Why won't Photo Booth open?

May 9, 2007 4:07 PM

Photo Booth won't open because it says my MacBook Pro's camera is in use by another application. It's really not. What can I do?

I have uninstalled a few programs that I have installed recently and that I thought might conceivably use the camera, but it makes no difference. The little green light next to the camera is not on, and Photo Booth refuses to open even when I've just booted up, and have not opened any applications. What could be wrong?

posted by Dasein to computers & internet (8 comments total)

The solution given to me way back when was to reset some sort of hardware thing, which involved shutting down the computer, unplugging everything (this was an iMac, I imagine a MBP would need the battery removed) for about 10-15 minutes, then restarting without any peripherals plugged in.

Worked for me.
posted by mhz at 4:35 PM on May 9, 2007

Didn't work for me, unfortunately. I'll try leaving the battery out overnight to see if more time makes it work. Failing that or anything else anyone suggests, I might take it by an Apple store next time I get a chance. The damn thing was working a few weeks ago, and I haven't been installing anything weird since then.
posted by Dasein at 5:27 PM on May 9, 2007

btw, previously.

Also, this is what I was referring to on the reset, the article has the exact instructions.
posted by mhz at 5:54 PM on May 9, 2007

There's an Apple Support article on this issue; I hope there's something helpful in it for you.
posted by SomePerlGeek at 6:11 PM on May 9, 2007

mhz, I followed those linked instructions - still nothing. I note that the previous thread required a trip to a Genius Bar, which might be my next step. SPG, I'm running 10.4.9, and it's definitely not a matter of open applications so that's not the problem.

I'll fiddle more - but I'm not optimistic. At least it's nothing important to me. Thanks for the help. Any more ideas would be welcome.
posted by Dasein at 7:35 PM on May 9, 2007

Just curious - if you create a new user, and login to that use (and out of your main user) does it work?
posted by filmgeek at 9:22 PM on May 9, 2007

Does any program that "see" the camera get the same error message? if so you may have a damaged/missing quicktime component
check in /Library/QuickTime/QuickTimeUSBVDCDIgitizer.component
if there is one there remove (back it up just in case) and reinstall quicktime. That should fix it.
I had a customer bring in his 14 year old daughters macbook and wanted me to remove the camera because he found she was sending...umm pictures, to her boyfriend. I simply moved that file, set her account to limited and set up a applescript to remove it after any OS updates or Quicktime updates. Worked like a charm..
felt icky doing it though (dude its called parenting...jeeze)
posted by ShawnString at 7:24 AM on May 10, 2007

Sorry for the absence. filmgeek, I just created a guest account and it has the same problem.

ShawnString, that particular component is not there, but I will try reinstalling quicktime (right now my Mac, for reasons that are not important) is not connected to the internet, but will be again tomorrow, and I will try it then. Thanks.
posted by Dasein at 6:32 PM on May 10, 2007