor_a00-00_r227219.exe
  3/1/2010 11:40 PM       125712 dell_sx2210t-touch-monitor_a00-00_r228572.exe
  3/1/2010 11:15 PM      9860248 dell_sx2210t-touch-monitor_a00-00_r228581.exe
  3/1/2010 11:19 PM     84565360 dell_sx2210t-touch-monitor_a00-00_r228609.exe
  3/2/2010  4:28 AM      5278712 dell_sx2210t-touch-monitor_a00-00_r228642.exe
 9/13/2009  9:03 PM      6130848 dell_sx2210t-touch-monitor_a00-00_r238339.exe

I completely uninstalled the program as thoroughly as possible even cleaning the registry but when i try to install it tells me I have a newer version on my system so it won't install!  How is that even possible??  What can be done about it?  Where can I find the very latest version?  And if it happens to be the same as the version detected will it still decline to install saying I already have the latest version even though I so obviously have no version at all?

mustking,

Or maybe try reading THIS THREAD.

Rick

You aren't the only one with this problem. These applications do not uninstall cleanly. According to Dell, the only way to "uninstall" it completely is to wipe your system.

M4600,

I have been posting...

Rick,

I've explained the situation with my computer in numerous posts. The webcam on my computer worked perfectly until I made the mistake of trying to see what the anti-motion blur setting did, which was enter into a mode where the webcam no longer worked. I spent hours on the phone with Dell. They got on my computer and couldn't resolve the problems with the webcam (including conflicts from trying to install one "version" of software when there was already another "version" on the computer) despite attempting numerous times to deinstall / reinstall the software and the drivers. The only fix was to wipe the hard drive and reinstall the OS. The webcam worked after that. There were no issues with drivers. There was never anything wrong with the webcam or the drivers. The problem was the buggy webcam software. The webcam worked fine again after I reinstalled the software during the OS reinstallation. It still works. I appreciate your attempts to dress this pig up, but even if you put make-up on a pig, it's still a pig. The software has a lot of fundamental problems which Dell has decided to not resolve, not the least of which is the fact that there are several different "versions" of the software which are incompatible and for which there are no upgrade mechanisms because the software doesn't properly uninstall, thanks to the morons at Creative Labs who wrote it and thanks to Dell for letting them get away with it.

Cheers,

Daryl

If you think about this, if Dell can't be bothered to properly name the installer for the software as DELL WEBCAM CENTRAL software Vx.y.z, instead of DELL SX2210 monitor webcam software, it's not a surprise that this has happened. An SX2210 is a monitor. Why are they linking the webcam software for laptops to it? The Dell product manager who is responsible for this fiasco is incompetent.

Still under that monitor huh! why can't they list it under the systems like it should be? you can't even get to it if you select the SX2210 as your product on the support site.

thanks alot man

Let me set a few things straight.. Dell does not make webcam central, it is a creative product license to Dell for use with the creative web cams that are in most Dell systems.

If you have windows 7 Microsoft provides the driver for the webcam. Not DELL and not Creative. Windows update will break that driver and cause your webcam to vanish.

From what I have found  their is only one released version of the software for windows 7 most of the others are for Vista and they don't work for Win 7 but will install without errors.