Help!! MBA and iSight

[Pine-Tree]

Hi all,

I looked at the forums for a similar problem I'm having and couldn't find any so decided to make a new thread.

My problem is that for some reason my MBA doesn't recognize the iSight anymore. Photo Booth and iChat both say that there's no camera and I don't know what caused it to not recognize the iSight anymore.

Maybe it was after upgrading to 10.5.2? I tried looking at system preferences and such to have it turned back on, but nothing. Perhaps my iSight just died on me and doesn't work anymore? Any of you have the same problem? How do I get my MBA to see the built in iSight again?

Thanks in advance

Abraham

 

[rom]

Sometimes we just tend to ignore that our Macs need to be turned off every so often. Try turning it off and then turning it back on and see if the iSight would work. If it does not, run Apple's Hardware Test and see if it will be detected.

If HWTest detects nothing - try creating another account and use it. See if iSight appears.

 

[Pine-Tree]

Sometimes we just tend to ignore that our Macs need to be turned off every so often. Try turning it off and then turning it back on and see if the iSight would work. If it does not, run Apple's Hardware Test and see if it will be detected.

If HWTest detects nothing - try creating another account and use it. See if iSight appears.

Thanks, I tried everything you said and still my iSight is not recognized by my MBA. I have no idea why, it's like it just stopped working or something. I looked in System Profiler and it says it's there, but for some odd reason I can't get it to work or turn on at all. Photo Booth and iChat still say there's no camera at all.

Anyone know of other ways to get the iSight working again? Maybe it just malfunctioned and doesn't work anymore, or maybe I'll have to do a complete reinstall of OSX, but I really don't want to do that.

The other option would be to just take it to an Apple store and maybe getting it replaced if they can't fix it. But can I take it in even if I bought it at Best Buy?

 

[mtk75]

Thanks, I tried everything you said and still my iSight is not recognized by my MBA. I have no idea why, it's like it just stopped working or something. I looked in System Profiler and it says it's there, but for some odd reason I can't get it to work or turn on at all. Photo Booth and iChat still say there's no camera at all.

Anyone know of other ways to get the iSight working again? Maybe it just malfunctioned and doesn't work anymore, or maybe I'll have to do a complete reinstall of OSX, but I really don't want to do that.

The other option would be to just take it to an Apple store and maybe getting it replaced if they can't fix it. But can I take it in even if I bought it at Best Buy?

Saw this thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/458045/

You might want to see if those things help. (I don't know how to do them, or I'd give instructions, too... )

-Matt

 

[Le Big Mac]

Look for some help docs on the apple site. S-I-L lost her isight on a macbook last summer. There were two or three steps including "zapping PRAM" if i recall and it was working again. Chances are decent the issue is the same, but if not--apple store.

 

[robby818]

This is a very common problem across model lines, happened on my AL imac..i get black video but with sound. Reinstalling OS didn't fix it, and I think I tried resetting the PRAM...still have not gotten it working. I think one of the updates killed it as well.

 

[burdendds]

This has happened to me on several Macbooks and a SMC reset has fixed it everytime...

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303319

 

[Pine-Tree]

Thanks for all the responses, really appreciate it.

I've tried to do an SMC reset, but how do you know that you've done it successfully?? I followed the instructions exactly but there's no sound or something that tells me that the SMC has been reset. It just boots normally, so I must have done this like 3-4 times trying to make sure I did it correctly.

Well even if I did reset the SMC correctly, the iSight is still not showing up so I tried to do that PRAM reset thing. I'm pretty sure I did do that correctly because it did reset twice which is what the instructions said would happen. I was hoping it would work when I booted back in but unfortunately nothing has changed.

So the PRAM has been reset, not 100% sure about the SMC. Either way I'm thinking I've tried all options, and I'm going to have to take it in to an Apple store, which brings up my original question of if it's fine to take it in even if I bought it at Best Buy??

Thanks

 

[Pine-Tree]

Update: So I was doing the SMC reset thing wrong all along! Talked to an Apple technician on the phone, and now the iSight is functional again. I guess the instructions on doing an SMC reset aren't clear on the website. Which is why I never really reset it the first time I tried. So if you want to know how to here are better instructions.

1) Turn off your MBA and have it plugged in to a power source.

2) On the LEFT side of your keyboard hold down Shift/control/option, and hit the power button ONCE. Let go of the keys.

3) Next, wait 5 seconds and then press and HOLD down the power button until you hear a loud noise indicating that you reset the SMC and it should boot up normally. You can let go of the power button after the noise.

That's it, thanks again everyone who tried to help me with my problem.