GetImage only works when dashboard running?

[EnigmaSolution]

(This is a cross-post from the official usfirst forum, due to low traffic there. I came here soon after I realized that the First forums have low traffic, but unfortunately only after.)

As the title says, I'm having trouble with the vision part of WPILibrary. When I try to get an image from the camera, it times out unless the dashboard is running, receiving camera data.

Has anyone else had this problem? I'm using the GetImage function in the advanced robot framework with nothing but an indicator wired up via a branch inside the loop, and the fact that it works fine when the dashboard is active indicates that it isn't my setup, but something with the robot's interaction with the dashboard that is the culprit.

During competition we can't have the dashboard open, so this is a real problem.

Thanks for any input.