Is your webcam not working on Dell Inspiron? Here's how to fix it

Video calls are part of everyday life; they allow people to see their friends and family around the world and help them work remotely if circumstances prevent them from traveling to the office. That's why many companies today are offering remote workers the opportunity to be part of their team.

In business, it's more common to use a laptop or desktop computer for video calls and conferencing than your phone. But what can you do if your webcam suddenly stops working? If you own a Dell Inspiron laptop, here are some fixes you can try.

Webcam Not Detected Issue in Inspiron Laptops

If your laptop cannot detect your webcam, there are several things you can do. It could be a driver issue, in which case you can reinstall the webcam software driver, update it, or roll back to the previous version. If it's not the driver that's causing the problem, you can try disabling the camera and re-enabling it. Also, according to Dell experts, you can try uninstalling USB Root Hub from Device Manager. Here are the steps to follow in each of these cases.

Reinstalling or updating your Dell Inspiron webcam driver

Reinstalling the webcam driver software can sometimes help get your camera working again.

1. Click the magnifying glass in the taskbar.
2. Enter Device Manager and when it appears in the search results, click to open it.
3. Go to Imaging Devices and click the arrow on the left side to reveal your camera name.
4. Double click or right click on the cam name to access the properties.
5. Open the Driver tab and select Update Driver if your driver needs to be updated.
6. If you want to uninstall the driver, after step 3, right click on the camera name and choose Uninstall device.
   
7. In a pop-up window, check the box and click Uninstall to confirm your choice.
8. After the driver is uninstalled, restart the laptop. It should reinstall the driver automatically, so check if the camera works now.

2. Dell Webcam Driver Rollback

If your camera was working before but refuses to cooperate after a driver update, you can undo the update by doing the following:

1. Launch Device Manager.
   
2. Go to "Cameras" or "Imaging Devices", then right-click on the camera and select "Properties".
   
3. Navigate to the Driver tab, and from there choose the Roll Back option. Note that this option will not be available if there have been no previous updates.
   

3. Disabling and enabling the Dell WebCam

Another troubleshooting option that might fix the camera issue is to turn off your webcam and then turn it back on, much like restarting it.

1. In "Device Manager", select " Cameras " ou "Imaging Devices" right click; click on your camera, then select “Disable. »
   
2. Confirm the action in the pop-up window by clicking " Yes. "
   
3. Repeat the first two steps, but click “Activate device. » Check if the camera is working.
   

4. Uninstall USB Root Hub

The USB root hub may impact the functionality of your camera. If other fixes don't work, try the following:

1. Go to " Device Manager, " scroll down and select “Universal serial bus controllers”.
2. Click on the small arrow on the left to see the complete list.
3. Find and right click on « Hub usb racine, » then select "Uninstall the device" from the options listed.
   
4. Confirm your choice in the pop-up dialog.
5. Repeat this for the other USB root hubs available in the section.
6. Restart the laptop and wait for the deleted drivers to be reinstalled. After that, check if your camera is working.

While in the USB Root Hubs section, try disabling them instead of uninstalling them. When you disable them all, restart your Dell computer and then return to Device Manager to re-enable the drivers.

5. Download Windows 7 webcam drivers instead of Windows 10

There may not be an appropriate driver for your Dell Inspiron webcam if you have come this far. Therefore, try downloading a Windows 7 or 8 webcam driver (Windows 7 is usually the best). Here's what to do:

1. Go to Dell official website to download the driver.
2. Open Downloads on your laptop and locate the driver, usually an .exe or .zip file.
3. Right-click the .exe file and choose Properties from the pop-up list.
4. Open the Compatibility tab and click the drop-down menu under Compatibility Mode.
5. Choose Windows 7 or 8, depending on the driver you downloaded.
6. Select Apply, then OK to save changes.

Last resort options for resolving Dell webcam issues

Of course, there are also simple and trivial solutions that you can try to solve your Dell Inspiron webcam problems, such as restarting your computer or checking if multiple applications are trying to access your camera at the same time. Dual access usually causes a conflict and therefore your webcam appears as undetected. If that doesn't help and the solutions above didn't work, you may need a replacement webcam.