Dell Inspiron webcam turns on only when usb port is plugged

Hi, my Dell integrated webcam has been working fine on Skype until recently the program claims that my internet connection is too slow for a good video. My laptop is plugged in to a portable wifi, Huawei E-5. I have been getting decent speeds on speedtest.net and even so, Skype was still complaining that it wasn't enough, and sometimes it says another software has been using my webcam.
Anyway, one video chat session, my video sort of crashed and I could only see myself horizontally chopped up. I opened Dell Webcam Central and still it's the same. The other line's video was A-Okay. I already reinstalled Skype and updated imaging devices drivers. The only progress now is that upon start-up of Dell Webcam Central, it says "Please plug in a supported webcam". Then for some reason it only starts up when I plug something into the USB like my phone or my iPod. I have to do this everytime I log on to make it work. I already tried running the webcam on Safe Mode but still it's the same.
Sorry if maybe I put this in the wrong forum, I am kinda confused if this is a hardware/software issue. I hope somebody could help me out.