Skype; Webcam; Freezing Screen

[Alan-LaCala]

Having bought the webcam, downloaded skype and ensured my daughter did the same, I can now regularly talk to her and the twin grandchildren.

Great for me as it all seems to work very well. However, after a few minutes her screen "freezes" and stays like that;,the sound is fine. The little video picture I can see from my webcam is fine.

Anyone got any ideas if what the problem is and how to fix it?

Thanks.

Alan

[Enrique]

Hi Alan,
What is your Daughters up load speed
What is your upload speed
Have you the latest webcam drivers
I take it you both have the latest Skype version, 4.1.0.166.
I've see this at busy times, have you tried it off peak

There is loads of info out on the Skype community , you will need to work through and hopefully get a result.

[Beachcomber]

Enrique, my Skype version is 4.1.0.179.

[Enrique]

Hi Beachcomber,
Thanks for that...........

Alan::

Is your system overloaded when in a video call? This will cause Skype to reduce the resolution and frame rate in an attempt to reduce the load. You can check this either with Windows performance monitor, or by turning on Skype technical data (Skype / Tools / Options / Advanced / Connection / Advanced Settings and tick the "Display Technical info during calls"), and you will see the CPU load about in the middle of the window.

I've not used the above ..........but as already posted go through and check for latest webcam drivers and get latest version of Skype

Are your webcams connected directly to the computers USB or through a Hub

I take it you remembered the bit I posted from the Skype site back in September.......

Some interesting snippets from Skype site ........

"Video problems Video calls require at least 1 GHz CPU, 512MB RAM, and 256kbit/s up- and download speed. High Quality Video calls require at least 2 GHz CPU, 1GB RAM, and 300kbit/s up- and download speed."

"Video calls are only possible with two participants. Unfortunately, video conferences are not possible at the moment"

With nothing else running over link::
Please run the ping test http://www.pingtest.net/ and post results

[Campo Steve]

This is a problem that has been widely reported in the various Skype discussion forums for well over a year now. Skype have said they are working on it (they should be as many people, including myself, have sent details to them) but it seems no resolution yet. I should add that having sent Skype the info they wanted, I heard no more from them.

It is also claimed in forums that development of Skype has slowed right down since it was bought by Ebay. However, two of the original developers have settled an argument with Ebay and now have seats on the board. Skype is also up for sale. Maybe once this is sorted out they can concentrate on fixing faults.

[Enrique]

Hi Alan,
If after you check/updating any of the software in your Skype/webcam system you still have the same problem with freezing screen give MSN (now called Windows Live Messenger) a go.
They (Microsoft) forced everybody yesterday to install the latest version......if you have to go down this route make sure you untick all the boxes (bloat) in the installation.
With MSN you can us your normal email account so no need to get involved with hotmail.
I use MSN with my daughter and the webcam at both ends is/was (hoping latest version is ok) rock solid.

Lets know how you get on.

Added:: Just had a 10 minute chat/webcam session using Windows Live Messenger and it was rock solid..ok its off peak.