iSight ON at boot with battery - unusable in OSX

I have run into kind of a serious problem with my isight on my new macbook. This is the second machine now that ive had problems with, the first had a random shutdown case.

Sometimes, when i boot up on battery, the isight light goes on. it turns on before the leopard login screen loads, when its blue. then the background comes on (Time machine backdrop), and the login box appears.

Once logged in, i can open photobooth, and see nothing being displayed in the camera window. the light is still on. after a reboot, same issue persists. it takes the power being shut off completely to get it to not do it again.

A note, the machine usually sits for a period of hours in the OFF position, and when i boot it up, on battery only, this arises.

I will include screenshots from my iphone to confirm. The isight is unusable and it looks undetected when the isight light is on at bootup.

my system profile will not be a snapshot of when it was not working, as i have gotten it to turn off, so the problem isnt present during the snapshot.

just wondering what you all though, if it could just be software related. I can usually get it to do it when the computer has been sitting OFF for a 3-4hr period.

Sounds like a gremlin....Apple has a problem reported that ive submitted, just wondering all your your thought

I get this problem once in awhile too, although from the way you describe it, it sounds like you get it more often than I do. I don't think anyone replied to my thread awhile back so I just thought I'd let you know that you're not alone. I don't have the login box thing but it does require me to shutdown to "fix" the problem.

its not too frequently, but it has happend several times in the past week. maybe its just software related, im thinking so

is that aviator from Worldcraft or somethin"? it looks familiar!

I get it once every couple of weeks. I don't even use iSight but I'm more worried about it sucking up battery life. If it was on and I knew it wouldn't cut into my juice, then I wouldn't worry about it.

I wish I knew if it was software or hardware. I don't use my MB for anything too intensive, just web, music and some chat. I don't have much installed.

I have no idea what my avatar is hehe. It is one of the default avatars to choose from and it looked cool so I selected it. ;D

i dont like the idea of it being on when not told to be. especially since it doesnt appear to the computer its even present in the machine. So if i wanted to use it, i simply couldnt.

His avatar looks like a popular character from Final Fantasy.

i sort of feel a little ashamed that i know that

i knew it was from somewhere. its the black wizard!!!

the isight problem happens to me also. i boot up, notice the green light is on and it doesn't turn off unless i completely shut down and turn my computer back on. anyone know why this happens? also, i noticed that when the iSight light is on, if i open up photobooth it's just a blank green screen. weird.

i suggest everyone having this problem submit a report here:

https://bugreport.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/RadarWeb.woa/wa/signIn

the more complaints they get, the more updates the produce.

makes me feel likes its not hardware now, but you still never know

i too have this issue. in fact it's why i signed up to the forum!

i bought my macbook with tiger installed and had the problem. upgraded to leopard and still get the same issue. i've also had the issue when the power cord is connected, not just battery only ops.

glad to know that others are experiencing the same issue...all my mac mates dont seem to experience the problem.

very odd. not too comfortable about the light being on when it's not supposed to be...not that i'm paranoid or anything ;p

i'll report the bug also

Ok, I'm now having this issue too. I was away for the weekend, and turned my MacBook off. When I came home and turned my computer on, the green light turned on and has been on for a day now. I don't have any programs that use the camera running, and have tried rebooting which didn't help. I'll report a bug, but if there are any new tips let me know. Thanks.

** After posting this message, I did some searching and found a variety of reasons and possible ways to turn the iSight camera and light off. Most responses on how to fix the issue did not clear the problem. A few postings asked if questionable software was downloaded. I have not downloaded any new sort of software. Anyway, I just power-failed (held the power button down to shut down the computer) to turn the computer off, waited a half minute, and then turn the computer back on. The iSight light did not turn on this time.

I'm having the same problem too. After a lot of searching most solutions basically pointed towards rebooting the MB or power off and on but nothing has helped. Just yesterday it happened so I powered off, removed the battery for about a minute and popped the battery back in and the problem was gone. Tonight, I just powered up my MB back and the iSight came on again. FRUSTRATING!

Me Too !!

I am a recent convert to the Mac but as an It professional I like to think that I have grasped it quite quickly, however I also seem to have this problem with the Isight seemingly activating on boot up.Not sure how or why this is happening but it definitely seems to be a software issue.

The only software that I have added is Mac Office 08 and Norton Antivirus.

Downloads are Senuti, skype and firefox. My neighbour has skype on his PC and he has issues with his webcam so I am wondering if it may be a skype issue.

Is anyone else having this problem that doesn't have skype installed.

Hi, I've just registered to the forum. I have the same issue on my girlfriend's macbook running Leopard 10.5. She has some software installed like: senuti, skype, canon image browser, seashore.

I have very same macbook with skype installed and I do not experience this problem. I removed iChat from her mac thinking that could be a problem. But iSight still goes on after a startup. Looking forward for any solutions.

hi guys,
yeah i'm also having the same problem as you guys. i was just thinking what model of macbook do you all have could it just be a specific model which is effected? i have a 9F33.

Where did you get that number from ?

Hi,
anyone out there being able to resolve the problem in the meanwhile? I gave my MacBook (MacBook3,1, Boot ROM MB31.008E.B02) to my service provider because of this issue but he was not able to fix it - because he just could not reproduce it. I didn't see it for about a week, but now several times in a row.
I also posted a bug report to Apple. Hope that helps, really frustrating problem.
Christoph

I was somehow glad to see I'm not alone. I've had this problem for a while now, even after upgrading to Snow Leopard. Could anyone fix it?