itsbgilbro
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: "There is no connected camera"

Hi, I just purchased a Macbook Pro 13-inch (mid-2012) about a month and a half ago. Since, I bought it, I've had issues with the built-in Facetime HD camera working when it wants to. The built-in camera works right away once I turn on the computer, but if it's been on for more than a day, or at least on standby during the day, I'll get an error message saying "There is no connected camera" when I try to launch programs like Photo Booth or Facetime. However when I reboot the computer, I have no issues.

 

-Also, I looked in "System Information" to see if the computer was recognizing the camera on the list of USB interface, and it is.

-I upgraded to OS X 10.8 - Mountaing Lion in hopes that it would fix this issue, but it didn't.

-After careful research, I came across some posts about an "SMC" reset. I went ahead and performed one, but it didn't do anything that rebooting the computer didn't already do (make it work for a day)

 

All help is greatly appreciated. This is my first mac, and if this is a serious problem, I wanna get this computer to an apple store asap. Thanks again!

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012), OS X Mountain Lion

Posted on Jul 30, 2012 9:32 AM

by EZ Jim,Apple recommended
EZ Jim EZ Jim
Level 7 (22,547 points)
A:

jhjofcs wrote:

 

It happens to me as well, after I upgraded my Macbook Air, my camera just not work anymore. I have tired all of solutions above but none of it could help.

 

One of these will fix your camera problem:

 

(1) If restarting your Mac doesn't fix the problem,

 

(2) use Apple's http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2090.

 

(BTW - The Troubleshooting article calls the camera an "iSight".  However, after the article was published, Apple has changed the built-in camera's name on newer Macs from "iSight" to "FaceTime" and then to "FaceTime HD."  Regardless of the name of your built-in camera, the same info and troubleshooting applies.)

 

Be sure to test more than one Apple app (Photo Booth, FaceTime, iMovie, QuickTime Player, etc.) in more than one user account.  Do NOT use the "Guest" account for this test.  If you do not have more than one user account for the testing, create a new one now.  If you need help, how to do it is explained in http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201754.

 

A "Standard" user account is all you need for testing.

 

(3) If your cam won't work properly even with Apple apps, use OS X Recovery to completely reinstall your Mac OS from the Recovery System stored on your startup drive.  Don't bother testing Skype or other third-party apps until you have your camera working with Apple apps.

 

(4) If none of the above suggestions resolve your trouble, contact Apple or an Apple-Authorized Service Provider to have your Mac professionally serviced. Be sure to backup your Mac and deauthorize iTunes before tendering it for service.

 

 

Message was edited by: EZ Jim

 

Mac OSX 10.11.4

Posted on Apr 29, 2016 9:39 AM

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itsbgilbro

Q: "There is no connected camera"

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  • by itsbgilbro,

    itsbgilbro itsbgilbro Jul 31, 2012 9:32 AM in response to itsbgilbro
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 31, 2012 9:32 AM in response to itsbgilbro

    bump. Anyone?

  • by GregoryRa,

    GregoryRa GregoryRa Aug 15, 2012 10:24 AM in response to itsbgilbro
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 15, 2012 10:24 AM in response to itsbgilbro

    I've got the same problem. It always fixes itself after a reboot, then works for a few hours, maybe three. It didn't happen at all before the upgrade to ML.

     

     

     

    This is on a Mid-2012 13 inch MacBook Pro. Quite dissapointing.

  • by madams end,Helpful

    madams end madams end Aug 19, 2012 1:17 AM in response to itsbgilbro
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Aug 19, 2012 1:17 AM in response to itsbgilbro

    I have similar symptoms on a 2012 13-inch MacBook Air: "There is no connected camera", a reboot usually fixes the problems, a camera is listed in System Profiler, Skype can always see the camera while Facetime, Photo Booth can't, worked perfectly in Lion but only started after the upgrade to Mountain Lion.

     

    Going into Terminal.app and issuing

     

    sudo killall VDCAssistant

     

     

    seems to fix it. What's happened is that some process has reserved the camera for use and then didn't release it. You can also find the VDCAssistant in Activity Monitor and kill it that way.

     

    How I found this might be the cause was by searching for 'camera' in Console.app messages. I found lots of

     

     

    VDCAssistant:  Found a camera (0xfa20000005ac850a) , but was not able to start it up (0xe00002be -- (iokit/common) resource shortage)

  • by dosers,

    dosers dosers Sep 9, 2012 1:29 PM in response to itsbgilbro
    Level 2 (391 points)
    Sep 9, 2012 1:29 PM in response to itsbgilbro

    Have the same issues exactly

    MacBook Air 13, mid 2012 model.

