HP Elite Dragonfly G2 Problem with WebCam and display brightness

Windows Convertibles
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Hi everyone

I have a maybe somewhat weird question. First the situation: My boss has an HP Elite Dragonfly G2 and he uses it with a stylus. His old notebook had a magnet in the side onto which he could attach the stylus so he could carry it around without having to carry the stylus separately. The aforementioned Dragonfly G2 does not have such a magnet.

But, being a clever guy, he noticed that he can attach the stylus on the lid of the Dragonfly G2, right behind the builtin webcam. Unfortunately, since then the “shutter” of the webcam (I don’t know if this is the right word, you know, so the NSA and FBI can’t spy on you), can longer be closed with the dedicated button on the keyboard. The light on the button for closing the “shutter” goes on and off when pressing, but it doesn’t open or close.

We were able to glilde the stylus back and forth behind the webcam a bit, and thus opening and closing the shutter… but the button won’t work. Any idea how we might be able to get this fixed?

And around since then, the F-buttons for increasing and decreasing the screen brightness also no longer work .The other F-buttons (for example to regulate the volume) work fine. In Windows itself we can adjust the screen brightness just fine. Could him having screwed up the shutter with the magnet maybe somehow also break the brightness buttons as well?

Like I said, weird question. Does anyone have an idea?

Thanks a lot for your help

Christoph from Switzerland

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Hi there, welcome to TPCR! Sounds like something in the shutter mechanism magnetized, so it might be worth trying to demagnetize/degaussing it. There are tools for that (check google), but before trying maybe read up on any electromagnetic induction that goes along with them. Don’t want to fry any screen electronics will trying to unstick a five cent shutter.

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I agree with @JoeS that the shutter is likely magnetized and additionally the display firmware is linked to the webcam and alters the picture when the web cam as active as well as doing things like setting white balance.

You may have already tried this, but the first thing I would do is try uninstalling the webcam drivers, reboot and let windows reinstall.

Unfortunately the shutter mechanism is electromechanical and due to its tiny size may not be real robust and possibly was permanently damaged by the magnet.

That all being said, no promises whatsoever, but HP tends to be more “tolerant” with things like this with their top end products, and might fix it either under warranty, or at cost of the replacement parts. Several of our customers have had similar outcomes in the past. And of course, being nice is paramount. In other words, asking what they can do for you will get you a lot farther than demanding something.

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