This probably isn't a real big help... but here's what I can tell you:

I run the same OrbitMP/AbelCam/Driver 11.5 combination on an XP-Pro box here and it works fine. My cam site runs 24/7, unattended, and I haven't had any Orbit stopping issues since the hideous 10.0 series of driver releases.

Note that I said unattended. There's not much else running on the AbelCam box and 99% of the time there's no interactive user logged in. So it's not a real challenging environment.

I have minimal 2003 SBS experience - don't even have any 2003 boxes running here. I didn't realize 11.5 drivers would even install on 2003, I know when I tried to install them on Win 2000 the installer popped an alert box saying (in essense) "sorry - XP or Vista only".

So I'd suggest you look at driver compatibility first. Maybe test by falling back to an 8.x driver (see ftp.logitech.com). And of course the other thing to look at is what else is running (i.e. is some app or service periodically trying to steal ownership of the camera?).

Similar to what you are seeing on 2003? Or similar to what I'm seeing on my XP box?

That "took too long" message is AbelCam's way of saying "the driver won't answer me anymore". I have had cases here (on Win2K not XP) where locking the computer will cause this. Also seen it happen occasionally when the screen saver comes on. Pretty much anything that causes the desktop to have a "context change" will do it on Win2K - but not 100% of the time.

I have similar issues. I am running one Orbit AF on a Vista Ultimate machine, and two Orbit AF on another XP SP2 machine. MelvinG provided me with the ftp link to the older logitech drivers, which cut down on the problems, but they still showed up on ocassion. I have also tried a powered USB hub, A new PCI USB card, USB extenders, setting the captured image down to 320x240, image quality down to 50 percent, and even deleting the config files and starting fresh with the configuration.

The system which had the last problem is the XP machine with two cameras. I was ready to uninstall the drivers (again) when I noticed a tab (under my computer, manage, imaging devices, Orbit AF) which allows you to change the USB bandwidth. The default is that it "intelligently" manages the bandwidth based on the usage by other devices. I have turned that off and set the allowed bandwidth about 50% of the scale. So far playing way adding & removing cameras and letting it run for a couple of days has worked.

StevenB, I know it is VERY FRUSTRATING!!! I have been there, or maybe I am still there. Unfortunately I have spent so much time wrestling with getting and keeping the cameras running, I haven't had much time to play around with everything AbelCam can do. Right now I am leaning towards the problem being with how the logitech USB drivers interact with the computer USB bus, but that could be because it is Thursday, in the mid 30's, with no moon. Tomorrow I might guess it was something else.

This isn't a guaranteed fix-it-all, but there is alread a feature in AbelCam that detects a dead cam and tries to re-start it. Click the Self Check button on the main form, then make sure you have got Restart Failed Cameras checked (by default it is NOT checked).

This might help some, but the catch is that if the driver is having one of its "I won't talk to you" attacks AbelCam probably can't fix it.

On the subject of powered hubs - been there, done that. And yes, some of my early problems were being caused by low power on the USB wire. I found that plugging the cam directly into a powered hub (any extenders go between hub & PC, not between hub & cam) solved quite a few problems. I also learned that all powered hubs are not equal - I went through several before finding one that worked well for me (D-Link model DUB-H4).

I assure you guys that the problems can be worked out. My 8 cam system just runs and runs and runs... but it wasn't always like that! Maybe I'm just lucky, or maybe it's something to do with the lunar gravity, tidal energy, and the earth's magnetic flux at my exact location.

Melvin, I did not try using the extender (which I do have on a couple of the cameras) between the computer and the hub. Don't know why I never thought of that. I too am playing with the DUB-H4. Scoured the internet for comments and reviews of powered USB hubs and it seemed to be the only one that had constantly good comments.

Right now I am running the two orbit AFs on the XP machine with extenders and without a DUB-H4.
When I tried plugging the extenders in to the output ports of the DUB-H4 it shut off the ports.
So set aside the DUB-H4s (have two actually, one for each location) and kept looking for solutions. The cameras are still up and running after I manually reduced the USB bandwidth.

One other interesting note. On the XP machine with 2 Orbit AFs, I am seeing about 20-30% CPU for AbelCam. On the Vista Ultimate machine with one Orbit AF the CPU is 50-60% and if I add a second camera it stays at a steady 100%.