Pro 14 Plus PB14250, freezes when using webcam with Teams or Zoom

@cs438455​ 

I'm going to drill down a bit on hardware and software testing here. Depending on the model of a system, there are different ways to test the camera. In particular, some of our configurations use a MIPI camera and others use a traditional RGB one. MIPI cameras are their own can of worms. Typically when there is an issue with a MIPI camera, Windows pushes incorrect or incomplete drivers. However, the Intel drivers must be installed in a specific order which Windows fails to account for. Most of the time it can be resolved with driver reinstalls. This would be in relation to the article the OP posted. The remaining unresolved bits can be potential hardware. 

MIPI cameras have been a pain point for me as they often have to lead down to reinstalling Windows to get them back up. The MIPI interface provides more bandwidth and better performance than USB for high-resolution imaging (better quality cameras). Our RGB cameras follow the USB protocol. Due to this, the MIPI camera can not be tested in the preboot onboard diagnostics which is my preferred way to distinguish between a hardware issue and a software issue. The SupportAssist application in Windows does support testing the camera so this would be the best way to test for a hardware failure in the OS.

If you have a configuration that uses an RGB camera, then you can indeed test the camera in the preboot diagnostics. Should the camera fail its dedicated test, then you would be looking at a hardware failure and would get with Support to replace it. Certainly my preferred testing option as its a fast and direct answer due to being outside of the OS. 

So unfortunately, it makes testing a MIPI camera a more software endeavor. Dell Support can really only refer to testing with drivers and our SupportAssist app. If our app indicates a hardware failure, then right you'd get with Support for a warranty repair. Should it pass, then additional troubleshooting is needed. If a failure occurs in a specific application but not in another, then we would want to get with the OEM vendor of the application. Though, to your point, if its a high impact issue then Dell may need to engage with the vendor directly for a fix. Yet, some instances are also out of our control and needs a fix from the particular vendor. Such as this article here with camera lag impacting the PB14250. We needed a fix from Microsoft and they were unable to provide one till later. 

To circle back to the camera failing, if Teams is the only app with an issue, then we would indeed need to revert to contacting Microsoft if all other options have been completed. If however, the camera is failing in all applications like most scenarios in this thread, then Dell Support should aid in troubleshooting that to completion.