Camera on MacBook not working

When I open Terminal, should I use Shell>New Window>Basic then type in the commands, sudo killall VDCAssistant? Or, open Shell>New Tab>Basic and then type the commands there? Once I've typed in sudo killall VDCAssistant, just hit return/enter? I don't know how long my cameras been down as I rarely use it. But I had a new hard drive installed 6 months ago, and maybe that's when things went bad. I've tried opening Facetime and it shows a camera w/a line through it. And Preferences are greyed out. I also opened Iphoto and same thing. Camera w/a line through it saying "There is no camera connected". ***???? Where be me camera??? I did open terminal and tried it both ways mentioned above, but Terminal replied by 1st asking for my password..no problem. Then said No matching processes were found. Any other suggestions? When they installed my new hard drive (not Apple) they also threw in a free upgrade to Mavericks which I still haven't installed. Maybe that will solve my problem. Is it possible that drivers are missing? I'm an audio guy, so not sure how the "video" world works. Thanks for any suggestions at all. Sincerely, Von

The "Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 5.07" from the 18th September 2014 fixed the issue for me.

I assume a similar "update" with a lower version number was the cause of that problem.

Hey,

try this one:

Reset 1.

Shut down computer and unplug power; wait 15 secs.

Turn on computer.

Shut down computer.

Reset 2.

Turn on computer.

Before gray screen comes up, so almost immediately, press Option-Command-P-R at the same time.

Hold down until you hear the turn-on noise, let go and let the system start up.

Reset 2 works for me!

This also worked for me, however only after a clean install of latest OS X 10.10.1. I erased all " free space" old OS and reinstalled/updated all applications. I had a hard time believing the camera was broken. It works perfectly after resets.

When I type in terminal and hit enter, it asks for a password in terminal when I type my user password terminal doesn't see keystrokes, nothing types.

logged in just to say thanks -- sudo killall VDCAssistant did the trick.

Happy for you! but I have ALL these probs, my cam IS recognized but wont open in anything! nada!

I've tried all the suggestions,

its since a maverick update damnit....

:/

suggestions? 🙂

Thanks! This fixed my problem!!!

Hi,

I'd like to ask that when I type "sudo killall VDCAssistant" in the terminal window,

it shows:

----------------------------

B1-Home:~ B1$ sudo killall VDCAssistant

sudo: unable to stat /etc/sudoers: Permission denied

sudo: no valid sudoers sources found, quitting

B1-Home:~ B1$

----------------------------

What should I do to figure it out? Thanks!

$sudo killall VDCAssistant

Worked for me(MBP Non Retina Mid 2012). Thanks. 😀

'Open up a terminal'.....what does that mean? How do I do it? None of my apps that use the camera work....Photo Booth, FaceTime, iMovie, etc. The green dot doesn't even come on...

jaycharlesda4th wrote: 'Open up a terminal'.....what does that mean? How do I do it? ...

Use the Finder > Go > Utilities menu command to go to the Utilities folder.

Double click on the "Terminal" app there.

Once you have opened "Terminal", use the Terminal > Help menu command if you need more info.

BE CAREFUL. Mistakes in Terminal can cause serious damage to your software.

Message was edited by: EZ Jim

Mac OSX 10.10.2

tried the same "sudo killall VDCAssistant" option, terminal is showing "no matching process found"

what's the issue?

even in system information under USB its not showing camera

Reply Helpfulby vanwarantion on Feb 4, 2014 9:34 AM

Usually it's not a macbook problem. It's apple's buggy software problem.

open a terminal and type

sudo killall VDCAssistant

This will triger a restart of the camera's software. Fixes the problem 99%. Skype and other software that uses the camera might also need reopening.

-Worked like a charm!! Thanks

Thanks for a great and simple solution!