External iSight Camera not working after update installed?

Question

a couple of weeks ago I turned on iChat and up popped a window that said i needed to update the (external) iSight camera i had plugged into my minimac (firewire). followed the instructions and did just that. little greenlight glowed happily, rotated lens and opened iChat--little green light blinked off and then iChat showed that the camera was not turned on. tried turning it on and off by rotating the lens, unplugging firewire and also restarted computer...no change. looked for update to firmware and downloaded 1.0.3, only to be told it does not work with OS 10.4 (bummer).
had a back up camera, plugged that in and no problems...trouble is roomate recently got the pop-up screen when he was using it and, thinking he was doing me a favor, 'updated'...so now have 2 cameras that do not work and no answers to be found on the posts or the apple support site.
any ideas?

Answer 1

Welcome to Discussions, johnboysf
(1) Assuming you are not ANY having other problems with your Macs and that your Mac OS X Maintenance is up to date, you can concentrate on the iSight part of your system(s).
Restart your Mac with no unnecessary peripherals connected and try the suggestions here:
  http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93240
(2) If your iSight still does not work with any app, check for Possible hardware or software conflicts with iSight.
(3) I cannot tell whether your mini is an iNtel or PPC. Apply the appropriate Combo Updater as follows if you still have the problem:
• Backup your Home Folder, or at very least, your important files.
• Repair permissions. (Click here if you need help.)
• For PPC, download and apply the Mac OS X 10.4.10 Combo Update (PPC).
• For iNtel, download and apply the Mac OS X 10.4.10 Combo Update v1.1 (Intel).
• Finish with another Permissions Repair, and then check your iSight again.
Users have reported fixes to a variety of audio, video, connectivity, and software conflicts and unreliability issues after properly applying Combo Updates.
(4) If your problem persists after trying all of the above, the problem may be with your iSight itself. The fact that you got that notification after you had previously been using your iSight successfully under OS 10.4.x, and the fact that the updater ran for you and your roommate under OS 10.4.x, makes me think there may be something wrong with your iSights. The Tiger (10.4.x) OS includes all the necessary earlier update (including iSight Firmware 1.0.3) and installs the Firmware update if necessary at the time you installed Tiger or first connected your iSight. Therefore, the Firmware update should be unnecessary and should not have been identified by Software Update... as being needed (unless someone has improperly thrown away some OS X files.)
As you note, iSight Firmware 1.0.3 will not run except on Mac OS X v10.3.7-10.3.9 (or, it now seems, if something is wrong.) If you have access to a Firewire-equipped Mac that is using one of these OSs, you can try applying the update to your iSights using that Mac.
(5) If you cannot find a Mac that is still using Panther, or if applying the update does not resolve your problem, contact your Apple Authorized Service Provider for professional service. Ask your AASP if he wants to see your Macs, too, to check whether their software has been modified or damaged.
EZ Jim
PowerBook 1.67 GHz w/Mac OS X (10.4.10) G5 DP 1.8 w/Mac OS X (10.5)  External iSight