Arch Linux

egils

Member

Registered: 2018-04-01

Posts: 10

Webcamera turned black after update

Hi

I recently upgraded my system.
Now the webcam is black when I use Zoom from AUR.

I don't know how to debug this, does anyone have an idea?
I tried reproducing with cheese, and it also has a black output and no errors.

I see no lines in journald -e containing "camera" or "v4l"

System information:
thinkpad x280
Linux lenovo-x280 6.1.32-1-lts #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Mon, 05 Jun 2023 18:23:39 +0000 x86_64 GNU/Linux

lsusb:
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0bda:0316 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. Card Reader
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 04f2:b604 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd Integrated Camera (1280x720@30)
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0a2b Intel Corp. Bluetooth wireless interface
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Thanks in advance

Last edited by egils (2023-06-07 16:27:19)

hoi89

Member

Registered: 2014-10-10

Posts: 4

Re: Webcamera turned black after update

I have exactly the same issue after updating this week. At /dev/video all entries are still displayed and nothing is blacklisted at modprobe.d directory.

zerophase

Member

Registered: 2015-09-03

Posts: 239

Re: Webcamera turned black after update

Just noticed this is as well. Don't believe it's a kernel issue as the LTS kernel has the same problem.

Last edited by zerophase (2023-06-10 06:45:02)

zerophase

Member

Registered: 2015-09-03

Posts: 239

Re: Webcamera turned black after update

We should compare our upgrades from

/var/log/pacman.log

. These are the updates in my log since the date you noticed an issue.

egils

Member

Registered: 2018-04-01

Posts: 10

Re: Webcamera turned black after update

We should compare our upgrades from

/var/log/pacman.log

. These are the updates in my log since the date you noticed an issue.

Thanks for the suggestion and log

I pasted my log from beginning of may here: https://paste.debian.net/1283351/ I'm pretty sure my camera worked before then.
I see libcamera upgrade on line 64-65
[2023-05-05T10:58:22+0200] [ALPM] upgraded libcamera-ipa (0.0.4-4 -> 0.0.5-1)
[2023-05-05T10:58:22+0200] [ALPM] upgraded libcamera (0.0.4-4 -> 0.0.5-1)

This might be the culprit.

I never attempted a rollback/downgrade in Arch before.

Last edited by egils (2023-06-18 12:01:06)

egils

Member

Registered: 2018-04-01

Posts: 10

Re: Webcamera turned black after update

I investigated libcamera a little:
See https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/libcamera/
It has no bug reports https://bugs.archlinux.org/?project=1&string=libcamera
Upstream here https://git.libcamera.org/libcamera/libcamera.git/

egils

Member

Registered: 2018-04-01

Posts: 10

Re: Webcamera turned black after update

I looked closer at my camera in my thinkpad (I recently bought this machine) and it seems to have a PHYSICAL sliding shutter in front of the lens. When I slide it to the right it blocks the camera lens and everything is... black. LOL

Sliding it left solved my issue and cheese now displays the camera image as usual.

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 20,601

Re: Webcamera turned black after update

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqAUmgE3WyM

---

Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
The shortest way to ruin a country is to give power to demagogues.— Dionysius of Halicarnassus
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

zerophase

Member

Registered: 2015-09-03

Posts: 239

Re: Webcamera turned black after update

Well, my camera is still not working. Running:

v4l2-ctl --list-devices

gives:                                                                                                                                                                           1 ↵

Cannot open device /dev/video0, exiting.

Still happens with sudo.

Last edited by zerophase (2023-06-19 01:32:30)

zerophase

Member

Registered: 2015-09-03

Posts: 239

Re: Webcamera turned black after update

And I just had to unplug and plug my webcamera back in. It was all the way in when I checked. Wonder if the USB port is going bad.