# Photo Booth



## Steve Hyland (Oct 7, 2006)

I recently did the latest software update to 10.4.8  Since then Photo Booth does not work at all.  The screen is completely dark where before I could take photo's with it now I can't.  What has happened?  And how can I fix it?

One unrelated question.  I purchased a LaCie 250 GB HD to backup my internal HD to.  Should I install my OS onto it and let it be a startup disk or just backup to it as it is?

Thanks,
Steve


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## DeltaMac (Oct 7, 2006)

Does the camera turn on when you start Photo Booth? The green light next to the camera lens indicates that the camera has power. The light will go off when you Quit Photo Booth.

Have you tried downloading and installing the combined 10.4.8 updater?
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx1048comboupdateintel.html

this is a valuable trick to try after doing the software update to a newer version, and some part of the system gets a little wacked out.


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## Steve Hyland (Oct 8, 2006)

The green light does come on.  I just installed the combined 10.4.8 updater and there is still no change.


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## barhar (Oct 9, 2006)

With respect to 'Photo Booth' -

Are we to assume you updated your unknown model Mac to MacOS X 10.4.8 via the 'Apple, Software Update' menu item interface (or the 'System Preferences' 'Software Update' utility)? If so, consider a different approach - go to 'Apple Downloads' for the respective installer application(s).

01. With 'Photo Booth' not launched (open, running), move its '.plist' file ('com.apple.photobooth.plist' ?) to the 'Desktop'.
02. Launch (open, run) 'Photo Booth'.

Any success?

if not ...

01. Launch 'iChat' and select 'iChat, Preferences...', and click on the 'Video' toolbar icon button. Do you see yourself in the camera view area?

02. Attempt to reinstall the (downloaded) 'Mac OS X 10.4.8 combo update' (you will have to remove the 'MacOSXUpdate10.4.8.pkg' [or equivalent] file from the '/Library/Receipts/' folder), reboot the Mac, launch (open, run) 'Photo Booth'. Any success?

-----

'a LaCie 250 GB HD to backup my internal HD to. Should I install my OS onto it and let it be a startup disk or just backup to it as it is?' - both are valid options. The choice as to which, depends on your needs and wants.


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## Steve Hyland (Oct 9, 2006)

I've done everything you suggested.

01.   I moved the Photo Booth .plist to Desktop then launched Photo Booth.  No change.

02.   I launched iChat and clicked the video toolbar icon.  I didn't see anything in the view area but a black screen

03.   I removed the MacOSXUpdate10.4.8.pkg from the appropriate folder and rebooted the system.  No change the Photo Booth shows just a black screen.

My initial Update was through the System Update but since then I went to the Apple Download page and installed the MacOSXUpdateCombo10.4.8

I am running an intel based iMac (purchased in July) with the the 2GHz Intel Duo Core.

Steve


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## barhar (Oct 10, 2006)

Thank you for the detailed reply.

Sadly, it appears that you will have to re-install MacOS X 10.4.x (where 'x' depends on the version of your installation disc) and update (via the respective downloaded 'UpdateCombo') to either 10.4.8 (if you wish to try again) or to the last known acceptable working version.


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## Steve Hyland (Oct 11, 2006)

I guessed that's where this was headed.  Thanks for your input.

Steve


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## fritzw1957 (Mar 1, 2010)

In trying to fix this very same issue on my girlfriend's 20" Intel iMac, I discovered something interesting:

A. In her case, she had recently purchased a non-powered Hi-Speed USB 2.0 hub that was in the shape and coloring of a ladybug insect. Cute, but I suspected something was amiss as I had plugged in a USB SanDisk flash drive to transfer a file (totally unrelated to this topic but bear with me here...) to her desktop.

Before I could do that, all of a sudden the flash drives' icon disappeared from the desktop and I got the early disconnection warning, yada yada yada...

I had previously tried all the usual steps in trying to fix this iSight problem, ie. deleting the ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.PhotoBooth.plist file, reinstalling PhotoBooth from the OS X 10.6 app from the OS X Install DVD via Pacifist (which is a GREAT utility BTW!! Highly recommended! )

http://www.charlessoft.com/

In checking the Apple System Profiler to see if the built-in iSight camera was in the USB chain, it was indeed there and so was this external USB 2.0 hub... but the early ejection of the flash drive led me to believe that the hub wasn't getting enough power from the iMac to run the flash drive and the other devices on the chain (which includes the iSight...) so... I ejected the only other device on the hub, an external Western Digital 320GB drive and then physically disconnected the USB 2.0 ladybug hub.

Guess what??

Yup... launched Photo Booth and voilá!  A fully working Photo Booth with VIDEO!!  

So, that being said, unplug any external USB devices and see if that fixes your particular installation. I suspect also that a POWERED USB 2.0 hub would have avoided this problem altogether.


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## georgemacair (Mar 11, 2010)

Hi I am running 10.6.2 on my MacAir ...
Photo Booth was not working at all ... CAMERA NOT CONNECTED message
Tried re-starting with shift key held down ...
Now photo booth looks ok ... counts down and clicks ... but NO image at all 
Any suggestions ... Please ..


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## georgemacair (Mar 12, 2010)

Tks for opportunity to post ...
Photo Booth has self corrected after a shut down and later a restart to load software updates ...
Problem solved 
Reason for malfunction not known 
georgemacair


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