[Update: fixed] The cameras of some Chromebooks don’t work anymore since Chrome OS 99 & 100

Introduction

There are several complaints on Reddit and the bug portal on chromium.org that the camera stopped working on some devices.

In the linked bug entry on chromium.org it’s described as follows:

Regardless of the application using it, after updating to Chrome OS 99/100, the camera has cease to function. Each time the camera is accessed by an app, it simply does not work. Instead, the white indicator light turns on and flashes while the Chromebook makes a clicking sound, almost like a shutter.

Known devices with this problem

So far, the following devices are known to experience the problem:

• Acer Chromebook 14
• HP Chromebook x2 11
• Lenovo 10e Chromebook
• Lenovo Duet 5 Chromebook 5

Except for the device from Acer, these are only Chromebooks or tablets with ARM processors, and there are a higher number of people have reported problems with them.

Official statement by Google

On Reddit, Google has commented on this:

Hello Chromebook Community,

Thank you again for taking time to bring this to our attention and apologize for any inconvenience this may be causing.

Our team anticipates that the fix will be available later this week with a software update and is not related to your device. We will share an update on this thread once the fix has rolled out.

We appreciate your patience as we work on resolving this.

Best, Alisha - On behalf of Chrome OS

I think it is good that Google reacted quite quickly here because the creator of the Reddit entry had already thought about making a warranty claim for his Duet 5. 😉

Are you having a problem like this as well? Is your device present in the list?

Let’s hope that a quick update is coming so that the problem of those affected can be solved soon!

Updates

04/08/2022: Another system update from Google has since fixed the problem.

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