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User profile for user: Bugsie63
Bugsie63 Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

iMac camera freezes

When using the camera on my iMac for Zoom, Quicktime, Photobooth, ... the picture will freeze after anywhere between a few seconds and a few minutes. The computer works otherwise fine when it happens and the Zoom app works fine as well (all other participants are still moving).

I have tried SMC reset and PRAM reset - that seemed to solve the problem for the same day, but by the next day the camera started freezing again. I purchased an external camera (logitech) thinking something is wrong with the iMac camera, but the same happens with it as well.

I have an iMac 21.5" late-2015 16 GB RAM, MacOS Big Sur 11.0.1. The Zoom app is up to date.

Does anyone have an idea for a fix?

Thanks in advance.

iMac, OS X 10.10

Posted on Dec 10, 2020 5:45 AM

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User profile for user: ManJor
ManJor
User level: Community Specialist

Posted on Dec 14, 2020 1:27 PM

Hello Bugsie63 and welcome to Apple Support Communities. It appears you are having some difficulty with both the internal camera and an external one when sending or recording video on your iMac.


The fact that this is happening with an external camera as well as the internal one points away from this being a hardware issue. The presents as either a software or network issue.


1) Start by doing a safe boot of the Mac. This will clear some cache files, turn off some system extensions and log-in items and give you a good foundation. After doing the safe boot, reboot normally and test.


How to use safe mode on your Mac


2) If the issue persists after a safe boot, set up a new admin user account and boot into that for testing. Doing so helps you to isolate the issue to the system or the user data and ultimately resolve it. 


You can find the steps to add a user here:


Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac


Cheers.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: ManJor
ManJor
User level: Community Specialist

Dec 14, 2020 1:27 PM in response to Bugsie63

Hello Bugsie63 and welcome to Apple Support Communities. It appears you are having some difficulty with both the internal camera and an external one when sending or recording video on your iMac.


The fact that this is happening with an external camera as well as the internal one points away from this being a hardware issue. The presents as either a software or network issue.


1) Start by doing a safe boot of the Mac. This will clear some cache files, turn off some system extensions and log-in items and give you a good foundation. After doing the safe boot, reboot normally and test.


How to use safe mode on your Mac


2) If the issue persists after a safe boot, set up a new admin user account and boot into that for testing. Doing so helps you to isolate the issue to the system or the user data and ultimately resolve it. 


You can find the steps to add a user here:


Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac


Cheers.

Reply

iMac camera freezes

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