Camera works fine – green light gone!!

[«Cristian»]

Hello all!!

I am new to this website & to the concept of `having issues` with my Mac.

Indeed, the camera works, it’s brilliant, but, the little green LED that used to go on to indicate the camera was on is no longer lighting up!

I don’t know why! Is there a setting to disable the light? I can’t get it to light up in FaceTime, PhotoBooth, iPhoto, etc…

The camera is still working wonderfully.
But, with no light, I no longer know when it’s on or not.

The green light does flash on for ⅛ of a second when rebooting, so the light itself is still getting power & it’s technically not a light (it’s a LED), so it can’t “burn out”. And I see it flash when I reboot, so it hasn’t melted out…

But that’s it.

I’ve got a very neat little magnet (I’m using a MacBook Pro as my workhorse here) so I just clip the magnet up there, it blocks the camera (but it also blocks the light sensor).

I’d really like to get my green light back!!

Anybody have any ideas? Help??!? Please???

PS: The camera obviously can work perfectly well without the green light coming on. I’m wondering if I haven’t managed to catch a virus … *sigh* backing up my junk, and reinstalling Lion to see if the light comes back is an option but it’s a lot of work. I’d rather just find out I changed a setting and forgot about it. But yeah, the camera definitely works, and the green light definitely … doesn’t.

I would appreciate any help; I’m not a novice, so, don’t worry about scaring me.

Thanks in advance!!
— «Cristian» —

 

[DeltaMac]

The camera power LED turns on when the camera is in use (the LED indicates that there is power to the camera)
If your camera LED does not come, then your camera is defective.
If you are OK with having a camera that works, but the power LED is defective, then good on ya, mate!
(hint - it's not a software issue. The LED is part of the camera, and despite some bad information on the internet, can't be software controlled separately from the camera itself. )

 

[«Cristian»]

But … but … but …

But I like having the green light.

I want to know when the camera’s on; right now I wouldn’t know at all if it’s on!

The MacBook’s still a few months old, d’you suppose I should return it?

I don’t know what to do!!

I mean, if I were naughty, oh, the things I could do.

But I can’t help but think, if that’s off, what else might be `off`
(as in broken)?

I wouldn’t even have noticed it because I usually keep it covered, anyhow, but today I wanted to talk to somebody and the camera’s fine, but no light. Which was weird. I’ve never had a Mac overheat, freeze, screw up, do anything bad on me. That’s why I like ’em so much! But I’m honestly a bit afraid, if this is an issue, what else might be waiting to go wrong after my warranty expires?

What do you think?
BTW Thanks for replying so quickly, wow, I’m impressed.

But the fact of the matter is I’ve never had any problems before so I’ve never needed to turn to a forum … the LED itself, works (it flashes at reboots) but it obviously doesn’t stay on. And it’s not a performance issue. But, what if it’s the first warning sign that I happened to pick up a machine they put together at 4:25pm on a Thursday before a long week-end? (In other words, they just quickly put it together, made sure the keyboard was right side up, then took off for the company BBQ!)

You know what I mean? What do you think? I also don’t like the idea of paying … I have no clue how much I paid, $1000 for a broken computer. Confusing and frustrating. All because of one little LED!

 

[lee1210]

But I like having the green light.

I want to know when the camera’s on; right now I wouldn’t know at all if it’s on!

The MacBook’s still a few months old, d’you suppose I should return it?

I don’t know what to do!!

I mean, if I were naughty, oh, the things I could do.

But I can’t help but think, if that’s off, what else might be `off`
(as in broken)?

I wouldn’t even have noticed it because I usually keep it covered, anyhow, but today I wanted to talk to somebody and the camera’s fine, but no light. Which was weird. I’ve never had a Mac overheat, freeze, screw up, do anything bad on me. That’s why I like ’em so much! But I’m honestly a bit afraid, if this is an issue, what else might be waiting to go wrong after my warranty expires?

What do you think?
BTW Thanks for replying so quickly, wow, I’m impressed.

But the fact of the matter is I’ve never had any problems before so I’ve never needed to turn to a forum … the LED itself, works (it flashes at reboots) but it obviously doesn’t stay on. And it’s not a performance issue. But, what if it’s the first warning sign that I happened to pick up a machine they put together at 4:25pm on a Thursday before a long week-end? (In other words, they just quickly put it together, made sure the keyboard was right side up, then took off for the company BBQ!)

You know what I mean? What do you think? I also don’t like the idea of paying … I have no clue how much I paid, $1000 for a broken computer. Confusing and frustrating. All because of one little LED!

Take the machine to an Apple Store. It is malfunctioning and needs to be repaired. Does this mean it's a lemon? Probably not. Regardless, no reason not to get it fixed.

-Lee

 

[DeltaMac]

I'm not sure about the camera light flashing briefly at boot.
I've not ever noticed that on another Mac laptop, but maybe I never watched for it.
Doesn't happen on mine at boot, but I only have one to test at the moment.

When you take in to an Apple repair center, be sure to ask if the camera light should normally flash at boot… (that might be a symptom of the problem, and _not_ that the light is actually good)