iSight not working, indicator light continuously on

Does this help
http://www.ralphjohnsuk.dsl.pipex.com/EZJim/EZJimpage4
http://www.ralphjohnsuk.dsl.pipex.com/EZJim/EZJimpage2
These were written by EZ Jim who I am grateful to for
letting me host them.

Hi Ralph,

thanks for those links. I forgot to mention that I am an engineer with 18 years of mac experience and have developer access to lots of material. Those iSight troubleshoot pages are really GREAT for people who are not technically oriented. Alas the problem of an always-on but still not available iSight which is "supposedly" in use by another application even on a completely NEW install without ANY third party software, is not in there. I advise the pages to beginners though : Thank you EZ-Jim for putting them together!

So : After yet another day and frequent searches, talks to technical people most seems baffled by the problem. But as I can see above there are more people encountering the problem, which may mean it's software related after all.
The search continues....

Frans

Hi Frans,

I take it that when you go here http://www.mvldesign.com/videoconferencetutorial.html that you see a black pic on the Macintosh Users section/item ?

Any chance your homepage (browser login page) has a similar coding ?

I take it you have checked System Preferences > Accounts > Login Itmes tab for any likely items ?

Any chance you are running a webcam site ?

I take it you have tried various maintainence items ?



12:47 AM Saturday; August 12, 2006

I take it that when you go here http://www.mvldesign.com/>videoconferencetutorial.html that you see a black pic on the Macintosh >Users section/item ?

Yes.

Any chance your homepage (browser login page) has a similar coding ?

My browser is not started. The green light comes on immediately on startup when no programms are running yet. Even on the completely wiped and newly installed Powerbook.

I take it you have checked System Preferences > Accounts > Login Itmes tab >for any likely items ?

On the newly installed system there are no login items.

Any chance you are running a webcam site ?

Nope. And on the newly installed powerbook that should not play any part since the camera goes on (green light) immediately on startup without anything having been installed apart from the system.

I take it you have tried various maintainence items.

Done the weekly ONYX checkup (a must-have for all mac-users).
For reference to all users with similar problems :
I have :

1. Done a complete wipe and reinstall of system 10.4. on my Powerbook G4
2. Reset my PMU (see apples pages how to do that for your model)
3. Reset NVRAM and PRAM (about 6 times)
4. Let the iSight rest for 24 hours
5. Done ONXY complete maintenaince and wipes of cache-files
6. Checked the iSight on 3 different machines

and I did all of the above twice, once without the iSighth attached to the firewireport and once WITH the iSight attached to the firewire port.

I am now firing up my old G4 TWIN 1 ghz to see if that can somehow bring the iSight to reason but since it goes on immediately on startup I begin to suspect hardware error.

I hope this helps other people. I am willing to answer questions on the various steps if need be.


Quad G5 / iMac G5 / Powerbook G4 Mac OS X (10.4)

Hi

Have you tried resetting the firewire ports, turn mac off and unplug from mains for 15mins.

Tony

Hi Tony,

a restart and NVRAM/PRAM reset plus PMU just about resets everything there is to reset on a powerbook. I also had the battery out for 24 hours, the cam detached for 24 hours. I have given up. Nobody seems to be able to find a hint at a software solution so the iSighht, after having been attached to a 5th completely separate Powermac G4 Dual, is officially declared "dead" from being "too much alive". The complete lack of diagnostic tools for a rather pricey webcam has led me , as a developer, to reconsider ever buying one again. Two and a half year should NOT be the MBT for a cam of over 150 dollars.
Thanx all for trying !
Cheers

Frans

I just returned from carrying my isight to the apple store, on the advice of Applecare. Though I have precisely your same problem, and my isight is only 1 1/2 yrs. old, the store assured me there is nothing wrong with the icam.

So I will call Applecare again and start in on possible solutions - faulty firewire ports, faulty software (ichat), etc. Will keep you posted, if you like. Barbara

Hi barbara,

thanx for the offer. Did you try your iSight at various macs at home like me? if not did the apple-guy plug it into a different mac (with you watching) and did the iSight work then? Or did he just say it was allright? I have tried 5 different macs here at home with systems varying from 10.4.3 to 10.4.7. Two of those were completely NEW installed (wiped) with ONLY Apple software on there. If you have done the same or similar then I wonder how the apple guy got it working....
Interesting.Especially since here in Europe the iSight is NOT on sale at the moment because of some darn flame-inhibitor in there that is forbidden in the EU.
Regards
Frans

Quad G5 / iMac G5 / Powerbook G4 Mac OS X (10.4)

Hi Frans,

iSight may be OK
Computer may be Ok.

That would leave the lead/cable ??



4:10 PM Sunday; August 13, 2006

Before I decided to call Applecare, I thought I would give the isight one more try. (Also tried shifting to Yahoo to try another service, without success - throwing away all my ichat preferences - etc., etc. before unplugging - all without success).

So, I shut down my emac and pulled the power plug. I let it sit there for 4 hours, and when I plugged it back in, my isight worked via ichat. I even managed to take my own picture with it for my logo. Throughout the evening I opened ichat several times to make sure the camera was still working, and have opened it twice this morning - with success.

Now my problem is that the adhesive on the bottom of the camera stand is no longer functional, and the camera slides all over the surface!

I had asked the Genius Bar at the Apple Store about pulling the plug on the emac, and they thought it wouldn't work -thought it was probably a software problem or a faulty firewire port - told me I needed to carry my emac into the store. Well, I am 74 and can't do that!!! So pleased I could fix it myself. Try it and let me know if it works. Barbara

Hi Ralph and fellow iSight-victims.
Thank you Ralph for pointing out an incompletenesss in my list of tried remedies. I did try the iSight with 4 different Firewire cables and yes Barbara, I did switch the powerbook and other macs off for f.i. a night. This has been an ongoing investigation of about 8 days. I'm just stubborn I guess because from a money perspective that would put the camera somewhere in the + 1000 dollar range.

For reference to all users with similar problems :
I have :

1. Done a complete wipe and reinstall of system 10.4. on my Powerbook G4
2. Reset my PMU (Power Management Unit) (see apples pages how to do that for your model)
3. Reset NVRAM and PRAM (This should reset all busses) (about 6 times)
4. Let the iSight AND computers rest for 24 hours (component overheating)
5. Done ONXY complete maintenaince and wipes of cache-files. (New system so superfluous ,but still...)
6. Checked the iSight on 5 different machines. (We have about 8 macs in our house)
7. Tried a variety of different Firewire cables.
8. Prayed.

Maybe any combination may help you, none did for me.

Thanx all. I have given up on my iSight and since I can't buy a new one here in Europe I will be looking at a different brand.

regards
Frans Schoffelen