Hi Paolo,

Thanks for the tips, but I'm afraid my camera is still out of action....

I've double checked that the protective lens film has been removed, and I've disabled/re-enabled the camera device, updated the camera driver, and completely reinstalled all the camera software to no effect. I've also ruled out conflicting software issues, as the problem persists for both skype calls and the laptop's face recognition software used when logging into my account.

The frustrating thing is that the fault happened suddenly halfway through a skype call. It was working perfectly on minute, and broken the next (seemingly irreversible.... fingers crossed). I had used skype for a mammoth 3hr call the night before, but I hope that wouldn't have "burnt out" the brand new camera...

Do you, or anyone else, know if sounds like a physical problem? Are web cam hardware faults common? I have never dropped the laptop, though it does commute with me on the train into work everyday...

When I first got the laptop, the inbuilt fingerprint scanner didn't work very accurately until I updated the driver software. Is it common for faults to suddenly appear when drivers become "out of date"? Any chance these problems could be related?

Thanks again for your help,
Dom