External isight wont work with imac g4

Question

Hello,
I recently purchased a second hand isight camera using ebay.
I have an older imac g4 and the isight wont work with it at all.
I have scoured the forums on this topic and looked through all of EZ Jim's suggestions but I think my problem is a little bit different.
I'll explain exactly what happens and my troubleshooting so far...
The imac G4 is powered off, I plug in the external isight via firewire 400
The imac boots up into leopard 10.5.8 (using leopard assist)
In system profiler the isight is listed under the firewire tab.
( I can post system profiler info on this if its needed)
When I turn on the camera ichat launches, but then in the video tab it says no camera is connected.
Photobooth just has the no camera sign, but interestingly when ichat is opened photobooth says "camera off"
sometimes photobooth even lets me click the photo button, it counts down but then it doesnt take a picture... obviously!
Skype doesnt work.
I have an imac 24" running snow leopard 10.6.6 .... that also detects the camera but it won't work with any application such as skype or ichat.
I have tried (on my G4) unplugging my usb bluetooth module but nothing changes.
My G4 is connected via ethernet to an external router.
The firewire cable seems ok, I dont have any other firewire devices, but if it was a problem with the BUS or the cable then im guessing it wouldnt show in system profiler.
I am thinking the camera is probably damaged, but before I start a paypal enquiry I would like to see if it is just my computer or a setting i need to change.
(oh I used the application isight updater in core services but the install button is greyed out)
Any help would be amazing!!
Thanks!!!

Answer 1

Well, about all you can do would be to try a different and known good
FireWire cable, as a replacement for what may be a defective FW400
cable that came with the iSight camera. The cable can be defective
with one bad wire, yet sometimes appear available to the computer.
• How to Troubleshoot iSight (note external vs internal)
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2090
• iMac G5 (iSight), & Intel-based iMac: Using External video camera:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2819
If you know of someone with an older Mac without a built-in iSight
camera, to test that one on, this may be an OK idea. Not sure if you
could get any traction by taking the camera to an Apple Specialist
and ask if they could check it out for you; that may also cost you.
{And since your computer does not officially support Leopard 10.5,
the other avenues of support would probably not be open to you.
At least not with the old iMac G4 and an unsupported 10.5 install.}
I have an external iSight camera which was included with my G4 Mini
1.5GHz model, and that appeared to work OK with 10.5.8 at one point.
But I really have no need for it, since I don't use photobooth & so on.
And haven't tried that with my iMac G4 computers at all. No need to.
With a computer not equipped with an iSight camera, the Leopard 10.5
installation should still support the eventual addition of one; even if the
computer itself appears to not officially support a Leopard 10.5 install.
(You refer to Leopard Assist, a means to install in slower CPU Macs.)
The FW cable is about the most easy to consider at this point.
In the course of a year, I've found good replacement cables at
several places, even those at thrift stores in perfect shape, work
and I use them for FW external hard disk drives, primarily. To have
spares is nearly always a good idea. Test & keep known good ones.
I'm not certain how the external iSight FW camera may work on
a newer Intel-based 24" iMac with a built-in iSight camera, too.
Does your 24" computer have FireWire 400+800 ports? Can you
choose an external iSight camera and ignore the built-in one?
These secondary topics have probably been discussed in the other
forum area for Intel-based iMac computer models; if you chose to
try & use that camera with a model computer with one built-in...
• Apple - Support - Discussions: for Intel-based iMac
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=189
There is a possibility, if never tried and the iMac G4 computer was
acquired second-hand, that the FW port within it may be band; but
the cable is the first item since it is cheapest, in troubleshooting.
So, anyway, the hour is late here (1AM) so hopefully the matter
can be resolved with a known-good replacement FW400 cable.
You should not have to restart the iMac G4 (800?) model in order
to get a FireWire item to be recognized. It should appear in the
System Profiler's list under FireWire, such as things normally do.
Of course, the camera could be defective as well. Been some
time since they were available on sale, new from Apple...
You could ask around to find out if there is a way to use that
external iSight camera with your newer Intel-based 24" Mac
by someone having it ignore its own built-in camera; in a
way as to not affect its normal operation, that is.
Good luck & happy computing!
+{ edited 2x }+