"There is no connected camera"

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)

Thanks to @madams end

That command has worked for me repeatedly:

sudo killall VDCAssistant

Also, killing the app from Activity Monitor has worked repeatedly:

1. Start the Activity Monitor app from the system dock

2. Make sure you select "All Processes" from pull-down

3. Enter "

VDCAssistant"

4. Hit "Quit Process" red button

5. Select the "Force Quit" button

The VDCAssistant process will restart, but with a new Process ID (PID)

I replaced a 2009 iMac with a late 2013 iMac, both running Mavericks. Several weeks later I noticed that the iSight camera was not working with any application. I tried several different solutions including rebooting, repairing permissions, resetting SMC, killall VDCAssistant, etc.

What ultimately fixed the issue for me was removing two items from the system startup: The APCUPSD daemon, and the TivoDesktop. (To be honest, one of those was likely the fix, but I made the mistake of removing both at the same time. I suspect APCUPSD as most likely as it was generating a USB error, though not the other common "bandwidth error" reported.) These were both listed under /Library/StartupItems. After removing the items, and rebooting, the camera has worked fine.

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

Quit all the programs running right now. Then open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal and launch Terminal. At the first prompt the is shaped like a $ sign type: sudo killall VDCAssistant

(Press the enter key)

I also am doing this regularly on mine (sudo killall VDCAssistant). I have upgraded about 25 MacBook Pros (mine included) (I work as the support technician for 2 middle schools), and since swapping HDD (hard disk drives) with SSDs (Solid State Drives), this problem has been popping up among a handful of them. I don't suppose all the teachers I've upgraded are using their cameras, so it is hard to tell if it is across the board or not. Please give us a better solution, Apple!!

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)

kri.rsingh wrote: ... Any idea what else could be the problem?

Try the other relevant suggestions from http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2090, too.

(Over time, 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 Mac's built-in camera, the same info and troubleshooting applies.)

Message was edited by: EZ Jim

Mac OSX 10.8.4

Killing VDCAssistant fixed it for me as well. Does anyone know how to stop this from being a recurring issue?? I suppose I'll set up a nightly cron job for this and see if that helps, but it's not ideal because it will kill any ongoing video if I'm in the middle of using it.

Mine was a hardware problem. The display was replaced, the webcam is buit-in.

Yup, the "sudo killall VDCAssistant" command in terminal worked for me.

The problem is, I have to do it every time I reboot my Macbook Air. There's no definitive solution in Mavericks, it seems.

Dear Apple,

I still need to regularly do this (sudo killall VDCAssistant). In fact at this point I have written a script to do it. Which is stupid. I'm a unix developer but I use MacBooks because I don't have to write one-off scripts to poke at hardware. If I wanted to do that I'd buy notebooks at half the price and run Ubuntu on them.

And if my only choice is to buy expensive Apple kit and write scripts to make it work, or buy cheaper $OTHER kit and write scripts to make it work, guess which one I'm going to do?

Love,

A (current-going-on-$UP_TO_YOU)-customer

It is asking for the administrator password, that means the one you use to log in. Also, it doesn't show anything while you type, that is normal. Just keep on typing! And of course, finish with return (enter). Also, there is a GUI way, through Applications->System Utilities->Activity Monitor. There, you jsut highlight VDC Assistant and click on Quit Process above.

Try the Activity Monitor way (you can also find it through spotlight) and find the process on the list. If it's not there, then... well that's all I know about that! I have also found that logging off and back on again does the same thing with rebooting, but it's a bit faster

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.