My video/microphone isn’t working

If you would like to learn more about how to use the online classroom, as well as troubleshooting tips, we are running seminars at 6pm on Tuesdays and 11am on Thursdays for tutors! You can see how to join one here.

Don’t panic! There are a few things which you can check to ensure everything is set up correctly.

Check your webcam and microphone have been allowed in the classroom

This also involves ensuring that you have the correct camera and microphone selected, particularly when using Firefox! Feel free to refer to our FAQ which will help you do this: How do I enable my microphone and camera?

Check it’s not your camera or microphone that has the issue

If possible, try to use your camera/microphone with another application. If it doesn’t work there either, then the problem is most likely to be an issue with the camera or microphone itself. You may be able to try using headphones instead of the inbuilt microphone in your computer or laptop for example if this turns out to be the issue.

Incognito

If your camera and microphone are definitely working in other applications, try opening the lesson space in an incognito window, or switch internet browsers. If it works in an incognito window, you’ll have to clear your cookies and cache as they will be interfering with your permissions and the running of the classroom!

To clear your cookies and cache on Google Chrome, you’ll need to:

• Go to your full browsing history (can be found at the top of your screen on a Mac, or Ctrl+H on Windows)
• There is a ‘Clear Browsing Data’ option on the left of your screen
• A pop-up will appear detailing what you will be clearing - just ensure that the ‘Cookies and other data’ and ‘Cached images and files’ boxes are ticked, and select clear data.

To clear your cookies and cache on Mozilla Firefox, you’ll need to:

• Select ‘History’  (Windows) or Tools (Mac) from the menu bar, and select ‘Clear Recent History’.
• On the pop-up, select to view the details and ensure that ‘Cookies’ and ‘Cache’ are selected before selecting ‘Clear Now’

Switching to the back-up video server

Sometimes, if your connection has dropped a little low, it can affect your camera and microphone connection, as well as the general experience within the classroom, and if it drops really low, it can stop the camera and microphone connection completely. If this happens, the tips mentioned in the following FAQ are really useful, so I'd recommend having a look at this! 

However, one other solution is to switch to the back-up video server within the classroom. To do this, you just need to click on the gear icon on the right hand side of the classroom - this will be the third one down. From here, you can just scroll down to the video provider section, and if you click on the downward facing arrow, you can then select the 'Blue' server to switch to the alternative!

Drivers

If your webcam or microphone still isn’t working, this points to a driver issue - you can usually search for updated drivers online from the website of the manufacturer. Installing the updated drivers should hopefully solve your problem!