Dual-boot: webcam working in Win7 but Precise can't even see it

[t0p]

I bought myself a shiny new laptop the other week, a Hewlett Packard EasyNoye TS (yeah yeah, I know it isn't the best comp on the block, but finances are strained, plus it seemed to be Intel hardware which I thought was the safest bet with Ubuntu.

This laptop has a webcam. Windows 7 knows all about - Device Manager says it's 1.3 MB HDcamera, Device type "Imaging Device", Manufacturer Microsoft, Location 0000.001a.0000.001.003.000.000.000.0000, Details "USB Video Device".

But in Ubuntu I can't even find the camera, never mind fix it. Windows 7 Device Manager called it a "USBdevice is Video Device", so I ran lsusb and got this:

t0p@mars:~$ lsusb         
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 04f2:b21b Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd 
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0fce:d039 Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB K800i (phone mode)

The "Sony Ericsson" device listed is the 3G phone I often use tethered for internet access. Chicony make various peripherals, inclusing cams, so I'm guessing

Bus 001 Device 003: ID 04f2:b21b Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd

is the webcam. So, how do I make it work? It's okay in Windows; but I was checking out the circles thing in Google, trying out the video, and she got nothing. I checked the BIOS system, but there was nothing there about enabling/disabling anything, least of all the webcam. And I can't see anythin under " System Settings".

So how do I get the flaming thing to work in Ubuntu? Cheers.

[cariboo]

Bus 001 Device 003: ID 04f2:b21b Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd

Is your web cam, and it should be well supported, try installing cheese to check if it works.

[t0p]

Thanks for the "cheese" advice, now I know for sure that the camera *does* work in Precise.

But now I gotta figure out how to activate it when I'm having conversation with someone in a Google (or is Google+?) "circles" chat...

[teledyn]

Thanks for the "cheese" advice, now I know for sure that the camera *does* work in Precise.

But now I gotta figure out how to activate it when I'm having conversation with someone in a Google (or is Google+?) "circles" chat...

You can also verify your webcams with www.testwebcam.com, which will show if the Flash can access the camera, but even if it works there, it may still be ignored by Google Chat -- the google chat help page (http://support.google.com/chat/bin/s...843&page=ts.cs) claims that the "USB Video Device" means it is using a generic video driver (in Windows anyway) and that this driver lacks whatever it is that Google demands of the video feed.

so I think we're just out of luck unless someone on the kernel driver team notices the deficiency and somehow implements whatever it is in a future update of this generic driver

[no2498]

make sure windows has closed all the programs for the cam in ( msconfig )
turn them off and reboot
ubuntu only uses 1 program at a time for the cams that iv seen