impossible to find the webcam driver for vaio FW31ZJ

[Alexis.ADAM]

Hello,

The built-in "eye motion" webcam on my vaio FW31ZJ was working well,but after some manipulations the driver has been erased, and i can't manage to find it on the sony driver webpage for this model...

I'm running seven x64 and all i can find on the sonny support page are those drivers:

Intel Sata driver registry patch - 080619a  

Intel Sata driver registry patch - 080619a  

Audio driver  - 6.0.1.5886  

7UPG_Wireless LAN Driver (Intel)_32       32 bits  

7UPG_Wireless LAN Driver (Intel)_64       64

7UPG_Graphics Driver (ATI)_32       32 bits  

7UPG_Graphics Driver (ATI)_64       64 bits 

7UPG_Graphics Driver (Intel)_type1_32      

7UPG_Graphics Driver (Intel)_type1_64      

7UPG_Ethernet Driver (Marvell)_32      

7UPG_Ethernet Driver (Marvell)_64      

7UPG_Alps Bluetooth driver       32 / 64 bits  

7UPG_Audio Driver (Realtek)        32 / 64 bits  

7UPG_Audio Driver (Realtek) HDMI      

Can anyone tell me how to reinstall or where to find the driver for my webcam?

In advance thank you for your answers.

With best regards,

Alexis ADAM

[rich912]

Hi Alexis Adam,

Your model uses native Windows drivers for the webcam so there will be nothing listed on the support site.

Can you elaborate on what you mean by “after some manipulations the driver has been erased”? Is the camera listed in Device Manager? Has the camera been working after upgrading to Win 7?

You could try deleting everything listed under Universal Serial Bus Controllers (in Device Manager) and then re-booting – Windows will reinstall the controllers and possibly the camera will reappear.

Rich

[Alexis.ADAM]

Hi Rich, first thank you for your answer.

The thing is, i used a software wich did erase all usb drivers peripherals from my computer.

After this (i suppose!) my webcam was no longer working. It's not listed in the device manager and i just have an unknown device appearing.

I have tried your solution, the usb controllers reinstall after reboot but the unknown device remains...

I know something is unclear with my usb controllers....(i had to try this (...) software because my android phone was not recongnized by the system, like on any other seven computer)

I feel a littel but desperate, and if you have another solution or if someone with an FW31ZJ or this webcam can send me the coresponding driver file i would be very thankful...

WIth best regards,

Alexis ADAM

[rich912]

Hi  Alexis Adam,

Try removing the USB controllers again only this time also remove the unknown device.

Once shut down remove the power adaptor and battery then hold down the power button for 30 seconds. Re-attach the power adaptor and battery then reboot.

If this fails to work then can you please let us know the hardware ID of the unknown device? You will find this by opening System Information - Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Infomation. Expand Components and click on Problem Devices.

Rich

[Alexis.ADAM]

Hi Rich,

I tried this but it didn't work. By the way after reboot the windows time was showing "2007", looks like it was reseted to the factory settings, could this problem with the bios battery (i suppose) be related to this driver problem?

It's sad because except this two problems this computer is working perfectly...

Here is the hardware ID for the unknown device:

Not Available    USB\VID_05CA&PID_183D\5&15D77DDA&0&2    The drivers for this device are not installed.

Thanks for your support and read you soon,

Alexis ADAM

[rich912]

Hi Alexis Adam,

The hardware ID confirms that this is the camera and as stated previously this uses Windows native drivers.

The clock reverting to 2007 would suggest that the CMOS battery needs replacing but I doubt that this has any bearing on the issue at hand.

You have not said whether the camera was tested and working since upgrading to Win 7 – if not then this could be an upgrade incompatibility issue. I assume that you carried out a clean install of Win 7 as opposed to an in-place upgrade which would have retained all pre-installed software, utilities and compatible drivers.

One solution would be to return your system to factory settings using your recovery disks or the HDD recovery utility (assuming that you have not removed it); make sure that the camera is working and then upgrade using the ‘in-place’ option.

You could also attempt to update the driver for the unknown device using the ‘Have Disk’ method. I doubt that this will work but worth a try.

Click Start > Control Panel.

Double click Device Manager.

Right click the device and select Properties

Click the Driver tab.

Click Update Driver.

Click Browse my computer for driver software.

Click Let me pick from a list...

Click Have Disk....

Click Browse and navigate to C:\Windows\inf\

Click OK.

Click Next.

Click Finish.

Reboot your system if requested.

Finally you could check for and delete any ghost devices that the ‘manipulations’ may have created. Have a look at the following link for further details – note that you may need to right click CMD and select ‘Run as Administrator’ before running the command.

http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/504/how-to-uninstall-hidden-devices-drivers-and-services/

Rich

[Alexis.ADAM]

Hi Rich,

Checking my windows updates i did realize that i was missing a few of them....After this everything was working correctly.

Anyway thank your for your time and answers, that was greatly appreciated!

With best regards,

Alexis ADAM

[rich912]

Hi Alexis Adam,

It's great to hear that the problem is solved. However, I am amazed that a Windows update was the fix, unless of course a previous update caused the problem in the first place.

For future reference can you let us know the updates you downloaded that seemed to have fixed this?

Rich