Dell Inspiron 1545 Webcam Problem now works for Me after this solution...
Hopefully this solution may work for some that have had their cameras fail on them with an Inspiron 1545. I've noticed many posts across the net with this problem since 2009 and I only found one last solution in one post that I tried which worked for me.
I did some tech support on a friend's 1545 after it was upgraded from Vista 32 to Windows 7. As with many others, the webcam was no longer working. The attempt to download and install various drivers from Dells Support site gave me the same install errors many had. I honestly don't know if any of those drivers actually made it into a proper install, but the bottom line was that it still was not even detecting the camera.
As much as most comments that I've read kept asking about the Windows 7 drivers, I kept wondering why the hardware wasn't even being detected at all. Whether there is a proper driver or no driver installed, we should at least still see that there is the hardware under Device Manager, but there wasn't any detection of the camera which no rarely was commented on.
I actually did see one post recently that someone attempted to open up the LCD screen and fiddle with the camera which worked for them. So I did the same.
Look online for any YouTube video on how to open up the screen. It's pretty simple with just a screwdriver, but work slowly when removing the plastic frame around the screen. You actually don't need to remove the whole black frame, but just pull the top off a bit after unscrewing the top screws. There is a small cable you will see near the camera that you can lightly pull off if you have small fingers or use a flathead screwdriver.
I did all this with just the battery plugged in and not the powerbar. I powered up the laptop for about 5 seconds and then turned it off again. Whether this step needs to be done or not, I'm not sure, but it worked for me. I then inserted the camera cable back into the slot, screwed back up the black plastic frame and booted up Windows 7 again. Right away it detected new hardware and installed it smoothly. I checked Device Manager and saw it there under Imaging devices.
Funny thing is that the Driver for it isn't even Dell's. It's a Microsoft Integrated Webcam driver with a date of 21/06/2006 which I'm sure was automatically installed through Windows 7. I tested it out only with SKYPE and it works fine now.
What I also did do even though I didn't need to update the Driver was go back and install the Vista driver from Creative Technology. That worked as well, although I was also fine with the Microsoft driver.
I hope this might help some people resolve this issue or even save time that I was wasting trying to figure this out. Hopefully you are comfortable physically opening up your laptop screen.
Good luck.
