Predator Helios 300 Webcam Degraded

formedsmoke

Hey all,

I bought a PH315-52-78VL in summer of last year.  I have a 3rd party warranty on it (through Amazon) but I wanted to see if the community had an easier answer for me before I looked at possibly losing my computer for repairs.  I tried looking for other threads about this, but most of them had to do with software issues and needing to either update, or uninstall/reinstall camera drivers.

Until mid-September, my webcam worked fine, and I was using it a lot of telework.  In the last few weeks when I've used it, though, the image is either

1) very low resolution (the following is the full screen capture in original resolution):


2) heavily degraded (it will rapidly shift between no degradation and complete artifact coverage during a video):


3) not present:


All 3 of this pictures were taken within ~10 minutes of each other.

I can adjust which bad version I get by moving my screen back and forth on the hinge, which suggests a hardware (probably cabling?) issue to me.  Has anyone encountered this before?  Any recommended user fix actions before I try to resolve this as a warranty repair?

Thanks

Manny-Acer_Retired

Hi formedsmoke,

I am very sorry to see that you're having issues with your webcam, I can recommend you re-installing all the drivers and updating the BIOS to the latest version from our official site: https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support-product/7983?b=1

If the issue persists, please contact Acer support for better assistance.

Thanks in advance,
Acer-Manny

formedsmoke

Acer-Manny said:

Hi formedsmoke,

I am very sorry to see that you're having issues with your webcam, I can recommend you re-installing all the drivers and updating the BIOS to the latest version from our official site: https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support-product/7983?b=1

If the issue persists, please contact Acer support for better assistance.

Thanks in advance,
Acer-Manny

Hi Manny,

I updated the BIOS and uninstalled/reinstalled the camera, but there was no change to function.  As I said before, the fact that I can influence camera function through manipulation of the laptop's hinge, so I continue to believe this is a hardware issue.  I have reached out to Acer Support for an appraisal of repair cost, and am currently struggling with my Warranty guaranteer regarding filing a claim for repairs.

Wiewiór

Hello, I didn't have this problem with the Helios 300, but with an older Acer aspire model. I was removing and adding drivers etc. I couldn't deal with it until someone recommended me to reinstall windows. This solved my problem with the camera.