Very Strange problem with ICAM

[Nexus13]

Background:

I use icam as a security camera at my work office.
I have it setup with port fowarding.  It says "connected to server" when i leave for the day.
I can always connect to it from my iphone either over wifi or 3G and see a little "live" feed of my office.
I'm using a logitech webcam pro 9000 on a windows 7 machine

Problem:

Turns out this "live" feed is not so live....  When I leave work for the day, i leave the program open on my pc, (i have no scheduling options - and both motion detect and push notifications are left on).  It works great if test it before i leave.

When I come back to work the next morning, I can watch the webcam feed on my iphone, walk into the room without setting off any motion detection, and the feed doesn't show me entering the room on my iphone.  clearly this is not a "live" feed as it isn't detecting me coming into the room.  

My computer power options are set to always on so I know its not going into standby.

Can someone please tell me what is going on?  
Does this camera have a history of going idle?  Do i need to have the logitech software open for it to work?

[OUAnthony]

I could be wrong, but it sounds like icamsource is still running appropriately (and connected), but something is going on with your webcam. The reason I say this is because I had a similar thing occur with an IP camera on my system when I powered it off. I was able to connect to icamsource from iCam, and able to view the camera that I had powered off (impossible!). It turns out that icamsource was sending iCam the most recent image (from a recorded motion event I think) from that camera. So it appeared I was viewing the camera, but I wasn't. So everything was working properly except my camera (which was powered off)...and icamsource was sending a placeholder image to hold that cameras place (which I wasn't expecting). So yeah, I think it's an issue with your webcam. Are you closing the Logitech software when you go home? If so, try leaving it running. Test it by turning out the office lights, viewing your camera feed, then turning back on the lights or something like that. Then check it again when you walk into the office in the morning. If it's not an issue with the software running, it could still be a power-related issue. USB devices can have their own power-saving features. Or maybe the camera is freezing up after a few hours? Do you keep it on 24/7? If so, I'd think it'd freeze randomly throughout the day....not just at night, every night.

[Nexus13]

Yah some good points.. I've had it connected with the front case USB ports.  TOnight i'm going to try the back (direct to mobo) usb ports and see if that makes any difference.  Going to leave on logitech's system tray software as well to see if we can get it to work tomorrow morning when i walk in.

will let you know!

[SKJM Support]

Is the webcam video still being displayed correctly in the iCamSource window on your computer?

[Nexus13]

okay so update.

last night i left the logitech plugged into the back USB ports and left the logitech software system tray icon running in the background, and same result this morning.  A still image on my webcam and on my iphone viewer.  Not a live feed.

When i look at the icamsource program, it says connected to server, but its image is also static.  Definitely looks like the camera is powering down or doing something.  Its weird though that it still retains an image of the room.

anyone have any suggestions?  I'm at a loss right now.

[Nexus13]

If I hit 'Stop' and then 'Start' again in the bottom right hand corner of the icamsource program, voila, everythign is live and running again.

[OUAnthony]

On Windows system:

Start > Control Panel > System > Device Manager > Universal Serial Bus controller

If you right-click on USB Root Hub and click properties, you should see a tab titled Power management. Make sure they all have the following box unchecked:

"Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power"

You might also look for the camera in the device manager and see if you have the same option or something similar.

If that doesn't work, it's possible that the camera is locking up. I helped someone with a batch file that you could run every hour or so. Downtime would be very brief.

[Stefan]

Do you have any other webcams that you could test with? Or perhaps try another webcam application overnight with the same webcam on the same computer to see if it loses the connection as well?

[Nexus13]

Unfortunately this is my only webcam so i have no alternatives to test.

I have made the changes to all the USB Root HUb devices with their power mnagement.  We'll see what happens overnight.  Fingers crossed. 

The other thing i was thinking of was putting a moving object like a fan to see how long it takes before it stops working.  I defintiely think its a power saving issue that's kicking in here and stopping every thing from working.

I'll let you know what happens tomorrow.

Thanks again for all the great support!

[Nexus13]

no dice

Gonna go buy a different webcam and try it out and see what happens.

This really sucks!  I've never had any problems with this webcam at all.. Infact it has been amazing for me the whole time I"ve had it.

[Nexus13]

Just wanted to let all those helpful people that I was able to resolve the problem by switching webcams to Logitech's c910 which by the way is a VERY sexy webcam.

thanks again for everyone's help!

[SKJM Support]

I'm glad you got it working!