I am the happy owner of a Dell Inspiron 1525, originally installed with Windows Vista (not very good).
In 2010 I installed Windows 7 32-bits, and the laptop worked perfectly – including the Integrated Laptop Webcam until June 2013, where the Integrated Laptop Webcam died after several Microsoft Updates.
I have tried to format the hard disc and installed Windows 7 again, and the Webcam works perfectly, until I receive 100+ updates from Microsoft, then the Webcm has malfunction again.
On 2nd January 2014 I bought a new hard disc from Dell and started from scratch to install the laptop with Windows 7 32-bits and related Dell drivers. The camera worked perfectly until I yesterday, 2 days later, received 172 updates from Microsoft. The webcam died again.
For the webcam I have installed Dell drivers R173082 and R168730.
I have tried to install the drivers in Compability Mode as Administrator in Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista SP2 and Windows 7.
Sometimes the Webcam becomes active when installing Windows XP SP3, but it dies again when the laptop is closed down or restarted.
Does anybody have a good idea or a possible alternative driver that can solve the problem?