"There is no connected camera"

Question

Level 1

15 points

"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

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Answer 1

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)

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Answer 2

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.

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Answer 3

itsbgilbro Author

Level 1

15 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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Answer 4

Mar 18, 2013 4:16 PM in response to itsbgilbro

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

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Answer 5

airazust

Level 1

5 points

Mar 24, 2013 3:23 PM in response to madams end

Hi madams end

I'm not an english native speaker and I think I don't understand what "sudo killall VDCA assistant" means. How can I do it? Is it a document or what?

Thank you

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Answer 6

pennbank

Level 4

1,688 points

Mar 24, 2013 3:34 PM in response to airazust

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)

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Answer 7

airazust

Level 1

5 points

Mar 25, 2013 12:22 AM in response to pennbank

Thank you very much for your answer, but apart from pressing the enter key do I have to write my password or something?

Thank you again

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Answer 8

pennbank

Level 4

1,688 points

Mar 25, 2013 3:41 AM in response to airazust

No

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Answer 9

airazust

Level 1

5 points

Mar 26, 2013 12:31 AM in response to itsbgilbro

Hi pennbank and thank you again. I typed sudo killall VDCAssistant and I was asked a password (which one?), but I could not write anything else. Any idea?

Thank you a lot for your time

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Answer 10

Mar 26, 2013 2:21 AM in response to airazust

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.

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Answer 11

airazust

Level 1

5 points

Mar 26, 2013 2:45 AM in response to isurftheturf

Thanks a lot for your help, but now what I get is "no matching processes were found". My camera works only after reboots, and not always, or after PRAM. I'm fed up with this issue.

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Answer 12

Mar 26, 2013 2:49 AM in response to airazust

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

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Answer 13

Apr 30, 2013 12:53 AM in response to itsbgilbro

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

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Answer 14

Apr 30, 2013 1:25 AM in response to Kevin Lyda

agree 100%

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Answer 15

EZ Jim

Level 7

22,590 points

Apr 30, 2013 1:59 PM in response to Kevin Lyda

Kevin Lyda wrote: ... Dear Apple, ...

You are NOT writing to Apple here. Most who post here are merely users like you. Apple offers this forum to allow users to help each other. You will find additional helpful info in the tutorial pages starting with http://discussions.apple.com/static/apple/tutorial/etiquette.html

• For one on one help from Apple, contact your Apple hardware vendor or use on-line options like http://www.apple.com/support/macbook/contact/

• To offer MB product comments or improvement suggestions directly to Apple, use MB "Feedback": http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbook.html

For feedback on other items, select from http://www.apple.com/feedback/

You are unlikely to get a direct response from your "Fedback", but you can be certain that the responsible Apple people will see your input for consideration in future products.

Message was edited by: EZ Ji m

Mac OSX 10.8.3

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