P750TM1-G webcam problems

The internal webcam on my P750TM1-G is really flakey. It cuts in and out in video conferencing apps. When the screen is tilted or there is vibration, I get a “USB device not recognized” error in Windows and it disappears from the OS. If I tilt the screen back and forth a few times it reappears again.

I’ve already tried reseating what I believe is the webcam connection to the mobo (green arrow) but it didn’t help.



Is there any way to fix?

(FWIW, I spilled some water near the left hinge about 7 months ago. I’m not sure if that is the culprit as I didn’t use the webcam before then. I’ve also read that a pinched wire in the hinge can cause this.)

 

The module is in the bezel, take it out and see if it's the module itself. I walked through a hardware illiterate person doing it last week so it's not too tricky

 

Thanks. Anything in particular I should be looking for once the bezel is off?

 

Loose cable, bad solder joints, burned smell, fire

 

Gotcha.

 

you could try wiggling the cable and the module, see if either makes a difference, it's hard to tell between the module and the cable. The module is likely easier to find and easier to try first.

 

Dead end unfortunately. I took the bezel off (broke 5 plastic clips on the bezel/lid in the process :\) but couldn’t see any physical damage or anything out of place.

Something I did notice was that the webcam malfunctions when the lid is tilted past ~90 degrees. When this happens, wiggling the webcam wire near the left hinge here makes it come back intermittently:



I still think there’s something putting excess pressure on or pinching the wire, but without being able to pinpoint that, I’m out of ideas.

 

By the description your wire is already broken if it cuts after some angle, maybe consider replacing it.

 

Yep new wire time.

 

Seems like a lot of work and I don't want to break more clips, so I just bought an external webcam.

 

That's also one solution, the cable is a fair bit more work than the module.