Precision 5490 IR camera not working

You're not alone. I have the same machine and mine stopped working a couple days ago too. I saw the IR lights flash like crazy and then Hello stopped working. Now I see no IR lights at all. I've tried everything to fix it, even rolled back my machine to a Restore Point of 12/1/25. Nothing... This is frustrating.

I have a Precision 5490 and I got 5690 for our CEO and we've had nothing but weird issues with them. If I mistakenly place my phone on the laptop base to the left of the trackpad, the machine completely shuts off. Took me a while to figure out why my laptop was suddenly shutting off. I bookmarked this thread hoping Dell sees it figures out a fix. I'll keep trying...

Here's a link to XPS 13's having the same issue at some point. I tried this "fix" and it didn't work. It basically killed my camera and I had to reinstall the 5490 Camera driver from the Support page. I noticed these 5490 have the same USBBridge Extension driver version that was causing the issue on the XPS 13 and which the Dell tech suggests replacing with a different version.

https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/xps/xps-13-plus-9320-windows-hello-facial-recognition-not-working-out-of-no-where/647f9da0f4ccf8a8de200c4f?page=2

Driver updates seem to run wild these days with either little testing or little quality control on Dell or Microsoft part. The problem is I can't seem to figure out the right one for Precision; I am not surprised the fix the XPS line does not work as the components and the drivers are quite different.

A full reset is always an option, but right before the holidays I simply have not time to reset everything.

Yeah, I knew the XPS 13 fix and driver was a long shot, but I had to try USBBridge driver since the XPS and 5490 use a similar camera and camera driver. Agree with the reset. That's the last thing I want to do just for the Hello feature. Bad thing about a reset, is it will likely just break again once Windows and/or driver updates get loaded. If I get time, I might find a spare SSD and install a fresh load to see if the IR works again. That will at least tell me if mine is a hardware (warranty issue) or a software/driver issue (which we both suspect it is). 

@DELL-ChrisM2​  - Hi Chris. Can you get someone at Dell took look at this? I've EVERYTHING to get the IR working again to no avail. I firmly believe this a Windows Update and Dell driver issue. I have a ton of data, apps and configuration on this machine and a complete reload is not the solution.

It's odd 2 (probably many more) of the same model machines IR function failed roughly the same day with exact same problem.

@gio79​ I think I've determined this is a hardware issue on mine. This weekend I put in a spare HD and first loaded a fresh image of the factory load (Windows 25H2) that came with the machine and turned off all Windows Updates - no IR flashing when configuring Hello. I then loaded a fresh install of Windows 24H2 and updated all drivers from Dell Support. Still no IR.

Dell has scheduled a technician to come out to replace the LCD panel. I'll keep you posted on if it fixes the issue. It's all very strange how it suddenly failed for both of us at the same time. We'll see.

BTW, I was able to get Hello working without IR (RGB/Camera-only and still no flashing IR) on the base loads and local machine account. However, my machine is a domain joined machine and that uses Hello for Business which requires IR for Hello to work. As soon as I joined the machine to the domain, Hello was dead in the water.

@CTCitnetter​ Thanks, please keep me posted. I run all diagnostics I could find, but nothing suspicious came up. I can't exclude a hardware fault, but to be sure I would need to reset the machine and in this time of the year, it is really not an option for me. I might try to get in contact with support as soon as the holidays are over and see what they say (usually reset the machine...).

Yes, in very good light conditions Windows Hello works, but not in normal or semi dark light conditions.

@gio79​ Hi Gio. Just to give you an update, it was definitely a hardware issue on mine. The Dell tech replaced the display panel and IR and Hello worked right away. Makes me wonder about the quality of these display panels and/or IR sensors. Hopefully, it's fixed for good. Good luck with yours. Hopefully yours is still under warranty. Here's my case number if you need to contact Dell and tell them this is a known hardware issue: Case: 220374924

@CTCitnetter​ Thanks, I will get in touch with Dell Tech support soon.

@CTCitnetter​ After a bit of a discussion with tech support over the phone and a few days of follow up by email, Dell finally sent a technician to replace the part (unfortunately they have to replace the whole monitor, which makes it expensive for them, but makes it simple to do the repair), and I can confirm this was a hardware issue.

The technician told me this is not a very common issue in his experience, usually it is the camera that stops working.

Anyway, Dell offered a solution and proved once again that their support works.