    OS X 10.8.1. System profile always shows it, but after sleep, camera is 'not conected' (restart always fixed it).

     

    As per madam's end, I wonder if some process hangs on to it (iChat?) and thus doesn't release the VCDAssistant. This started a few weeks ago, but was not present at the beginning (and prior to 10.8, possibly 10.8.1).

     

    Has anyone called support yet or filed a bug with Apple?

  • by macphees07,

    macphees07 macphees07 Sep 24, 2012 8:17 AM in response to dosers
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 24, 2012 8:17 AM in response to dosers

    I took in my computer yesterday and they thought it was a hardware problem. They ended up replacing my air and 1:1 tranferring all my data. I got a brand new MBA and it worked at the store but when i took it home, same problem as usual. It is a software issue. How do we report this to Apple, maybe they don't know.

  • by Martin_xxx,

    Martin_xxx Martin_xxx Sep 30, 2012 8:26 AM in response to itsbgilbro
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 30, 2012 8:26 AM in response to itsbgilbro

    Resetting computer's SMC helps. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

     

    I have a late 2008 MacBook Pro updated to Mountain Lion, the issue with camera started after the update.

  • by Rudalz,

    Rudalz Rudalz Oct 19, 2012 8:41 AM in response to GregoryRa
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 19, 2012 8:41 AM in response to GregoryRa

    do you have by any chance USB external harddrive connected to your macbook?

  • by kwami,

    kwami kwami Oct 23, 2012 7:37 AM in response to madams end
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 23, 2012 7:37 AM in response to madams end

    Thanks Madams, this solved my issue. Great explanation as well, I think in my case, creating a signature in Preview is what hung the cam.

  • by AnshulDavda,

    AnshulDavda AnshulDavda Oct 26, 2012 1:53 PM in response to itsbgilbro
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 26, 2012 1:53 PM in response to itsbgilbro

    I bought my MacBook pro on July 1st, 2012 and since it came with Lion I know for a fact I never experienced this problem with that and even after upgrading to ML it was fine, I'm guessing 10.8.1 is the issue or I am experiencing this issue with delay. Whatever it is its killing me and a restart fixes it remporarily but then when I use the camera again it goes off-on a few times and then the ''There is no camera connected'' message pops up. When I tried Madam's command for killall it did not work as it said ''No matching processes were found''. If someone can help here it would be great. Apple needs to fix this.

  • by Dani3113,

    Dani3113 Dani3113 Dec 30, 2012 7:12 PM in response to itsbgilbro
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 30, 2012 7:12 PM in response to itsbgilbro

    I have the same problem wthe a Macbook 5,1 using 10.6.8 after the last abdate the cam is not anvalebal.

    Do you have a idea way?

  • by jaimeribeiro,

    jaimeribeiro jaimeribeiro Jan 18, 2013 12:25 PM in response to AnshulDavda
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jan 18, 2013 12:25 PM in response to AnshulDavda

    It happened to me to. Update SMC reset. Kill all..... nothing happened

     

    Anything else?

  • by isurftheturf,

    isurftheturf isurftheturf Jan 23, 2013 10:28 AM in response to madams end
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 23, 2013 10:28 AM in response to madams end

    Worked for me!

     

    sudo killall VDCAssistant

     

    is very good. In y case, Skype was holding up the camera.

     

    Thanks!

     

    (Late 2007 Macbook with Snow Leopard)

  • by laebeth_lavindule,

    laebeth_lavindule laebeth_lavindule Feb 24, 2013 7:29 AM in response to itsbgilbro
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 24, 2013 7:29 AM in response to itsbgilbro

    I just wanted to say the Terminal command actually worked for me, so thank you. I won't have to reboot do reset the SMC every time I want to use the camera anymore.

  • by itsbgilbro,

    itsbgilbro itsbgilbro Feb 24, 2013 4:28 PM in response to itsbgilbro
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 24, 2013 4:28 PM in response to itsbgilbro

    Minor Update since I haven't tended to this post in a while. Since posting I've received quite a few general software updates and I can't say I'm still having this issue. If anything, I'm having it LESS often. It's also too difficult to reproduce on command for me to take it to an apple store for a more detailed look.

     

    I also did an NVRAM reset out of desperation at one point, but I'm not sure that had any impact on this problem.

     

    Thanks again Madam's end for the Terminal command solution. I'll be sure to try it if I run into this problem again in the future.

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