Macbook Retina Display isight camera not working - graphics freeze

Ok guys, I may have some good news for those of you that connect to Android devices on your rMBP's. I think I've managed to find out what's causing the issue and a way to resolve it.

Finding once again that my camera still was not functional after a sleep... even with the latest EFI and 10.8.2, I started to kill any processes that I could recognise in the Activity Monitor. Restarting photobooth after each kill, then suddenly - bang it started working!

The offending process appears to be "Android File Transfer Agent" - thanks alot goog!

This is not proof positive yet, but it is encouraging that the issue can be corrected if you know what to do.

I've completely disabled the Android File Transfer App for now to see if this resolves the issue.

I subsequently googled based on my findings and found http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-1416440.html - which mirrored my experience.

If you are experiencing the same problem, this link may be useful in terms of removing the automatic behaviour of the Android File Transfer App http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/mobile/3hPIZjP0rDo (note: it must also be removed from the login items of your user account in system preferences.)

Hopefully there is light at the end of the tunnel and if this corrects the issue then Apple can update its knowledgebase so as others don't have to spend so much time trying to resolve...!

Post back here with your experiences!

so now i wanna ask, how can i think that its a hardware issue when killing a process made it work! : - /

i have a similar problem to urs my friend, just that i don't have all the time to sit and kill those processes one by one to check it out, for me a logout solves it out when it happens

and ONLY when i send it to sleep via the apple logo menu

if i closed the lid, nth happens all works good.. but if i chose " sleep " from the main menu i have 2 things which happen :

if it went to sleep RIGHT AWAY, instantely,..... nth happens and all works good when i wake the laptop up again

BUT

if it took like 4-5 seconds to sleep, then when i wake it up, the camera is found not to be connected

and a logout ALWAYS solves it out, which is why i think its something within my software(s) on the laptop

and since i use time machine to back up and restore, then surely if i had a replacement it will be the same i guess

don't know but ur proving that its a software issue, cuz i wasn't convinced at all that its a hardware one.

thank you for sharing your experience with us my friend

It has to be a hardware problem. If it was software, then every rMBP in the world would have the problem. My brand new rMBP had the problem out of the box before I had installed anything else. Nothing else was installed and the webcam stopped working on sleep. I got a new rMBP and it has no webcam problems whatsoever. Other people report that when their screen gets replaced the problem goes away.

So, you can go to Apple and get the screen or the laptop replaced, and you won't have this problem anymore.

Just because a restart/login fixes the problem doesn't make it a software problem. This software action probably just prompts the camera to "reset" itself, whereupon it works again until it loses power for a significant amount of time and won't start again until a reset is triggered.

It's pretty simple to prove really - don't change any software on your laptop, but ask Apple to replace the display/camera. Once they do this, the webcam will work properly.

I disagree to mjhawk. I don´t think it is as easy as this. The issue is most likely a combination of software and hardware. You assume that there is just one configuration of hardware for all rMBP. However, in reality Apple has a large supply chain network. They have X number of suppliers for each part (e.g. camera). Although, their specifications may be broadly the same, they are not identical. Also, production processes are constantly monitored and improved (at both Apple and the supply chain). Therefore the design of whatever part (e.g. camera) may change within a production cycle, don´t think production is static.

Additionally, you have millions of user using different software, and software versions. Therefore after a reset you may not even be able to reproduce the error because with the reset you installed right away a newer version of this software (e.g. before you had Skype 5.7., after reset you have downloaded and installed installed 5.8. without installing 5.7. before). And now apply the combination of software and hardware out there...

The reason why Apple is replacing the screens is probably because:

• (1) the problem is limited to few users only and they don´t want bad media coverage,
• (2) if they cannot fix it at the genius bar they can more thoroughly examine your system at their own testing facilities by offering you a new rMCP or "replace the screen"; that way they may find the root cause
• (3) they tell you that they have "replaced" the screen which you cannot verify anyhow, but in reality they just reset your software and copied back all your settings and data
• (4) they really replaced the screen / computer because there was a hardware issue, or the assembly process which was used to build your rMBP turned out to produce problems (e.g. defective contacts). After all the new display is leading-edge technology, as is the rMBP itself requiring custom build hardware a new assembly processes (which again are constantly improved).

