camera led won't turn off

rgthreepo · Jul 5, 2007

I have a Macbook. Sometimes the led for the camera comes on after start up even though no camera apps are active (I don't use apps that use the camera). Is the camera active if the led is on? I have tried opening then closing apps that use the camera to see if this helps; it does not. How do I turn off the camera????????

dekan · Jul 5, 2007

hmm.. checked the ActivityMonitor if there is an application running, that looks like it could use the cam?

Also, open Photo Booth, when the light is already on. If it's really in use it should say, that the cam is in use by a different app.

But yah, usually it means the cam is on, when you see the green LED

jezster · Jul 6, 2007

Hmm.. I had a similar problem but it turned out that Comic Life fired up the camera to capture pictures if needed. Are you using ichat?

jc1350 · Jul 6, 2007

Mine does it every once in a while. It's on as soon as the MB is powered (before the OS boots). I think it's a flaw in the hardware.

I looked at it via ichat or photo booth one time when it happened to see if the camera was really on. It was but and all it showed was a green screen. The only way I found to reset it is to shutdown and restart.

rgthreepo · Jul 7, 2007

Thanks for the info. No, I do not use ichat and yes, I have tried shutting down and restarting but to no avail (the led lights once again). I am waiting for it to come on again on its own to try some of the other suggestions. Thanks for any further thoughts.

raghavsp · Jan 27, 2008

Mag Safe Power Adapter should be connected

Even I notice the camera led problem. I did see that sometimes even if you rebott it doesnt work. But if you connect the magsafe power adapter always I dont seem to have the led problem.

mbriant · Sep 27, 2008

After a year without a problem, I'm suddenly noticing the green LED coming on after boot-up as well. You might be onto something about using the power adaptor, because 99% of the time I do use it. Just this week I haven't been using the adaptor and now the green light's on. Seems odd that the two could be related.

deafMacGeek77 · Nov 26, 2011

Well.. Some apps or web based apps can screw up the camera.. it was a big problem with my older mac (g5 tower) I never had a problem with my new laptop about 1yr old macbook pro with snow leopard on it.

I just allowed facebook to use the camera for web chat so it messed it up totally and the webcam is on all the time. So I would advise not using facebook web chat. Now I have to figure how to fix this. The led is on all the time now. Gotta disable it for facebook web chat i think since the problem started right after.

I gotta use my webcam for many things it's vital to me!! HELP!!

deafMacGeek77 · Nov 26, 2011

deafMacGeek77 said:
Well.. Some apps or web based apps can screw up the camera.. it was a big problem with my older mac (g5 tower) I never had a problem with my new laptop about 1yr old macbook pro with snow leopard on it.

I just allowed facebook to use the camera for web chat so it messed it up totally and the webcam is on all the time. So I would advise not using facebook web chat. Now I have to figure how to fix this. The led is on all the time now. Gotta disable it for facebook web chat i think since the problem started right after.

I gotta use my webcam for many things it's vital to me!! HELP!!

I fixed this problem temporary by going to system preferences and then blocking all the sites that use the webcam and suprisely a lot of sites that do not have a webcam ask to use my camera?? huh? I could not find facebook site there anywhere so it uses a different sitename for the camera chat function. sigh. Thanks facebook.