webcam not working & camera driver missing for Predator Helios 300 PH317-52

Hi! Recently I noticed that my built-in webcam is not working and the camera app is showing this message (picture 1).

I tried all the methods I could find online but I think I probably made it worse. I uninstalled the camera driver in the device manager and tried to refresh/restart, but the driver didn't reinstall automatically.

Other solutions I have tried:

I updated all the drivers and windows updates.
Add Legacy Device: Nothing shows up for the camera, Imaging Device method also didn't work.
Reset camera setting, camera privacy setting, windows troubleshooting hardware/video playback.
I couldn't find a camera driver on the Acer support page, and I tried to download a camera driver elsewhere but also failed.
I tried to jump back a restore point, didn't work.

The only thing I haven't tried yet is to reset my laptop. Although I cannot choose the cloud download option when I try to reset, only local install. I wonder if this will affect the result?

System Model: Predator PH317-52

(Picture 1 - camera app message)

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/5u/u9a25yrx2d76.jpg

(picture 2 - device manager, shown hidden device)

Accepted answers

All comments

Easwar

Hi @GiantOctopus,

Reset this PC and keep my files
1. Shutdown the unit. Press and hold alt+F10 key. Then turn ON the unit.
2. You will get a blue screen. Choose the option troubleshoot.

3 Ways to Reset Acer Laptop to Factory Settings without Password

3. Select Keep my files to refresh your PC and reinstall your operating system without removing your personal files. Click Next to continue. Important If you have apps installed on your PC, they will be removed.
4. Resetting the PC will reinstall Windows, change settings back to their factory defaults and remove all preinstalled apps and programs without removing your personal files. Click Reset to continue.
5. You will be shown the reset progress on the screen. The screen will turn off during the reset process.
6. The screen will turn back on when it is installing Windows. Your PC will restart several times during the reset process.
7. Follow the process until it completes.
8. When your PC has completed the reset process, Windows will have been reset back to its factory default settings without removing your personal files.

GiantOctopus

Easwar said:

Hi @GiantOctopus,

Reset this PC and keep my files
1. Shutdown the unit. Press and hold alt+F10 key. Then turn ON the unit.
2. You will get a blue screen. Choose the option troubleshoot.

3. Select Keep my files to refresh your PC and reinstall your operating system without removing your personal files. Click Next to continue. Important If you have apps installed on your PC, they will be removed.
4. Resetting the PC will reinstall Windows, change settings back to their factory defaults and remove all preinstalled apps and programs without removing your personal files. Click Reset to continue.
5. You will be shown the reset progress on the screen. The screen will turn off during the reset process.
6. The screen will turn back on when it is installing Windows. Your PC will restart several times during the reset process.
7. Follow the process until it completes.
8. When your PC has completed the reset process, Windows will have been reset back to its factory default settings without removing your personal files.

Unfortunately, resetting my PC did not solve the problem. Camera driver still missing and camera cannot be detected. I could not launch the cloud download option while resetting, would this be causing the issue?

William_mk2

GiantOctopus

Doing recovery ( keep my files or remove everything is always a last option - You can always chose local reinstall instead of cloud download. Try keep my files first and then try remove everything ) . Please do this as a last step.

We need to understand the cause of this issue. Your computer is not communicating with the camera. It is not detecting the camera.

I personally faced this problem on my laptop. I did a power drain and bios default and it automatically detected the camera. I also went to device manager - Click on view - show hidden devices. It showed the camera. Uninstalled and restarted the computer.

Try to install the chipset driver if the camera driver is not present on the acer support website.

Go to support.acer.com
chose your country
type snid or chose your model
go to drivers - Install the camera driver and if it is not present try to install the chipset driver , i/o driver

Kindly refer the link given below

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support-product/7602?b=1

I am really sorry for the inconvenience.. Let us do the basic steps first..

Doing the power drain and bios defaults will really help. Kindly follow the steps given below:

Turn off the laptop. Disconnect or unplug the charger cable, devices or any other cables connected to your laptop. Close your laptop. Turn it upside down. On the bottom of the laptop, you can find a pin hole. It is a tiny hole. You can a find a battery symbol indicator next to the hole. It is like a + and - sign symbol as though somebody is trying to shift the battery out. Insert the pin on to the hole for 30 seconds. Remove the pin. Flip the laptop. Connect the charger cable, turn on the computer. Only on laptops where the battery is inbuilt you can find the battery reset hole on the back of laptop.

If you don’t find a pin hole on the back of laptop then you might be using removable battery. There is no need to unscrew anything to remove the battery. Turn off the laptop. Disconnect or unplug the charger cable, devices and any other cables connected to your laptop. Close your laptop. Turn it upside down. On the bottom of the laptop, please look at the top or bottom depending on the way you look at it. You can find a long door. It is a battery removable door. Just below that you can find a latch. If you move the latch you can remove the battery door. Once the battery is removed, flip the laptop. Open the top cover, press and hold the power button for 1 minute. Connect the battery back on the back of computer. Connect the charger cable back and then turn on the computer.

