Chosen Solution
Hey everyone! I have a MacBook Pro 15 2018 (model A1990) that recently had a motherboard failure that was fixed by a third party motherboard technician (apple was charging 1000+ € for the repair) that swapped a capacitor which failed on the motherboard. Everything is working except the camera and all the features connected to the ambient light sensor such as keyboard backlight, True Tone and display plus Touch Bar automatic brightness. In particular: camera is not detected and Photo Booth says “There is no connected camera”; also, camera appears not to be detected in System Info too, while at the same time its serial on system info is set to “?“True Tone, automatic brightness and keyboard backlight settings/toggles have completely disappeared from system preferences and are not working, moreover in System Info the “Automatically Adjust Brightness” feature is set to “No” I can still set manually the display brightness though and before going to standby, it still dimmers automatically. However, all these features are not working in any condition, not even before/after login or in recovery/safe mode. From a behavioral point of view, it seems like the entire camera & ambient light module is disconnected. Here’s the software and hardware procedures and checks that I did that were unuseful: PRAM and SMC resetmacOS updatemacOS clean reinstallreboot in Safe Modesystem diagnostic at boot (by pressing key D), which gave no errors foundchecked display flex cable and connectors, they seem to be finechecked display backlight and camera flex cables and connectors, again they seem to be fine The only thing that I haven’t tested is T2 reset using DFU mode and another Mac, since I don’t have one. Can T2 be involved in the problem? In System Info, the camera appears under Apple T2 bus, so it does the keyboard and Touch Bar. I can confirm however that, apart from disconnecting the display flex cable for mother board repair, the other two cables were not touched and that the display is the same as before the repair since it had a pressure mark on the panel that it still has. I’m attaching some pictures for reference. Do you guys have ever had a similar problem or have any idea of what could be the problem? Thanks in advance to anyone that is willing to help :)
Hmm. definitely not software related, hopefully, it could be a loose or disconnected cable on the inside. sadly, there’s a possibility it’s a motherboard issue. and €1000!?!?!?!? that’s mad. you should rate the place badly for that. hope this helps :)
Hello, I have the same problems with my MacBook Pro 13 2018 (A1989). I have also tried everything. And thinking about checking and reflashing the t2 chip. Luckily my girlfriend has a macbook too, so I will try today or tomorrow and share my results.
I ended up replacing the EDP cable with a new one and now everything works! Looks like the cable wasn’t that fine.
Ah cool, what is the EDP Cable?
The cable highlighted in red in this picture
The mention of the eDP (Embedded Display Port) cable is a solid idea. But in the case that doesn’t fix it, here’s some additional details about how these components work. The eDP cable rarely goes bad in my experience, but it’s worth a try in this case since the alternatives will be more expensive or more difficult. The Camera and Ambient Light Sensor utilize the same power rail coming off the Logic Board. It travels through the eDP cable, to the T-Con (Timing Control) board. This then distributes signals is to display parts via 4 flex ribbon cables. One of these is dedicated to your non-functioning components. This leaves a few potential points of failure. In addition to the already mentioned eDP cable, it could be the ribbon cable coming from the display to the T-Con board (highlighted in green on the attached images). Inspect closely for signs of damage or liquid, it may have small tears or punctures from debris getting into the display hinge. If this cable is damaged, you’ll likely need to replace the whole display assembly. Repairing or replacing the cable alone is tricky since it runs behind the display panel, which is a bear to remove. It might also be the Logic board itself. It is not uncommon for a fault on the T-Con board to blow out a small logic board component, severing the power line for these two component. No power means they can’t turn on, or be detected by the MacBook.