But I believe that if the camera always works on start up / re-log-on and if the problem relates to hibernation it is very likely that this is related to a software issue.

thank you man! because its really not logical to think that everything is cloned in here! either hardware or software!

now in my case, it happens ONLY when i select sleep from the main menu and NOTHING MORE.

i can not find any other explanation, and what was said wasnt' convincing at all.

and for the record, when i bought this rMBP, i didn't even try it by itself on its clean install of Lion which was on it, i just pluged in my hard disk, did a restore from a time machine and thats it! and it was working all alright till i updated to mountain lion! so how can it be a hardware issue!

cases are different, and as YOU said, the hardware themselves aren't identical 100%! there are series of parts i guess, all capable of doing the same job but they r just not identical!

and it doesn't have to be in ALL laptops together, our friend in here said that killing one single process made it work again! without killing all of them! so how would that be a hardware issue!

Thanks miniman.

What a coincidence I also have the Android File Transfer App installed... I meant to say I had it installed. Following the postings you are referencing to I have decided to uninstall... Since I am waiting for the iPhone 5 I will not need it going forward ;) I hope this fixes the problem for me, thanks miniman.

As said, the rMBP used to work fine for weeks. I thought the problems with the camera were related to the iTunes update, but as it turned out they weren´t. I will post in case that fixed the problem.

Miniman, thanks a lot for bringing up the results of your research!

Uninstalling the Android File Transfer app fixed the problem for me. It´s quite tricky how the app launches at each start up. I followed the procedure of removing it from the start up, killing the process, and then I moved the app to the bin. It was useless to me anyhow since it never recognized my girlsfriend´s HTC Wildfire S.

I am glad that finally after weeks of being upset about this issue we managed to resolve it. Thanks again.

no man! no its not a software issue! as you can see, some ppl insist that is a hardware problem and ALWAYS a hardware issue! it can not be a software one!!!!!!!! 😝

I deleted the Android File Transfer App and the problem is gone ...... wow thanks man .....

Day 4 and all is well with my camera. Disabling the Android File Transfer App has seemingly resolved my Facetime Camera issue.

Others may, no doubt, be suffering from a different issue or H/W issue, but if you have the Android File Transfer App and you are experiencing FaceTime Camera issues then I'd suggest you disable it before wasting time on other investigative avenues as I did.

I just got my laptop back from apple and they replaced the display. I still have the same issue. I tried uninstalling Android File Transfer App but that does not fix it. I have to restart to get it to work.

There's no Android File Transfer App in my laptop~ I hope that replacement could fix this issue...

Yes, It works for me. Android File Transfer cause the issue.

hey guys i finally found a way to solve the problem.. there is a corrupted file in the terminal, so you need to remove it .. and by doing so it will also increase your battery life from 2.5 hours to over 8 hours

Open Terminal:
Type the following, hit enter after each line:

cd ~/Library/Preferences/
rm com.apple.desktop.plist
killall Dock

This command navigates you to the preferences directory and then delete the settings file “com.apple.desktop.plist”. It then restarts the dock, so its no longer running the with the faulty preferences (you just deleted) in RAM.

Thanks miniman75 as your solution of removing the android related file seems to have solved the issue with the inbuilt camera of my rMBP. It is better to first look for solutions here on forums rather than taking it to apple support. The guy at apple support told me that it could be an issue with iglasses (which was installed in mine) and to back up & restore the system like they have told so many others as per the above & other posts. I wish I had seen this post before I went to the apple showroom to rectify the issue. Keep up the good work miniman🙂 and apple support, please learn from people like him 😀