Acer Swift 3 SF314-512 - Finger print and Camera Not working

Yesterday I purchased an Acer Swift 3 SF314-512 i5 12th gen Windows 11 home. I updated all drivers (via windows update) and downloaded a few apps. The first issue I noticed was the screen flickering but rolling back the display driver solved that issue ( I am still observing). Now there are two other issues;

The fingerprint scanner does not work. Looking at the part of the laptop where it is located it looks as though it's a sticker with no actual sensor there (it's not hollow) just a see-through sticker with a fingerprint design.
The Camera which was initially working no longer works and I can't find it in the device manager. I have also tried editing the registry to fix this problem with no luck.

(edited the title to add model name )

Accepted answers

JackE

>>>By reinstalling legacy drivers i was able to get back the camera in device manager but it has a yellow error icon. The driver is already the latest so it's not updating.>>>

No! Don't try to re-install anything legacy or otherwise. And don't try to reset

Just right click on the driver with the yellow error icon. Then uninstall it. Then exit Device Manager without trying to reinstall anything. Nothing! No legacy drivers. No update drivers. No nothring!

Then shutdown Windows normally. Then turn it back on again . Let Windows try to automatically re-detect the camera and reinstall fresh driver copies. Don't you try to do it manually!

All comments

Arniemate

Update!!

I feel rather silly, I didn't know the fingerprint sensor was in the On button. Kindly ignore the Fingerprint, the only issue is the "camera not found".

Thanks!

JackE

Open Device Manager again. If no red or yellow warnings, click View tab. Checkmark show hidden devices. Check for camera again under HID or Imaging Devices folder. Post screenshot of Device Manager if possible.

William_mk2

@Arniemate

If you are able to find the camera on device manager by using view hidden devices

Expand the camera

right click on driver - uninstall

Restart the computer.

It should work fine ..

If it is still not working

Uninstall the camera from device manager

Dont restart the computer.

Go to support.acer.com

chose your country

type snid or chose your model

go to drivers

Install the camera driver

If you are not able to find the camera driver , please install the i/o driver, chipset driver and check ..

You can also install the display driver if you are facing any issues with the display.. Before installing the display driver, kindly remove it in device mananger and then install it.

If the device manager is still not detecting the camera..

Doing power drain and bios defaults will help us to detect the camera..

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.

It should work fine..

William_mk2

@Arniemate

Type camera on search

click on camera on top

It will open the camera

check whether camera is working fine

If it is still not working..

Kindgly go through the details from the links given below

https://www.drivereasy.com/knowledge/how-to-fix-integrated-webcam-not-working-on-windows-10/

https://www.maketecheasier.com/fix-webcam-not-working-windows10/

https://www.lifewire.com/fix-it-when-webcam-is-not-working-4588517#:~:text=Causes%20of%20a%20Webcam%20Not,when%20it%20detects%20new%20hardware.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/camera-doesn-t-work-in-windows-32adb016-b29c-a928-0073-53d31da0dad5

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-fix-common-camera-problems-windows-10

https://reincubate.com/support/how-to/webcam-not-working/#webcam-fixes

https://verificient.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/1000279242-my-webcam-is-not-working-windows-

If the camera is still not working after the power drain and bios defaults.

We need to determine whether it is a hardware or software issue..

If it is still not working then we have to do a 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 everything

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.

check wheter the camera is working

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

Note:

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.

You can also do the recovery in an alternative way..

There are two alt keys on the keyboard. If you look at the bottom row of keyboard you can see the one on the left side of space bar and the other on the right side of space bar. The alt key on the right side will be looking like alt, alt gr or alt car. Turn off the computer. Hold the alt key on the left and tap f10 continuously. It will go to repair mode. It will show you chose an option, continue, troubleshoot. If it is not going to repair mode, turn off the computer. Turn on the computer. Hold the right alt key ( alt gr or alt car or alt ) and then tap f10 continuously. It will go to chose an option continue and troubleshoot..

