Webcam problem

[gheed]

My current laptop is a Toshiba Satellite Pro A300-257. I want to sell it when I get my new Inspiron but it's had an annoying problem for a while which would put off potential buyers.

The internal webcam disconnects and reconnects when the screen is tilted, resulting in the sound being played by Windows and pop-ups about hardware connecting. It tells me that it's an internal USB connection, is there anyway I could disable the "port" completely so that it will simply not be able to detect the webcam connecting. Since I think having no webcam at all will be less of a problem than what it's like now.

 

[WR2]

Hello gheed;

That 'internal USB connection' might be a problem since if you shut down the USB bus you're going to be shutting down more than just the webcam, I do believe.

Can you disable (right mouse click, Disable) just the webcam through Device Manager?
You'd want to leave a note for the new owner how to do that, incase of OS re-install, etc. (look under Sound, video and game controllers).

 

[gheed]

I've already tried disabling the device and uninstalling drivers. But when it disconnects and then reconnects, it's still detected.

 

[WR2]

That almost sounds like a mechanical problem then - physical disconnection from the USB bus.

 

[gheed]

Okay I have some sort of solution to the annoying side of it. I went through all the USB controllers to find out which one the webcam was connected to and disabled it. The pop-up stopped but the "failed to connect" sound played when I moved the screen, so I disabled this sound on the control panel.

I guess it's a way to hide the problem.