Strange webcam issue with T500

[Kaervak]

I recently purchased a T500 from a forum member, excellent machine in great shape. It has one weird issue, the webcam doesn't work. I have another T500 with a working webcam and have swapped camera modules and LCD ribbon cables between them to diagnose. Both camera modules work in the other T500 as do both ribbon cables, however in my main T500 the webcam does not show up in the BIOS. All USB ports work just fine on my main T500 as does the card reader, ethernet, bluetooth, intel turbo memory, fingerprint reader and firewire. The only thing I can think of is the BIOS version determining support for a webcam. My main T500 is a version 3.23 6F based machine and my other T500 is a version 3.25 7V based machine. Looking up the MTM of my 6F machine it did not come stock with a webcam but the 7V machine did. Has anyone run into this issue before?

[TPFanatic]

Odd. Have you tried updating the BIOS? You can also look under Security -> I/O ports and see what if anything is mentioned there.

I've had success installing a webcam in my T500 that did not come with one. A puzzling issue indeed....

[Kaervak]

Odd. Have you tried updating the BIOS? You can also look under Security -> I/O ports and see what if anything is mentioned there.

I've had success installing a webcam in my T500 that did not come with one. A puzzling issue indeed....

Yep, it has the newest BIOS for it's machine type and the camera is the only thing not showing up under the I/O ports. I'm thinking this one is hard coded to not support a camera for some reason. I suppose it's possible that the ribbon cable connector on the motherboard may have an issue, but the display works perfectly as does the Thinklight. I'll have to take a closer look at the connector at some point to rule that out as well.

[RealBlackStuff]

What is your T500 TYPE / Product ID?

In Windows, go to Control Panel and check Device Manager/Imaging devices to see if the webcam is there or not.
If not, try this: remove the CMOS battery, then boot up.
It will send you automatically into BIOS to set Date/Time, but it also resets the BIOS to default at the same time.
Save changes (or press F10) and exit BIOS.
When the boot-screen comes up, immediately press the power button to switch off.
Reconnect the CMOS battery.
You may have to set Date/Time again, otherwise it will now boot normally.
Check Device Manager/Imaging devices again.

[Kaervak]

What is your T500 TYPE / Product ID?

In Windows, go to Control Panel and check Device Manager/Imaging devices to see if the webcam is there or not.
If not, try this: remove the CMOS battery, then boot up.
It will send you automatically into BIOS to set Date/Time, but it also resets the BIOS to default at the same time.
Save changes (or press F10) and exit BIOS.
When the boot-screen comes up, immediately press the power button to switch off.
Reconnect the CMOS battery.
You may have to set Date/Time again, otherwise it will now boot normally.
Check Device Manager/Imaging devices again.

Type is 2241-CN4 with a build date of 09/07, it did not come factory with a camera according to the MTM lookup on this site. I've reset the BIOS without change and lsusb in Mint's terminal shows every USB device, including bluetooth which is on the same ribbon cable as the camera, but not the camera itself. lspci in terminal shows everything else, firewire, card reader, etcetera. All the hardware is working, just for some reason the camera isn't recognized by this machine. I'm going to remove the turbo memory as the T500 didn't initially come with it, I added that after getting the machine. Maybe that is causing a conflict, but I doubt it.

Edit:
Ribbon cable connector on the motherboard is fine, no damaged connectors and removing the Turbo memory made no change. Seems my T500 is an oddball that can't support a cam.

[RealBlackStuff]

What happens if you switch off the security chip in BIOS?
Have you checked all your USB ports that they work correctly and are not broken/warped?
Can you install an external webcam, like a Logitech (Quickcam Pro) 9000?
Have you got Skype installed to see if that finds it?
I don't know Linux to help with checkups.

On a similar note, I have a few T400 machines, one with 7V-BIOS and webcam, one with 7U and webcam, and one with 7U but no webcam.
Both 7V and 7U webcams work fine.

A long shot and I have no idea if relevant, as I don't use it: the Intel Matrix Storage Manager.
If that is installed, could that perhaps intervene (or help if not)?

[Kaervak]

What happens if you switch off the security chip in BIOS?
Have you checked all your USB ports that they work correctly and are not broken/warped?
Can you install an external webcam, like a Logitech (Quickcam Pro) 9000?
Have you got Skype installed to see if that finds it?
I don't know Linux to help with checkups.

On a similar note, I have a few T400 machines, one with 7V-BIOS and webcam, one with 7U and webcam, and one with 7U but no webcam.
Both 7V and 7U webcams work fine.

A long shot and I have no idea if relevant, as I don't use it: the Intel Matrix Storage Manager.
If that is installed, could that perhaps intervene (or help if not)?

Haven't shut off the security chip yet, I'll give that a shot next. All the USB ports work without issue, I don't have an external cam to test. I tried several distros before deciding on Mint as my main OS and even played with Windows 7 & 10 to see what the fuss was about. No OS has ever picked up the cam, drivers are built into Linux and the windows drivers were installed without change. It's definitely a weird issue but I don't really care if the cam works, just curious to see if anyone else has had this issue.

Edit: no change with disabling the security chip.

[Kaervak]

Six years later and I have an update, so timely I know.


Anyway, I picked up another T500 for parts. This one didn't have a camera by default either. I swapped the camera from my T500 into the parts one and the parts one doesn't detect the camera either. So, some T500 models do not support cameras at all apparently.


I'm sure this information about a 10+ year old laptop will be incredibly useful to the masses of people still using a T500.