iCam Source Keeps Freezing And Crashing

[rkivz]

I've Been Running iCam With 4 Webcams On My Windows XP With An iPhone 3GS For Almost A Year Now And I've Never Had This Issue Before. I've Been Trouble Shooting This For A Week Now With No Success. I'm Not Sure If It's A Hardware Of A Software Issue But Here's What's Going On:
 After I Upgraded To iCam Source 2.2.3, iCam Would Run Fine, Sometimes For An Hour, Sometimes For A Whole Day. But, Then It Would Stop And I'd Get A Prompt On My PC That Says "Generic USB Hub Could Not Be Recognized" Than iCam Would Crash. I'd Restart The Software But Then It Would Only Recognize 1 Camera. After A Computer Reset, iCam Would Be Back To Normal, Recognizing All 4 Cameras, Until The Next Crash. This Cycle Has Been Going On For A Week Now And When It First Started It Was Less Frequent. Now, It'll Crash Within About 10 Minutes. As I'm Viewing All Four Cameras On My iPhone, One Would Freeze, Then Another, Then iCam Source Would Either Crash Or Become Non-Responsive. A Computer Reset Would Always Correct Things, But Only Temporarily. In Each Pre-Crash Freeze, It's Not Always The Same Cameras That Freeze Up, So That's Why I'm Not Sure If It's Software Or Hardware. On 2 Occasions, 1 Of My Cameras (The Same One, Both Times In This Case) Would Distort Terribly And A Reset Of The Software Would Correct This. All 4 Cameras Are Connected Via USB Extension Cords, 2 Of Which, With Repeater Cables Because Of Their Distance For My PC. In My Trouble Shooting, I Have Unplugged And Replugged All Cameras And Update Their Drivers. I Uninstalled iCam Source And Tried To Reinstall Source 2.2.2, But It Installed As 2.2.3. Short Of Replacing Each Piece Of Hardware One By One, I'm Not Sure What Else To Try. Does This Sound Like A Problem With My USB Ports Or The Cameras Or Cables, Or Is It Possibly A Software Problem. If So, How Can I Reinstall Source 2.2.2? Please Help, I Am Out Of Ideas To Try And iCam Is My Most Used Program!
 

[SKJM Support]

Is your webcam plugged into a USB hub or extension cable? If so, please try plugging it directly into the computer.

Make sure that Windows is fully updated through Windows Update and that you have the latest drivers installed for your webcam.

Also, please make sure there aren't any other video capture programs (such as Skype) running. They might be fighting iCamSource for access to the camera.

[rkivz]

As I Stated Before, Because Of The Distance Of My Cameras From My PC, All 4 Of My Cameras Are Plugged Into Extension Cords Which Then Plug Directly Into USB Ports In My Computer, No Hubs Are Used. I Have Used iCam, With This Same Setup For Over 9 Months Now, With No Problems At All, Never A Crash Or A Freeze. I Have Updated The Drivers To All 4 Logitech QuickCam S5500 Cameras, Updated Windows When Prompted And Have No Other Video Programs Running. This Crashing Problem Occurred Around The Time I Updated To iCam Source 2.2.3 And Installed A Home Automation Program Called Z Wave Commander. Z Wave Had Been Running About A Week Before I Had Any Problems With iCam Source, So Unless I've Overlooked Something, I've Ruled That Out As The Problem. After My Last Post I Noticed That My Available Space On My C Drive Was Almost Nothing At All And Thought That Was The Problem. I've Since Freed Up Almost 8G Worth Of Space And Defragmented The Drive. After Doing That, iCam Worked Just Fine For About A Day, But Them, One By One My Cameras Would Begin To Freeze And Eventually Crash The Software. I Did Receive An "Error Code 14" Message This Last Time It Crashed (I Know It Has To Do With The Software Having Trouble Communicating With The Hardware) So Then Thought My Problem Pointed To A Hardware Issue. I Then Did A Diagnostic Test On All 4 Cameras And They Came Back Just Fine. Then, I Opened Each Camera In The "Scanners And Cameras Wizard" And Let Them Run For An Hour. None Of Them Froze Up Or Crashed. So Now I'm Just As Stumped As Before. Could It Be The 2.2.3 Update? Like I Said, I've Been Using The Same Cameras In The Same Ports For 9 Months Now Without Any Problems At All And Have Made NO Changes Other Then Windows And iCam Source Updates. To Reiterate My Problem: I Start iCam Source And All Cameras Are Running Just Fine. The "My Computer" Folder Shows All 4 Cameras That I'm Running. Then, Anywhere Between 30 Minutes To A Full Day, 1 Camera Freezes, Then Another And Finally The Software Stops Responding. I Open Up "My Computer" And The Only Cameras Listed Are The Ones That Haven't Crashed Yet. It's As If The Computer Has Lost The Detection Of Those Cameras And It's Not The Same Ones Every Time. I Do A Computer Restart And Most Of The Time, All 4 Cameras Show Back Up, If They All Don't, Then A Shut Down For About 5 Minutes Will Get Them All To Reappear. I Have Wondered If It Might Be My Motherboard Or My USB Ports Failing, But I Have An External Hard Drive And My Printer Plugged Into A USB Hub, Then Into The Last Open USB Port And Neither Of Those Has Given Me Any Problems. I Am At A Loss. I Don't Know Where To Begin Troubleshooting Next.

