I'm using a HP Pavilion dv2000 (specifically 2620ea) Entertainment Notebook which originally came with Vista and an integrated webcam.
I decided to install Win 7 and stupidly forgot to back up my drivers first. I got everything working except the integrated webcam. I was getting the 'no webcam detected' message - despite it being in device manager and Windows telling me that I had the latest and most up to date driver.
Being me, this wouldn't do so I decided to re-install Vista in the hopes that it would re-install the neccessary webcam driver which I could then save and use (in compatibility mode) in a fresh install of Win 7.
Surprise, surprise, Vista loaded everything except the webcam and of course I have no recovery disk as when I got the computer they had stopped issueing them.
After numerous hours/days/nights/coffees and googling until I needed new glasses and trying various assorted HP applications webcam set ups, I today finally found 2 that worked for me.
These worked on my dv2000 series and may well work on the others, dv6000, dv9000 etc but I have no way of testing that.
First I started with the Vista which was currently on my notebook:
Download from HP - sp35414.exe
Right click it
Go to properties
Hit compatibility mode
Set it to run for Windows XP sp2
Below that hit run as administrator
Hit apply and ok
Then run the set up.
This worked immediately for me using Camerasoft Webcam Capture v2.0 as my Webcam program.
Armed with this new information I was sure the same thing would work like a dream on Win 7. I started again, wiped out Vista and re-installed Win 7. Everything installed except the webcam so I applied the above 'fix' and guess what! No luck.
More googling, more coffee and after a lot more trial and error and messing about came up with this:
Go to: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en&softwareitem=ob-47244-1
Download from HP - sp34746.exe
Run it (I forgot to check the compatibility mode before running it but it was set to Win Vista sp2 and run as administrator was also ticked)
On running my webcam program at this point I had nothing - just a black screen - so I exited it.
I then opened My Computer, double clicked the C drive and found the folder called swsetup.
Open it
Open sp34746
There should be a folder called WCAMC
Open it
Right click on set up
Hit compatibility mode
Set it to run for Windows XP sp2
Below that hit run as administrator
Hit apply and ok
Then run the set up.
On clicking my desktop webcam icon (Anytotal) after doing the above, this worked for me immediately running Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit and using Anytotal Webcam Recorder as my Webcam program.
These just happen to be 2 of the Webcam programs I use and I'm guessing these 'fixes' should work on others. I've got AmCam, MyCam, YouCam and many others but haven't tried them out yet. I'll stick with the one I've installed at the moment for fear of losing my webcam again. I do not wan't to start a new trial and error process all over again.
Anyway,judging by the amount of people out there on google who've been suffering similar HP webcam problems over the years, I hope either or both of the above work for you. If anybody would like to let me know how they got on or have come across another solution, you can drop me a line at {Private Information Removed}.
Cheers,
Solopunter.