The Official Computer Tech Support Thread

[Trollheart]

Originally Posted by Vanilla

Freebase, can you please help me? You are such a sexpert at all of this.

I am having trouble with getting the camera working on my relatively new computer (4 months old). It's not being picked up by ANY software and I rang Samsung who told me it's most like a software issue. They suggested I do a refresh on my computer to put it back to when I first bought it. Do you think this is a sensible idea or do you have another idea why no software will pick up my webcam that is part of the laptop?

Here's an article that may help you, Jess...
How do i get to my webcam on my samsung laptop? - Yahoo! Answers

[Scarlett O'Hara]

Originally Posted by LoathsomePete

Is your camera driver up to date? If you look up the make and model of your computer on the manufacturer's website you should be able to find and download all the drivers you need to use the hardware on your computer.

I'm not sure, and now the internet space is gone at home so I'll have to wait till the 28th to find out UGHHHHHH I hate my flatmates (except the Ukrainian's)!!

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Here's an article that may help you, Jess...
How do i get to my webcam on my samsung laptop? - Yahoo! Answers

Thanks Trollheart, I've actually already tried that, plus there is already 2 programs that I could use on my computer that don't pick it up as well as Skype and Photobucket can't see it.

[Trollheart]

Can't you take your laptop to an internet cafe? You could check there...

[Scarlett O'Hara]

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Can't you take your laptop to an internet cafe? You could check there...

Well I could but I really don't have time to take it and there isn't any cafes in my area that have the internet. I do most of MB stuff at work at the moment.

[Stephen]

I have a late 2009 MB Pro running latest OS and I would like to hook it up to my TV to play dvd media from an external hard drive. My mini DV port doesn't have audio (as far as I can tell from specs on Apple website) so if I get a mini DV to hdmi converter cable I believe I need to connect the audio separately (which I don't know if it will even work- would the tv pick up a separate audio input if it was on one of the hdmi inputs?). I believe I can AirPlay some media if I get an Apple TV but DVD doesn't have AirPlay so I would have to convert them to a format which I can play in iTunes meaning I lose the subtitles. Any suggestions about either cabling or streaming options?

[Freebase Dali]

Originally Posted by Vanilla

Freebase, can you please help me? You are such a sexpert at all of this.

I am having trouble with getting the camera working on my relatively new computer (4 months old). It's not being picked up by ANY software and I rang Samsung who told me it's most like a software issue. They suggested I do a refresh on my computer to put it back to when I first bought it. Do you think this is a sensible idea or do you have another idea why no software will pick up my webcam that is part of the laptop?

You should have software that came with the computer to set it up. If not, do what Pete said and when you get a chance, download the latest driver and peripheral software for it from the manufacturer, ensuring you're using the right bit version.

Did it ever work?
Did it just stop working at some point?
Do you see the camera listed in Device Manager?
Are you trying to use third-party software with it?

And no, I think restoring your computer to factory defaults is a highly retarded suggestion from Samsung.

[Scarlett O'Hara]

Originally Posted by Freebase Dali

You should have software that came with the computer to set it up. If not, do what Pete said and when you get a chance, download the latest driver and peripheral software for it from the manufacturer, ensuring you're using the right bit version.

Did it ever work?
Did it just stop working at some point?
Do you see the camera listed in Device Manager?
Are you trying to use third-party software with it?

And no, I think restoring your computer to factory defaults is a highly retarded suggestion from Samsung.

It did work. It just stopped working the next time I decided to use it after the first time I used it. I will check the device manager for it and I'm using the software that was part of Windows 8.

Do you think my computer freezing 1 month after purchasing it is from software I've installed or the computer's software itself?

I was pretty sure the guy from Samsung didn't give two ****s about me because he kept trying to fob me off when I kept wanting to know more.

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Vanilla

I was pretty sure the guy from Samsung didn't give two ****s about me because he kept trying to fob me off when I kept wanting to know more.

Probably because he didn't know more. A lot of primary tech support seems lost if they step outside the standard FAQ walkthroughs.

[LoathsomePete]

Originally Posted by Vanilla

I'm not sure, and now the internet space is gone at home so I'll have to wait till the 28th to find out UGHHHHHH I hate my flatmates (except the Ukrainian's)!!

Do you have a usb drive? While at work you download it and put it on that, then when you go home install it from the drive. I keep a folder full of the drivers for all my laptop's hardware so whenever I have to reformat (which is semi frequent), they're all in one place and I can immediately begin to install them.

[Freebase Dali]

Originally Posted by Vanilla

It did work. It just stopped working the next time I decided to use it after the first time I used it. I will check the device manager for it and I'm using the software that was part of Windows 8.

Do you think my computer freezing 1 month after purchasing it is from software I've installed or the computer's software itself?

I was pretty sure the guy from Samsung didn't give two ****s about me because he kept trying to fob me off when I kept wanting to know more.

Computer malfunctions can be from any number of things. I can't say with any certainty without physically checking it myself or knowing absolutely everything you've done with it. But certain things do help to point to likely causes. If it worked before, but suddenly stopped working, it's still either a hardware or a software problem. You have to figure out what you did from the point where it worked until the point where it didn't.

Obviously, you can go overboard and wipe the whole computer and reinstall everything to determine whether it's a software issue or not. If it is, you'll probably fix it. You just won't know what caused it and might do it again. The reason that's suggested so often is because it's usually quicker and easier than actually tracking down the problem, but it comes at the cost of starting from scratch. Fortunately you would be able to back up any pertinent data prior to doing this.

Another option is to use your last known good configuration, or reverting to a previous restore point. This is less drastic than a complete wipe, but there's no guarantee that it will solve the issue.

Ultimately, you can decide to do the detective work and try to figure out what changed, or you can just go back to a working restore point, or if that fails, revert back to the factory image and have to reinstall all the software you've installed since you had the PC. If I were you, I'd do the less-drastic stuff first. I just have limited information, so I can't recommend anything beyond that, besides just telling you to make sure that the computer is, indeed, seeing the camera (Device Manager), and whether the most recent drivers are installed or reinstalled. Apart from that, you can start uninstalling other 3rd party software that you've installed since the time it was working to now, and see if any of them were conflicting.

Just do the least-drastic/crazy stuff first.