iMac isight not working

[Paul S]

My late-2006 model iMac's isight stopped working. The story is, I bought this on 10/2006 w/ Applecare. Last Friday, 3 weeks out of warranty, the hard drive decides to crash. So I took it in and Apple said they would still replace it under warranty (awesome). I get it back yesterday, but I notice that when I open up Photobooth, iChat and other apps that use the camera and it says no camera is connected. It was working fine before I sent it in.

So upon searching, I did the whole shutting everything off and disconnecting the power cord for a little while then restarting, CTRL+ALT+P+R, but still not working. I haven't tried to reinstall Leopard, but the Applecare rep said that's not necessary since it's probably a hardware issue, not software. Also, yesterday, the 10.5 update (IIRC) was installed.

Anyway, two questions:

1) Should I reinstall Leopard anyway and see if that works?

2) I am not familiar with the internal layout of the iMacs. When they replaced the HD, would they have had to go near the isight?

Thanks in advance for any answers.

UPDATE: 11-27-09: Went back to Apple. They check it over and found that the iSight and cable were all functioning correctly. They did the PRAM reset again and now it works. I did it twice at home and didn't work. Asked them exactly what they did and it was the same procedure I followed. Weird.

 

[mrmicp]

Yeah it's too much of a coincidence that your isight was working before they took it to bit's and now its not. I've taken my 24 inch 2.33 apart a few times and to get to the hard drive you have to take the casing off which has the isight connected. I'd phone them up and explain / complain.

 

[Paul S]

Thanks. I have an appointment for Friday to take it in. The rep that answered the phone at the retail store said he didn't know. Hopefully, they will cover this.

 

[Hellhammer]

They broke it so they have to cover it, no matter are you in or our of warranty

 

[Paul S]

Yeah, I hope that is the case. The rep on the phone said that they will not cover it if the tech didn't go near the iSight, and I'm a little nervous about that since I have no way of proving that he did or didn't. They were cool about the other issue with the HD, so I'm hoping they'll come through here.

 

[Hellhammer]

Yeah, I hope that is the case. The rep on the phone said that they will not cover it if the tech didn't go near the iSight, and I'm a little nervous about that since I have no way of proving that he did or didn't. They were cool about the other issue with the HD, so I'm hoping they'll come through here.

Regarding to iFixit's HD replacement guide, they have to disconnect the iSight when tearing down the iMac so they should cover it

 

[Paul S]

Sweet! Thanks for the link. Puts my mind at ease. I'll let you guys know what happens Friday.