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User profile for user: amedumonde
amedumonde Author
User level: Level 1
14 points

Built-in Camera Not Working and Blinking

Hi guys,


MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015), MacOS Catalina 10.15.4 (19E266).


A few days ago I downloaded Zoom the video-conference app. The camera was not working in it but I did not pay much attention because it happened before - the camera was blinking green for quite a long time, and then usually worked in other apps. This time it didn't though.

After 10+ hours of reading different threads, articles and FAQs I pretty much did everything there is to do to make camera work - from sudo killall VDCAssistant to reset SMC - until I remembered that I forgot to uninstall Zoom. Once I did, camera started working like magic instantly in all apps.

Of course, if I were smarter, this would be the moment to not deal with Zoom any more, but I just had to download it again to see what the problem was. And this time the camera worked. But just for one video-session. When I quit Zoom, it stopped working again in all apps.

I tried to uninstall Zoom but this time it didn't help. What helped - was installing it again, and I had a video-conference. After that, the camera stopped working again.

I tried the uninstall-reinstall sequence a few more times, along with uninstalling some other apps like Skype. Tried killall and reseting SMC. But nothing seems to be working.

When I open the monitor, there is no activity related to the camera - no VDCAssistant where it's supposed to be, and nothing in the plugins folder.

Therefore, the issue is fully software-related and it's not about hardware. I tried running in safemode: while in the regular mode, FaceTime, for example, says that there is no signal incoming, in safemode it doesn't find the camera at all.

I also have to clarify that I updated my OS to Catalina 10.15.4 two day ago after the problem started (thought it would help), so it is not the latest system update. I also contacted Zoom support, haven't heard from them yet, but judging by their response to other similar queries, they will say that since the issue prevails in all apps, this is not their problem.

I would really appreciate any advice on this very urgently, as we are all stuck on this quarantine and still have to work from home, basically meaning that 90% of my working time is video conferences. The camera doesn't work anywhere - facetime, imovie, skype, Facebook messenger, Hangouts, Zoom, even Preview which I used to add signatures via camera.

Thank you in advice!

MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.15

Posted on Mar 26, 2020 8:05 AM

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17 replies
User profile for user: iJAWs
iJAWs
User level: Community Specialist

Mar 27, 2020 10:45 AM in response to amedumonde

Hello amedumonde,


It sounds like the camera is no longer working on your MacBook Pro. You've taken some great steps to isolate the issue and troubleshoot it, and I'd like to give you some additional steps to try.


While it is very possible for a specific application to cause issues on a computer, it also may be a possible there was an issue with the camera that just happened to appear when Zoom was installed. This can be likely since the issue is still present even after completely removing Zoom. Next try testing out Photo Booth while logged into a brand-new user account: How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac. This step will help determine if this is an issue with just your user account or something that is happening system-wide. After you've done that, run diagnostics on your Mac to see if there is a hardware issue reported with your camera: How to use Apple Diagnostics on your Mac.


If the issue is still present in a new user account and Apple Diagnostics isn't reporting any hardware issues, reinstalling macOS may be the best next step. This step should not remove any of your data from your Mac as long as you don't choose the option to erase your disk. However, I still recommend backing up your Mac first. Here are a couple of links that will explain how to back up and how to reinstall:



Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.


Take care.





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User profile for user: Giu53pp3
Giu53pp3
User level: Level 1
13 points

Apr 13, 2020 3:42 PM in response to amedumonde

Hi, I am getting the same error since yesterday. 2 days ago the camera worked fine, the day after it stopped working showing this error text (after 3/4 seconds of green light on, the one beside the camera):

"FaceTime has not received any video from the connected camera. Restarting your computer may fix this issue."





The Camera seems to be correctly setup:




I called the Apple support team and followed several ways to resolve it without success""


  • Run diagnostics -> the camera seems to be correctly setup
  • Cancel the PRAM -> Same issue
  • Trying in the safe mode boot -> Same issue
  • Create a new user profile -> Same issue
  • Terminal, “sudo killall VDCAssistant” -> Same issue
  • Reinstall Catalina -> Same issue


It is really disappointing and, in this period, really frustrating. I owned several Apple/MS based laptops and never experienced an issue like this. Basically it looks like the camera is correctly setup but is not working.


Now I have 2 ways:

  1. Contact an approved service provider and try to arrange with them a solution.
  2. Ask Apple to collect the laptop and let them investigate the issue.


Unfortunately, after having spent 2K+ to have the best laptop I could buy now both the above solutions will cost me something. :(


Is someone else experienced the same issue, and confirm how much it would cost to have this resolved?


Thank you,

Giuseppe

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User profile for user: amedumonde
amedumonde Author
User level: Level 1
14 points

May 6, 2020 11:33 AM in response to amedumonde

Well, it was good while it lasted.

Not working today again :(

went to Console, seems like there is a problem with AVconference framework, also something else, CMIO_DAL_PlugIn and other stuff that I don't understand (despite going on a 3h deep dive into github where I found threads related to such errors but no answers).

Here are the screenshots.

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User profile for user: prdswang
prdswang
User level: Level 1
4 points

Mar 28, 2020 11:07 PM in response to amedumonde

This happened to me this past week since I had to use zoom also, but my camera hasn't really worked prior to this. I have the exact issue, camera shows a black screen while the green led light blinks. I have tried everything from sudo kill, reinstalling macOS, safe mode, uninstalling zoom, Apple diagnostics and nothing! It's really frustrating, since I bought this MacBook about a year and a half ago and the camera has been working fine! I am also running on Mac OS Catalina, which I don't know why but I feel like this issue is due to that. Please let me know if you fixed it!

