Acer Crystal Eye Unresponsive!

Greetings,

I recently bought an Acer Aspire 5720-4516 and started having some problems with it. I just fixed the Wireless connection problem thanks to a fellow member's suggestion ( the card was out of place), so now I'm going to address the camera problem.

Calling the Acer company, they gave me a bunch of useless information, albeit very politely, and led me in a wild goose chase. Not only that, but the drivers they had in their US page were slightly all over the place. But I digress, the camera was working fine for a few weeks after I bought the laptop, then just as easily, it wasn't opening up as it should. I downloaded drivers like crazy, and still nothing happens. The Acer Crystal Eye program opens and the 'booth' like setup is fine just as it was originally, but the space where the image is doesn't show up. After a few more tries of trying to access the program, it would just not load and it would tell me to search for the latest drivers once more. I would download the latest ones and still nothing.

I wonder if other people have had the same complications as me. Anyone have any suggestions? How can I check if the device is actually active in my computer, because I've tried looking for a way to tell and nothing comes up.

Many thanks to anyone who is kind enough to post!

-Visual_Universe.

Hasn't anyone had this problem before?

I would, if it were not such a hassle for me. I live in a small island, Puerto Rico, so this is going to cost me more than it normally would. This computer gave me a few problems that any old laptop repair specialist could have done away with in seconds. I had to ask around in this forum before someone gave me the correct answer. It was something extremely simple, having had trouble with my wireless connection, turns out the wireless Atheros card was loose and I had to secure it back in its place. If I had sent my laptop overseas just for someone to put the card back in its socket, I would ask for my money back.

Like I stated in the first message, I already contacted Acer and gave them the rundown of all the things I had done and they still made me do them all over again to no avail. Not only that, but they gave me the wrong drivers to install, so it's even more pointless. I'm sorry if anyone here works at Acer, but I'm speaking from personal experience as a costumer.

I've researched around and it seems that many of the people that have had similar problems with the Crystal Eye from Acer say to remove the pictures from the folder where the programs keeps them. But I have not taken any pictures other than one, and that one is long gone, for I even tried doing a factory restore that the same Acer program gives you as an option. I installed every known driver that could possibly work and then some.

My question is: How can I tell if the camera is even broken or not? Is there no troubleshooting it? Will this result in another shell-opening of my laptop or is this something more serious?

I just tried accessing:

Device Manager>Imaging devices

And I saw no such option.. Maybe it's because I'm using Windows Vista that it doesn't have the same option. How can I access that? I am using the administrator account so it's not that I don't have access to it.

When I try looking for "Imaging Devices" I can't find it, that's what I meant. As for the drivers, I have been downloading the latest versions for those and neither work.. But I guess they wouldn't work if I had them all installed and let the computer decide for itself.

I see... My camera is integrated into the top of the screen, so I'm guessing I'll have to open it up. Could you give me some instructions as to what to check inside of the shell? I'm up for the challenge, for I've dealt with internal computer problems before, though I'm no professional (as you can see). If you could give me some sort of description for what to look for..?

Help!

I haven't gotten any responses, does that mean no one has had my same problem??

Indeed, it would seem like the logical response. My problem?

I live in Puerto Rico, and money is scarce for me at this moment. I much prefer to deal with these things on my own when I have already encountered problems with Acer's costumer service. I have also read many complaints that other people have sent their laptops in repeatedly and still get the same problems. At least here, with me, the laptop shall suffer under *my* attempts and will not cost me repeated excursions to the US.

I assure you, if it does break, I will account everything to my own klutzyness, but otherwise I've had multiple rounds with different computers and seem to have gained some kind of knowledge from it. I'll do my best! Hah.

Thank you for the information given, I'll be sure to check on it and experiment carefully.

Cheers for you as well.

So, I followed the instructions to remove the shell covering the LCD screen and once I checked, the plug and camera seem to be in order, so it doesn't seem as simple as just putting back a loose part. Any idea how I can check if the camera is functioning? I suppose its obvious now that it might be, but I'm still not sure as to 'why' it happened, for I have not given this computer any rough treatment or anything that might have smashed/short-circuited the device. Give me ideas as to what to do, *asides* sending it in for repair at Acer. As for checking any local repair shops, I'll be doing that once every other resource is exhausted.

Excellent! Thank you, I'll be checking in with them asap!