Thursday, May 01, 2008

MacBook iSight Goes Green

Have you ever had a computer issue that drives you nuts. Well, I have one staring me rate in the face as I type this post out. The iSight camera on my new Intel MacBook will not turn off. The green light will not go off, even after a reboot. Not only will the light not go out none of my apps that can use the camera can gain access to it. It's like the camera is connected to something, but nothing.

The first time this occured I spent an hour or more surfing Apple support pages, the blogosphere, forums, and Usenet groups. I changed the syntax of my searches numeros times and checked the net again and again. Google and I spent a lot of time together. Then I stumbled upon an Apple support page related to anomalies with your hardware. Here I learned that I needed to reset the System Management Controller (SMC). So I have it a try and it worked.
Over time, the settings in the System Management Controller may become unusable, which can result in operational anomalies with the computer. Examples include not turning on, not waking from sleep, not charging the battery, or not recognizing the AC Adapter, among others.
Since this is the third or fourth time this has happened to me I thought it best to leave a post on the net describing my issue and the fix. You'll find that information below as well as two links to the actual Apple support pages I found on reseting hardware anomalies. Hopefully others who are having this same issue will spend less time than I did finding help.

Do you have a MacBook? Have you had any odd issues? If so, leave me a comment.

Resetting PowerBook and iBook Power Management Unit (PMU)

Resetting an Intel Apple portable's System Management Controller (SMC)

MacBook, MacBook Pro
  1. If the computer is on, turn it off.
  2. Disconnect the AC Adapter and remove the computer's battery.
  3. Press and hold down the power button for 5 seconds and then release the button.
  4. Reconnect the battery and AC Adapter.
  5. Press the Power button to restart the computer.
MacBook Air
  1. If the MacBook Air is on, turn it off.
  2. Connect the power adaptor to a working power source.
  3. On the MacBook Air keyboard, press (left) Shift-Control-Option along with the power button once
    Note: You must use the keys on the left side of the MacBook Air keyboard.
  4. Wait 5 seconds and press the power button to start the MacBook Air.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I forgot to mention that I am going to once again reset the SMC.