Webcams

[Heresiarch]

I've had a Quickcam Communicate STX for a while, and it was working properly until I recently upgraded to Windows 7 x64.

Since then, whenever I use the Logtech drivers (instead of Microsoft's UVC drivers) I receive pretty consistant bluescreens pointing at "lvrs64.sys", which is part of the Logitech drivers. This happens whether I'm using Windows Live, Skype, or any other software which uses the camera.

If I use the generic UVC drivers from Windows Update, there are no crashes and the video works fine, but the mic doesn't work properly in some applications. If I use the Logtech drivers ("Logitech Webcam Software with Vid", v1.1, dated 10/27/2009), the microphone works fine but I get these crashes very consistently but completely at random. I have been unable to find any activity that specifically causes this to occur.

This happens whether or not I'm connected directly to a USB port or if it's going through a hub.

This is a screencap of the analysis one of those crashes from bluscreenview, which is very handy for this sort of thing. I have a few other crashes, but they are basically identical. The first parameter is always the same, the second, third, and fouth vary a bit. I can provide the original dump files or more bluscreenview output if needed.

Theoretically I could install the Logitech drivers and then revert just the webcam device and not the microphone device to an older driver, but I don't know if that will actually work reliably. I would obviously prefer to find a solution to this.

[KachiWachi Distinguished Logi Legend]

Welcome to the Logitech Community Webcam Forum Heresiarch!


What is the 860-xxxxxx (or 8xxxxx) series number from the camera's identification tag (FAQ #3427), or preferably... the USB\VID ID?



Thanks.

[Heresiarch]

This is a refurb and is missing its ID tag, but it is visually identical to the "V-UBK45" on the "identify webcam" page, and shows up as a "Logitech QuickCam Communicate STX" in the Device Manager.

The USB ID is "USB\VID_046D&PID_08D7&REV_0100" as cut-and-pasted from the Device Manager entry for the composite USB device. All three devices (the composite device, the camera, and the mic) by default use a driver automatically downloaded from Windows Update, which shows up as v11.80.1048.0 and is dated 7/26/2008. This is the driver that does not crash, but the microphone device has severe quality issues with this driver.

Installing the software from the "lws110_x64.exe" download package (which is labeled v1.10.1113.0 when I look at the details for the file) updates the driver for all three devices to v12.0.1278.0 dated 4/30/2009. This is the driver that has the crash problems.

[Heresiarch]

Some further research shows that "lvrs64.sys" is labeled "Logitech Kernel Audio Improvement Filter", which 1) explains why my mic works better with these drivers (when it doesn't crash the system), and 2) also explains why it's able to bluescreen the machine. It also means that reverting to the old drivers won't help because the old drivers aren't usable.

What's odd, though, is that these crashes only occur when I have the camera going. When I use the mic inside games with voice chat, there's no problems and I've never had a crash while doing that.

[KachiWachi Distinguished Logi Legend]

Does this issue occur when the camera microphone is installed in Universal Audio Architecture (UAA) Class Mode?



Thanks.

[Heresiarch]

I've don't know if I've ever run it in that mode; Windows 7 has always grabbed Logitech-branded drivers from Windows Update, which I thought (apparently incorrectly based on your questions) were UVC/UAA drivers.

I'm going to do a clean install and see if I can get Windows to use the device without grabbing anything from Windows update. I assume that generic UVC/UAA drivers will not be branded, and that the mic will show up as a generic "USB Audio Device"?

If I succeed at this, I'll run tests to see if 1) the mic works properly, and 2) it ceases crashing. This does seem like a bit of a waste, since I know that the RightSound functionality is implemented in software and not hardware, and using UAA drivers instead will remove one of the reasons I bought the camera in the first place.

[edit] I've uninstalled all of the Logitech drivers (both via the Uninstall control panel and by manually removing all three USB devices from  Device Manager and checking "delete drivers"), rebooted, and disabled the downloading of drivers from Windows Update via the Device Installation Settings in the advanced system properties. After reconnecting the camera and letting Windows install drivers without hitting Windows Update, it is now showing up in Device Manager as a generic USB Composite Device, a generic USB Audio Device, and an unknown USB device for the camera. Apparently this camera is not UVC-compatible? It's listed here as a non-UVC device.

I can test the mic like this, but without video this is obviously not going to be very useful.

[KachiWachi Distinguished Logi Legend]

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Heresiarch sez -

I can test the mic like this, but without video this is obviously not going to be very useful.

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OK.


Please report back in with your progress and updated status when you can.



Thanks.

[Heresiarch]

Current setup: I installed the v1.1 x64 drivers (most current on the site), and then I went and did the "choose what driver to install" thing to switch the microphone back to a generic "USB Audio Device".

This worked for about eight hours in Skype without a crash, which it wasn't able to do before. Audio quality in Skype is acceptable although there are background noise issues occasionally.

In TF2 (the game I use voice chat in most often), I'm getting mixed results. I have to turn off AGC in the microphone settings or it gets distorted, and some players are complaining of static, but most of the time it seems to be okay. I'm going to run some further tests with a controlled group later. This worked perfectly without effort with the Logitech drivers for the mic.

So technically, it's working now. I don't really consider this a full solution since without the actual Logitech drivers, I don't get the background noise filter and other improvements. But it means the hardware is okay, at least, and I have basic functionality.

Is the STX on the "no further drivers" list? Because this looks like a driver problem, and I can't install anything from any later webcam software packages, even if the drivers for the mic are the same.

[KachiWachi Distinguished Logi Legend]

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Heresiarch asks -

Is the STX on the "no further drivers" list?

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Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, the answer to this question is "yes".



Thanks.

[Heresiarch]

Oh well. At least there's a workaround. With some luck this will go away with my next major upgrade.