I'm running win98 and when I plug in a usb web cam, everything loads up normaly. It looks for the drivers..loads it up and all is well. But when I go to use the cam, windows tells me that it can't find the device. I see it in the device manager and it says it's working right but I can't use it? What went wrong?

I have had that problem before with both my webcam and digital camera. Those USB plugs are very delicate. They slip out very easily and you don't notice it is out. It only takes being out a tiny bit to have windows not detect it. It may look like it is secure but give it a little push and then try activating it again. It just may be all that is wrong.

Which brand webcam? Post your system specs, motherboard and chipset, etc. Terri's right about the connections being delicate but if the cables are okay open "Imaging", it should be under Programs/Accessories. Click File/Select Scanner and the web cam should be in the list. Can do that in Paint Shop Pro or any other program that you can scan from. If it's not listed, that usually means the drivers aren't installed or the device isn't plugged in or turned on. Remove the webcam's software and drivers, remove the .inf for the webcam from Windows/Inf/Other and remove it from Device Manager. Reboot and install the drivers or program with the webcam NOT hooked to the pc. Shut down, plug in the webcam and reboot. Windows should pick it up and finish the install now. If that won't work, the camera might be bad, try it on another pc if you can. Make sure USB is enabled in the bios. If it still won't work, it might be a problem with the usb interface which is another topic but you can check at http://www.usbman.com/ for good usb info. Let us know what happens.

I'm running an AMD K6-2 366mhz and I'm trying to install an Alaris weecam. I've un-installed the drivers, removed it from device manager, un-plugged it and re-booted. But when I plug in the cam everything loads up like it should but a window pops up telling me to select a video source. I see the cam and ckick ok but then the same window pops up 4 times asking the same thing. Finally it says the capture device cannot be opened. This happens both in win98 and ME. I thought it might be a windows thing so I formatted my hard drive a few times each time trying a different OS but I get the same problem.

For the webcam, did you in this order: 1.unplug the camera from the pc 2.remove the program 3.remove it from device manager 4.remove it from Windows\Inf\Other 5.remove all traces of it 6.reboot 7.reinstall the software WITHOUT the camera being attatched to the pc 8.reboot 9.plug the camera into the pc If you did that and it won't work, and USB is on or enabled in the bios, you have a compatability problem, bad camera, cable or software. You'll have to do the legwork on that, checking with your motherboard, camera and other hardware mfg's to see what the problem is. It might just not work on your system even if the package says it will.