Windows 10: Please help: my Camera/webcam changed to grayscale

I have an older Dell laptop with Windows 10 installed by a professional. All of a sudden, my internal camera/webcam is only working in grayscale, no color. It was working in color justr a few months ago. I feel like I've tried EVERYTHING the web tells me driver update, uninstall, reinstall, etc. Have gone to every possible settings location but nothing allows me to find or change color settings. I'm thinking a System Restore. My biggest concern with that is will my Itunes folders be affected? Thanks for any help, I'm exhausted trying to fix it!

:)

 

Reusing old laptop webcam as USB camera

I took the webcam from an old Compaq 620 laptop and after a few wire connections I can connect it to the USB port

For a few seconds it is detected as HP Webcam 2.0 in device manager under Cameras (which also shows the built in Webcam for this laptop), but then after a while the Device Manager window refreshes and the webcam from the old laptop goes under the node Imaging Devices and it is listed as HP Universal Camera Driver. The old laptop is broken so I cannot test it again, but if I remember correctly it's webcam used to shown as HP Webcam 2.0 as well, in device manager

However, the problem is that the external USB camera is not detected by any application. I have tested using online webcan test sites (eg, Webcam Test) and using Skype's camera settings window (it shows a preview of the selected webcam), but in both cases I can only see the built in webcam on the detected cameras list

Since the USB camera initially shows up as HP Webcam 2.0 for a few seconds initially (when auto installing drivers for the first time), if I manage to open skype's audio settings window within that period, the USB webcam does show up in the detected cameras list, but by them it will have become detected as HP Universal Camera driver and disappears from the skype camera list.

I have seen blogs and videos online of other people using their old laptop webcams as external USB webcams, so this should be possible for at least some models. Since it is consistently detected as a USB device I am supposing the connections are correct as well. I do have 4 diodes connected in series to the USB +5V line before it goes to the camera, and each diode drops about 0.5 V, so the camera is only seeing about 3 V. Since USB detection works up to the driver auto-installation point I am assuming power isn't an issue.

Is there anyway to test whether this webcam works as a USB webcam or not? Could this just be an issue of finding the correct drivers? Once this gets detected as HP Universal Camera Driver in the device manager, going to driver upgrade and auto-searching online only says the best driver is already installed. I have also tried searching for compaq 620 webcam windows 10 drivers but they don't seem to be available. Is there some kind of generic driver that should always work with any camera? Could this be a windows 10 issue? Would this work on linux? I'm not sure how to test webcams on Linux though.

EDIT:

I found possible drivers here:

HP Compaq 620 Drivers Download for Windows 10, 8.1, 7, Vista, XP

I could not find camera drivers for Windows 10 in HP's official page. This new linked page claims the camera driver is for Windows 10, and says the device name is HP Webcam [2 MP Fixed], which is what I expect, downloading the driver downloads files whose name implies camera device is manufactured by realtek. While using the webcam in my old laptop before I never recall Realtek being associated with anything to do with the webcam (this name was associated with the network card only) and looking at the PCB of the webcam itself doesn't indicate it is related to realtek in any way. Would it be risky to try and install this driver anyway? The new laptop is also an HP with the webcam being detected as Asus. I just don't want the drivers for the USB webcam to interfere with the built in one.

EDIT 2:

I installed drivers from the link above. The camera now shows up under Imaging Devices (not sure why it does not show up under Camera like the built in webcam) node as HP Webcam 2.0. It is also detected by applications such as skype (shows up in camera setup window's detected cameras list) but if I select the webcam skype just hangs up and I need to force close it from the task manager. If I disconnect the webcam the built-in webcam shows up and skype runs normally. The driver download link above comes with a webcam testing utility called "RsCap.exe". This utility also shows the usb webcam in it's list, but hangs if I select and try to preview the webcam. If I disconnect the webcam the built in webcam previews normally and is pretty fast.

I booted the computer using a USB live install of puppy linux and used the built in USB scanning tool to scan for everything connected to USB. This is what it shows regarding the usb webcam and the built in webcam.

Built in webcam:

Usb webcam:

Is there anyway to use this usb webcam?

 

Webcam not working

Hi,



Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.



This issue can occur if the camera drivers are not up-to date, your anti-virus may be blocking the camera, or camera app is not installed properly. I would suggest you to follow the troubleshooting steps mentioned in the article:
Camera does not work in Windows 10. You can also refer to the suggestion on HP article:
HP PCs - Webcam Troubleshooting (Windows 10, 8).



If you need any further assistance, please write back with the following information:

1. What happens when you are trying to access Camera app?
   
2. What is the exact error message you are getting?
   
3. What is version of Windows 10 that is installed on your device?
   
4. Are you using an external webcam? If yes, please help us with the make and model of the webcam.
   

Regards,

 

Camera not working

Hi Khem,

Corrupted or outdated drivers may be the possible cause why your camera is not working properly. To efficiently assist you, we'd like to gather more information:

• Have you made any recent changes prior to this issue?
• Are you getting any error messages? If yes, could you provide us a screenshot?
• Have you tried updating your webcam driver?
• What is the make and model of you tablet?

Meanwhile, we suggest that you follow the steps in these articles on how to troubleshoot your camera:

• Windows can't find or start the camera
• Camera app and webcams help

Let us know if you need further assistance.