Chosen Solution

I have a 2011 MacBook air whose built in FaceTime camera doesn’t work and is not recognized by any app or the system profiler. I have attempted the following to resolve the issue however I have no success.

  1. SMC & PRAM resets
  2. Disk utility - repair disk and repair permissions
  3. OS X reinstall - erased and reformatted and reinstalled.
  4. Apple Hardware diagnostics test
  5. Use of new profile. I am thinking this is a hardware issue however I don’t recall anything going wrong with the machine. Everything else works fine and the camera worked well previously too. Note: the ambient light sensor that’s next to the camera doesn’t function either. Any one have any ideas? I have never taken the laptop apart but I don’t mind doing it if I have to. Can the camera/light sensor be replaced or does the whole screen assembly have to be replaced? Any advice/tips are appreciated.

There is a cable connection to the I/O board that might have worked loose. Review the IFIXIT guide MacBook Air 13" Mid 2011 Logic Board Replacement Step 12. The other possibility it the camera unit has gone bad. Which will require replacing the full lid assembly unless you can find the part alone.

This same thing happened to me. The software version 10.10.5 will, over time, cause the FaceTime camera not to work. I simply updated my computer then I had no further issues. Let me know if this helps. If you are past 10.10.5 (Yosemite) please let me know.