AOD150 Replaced Webcam - still not recognized

I have an AOD150 on which the webcam died.

After trying system restores and various drivers to no avail and subsequently reading through the various threads on this issue, such as this one: http://www.laptop-forums.com/webcam-failure-no-solutions-t22302.html, which suggest a hardware issue, I decided to replace the webcam module itself. However, the device is still not recognized. Does anyone have any ideas as to why this may be the case?

The right side hinge cap frequently comes loose and I did notice a slight kink in the wire for the web cam. Could the failure be related to this rather than the camera module itself?

 

A kinked wire could be a place where the wire is broken but a kink by itself would not necessarily cause a loss of continuity. Good place to look for a break in the wire though.
Can you access the wire and possibly wiggle it or move it slightly to see if the video maybe is temporarily restored and that would confirm the break at the kink.

phil

 

I haven't tried that. I am overly cautious about messing with the hardware while the machine is on.

My webcam isn't detected at all by the computer (still running Windows XP home SP 3). Are you suggesting that if the wire is damaged the webcam would at least function some of the time?

 

What I meant was that if the wire was broken at the kink that if you moved/wiggled it that it may make an intermittent connection and you would see something on the screen.

phil