USB Webcam Disables Ethernet

Community Support
1

I’m having a strange issue when running Microsoft Teams, and turning on video from a USB Webcam. When I do that, the USB Ethernet adapter dies (no more traffic in or out) and the Wi-Fi starts to have problems. I have to reboot to get the ethernet adapter working again.

This happened on both Windows 10 and 11. I’ve used two different USB docs (one USB-C and one USB-A) that provide Ethernet. I’ve updated drivers, reinstalled Microsoft Teams, updated the BIOS. It just seems to persist. I can use the webcam in other applications, like Slack, but Microsoft Teams just kills it.

It’s livable, to be honest, as I now have a legitimate excuse to not turn my camera on during company meetings. But I would like to solve the mystery somehow.

Any advice?

2

Hi Nat and welcome to the forum!

It would probably be helpful if you could disclose the makes and models of the accessories you’re using, maybe someone else is using a similar device.

One suggestion would be to try whether the same issue occurs with a different webcam model. And it would be very interesting to find out if it would work with Teams when you route the webcam’s signal through something like OBS Studio.

3

To me it sounds like a driver issue, and if I had to guess I would say it is the USB webcam’s driver that is the culprit.

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