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User profile for user: amedumonde
amedumonde Author
User level: Level 1
14 points

Mar 31, 2020 10:37 AM in response to iJAWs

Thank you for all your advice, but I've already tried all that with no success. Diagnostics did not show any problems. I now think it is not Zoom-related but it certainly is software related - the camera now randomly works sometimes when I turn on some video app and most of the time it doesn't. Still trying to find a pattern with no success :( unfortunately I cannot take it to the local service, all closed due to quarantine :(

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User profile for user: amedumonde
amedumonde Author
User level: Level 1
14 points

Apr 10, 2020 2:39 AM in response to amedumonde

Update: The camera randomly started working again today. I didn't do anything. There were some automatic updates at night. I see in the logs that it was macOS Catalina 10.15.4 Supplemental Update, and MRTConfigData was updated - so either the problem indeed was with Catalina or, perhaps, it was some kind of malware? Too early to say now - maybe it's temporary.

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User profile for user: amedumonde
amedumonde Author
User level: Level 1
14 points

Apr 12, 2020 3:45 PM in response to amedumonde

aaaaand not working again. There was some system update at night again.

Here is my attempt to run facetime today:

12 Apr 2020, 11:26:16 syslogd[122]: ASL Sender Statistics

12 Apr 2020, 11:29:30 com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 10 seconds.

12 Apr 2020, 11:29:31 AGMService[1181]: ProcessPath : /System/Applications/FaceTime.app/Contents/MacOS/FaceTime

12 Apr 2020, 11:29:44 com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: Service exited due to SIGTERM

12 Apr 2020, 11:29:47 AGMService[1181]: ProcessPath : /System/Applications/FaceTime.app/Contents/MacOS/FaceTime

12 Apr 2020, 11:29:54 com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: Service "com.apple.xpc.launchd.unmanaged.loginwindow.193" tried to register for endpoint "com.apple.tsm.uiserver" already registered by owner: com.apple.TextInputMenuAgent

12 Apr 2020, 11:29:54 com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: Service "com.apple.xpc.launchd.unmanaged.loginwindow.193" tried to register for endpoint "com.apple.tsm.uiserver" already registered by owner: com.apple.TextInputMenuAgent


Anyone? please? At least three more weeks of quarantine and endless online meetings and events. I'm quite desperate here, probably will have to order some external camera, although it seems futile, when you have a camera that is actually functional...

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User profile for user: amedumonde
amedumonde Author
User level: Level 1
14 points

May 5, 2020 7:36 AM in response to amedumonde

Guys,


A little update. Too soon to tell whether it's a permanent fix, but it's working today so I am rushing here to let you know in case it helps you and will update in a couple of days to see if it actually works.

So I was thinking that since the issue is with the software, it has to be with the VDC framework. But what threw me off, that I tried sudo killall thing a million times and it never worked. I also could never find this process in the activity monitor. So back then I decided that the problem wasn't with the VDC Assistant.

The camera has been working very very randomly on and off for last couple of weeks, one time per couple of days. Today I've had enough of this (they prolonged the quarantine till the end of the month here meaning god knows how many more video conferences), so I tried sudo killall once again. Nothing.

But THEN! I thought that since I couldn't find the VDC Assistant in the monitor, maybe it just refuses to launch on its own and is not triggered by apps or is randomly (for some reason) triggered. So I went to /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreMediaIO.framework/Resources/VDC.plugin/Contents /Resources/VDCAssistant" and launched it manually with Terminal and omg it works now. It's been four hours and two separates video sessions on two different apps and it still works which is the longest it has worked in a while!

Please try this and let me know. I will also update you.


TL;DR: camera works now if you go to /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreMediaIO.framework/Resources/VDC.plugin/Contents /Resources/VDCAssistant" and launch it manually with Terminal.

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User profile for user: amedumonde
amedumonde Author
User level: Level 1
14 points

May 5, 2020 1:34 PM in response to Giu53pp3

Hey Guiseppe,


You have to right-click on the file and choose "Show Package Contents".


To update, the camera stoped working again today but VDC assistant was now showing up in the Activity Monitor. I manually deleted the process and then manually restarted the VDC assistant from the package as I had previously described. The camera started working again. So, is the problem with the VDC Assistant? If so, how do I permanently solve this, since starting it manually every time, while better than nothing, doesn't seem like a smart solution? I would appreciate an input from Apple Support Team.

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User profile for user: macfinch132
macfinch132
User level: Level 1
14 points

May 26, 2020 6:17 AM in response to amedumonde

I have a MacBookPro 8.3 with dual booting for Mojave and Catalina. The camera works perfectly across all apps including Zoom when in Mojave. Rebooting into Catalina, the camera no longer works, across any app. The camera is detected in About This Mac>System Report>Camera in Mojave but not in Catalina. This would seem to prove comprehensively that it's a software issue rather than a hardware one.

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User profile for user: zoiesmommy
zoiesmommy
User level: Level 1
4 points

Jun 13, 2020 1:52 PM in response to amedumonde

I've had this exact same issue for a couple years now - PRIOR to the quarantine zoom overload. I've tried several different fixes over this time but life (full-time college, job, kids, etc) simply wouldn't provide the time nor funds to allow me to really look into it. Graduation was in May and I'm catching up on life. Having to close the $2,500 computer and borrow my 8-year old's cheapo laptop for Zoom is beyond OLD!!

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Built-in Camera Not Working and Blinking

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