I got a new webcam a few days ago, during an MSN conversation today I turned it on for the first time, but nothing happened! All the other person could see was a plain black screen. What happened? How can I fix this? I installed everything properly, told my firewalls to let it through... but still, the person on the other end couldn't see me... What's up with it? It's a Labtec webcam if that helps. I'd appreciate any advice/help, thanks!Edit: I know for a fact that the camera itself is working, as I can take pictures and film myself etc. It just didn't work over MSN (It's compatable too). I'm really frustrated with it
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My Webcam...
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Firewall/router
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Maybe... Can you elaborate? Lol.
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Can anyone help please?
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told my firewalls to let it throughCan you elaborate? I assume you mean you enabled the ports that MSN needs in order to send/recieve video.
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I turned them off when trying to use it.
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I hope you're not saying that you disabled the ports that MSN needs in order to send/recieve video, but that you disabled the firewall's blocking those ports.Either you missed one, or you have some really mysterious problem. MSN messenger is a Microsoft product, so you can be sure its implementation wasn't well thought out. I think for audio, it uses any (randomly) of a bunch of higher-number ports. To prove the point, either open all of the ports on your router (if there's an easy way to do it), or plug your computer directly into your cable or DSL modem, whicher you have...hopefully they're separate. If it starts working, then you know you have a router/firewall problem.
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In reply to:MSN messenger is a Microsoft product, so you can be sure its implementation wasn't well thought out lol :/
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all you have to do is allow everything to pass while using the webcam, when you're done just switch it back to filter.
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That's the same idea as just plugging your computer right into your cable modem, although you still get some securtiy from the network address translation that the router gives you. If you do it, though, don't forget to switch port filtering back on when you're done.It kind of sucks that you have to basically turn off your router's security just to use Messenger. Your computer is more vulnerable to attack while you're doing that.
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Lol, I know. Cheers for your help though Steve, and others, I'll try what you've suggested when I next use MSN.