Webcam icon blue light not enabled on windows 10 and preview greyed out. [ New ]

[romfordbluenose]

Hi I've just bought a Hero 9 Black and have trying to get it working as a Webcam on my Windows 10 laptop. Both the latest firmware on both the camera and the laptop have been installed. The USB drivers are also upto date and working fine.

When I try it out on my wife's MAC I get a blue light on the webcam icon and preview works fine and can be used fine as a webcam.

On my windows 10 desktop webcam also works fine too.

On my laptop, the webcam icon is there, when connecting the camera, the camera says USB connected but on the laptop there is no blue light and preview is greyed out and it can't complete the connection. I use the same cable as on the Mac and the Windows desktop.

On the laptop then camera when in MTP mode can be seen and I can access the files on the SD card fine so the camera can have a basic connection to the laptop. When I switch it to GoPro connect as I said it cannot be seen correclty as above. This would appear to me to be a conflict between the camera and laptop which is not there on the desktop or MAC.

Any ideas anyone?? I have followed the same process on all three computers and it is only the laptop which doesn't work. All usb ports on the laptop work fine with any other usb devices and as I said in MTP mode all is well.

[mariustanya]

Hello, @romfordbluenose. Have you tried launching a platform that uses webcams to see if the GoPro is being detected as a source? Is the Windows OS on the laptop updated? 

[romfordbluenose]

The laptop I am using has the same (latest) version of windows 10 as the pc which works fine. The laptop USB drivers are also up to date.. The laptop can also use other USB connected webcams OK. I can download files off the camera via USB in MTP mode on both the PC and the laptop.

I have also tested the camera on a MAC and it works fine.

So it must be a hole in the interface on my USB3 laptop and the camera and I can't work out what it is.

Both the PC and Laptop are from Dell bought at about the same time so they should be compatible as far as USB is concerned.

The laptop recognises that the GoPro webcam is connected so I can selct it, it's just there is no blue light on the gopro webcam icon and preview is greyed out. This means I just get a GOPro default screen rather than the video.

There must be something which is not quite connecting correctly using USB on the Laptop. I have read all the "no blue light" posts and there is no technical solution offered 

GoPro has not released it's USB spec for use as a webcam so I can't check the technical spec. to see what's missing.

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@mariustanya wrote:

Hello, @romfordbluenose. Have you tried launching a platform that uses webcams to see if the GoPro is being detected as a source? Is the Windows OS on the laptop updated? 

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[aragon1006]

Hi @romfordbluenose

Given that the camera works with other devices, this can be related to the settings of your laptop.

Please run any available OS updates and make sure to have the latest update for your Graphics Card/s drivers installed.

You may also check GoPro Webcam FAQ and Troubleshooting

Thanks!

Ej

[romfordbluenose]

Hi Ej. I have updated the graphics driver and all oter drivers are upto date. Also the OS is upto date as well. I still get "no blue light" when connected.  Any other ideas? The laptop itself works fine for everything else.

[aragon1006]

Hi @romfordbluenose

I am also using a Dell laptop running on Windows 10 and the webcam app works fine.

Can you try the camera without the battery?

Does your laptop have multiple graphics cards? See if running the app using the integrated graphics will help.

If it's still the same, you may need to reach out to the laptop manufacturer to further check on the settings.

Thanks!

Ej

[romfordbluenose]

Hi Ej. I had already tried without the battery in and it makes no different. I am sure it is some setting on the laptop or an incosistency between the laptop and the camera. I am sure someone will also have this problem so I am trying to fin out if anyone has solved this and what they did.

The laptop does knows the gopro is connected (as does zoom etc.) but no blue light. I am assuming that the blue light is the key to getting the preview available and also the webcam to transmit video to zoom etc.

I have checked graphics setings and can't find anything there as well.

So any more ideas appreciated.

[aragon1006]

Hi @romfordbluenose

If you do a right-click on the camera icon then click Graphic Processor, are you given an option to switch processors?

We'll have this checked with the team.

We'll post back once we have an update.

Thanks!

Ej

[romfordbluenose]

The only graphics controller is Intel (HD) grahics family. The laptop has an onboard Intel (HD) Graphics 4400 controller. I have had a look at the settings for the controller and can't find anything which affects the situation.

Thanks.  Ray