If you don’t see a reset pin hole on the back of laptop or if you are not able to remove the battery (if it is inbuilt) then please unplug all the cables and devices out of laptop. Hold the power button for 1 minute. After releasing the button you should wait a while before plugging in power. Just because the button has been pressed doesn't bleed off all the residual electricity on the motherboard. Wait 15-30 minutes before plugging in power. Then once power is connected wait for a full battery indication before turning the system on. That allows the battery to fully reset it's internal statistics.

Connect all the cables back and restart the computer.

While turning on the computer, tap f2. It will go to bios. Press f9 once. It will show load bios defaults with a yes or no popup. Press enter. Popup screen will disappear. Press f10 once. It will show save changes popup with yes or no. Press enter. Computer will restart and it will load into windows.

Now go to device manager and check whether it installed the camera properly. On search - type camera - click on camera - You are suppose to view the web cam now..

If it is still not working then ...

You can always do a refresh and reset. These are steps to do the refresh and reset ..

click on start - settings - update and security - recovery - reset this pc - get started

or

on start - type here to search - type reset this pc - click on reset this pc on the top - click on get started

It will show you keep my files and remove every thing

chose keep my files
chose the account - type the password - click on local reinstall - click on reset
It will be in progress..
login to computer and start using the computer.

If it is still not working

click on start - settings - update and security - recovery - reset this pc - get started
chose remove everything
click on local reinstall - just remove my files - click on reset - It will be in progress

If just remove my files option is not working then you can try fully clean the drive as the next option when you try to reinstall it again ..

If you do refresh ( keep my files ) - all your personal files like pictures, music , documents , videos will still be intact. Only the applications will be lost

If you do reset ( remove everything ) - you are doing a factory default. It will become like a day one computer. It will wipe out everything and take your computer to day one like a new computer.

GiantOctopus

@William_mk2
Thank you for taking the time to answer my question, William! I tried the battery reset entering BIOS and it didn't help the issue. I did a reset earlier and that also didn't work.
When I tried to download and install the chipset driver, it told me that I have a newer version of DriverSetupUtility already installed. I tried to uninstall two chipset driver inbut it still refuse to install.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/fw/qjd1vusa39i9.png

GiantOctopus

When I uninstall other driver, it'll automatically reinstall when I restart my laptop, however the camera driver seems to be the only exception

Commodore_1995#

Does the problem also occur here? https://pt.webcamtests.com/

GiantOctopus

egydiocoelho said:

Does the problem also occur here? https://pt.webcamtests.com/

Yes it didn't work.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/lh/5x7la1ufr9ub.png

Commodore_1995#

Try uninstalling the webcam driver through the device manager. Then restart windows.

GiantOctopus

@William_mk2
Thank you for taking the time to answer my question, William!

I tried the battery reset entering BIOS and it didn't help the issue. I did a reset earlier and that also didn't work.
When I tried to download and install the chipset driver, it told me that I have a newer version of DriverSetupUtility already installed. I tried to uninstall two chipset driver in device manager, but it still refuse to install.

Easwar

Hi @GiantOctopus,

It looks like hardware issue. Contact acer tech support,

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/service-contact

OR book the unit for repair service,

https://customerselfcare.acer.com/CS2/#/

GiantOctopus

egydiocoelho said:

Try uninstalling the webcam driver through the device manager. Then restart windows.

It's the first thing I did, the camera driver never came back after I uninstalled it, now I'm left with no camera driver in my device manager. 🤷‍♂️

xapim

GiantOctopus if you have tried a battery powerdrain followed by a bios setup defaults or even a acer stock recovery clean install to completely rule out any software issues (make sure to backup everything you need before and follow the video below) seems to really be a hardware issue you need to contact acer support and send it back to get it checked might even be just a disconnected cable or faulty or the webcam module itself that needs replacing good luck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GleJNW3VTEs

GiantOctopus

I sent an email to the acer support that my driver is missing and they just told me to uninstall the driver...wow. 🤯🤦‍♂️

strider16

My g3-572 also has a problem with the camera, it became glitch and someday stopped showing any image. But the led still turns on and microphones are ok. I'm thinking about a problem with the camera itself, because in its last days it worked if I applied some pressure over it.

Easwar

Hi @GiantOctopus,

It's better to book the unit for repair service.

xapim

GiantOctopus said:

I sent an email to the acer support that my driver is missing and they just told me to uninstall the driver...wow. 🤯🤦‍♂️

As i said if you have tried all the advices above to rule out any software issues its hardware assuming your still under warranty send it back to get it fixed if out of warranty you probably need to fix it yourself or find a good repair shop that would do it for you good luck

Dracula

Any update on this issue? I am kind of having the exact same problem on my acer a315 53 p4my and the entire camera driver is missing.

Tried resetting pc, updated to windows 11 from 10. Windows tech support told me to do a scan for corrupted files. And it came back with windows resource protection didn't find any integrity violations.

Anyways, can we try with adding from legacy hardware > camera > respective driver for the model ? Has anyone here tried this? Please let me know