Artur Silva
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: why cant i see camera image with facetime and preferences are unavailble?

HI. I have a macbook air 1.3 ghz intel core i5 / 4gb 1600 mhz ddr3, and i use OS X mav 10.9.4.

 

Today i tryed to conect facetime either to another same macbook air or iphone 5 and i cant see my camera image.

 

Facetime opens and i can get audio but no image at all.

 

Preferences are not available on menu. if i click, it goes gray (notjing shows up) then its impossible to see it.

 

I have tryed reinstaling os x and also reset smc and nothing worked so far.

 

I open photo both and image not showing also. open skype and camera preview not showing.

 

The light (only the right side one) from the camera keeps on flashing if i have facetime or skype opened.

 

Could it be a problem with my camera? if so, why cant i log in my facetime preferences??

 

Tks

Posted on Jul 22, 2014 2:30 AM

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Artur Silva

Q: why cant i see camera image with facetime and preferences are unavailble?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by EZ Jim,

    EZ Jim EZ Jim Jul 22, 2014 6:38 AM in response to Artur Silva
    Level 7 (22,547 points)
    Jul 22, 2014 6:38 AM in response to Artur Silva

    FaceTime for Mac: Troubleshooting FaceTime

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Jul 22, 2014 1:11 PM in response to Artur Silva
    Level 10 (208,037 points)
    Applications
    Jul 22, 2014 1:11 PM in response to Artur Silva

    If the FaceTime window opens with a white camera icon with a slash through it on a black background, that means it can't find a camera. Without a camera, it won't work. Follow the instructions in this support article.

    Otherwise, I suggest you take each of the following steps that you haven't already tried, stopping when the problem is resolved. Back up all data before making any changes.

    Step 1

    If the FaceTime window shows that it's turned off, turn it on.

    Step 2

    Launch the Messages application and sign in to your iMessage account. If you get an error message, stop here and post the complete, verbatim text of the message.

    Step 3

    Make sure you know the ID and password you use with iMessage. Launch the Keychain Access application in any of the following ways:

    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

    ☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

    ☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Keychain Access in the icon grid.

    Use the search box in the toolbar of the Keychain Access window to find and delete all items with "iMessage," "FaceTime," or "Apple Persistent" in the name. Log out and log back in.

    Step 4

    Hold down the option key and select

              Go ▹ Library

    from the Finder menu bar. Move the following items from the Library folder to the Trash (some may not exist):

              Caches/com.apple.Messages

              Caches/com.apple.imfoundation.IMRemoteURLConnectionAgent

              Containers/com.apple.FaceTime

    Leave the Library folder open. Log out and log back in. Try FaceTime again. If it works now, stop here. Close the Library folder.

    Step 5

    In the Preferences subfolder of the Library folder, there may be several files having names that begin with any of the following strings:

              com.apple.FaceTime

              com.apple.facetime

              com.apple.ids

              com.apple.imdsmsrecordstore

              com.apple.imessage

              com.apple.imservice

    Move them all to the Desktop. There may also be a file with the name "com.apple.imagent.plist". Move that to the Trash.

    Also in the Preferences folder, there's a subfolder named "ByHost". Open it and do the same thing.

    Log out and log back in. Test again. If FaceTime now works, you may optionally be able to put back some of the files you moved to the Desktop in this step. Relaunch and test after each one. Eventually you should find one that causes FaceTime to malfunction. Delete those files and recreate whatever settings they contained.

    If the issue is still not resolved, quit FaceTime and put all the items you moved to the Desktop back where they were. You don’t need to replace the items you moved to the Trash.

    If you get through all the above steps and the problem still isn't solved, post your results.