Facetime HD Camera not working on new 27inch iMac

I have the same problem too. Received my iMac 2 days ago. Right out of the box the facetime camera is not working. I haven't installed anything yet, and when I launched facetime the grey wheel is keep going and going and the facetime camera is not activated. So I went and did some google search and found some neat utility that you can run in the terminal just for me to check what's really wrong with this facetime camera.

The result is that the "camera lense not open." So I did the most logical thing to do to call Apple Technical Support. I already told them that I did all the diagnostic test and some possible fixed like resetting the PRAM and the SMC unit, and still the same problem is happening over again. I know this is not a major issue as the facetime is just only a minor peripheral compare, but still this machine almost cost $3000 including tax. My machine is BTO.

Finally apple declared that this is probably a hardware failure. So they transferred me to a sales rep. Her name is "Nicole" is she is polite and kind. I asked her that if there's any other way that Apple can help me in solving this situation. She just offered me 2 options. The first option is that she will direct me to an Authorized repair center here in Saskatoon to repair my unit, since I bought the unit BNEW and it was fresh from the box, I told her that this is not possible. The other option is to return the unit and received a full refund. I'd asked her if I requested for a replacement that if there is anything that she can do to help me get a replacement unit right away rather than to wait for another 3 weeks. She told me that it was not really possible, because of the extreme shortage of the unit that probably I will be getting my replacement unit in a month's time. So this type of attitude from the sales rep made me to decide to agree for refund, I don't think they can't refund the time that I waited to get this unit (3 weeks) I was thinking of getting a PC workstation and install RHEL.

Again thank you "Mark"for being a great Sales Rep, the reason why Apple is a wonderfully admired company is because of people like this who are willing to go the extra mile is providing help to their loyal customers.

Will update you guys regarding the status of my replacement unit.

Thanks

Daniel D. Montecillo

Armontsys

<Edited by Host>

I got my replacement in 2 weeks and it was worth the wait. They made good as far as I am concerned. Had similar experience with the people I spoke with.

Hi, I just purchased a 27" imac last week. I'm also having the same camera issue! I've also went and had my imac replaced with a new one, but only to face the same exact problem! My facetime app will not launch and photobooth is stuck with a spinning grey wheel!

Has any one solved this issue? Is it a software problem with mountain lion vs the FaceTime HD Camera? I updated to the latest version of mountain lion too.

The camera resolution really depends on how well your office/workstation is lit. Mine looks considerably better when the office is bathed in beautiful Devon light. Looks pants in low light, but this is to be expected. That said., the image never looks great and certainly never looks anything like as good as the image on both our Sony and Dell laptops.

I have been having issues with Facetime camera not functions properly with Skype , the solution both times is to turn off Facetime app and also to unplug my Focusrite sound card. Looks like the camera has some flaky firmware and it needs updating.

As for image performance it is not great and should be better on a £1200 machine, but it is hardly a deal breaker - my mates know how handsome and dashing I am anyway, so I normally just turn the camera off for Skype calls.

olideechen wrote: ... Has any one solved this issue? ...

Yes, several have, including two who were provided replacement machines.

Users kisiulak, nerval, and seandfleming have all taken the time to post the individual solutions to their individual issues. Click the links of each user name in the previous sentence to read their individual reports.

olideechen wrote: ... Is it a software problem with mountain lion...

It seems not. Many of us, including my three ML Macs, do not share any of the symptoms reported here.

Based on the reported solutions in this thread, individual problems may have different root causes. Apple or your Apple Authorized Service Provider can diagnose your iMac issue if you cannot solve it yourself.

Message was edited by: EZ Jim

Mac OSX 10.8.3

Steps to know if you should send your mac back or not simple question here.

1. Does the green light come on?

A. If the green light comes on but your seeing black, then your issue is with the USB ports on the back you have to move around what you have plugged in. you have a voltage issue since the cam is on the same bus and there is not enough voltage for it to work correctly. This is a design flaw fixed by yourself and it is justs macs way of managing USB power.

B. There is no light. SEND YOUR iMAC back.

I can say that this isn't exactly true for everyone. On my machine the green light was on all the time and the FT camera would not work. This was true with nothing whatsoever attached to my machine, no USB ports in use. I tried all the possible solutions that people suggested without success affecting this situation. I believe that this was, in fact, a hardware defect and I've been happily using my replacement machine (with the FT camera) after returning the defective one. So for those with the green light on all the time (as opposed to coming on and off appropriately but the camera not working) I recommend getting a new machine.

Well said, nerval !

Message was edited by: EZ Jim

Mac OSX 10.8.3

Hello,

I have the same problem with my camera on iMac 27. I'm really sad because i've got it 1 day ago from Germany. And in my country (Ukraine) there is no Apple support. So, as I understood from all your messages, I should bring it back in Germany.

I haven't got a green light at all 😟.

PollyPolly wrote: ... from all your messages, I should bring it back in Germany....

Yes Polly, if....

(1) nothing else suggested in this topic works, and

(2) no other contact options are available to you,

you should contact the retailer who sold or services your iMac.

By the way, I noticed from your posted system information that you are using

OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2) rather than the latest version.

When you apply the Combo Update, be sure to use the latest one for your Mac OS. At present time, your latest combo is OS X Mountain Lion Update v10.8.4 (Combo). It is possible that properly applying the 10.8.4 Combo might help you unless your problem requires professional service.

Message was edited by: EZ Jim

Mac OSX 10.8.4

I had similar problem in 27" imac built-in camera. But just figured out.
Since I installed VMware for WINDOW, if I use any software using built-in camera, my iMac automatically disconnect from MAC OS side. I simply disconnect the Apple HD camera from VMware, and my iMac starts to pick-up Camera. I tested with FaceTime & Skype and camera seem working just fine.

I had a VirtualBox VM that was taking ownership of the camera so like Drummerpaco has said, disconnect ownership by any VM's if you have any....

If you have updated your Mac OS to 10.9.x, see iSight camera failure after OS X 10.9 Mavericks update.

jeeps ! I just noticed you posted this in 2013 . I guess you got it fixed;) How's the iMac behaving? Any

issues?