M5606WA-MH99 AMD HX370 Vivobook S - no drivers for camera available

[eugenius]

There are no drivers available for the camera for the M5606WA laptop from Microsoft or from Asus.

Let me preface by saying that I LOVE this laptop - I love the CPU, screen, the speed, the form factor, the price. Even the keyboard is quite good. Had the situation below not occurred I would be praising this device across the internet. 

However, when I first received the laptop the camera worked. Then I wanted to reinstall Windows 11 from a clean installation as I normally do. The camera would not show up in the Device Manager. After installing all the drivers from the Asus support page (including the Realtek camera extension), and even installing MyAsus and going through all the updates the camera still didn't appear in the Device Manager. I was able to restore the original Asus windows image and the camera worked again. I repeated the process and even called Asus for help, and was told on the phone there are no drivers available for the camera. 

I even tried manually exporting all the drivers using PowerShell commands, and then loading them into a custom Windows 11 installation... which ALSO failed - with the camera failing to show up in the Device Manager afterwards. 

As it stands now - this laptop can ONLY work with the Windows 11 image that came with the laptop! If anyone from Asus with any ability to enact change is reading this post - I would urge you to check in on this situation, and help to remedy this issue. This laptop is definitely on sale in the EU and I would almost guarantee that not providing device drivers violates some EU law at this point. 

[Falcon_ASUS]

@eugenius 
The download section for this model does provide a camera driver (see the link below). 
Realtek Camera_Extension Version V10.0.22000.10002

To avoid any misunderstanding, I would like to confirm with you again:
So, you mean that when using our system, the camera appears in the Device Manager, but when you use your own installed system, the camera does not appear, correct?
If that is the case, could you please provide the version number of the operating system (operating system build numbers) you installed?
Thank you.

[eugenius]

Thank you for the quick reply. I hope my feedback can help fix this issue. 

To answer your second question first, and then the first - when using Windows 11 installation that came pre-installed on the laptop, the camera appears in the Device Manager, however it does not appear (there remains an "unknown device" in device manager however) after a complete wipe and reinstallation of Windows 11 even after the following:

- downloading a brand new up to date image of Windows 11 from Microsoft here  and installing (https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/software-download/windows11) I believe it was 23H2. 

- installing every driver from the Asus support page for my system (including the driver you mentioned)

- installing MyAsus and going through the automatic updates

- installing all Windows updates including the latest 24H2 (?) preview

 As I said, I even used PowerShell to pull out all drivers out of the working Asus preinstalled Windows 11 and create a custom media using DISM with the ISO I downloaded from Microsoft. Using that custom image all the other devices are correctly identified in Device Manager at the end of the installation and do not require additional driver installation, but the "Unknown Device" remains and there is no camera detected. 

I checked the driver location for the camera in the working installation, and it points to a Microsoft driver, rather than a realtek one. 

Not sure why this is so troublesome - I purchased another Vivobook 16S with the Intel chip just 3-4 months ago, and was able to reinstall Windows just fine, and the system was up and running using the drivers from the Asus support page. 

Also, FYI - if you go to the support page for Asus 5606 on the website:

https://www.asus.com/us/laptops/for-home/vivobook/asus-vivobook-s-16-oled-m5606/

And click on support - it lets you select 5606NA, 5606UA, and 5606WA - the first two lead to support pages, while selecting 5606WA just reloads back to the page above. I was only able to find the drivers after adding my laptop to the Asus account and going through the support page that way. 

I hope that helps. 

[Falcon_ASUS]

@eugenius 
I have forwarded the information to the relevant department. 
We will keep you updated and your consideration will be very much appreciated.

[Falcon_ASUS · Accepted solution]

@eugenius 
Upon confirmation, the situation you are encountering matches the following scenario:
[Notebook] Operating System Compatibility for Models Equipped with NPU
If the operating system you installed on your own is below Windows 11 24H2, you will see an Unknown device in the Device Manager, and this cannot be resolved by updating the driver.
 

According to the information, Microsoft is expected to release version 24H2 in November. 
In the short term, we recommend that you continue using the system we provided. 
Once Microsoft releases the new system version, you may consider downloading the new ISO and reinstalling the system.
Sorry for any inconvenience it may be caused.