Old Faithful Webcam

Here are some frequently asked questions about the original Old Faithful Webcam. For FAQs about the new, live streaming webcam, please go to the Old Faithful Geyser Live! FAQ page.

The Webcam is not updating. It keeps showing the same picture over and over. Why?

This occurs when the park looses FTP Internet access to the Washington D.C. Office (WASO) server. That is the server that hosts our web content and when FTP access fails, either due to Internet connectivity problems or server problems on their end, the images cannot update. The images are sent every thirty seconds to the WASO server under normal circumstances. The images will start uploading again as soon as FTP Internet access has been restored to the park via our internal Internet service called DOI Net (Department of the Interior Network) or by our server administrator at WASO.

These downtime periods can be anywhere from a few minutes to several weeks in duration depending on the nature of problem. A WASO server crash in January of 2006 brought our cameras down for nearly two weeks. When these downtime periods occur, we are unable to access any of our pages in order to post notices related to the camera failure, or anything else for that matter.

The time and temperature box on the Old Faithful Webcam is not working in my browser. Why?

The time and temperature box on the Old Faithful Webcam is a service provided by The Weather Underground online weather service. When we asked them about the problem that some of you are having regarding the disappearance that box, here is what they had to say.

Every once in the while the color goes very blue on the Old Faithful Webcam image. Why?

Every time a new prediction is posted the camera reboots. This results in a startup procedure that involves resetting colors. In the process, the image gets very blue for a few seconds. If those few seconds happens to coincide with the image being sent to the Washington D.C. server, you see a blue-tinted image on the Webcam page

There is a bright blue streak across the tops of the trees at times. Why?

The technicians call this a "tear" and it is a recognized characteristic of the Sony block camera that is used in the NetCam Megapixel camera. It occurs when a large, extremely bright portion of the image is next to a considerably darker portion. This occurs every morning on the Old Faithful Webcam since the sun rises in front of the camera and off to the right. It also occurs at other times of the day when the sky is extremely bright compared to the treetops. This problem never occurs on the Mammoth Webcam since there are no extremely bright areas in that image.

Two large, dark circles appear in the Old Faithful Webcam image every morning. Why?

This is the reflection of the lens in the window that is about an inch in front of the camera. Since the sun rises in front of the camera the reflection appears for a short period each morning while the sun is shining directly on the camera. The Stardot Technologies technicians have asked us to move the camera forward until it touches the window. Since Old Faithful is nearly a two hour drive from the Web Office, this adjustment will take the best part of a day. It is very low on our priority list but will be taken care of the next time we are at Old Faithful for any reason.

The Webcam keeps reloading the same image with the same time/date stamp. Why?

The most likely reason for this is that there is a break in communication between the Webcam and the Internet. The page will continue to reload the last image received by the server until communications are restored. Press the reload (refresh) button. If that does not work come back to visit later.

The Webcam shows a white page, a partially loaded page, or an error message. What should I do?

This is a good time to press the reload (refresh) button, in order to start the Webcam images reloading again. If that doesn't work, try visiting again later.

When I come back to the Webcam after being away, it shows an old picture. Why?

Your browser didn't update the photo because it was not the active window. When you first come back to a Webcam after being away, press the reload (refresh) button to see the latest image. That will get the ball rolling once again.

The Webcam page loads but there is no picture. Why?

If you are getting a gray or black rectangle instead of a picture it means that you are not visiting during daylight hours. There are no artificial lights in front of the Webcams.

Efforts to solve these problems will continue.