[SKJM Support]

Thanks for that additional information.

What is the % CPU usage of the iCamSource application after it is started in the Task Manager? What is the overall % CPU usage of the computer when the iCamSource is running?

Do you see this same behavior if you run just one camera?

Also, please try disabling motion detection to see if that has any effect.

[rkivz]

Thanks To Your Last Suggestion, I Have Now Narrowed My Crashing Problem Down To A Hardware Issue. Here's What I Did: You Suggested That I Use The Task Manager To See The CPU Usage Of iCam As It Started As Well As When It Ran. I Did Just That And After The Software Started, It Would Peak To 100% And Stay There For Several Minutes And Finally, iCam Source Would Crash. So, I Took That Troubleshooting A Little Further. I Tested The CPU Usage With Only One Camera Running And Got 25%. Then I Tested A Different Camera, Same Results Until I Got To My Last Camera. Running By Itself, It Would Peak To 100%, Stay There And Finally iCam Would Crash. As I Mention A Couple Post Back I Had Distortion From One Of My Cameras On Two Occasions, This Was The Same Camera. So, I Unplugged That One And Ran My 3 Remaining Cameras. iCam Would Peak At 100% But After About 30 Seconds Would Drop To Anywhere Between 60% And 90%. I Have Since Left Those 3 Running For The Past 2 Days And Have No Crashes Or Freezing At All. Once Again, Thanks To Your Incredible Support, It Looks Like Troubleshooting Has Led Me To A Failing Camera. Of Course I Would Like Your Opinion On This But The Evidence Does Appear To Point That Way. The Only Thing I Will Add Is That In The Process Of Unhooking The Faulty Camera, Another Camera (Both Of Which Are On 10ft Extension Cords And Equal Distance From My PC) Will Now Only Show Up In iCam Source A Black Screen. However, It Does Not Cause A Crash Or Freeze. Additionally, And I'm Not Sure If This Is Related But I've Noticed A Lag When Streaming Video On The Internet When The Only Thing Actively Running Is The Video.  I'm Hoping That Ultimately My Problem Is A Faulty Camera But At The Same Time, Wonder If It May Be My Video Card Or Motherboard. Once Again, Thank You So Much For Helping Me Troubleshoot This Problem, Your Support Is Priceless To Me. I Would Like To Know If You Think It May Be More Than The Faulty Camera Causing My Problem. Thank You Again For Your Time And Help.

PS: Did A Reset And The Camera That Showed Up With A Black Screen, Is Just Fine Now And Has Been Working In Conjunction With The Other Two With No Problems Now.

[SKJM Support]

I'm glad you got it working!

If you have any other issues or questions, please let us know.