Page 64 - Computeractive - January 2, 2018 UK

P r o b le m s S o lv e d

PROBLEM OF THE FORTNIGHT How d o I r e-enable

How d o I s witch o ff m y b roken i Phone? m y webcam?
I h ave a H P
P avilion laptop and
Q that was s erving my Q somehow I h ave d isabled t he
o ld iPhone 4
I h ave a n
webcam. H ow do I g et it back?
needs well until t he I a m a s enior citizen a nd obviously a b it
power b utton b ecame green, so I’d r eally a ppreciate y our
permanently s tuck down! I ’ve assistance.
tried e verything t o d islodge i t Anthony H umphries
but it will not move, s o I c an
no longer s witch o ff m y Y o u d idn’t s ay if you’re seeing
iPhone. Th e b attery on this old A error m essages, or what version
handset i s f ading, so I l ike t o of Windows y ou have, b ut your
switch it off overnight t o s ave first check s hould be in Device M anager.
power – b ut obviously I c an’t To summon this, p ress Windows
do that now . Apple t ells me it key+R, t hen t ype d evmgmt.msc into the
no longer o ffers service f or this Run b ox and p ress Enter. Then, in Device
phone. A l ocal repair shop Manager, left-click to expand the
quoted £90 t o r eplace the ‘Imaging devices’ s ection, w here you’ll
button, but that’s more than I find a n e ntry for y our w ebcam. I f y ou see
want to pay f or this old t hing. a d own a rrow by its icon then it has, for
Could I t ake t his a part myself whatever reason, b een d isabled. To
to clean o ut any g unge? O r d o re-enable i t, right-click t he device n ame,
you h ave a ny other i deas? then click ‘ Enable device’ (see screenshot).
Michael Grange If this doesn’t w ork, or the w ebcam
If your iPhone 4’s power b utton i s b roken, you c an wasn’t marked as disabled, then right-
click
t he device n ame a gain and
t his t ime
Repairing a n
A is not easy. S pecifically , use t ouchscreen c ontrols to switch it off choose ‘ Update driver’, followed by
i Phone 4
the i Fixit w ebsite – w hich i s screen tap Settings followed by General ‘Search a utomatically f or updated d river
an authority on these matters – r ates and t hen A ccessibility. N ow swipe t o software’, and f ollow a ny prompts.
the t ask o f r eplacing t he iPhone 4’s the P hysical & M otor section and t ap If this fails, t hen u ninstalling t he device
power b utton a s ‘ difficult’. Y o u’ll find AssistiveTouch, then flip t he before restarting your PC will prompt
iFixit’s detailed guide at www.snipca. AssistiveTouch switch to On. Windows t o d etect a nd set i t u p a fresh,
com/26155. I f y ou do go down that A ‘ floating’ button w ill appear on which s hould fix the p roblem. R ight-click
road you’ll need an appropriate screen, w hich y ou can reposition just the d evice, then choose ‘ Uninstall d evice’
toolkit, as the i Phone i s s ecured with a by dragging and d ropping. Tapping t his followed by Uninstall t o c onfirm. W hen
variety of screws. Th ese are c heaply button o pens a b ox that provides the p rocess finishes, restart y our P C.
available from the l ikes of Amazon, touchscreen control o ver y our i Phone’s
such as this £3.70 k it at www.snipca. physical b uttons. T ap Device, for
com/26154. example, and y ou’ll s ee a p adlock icon
Once inside, i f y ou’re l ucky, a b last labelled Lock Screen ( see s creenshot):
from a c an of compressed air o r b it of this is the t ouchscreen version of the
(very c areful) g unge-scraping w ith a Power b utton. If you t ap and h old t his
fine e dge m ight g et the b utton m oving for a f ew moments, the l ock s creen w ill
again. But i t’s j ust a s l ikely t hat t he appear, j ust a s i t w ould if you h eld
mechanism itself i s b roken. If that’s the down the p hysical b utton. Then, to
case, t hen t he replacement part costs switch off, j ust m ove t he ‘slide to power
around £3.50 ( www.snipca. off’ s lider a ll the w ay to the r ight.
com/26156). But r emember t hat i Fixit’s However, you’ll have a p roblem when
rating is that this is an intricate and you n ext n eed to switch it on, a s t he
delicate job. physical p ower button r emains broken.
If you d ecide this repair is beyond There’s no perfect s olution to this, b ut
you, the a ccessibility features built i nto plugging in to charge or sync will bring
iOS c an help – a b it. F rom t he home your iPhone 4 b ack t o l ife. If your PC’s webcam is disabled, y ou might b e
able to restart it in Device Manager

64 20 December 2017 – 2 J anuary 2 018