Fixing a ‘broken’ iSight

Last night I was pretty proud of myself. My girlfriend left her Macbook with me over the weekend for some modest updates, and while I hadn’t worked on a laptop in a while everything went very well. One thing was nagging at me though; her iSight wasn’t working. I tried a few Google searches to figure out what could be going on, and people suggested a variety of things — mostly resetting PRAM/NVRAM (Command + Option + P + R, while booting), or the System Management Controller [SMC] (pull battery, hold power button >5 sec, restart). Apple’s support articles for the aforementioned are here, and here respectively. And while it looked like some people had some success with either maneuver, it didn’t work for me.

The easiest way to determine if there is a hardware vs a software problem with your iSight is to go to Apple (top left) > About this Mac > More Info & then check under the USB tab. There should be a “Built-in iSight” under USB High-Speed Bus. If not, you have a probable hardware problem.

OK, well. Tried all that and it looked like something else was going on (hardware). I had a really hard time wrapping my mind around how something with such limited usage would fail (really, how does one wear out a webcam?). Then, I came across this gem of an article. Essentially, it suggested the stupid cable might have come loose. Duh. There’s a great link to iFixit and their tutorial for dissecting your Macbook. Actually, it’s much simpler even than the article suggests. You shouldn’t worry too much about taking the laptop apart, but it’s good to have some confidence. The strategy I chose was to do the repair when said girlfriend was out of town and not watching me take apart her computer.

Here are the simple steps that worked for me. We are going to check to see if the cable connecting your iSight is loose (for anything else, you should find another guide). Follow along on the LCD Panel section on iFixit.

- Remove the battery and unplug the power cable.
- Now, skip way ahead. Click on “Front Bezel” and look for step 36.
- Gently use your fingers (I used my fingers instead of a credit card) to put tension/pry on the bezel from the inner-right or -left side outward from the LCD. You should hear some tabs lightly releasing. Continue around the edges to entirely remove it. Remember, we haven’t unscrewed anything, & we aren’t using any sharp objects.
- Once the bezel is removed, it should look much like this photo (although, everything is still attached).
- Now, get a small Philips screwdriver and remove the 3 screws from the hinge cover at the bottom of the LCD.
- Next, remove the 12 screws that hold in the LCD panel (this photo). Keep all screws in a safe place.
- Put a soft cloth over the keypad, and slowly tip the LCD closed. It should release from the back plastic casing and you should immediately see the iSight cable. You can see this part clearly from steps 50/51 in iFixit’s guide.
- You should have your answer. For me, the cable looked exactly like it does in this photo.
- If so, reconnect the cable and reassemble the Macbook in reverse order.
- If not, the iSight might truly have a problem and need repair. Reassemble the Macbook in reverse order and make a visit to Apple. =\

Well, hopefully this little post helps someone out there who shared this frustration. Before attempting this fix I made a trip to the Genius Bar at Apple and, after trying the PRAM/NVRAM & SMC tricks, they said the camera was broken and would be $280+tax to repair. Whew, no thanks Apple. Not on this occasion. The repair took me about 10 minutes. Rebooted and now there’s a fully functional iSight, which coincidently now displays in System Profiler. Oh, that and a happy girlfriend. ;-]