Jul302012

Why can’t my Mac’s webcam be detected?

Tina Grant asks:

I have a built-in webcam on my Mac laptop (running OS X version 10.6.8). Today Skype would not detect my camera and YouTube won’t either. Any ideas on how to fix this?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have never had this problem before with Skype, it seems the camera is disabled.


Browser: Safari 5.1
System: Mac
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10 Answers -

0 votes

ha14

July 30, 2012

Select your video device in Skype and make sure it is functioning by clicking on the “Test Webcam” button

How can I check that my webcam is working correctly in Skype for Mac OS X?
https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA10931/how-can-i-check-that-my-webcam-is-working-correctly-in-skype-for-mac-os-x

Why can’t I sign in to Skype for Mac?
https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA10038/why-can-t-i-sign-in-to-skype-for-mac

go to system preferences then Flash Player Click on Camera And Mic then Click on Camera And Microphone Settings By Site, choose Youtube and if it is not there then click on the plus button then add http://www.youtube.com and from the drop down menu choose Allow, then clse all windows and refresh desktop, see if it works.

check that your firewall has not blocked it.

– open youtube and pick a file to play
– right click on video background and click on global settings
– on menu, click on camera and mic
– make sure that the option ask me when a site wants to use the camera and mic
– click on camera and microphone settings by site
– Make sure that sites where you want to allow camera are not blocked

0 votes

susendeep dutta

July 30, 2012

Check if your laptop detects iSight by going to Applications in Utilities folder.Also,resetting SMC can be helpful -

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

0 votes

Mike

July 30, 2012

Have you tried opening Photo Booth if installed to see if an Apple application detects the webcam?

0 votes

Beth Evans

July 31, 2012

I’ve had this happen a few times. I don’t shut my machine down very often. And it doesn’t like that. It sounds like such a PC answer, but try to restart!

0 votes

Louwra Preyser

August 27, 2012

When this happens to me the only thing that tends to fix it is to restart my computer.

0 votes

Theo Reisinger

October 8, 2012

If no app is finding your camera, worst case might be that a wire is loose in the laptop. You might have to take it apart and reconnect the wire

0 votes

Siddhant Chaurasia

October 24, 2012

Check your system preferences

0 votes

Adam Campbell

October 27, 2012

Sounds like a loose wire, go to ifixit for user manuals on your specific model of laptop.

0 votes

Glenna Swanson Hart

November 12, 2012

I have an mac -0510 ..have no camera on skype..I have built in..so went into preferences when it happened before and clicked camera on…but it does not work now…just able to click on built in speakers but no camera..can you help thank you..glennad@sasktel.net

0 votes

Glenna Swanson Hart

November 12, 2012

can you help with the above please thank you Glenna .