VGN-SZ4XWN/C Camera Capture failing to initialize

[twofour]

Help! I have a new Vaio and the in-built camera was working earlier but not now. I've tried shutting down and re-starting but no good. When I open the camera capture facility it says 'An attempt to initialize the camera failed' And 'Please check if other software is using the camera' which it isn't. I've checked device manager and that says the camera is working. Any ideas?

[Davidjlott]

Hi, Twofour,
Sadly, you are not alone - in another thread, a Vaio expert said that this is a known problem, and Sony are trying to make a patch that will fix it. I have found that (sometimes)closing Skype and any other webcam program will allow the Capture Utility to work, but it always seems to end up with the same message.
We will have to wait for Sony to get the new patch.
Frustrating, isn't it?
David

[twofour]

Frustrating? Disgraceful I'd say but thank for sharing it with me. At least I'm not alone!

[benjamin.lereverend]

Hey, I have the same problem with a SZ4MN/B so is it a Vista fault ???
Like the OS can't release the task or anything like that ?

Ben

[Blencogo]

Hi Ben and welcome,

Have you downloaded and installed the latest Vaio Camera Capture Utility Version : 2.2.01.04100 from HERE

You also need to download and install Microsoft HOTFIX KB931812

[pauhunte8]

Okay I've done all of that and it still doesn't work.
I have the KB and the 2.2.01.04100 installed.

Interestingly when I click on the 'Video' button the camera works but then when I click on the 'Still' button I get the "failed to initialize" message.

What the hell is going on with this sony crappy software?

[pauhunte8]

And why is it that when I hit the 'Settings' button and look at the 'Version Info' tab it says:

2.2.01.04030

but when I go to 'Uninstall Programs' in the control panel it says:

2.2.01.04100

And then when I right-click on the VAIOCameraCaptureUtility.exe it says:

2.2.01.4030

I've tried uninstalling, reinstalling the default that came with the laptop and then the latest update but it makes no difference.

[pauhunte8]

For all those people that are still struggling ...

The ONLY way I eventually got this software to work was to disable UAC.

So clearly there are still some issues with the way the software interacts with Vista.

[dazwan]

that happened to me and i cudnt take pictures, just videos, even the 2.2 driver doesnt work, so i just reinstalled the OS using the F10 at startup and its working fine now