It will show you chose an option, continue, troubleshoot

Go to troubleshoot - click on reset this pc

click on keep my files ( only applications will be lost ) chose your account and type your password - click on local reinstall - click on reset

It will be in progress

If the keep my files option is not working

Go to troubleshoot - click on reset this pc – click on remove everything – click on local reinstall – just remove my files – click on reset

It will reinstall windows.

If the just remove my files is not working..

Go to troubleshoot - click on reset this pc – click on remove everything – click on local reinstall – Fully clean the drive – click on reset

It will reinstall windows.

Note: You can also go to chose an option , continue , troubleshoot by holding the alt key + tapping f10 or alt gr + tapping f10 on the keyboard while turning on the computer. Once you see the troubleshoot option, you can stop tapping the f10 and stop holding the alt key. Then you can try the keep my files and remove everything ( just remove by files and fully clean the drive ) by following the steps which was mentioned above.

Even after reinstalling the windows if the camera is not working then it is a hardware issue and i suggest you to purchase and use a external usb camera.

JackE

Open Device Manager again. If no red or yellow warnings, click View tab. Checkmark show hidden devices. Check for camera again under HID or Imaging Devices folder. Post screenshot of Device Manager if possible.

Arniemate

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1149982#Comment_1149982

Thank you @JackE unhide worked to pull up Camera in device manager!

@William_mk2 after uninstalling and reinstalling the device driver it no longer shows up in the device manager and it's still not working. I am about to try a reset and i'll update you after that. It's definitely a software issue as i did test the camera the first time I booted up the laptop. The Camera not found came up after i was done updating and also after the display driver rollback.

JackE

If you haven't done a reset yet, simply shut down the laptop. Then turn the laptop back on and let Windows try to automatically re-detect the camera and reinstall fresh driver copies. Then open Device Manager again. If no red or yellow warnings, click the View tab show hidden devices again. Do the camera now re-appear? If yes, test it again.

Arniemate

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1150102#Comment_1150102

So the reset is pretty much asking me to reinstall windows...I'm not sure i want to do that just yet. By reinstalling legacy drivers i was able to get back the camera in device manager but it has a yellow error icon. The driver is already the latest so it's not updating.

JackE

>>>By reinstalling legacy drivers i was able to get back the camera in device manager but it has a yellow error icon. The driver is already the latest so it's not updating.>>>

No! Don't try to re-install anything legacy or otherwise. And don't try to reset

Just right click on the driver with the yellow error icon. Then uninstall it. Then exit Device Manager without trying to reinstall anything. Nothing! No legacy drivers. No update drivers. No nothring!

Then shutdown Windows normally. Then turn it back on again . Let Windows try to automatically re-detect the camera and reinstall fresh driver copies. Don't you try to do it manually!

billsey

Look at the USB Hosts entries and do the remove/reboot to reinstall on each of them. Typically when something like a camera is acting up with newer Windows versions it's the USB hub scrambling the configuration information, so the camera is no longer recognized. It's hidden because it used to be there but isn't any longer, as far as the system is concerned.

JackE

>>>By reinstalling legacy drivers i was able to get back the camera in device manager but it has a yellow error icon. The driver is already the latest so it's not updating.>>>

No! Don't try to re-install anything legacy or otherwise. And don't try to reset

Just right click on the driver with the yellow error icon. Then uninstall it. Then exit Device Manager without trying to reinstall anything. Nothing! No legacy drivers. No update drivers. No nothring!

Then shutdown Windows normally. Then turn it back on again . Let Windows try to automatically re-detect the camera and reinstall fresh driver copies. Don't you try to do it manually!

Arniemate

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1150257#Comment_1150257

Thank you. I did this (uninstalled the drivers) and I also downloaded and installed the new windows 11 update that was released. Problem fixed!

JackE

Congratulations! Thanks for reporting back on your results. 🙂

DpEsho

Hello,

I use the Acer swift SFS314-512 and there's a "yellow error sign" on the FHD User facing in my system devices in Device manager.

After a lengthy phone call of troubleshooting with Level 1 and 2 technicians at Microsoft, resetting my PC while saving documents and losing all existing applications, the problem persists and my laptop camera is still not working.