14e4:1570 [MacBookPro11,1] iSight webcam changed from USB to PCIe but no linux driver is available

[Leonardo Borda]

Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy running on MacBookPro11,1 (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013) runs successfully *except* for the webcam. Same thing with upstream kernel 3.12.0-031200-generic .

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.10
Package: linux-image-3.11.0-15-generic 3.11.0-15.25
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.11.0-15.25-generic 3.11.10
Uname: Linux 3.11.0-15-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: wl
ApportVersion: 2.12.5-0ubuntu2.2
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC1: lborda 1914 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC0: lborda 1914 F.... pulseaudio
CurrentDmesg:
 [ 111.225460] hda_codec: invalid CONNECT_LIST verb 6[1]:0
 [ 111.225711] hda_codec: invalid CONNECT_LIST verb 7[1]:0
Date: Wed Feb 5 15:58:59 2014
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=984ae9b6-3e51-4a65-bc10-e6075bd8b3c5
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-02-05 (0 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.10 "Saucy Salamander" - Release amd64 (20131016.1)
MachineType: Apple Inc. MacBookPro11,1
MarkForUpload: True
ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.11.0-15-generic.efi.signed root=UUID=6e09a13f-3c06-437a-9ccb-bcdc440a383a ro libata.force=noncq quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.11.0-15-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.11.0-15-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.116.1
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 10/29/2013
dmi.bios.vendor: Apple Inc.
dmi.bios.version: MBP111.88Z.0138.B03.1310291227
dmi.board.asset.tag: Base Board Asset Tag#
dmi.board.name: Mac-189A3D4F975D5FFC
dmi.board.vendor: Apple Inc.
dmi.board.version: MacBookPro11,1
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Apple Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: Mac-189A3D4F975D5FFC
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAppleInc.:bvrMBP111.88Z.0138.B03.1310291227:bd10/29/2013:svnAppleInc.:pnMacBookPro11,1:pvr1.0:rvnAppleInc.:rnMac-189A3D4F975D5FFC:rvrMacBookPro11,1:cvnAppleInc.:ct10:cvrMac-189A3D4F975D5FFC:
dmi.product.name: MacBookPro11,1
dmi.product.version: 1.0
dmi.sys.vendor: Apple Inc.

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This change was made by a bot.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Hey Leonardo,

Can you give the v3.14-rc1 kernel a test:

http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.14-rc1-trusty/

[Leonardo Borda (lborda)]

Hey Joe! Thanks

v3.14-rc1 same issues. To my understanding the isight device should be detected and appear in the lsusb output but that's not what's happening atm.

Leo

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Yeah, I don't see anything in the lsusb output attached to the bug report. I also don't see anything for the device in the BootDmesg.txt output, which may indicate a hardware issue.

Have you ever had prior releases or kernels on this machine that worked? If not, it might be a good test to try some older kernels, such as the 3.2 final kernel[0].

http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.2-precise/

[psanford (pms-mail)]

The webcam on this model is attached via PCIe not USB. It shows up in your lspci as:

02:00.0 Multimedia controller: Broadcom Corporation Device 1570

I do not believe there is any working linux driver for it yet.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

@psanford, yes, sorry about that.

[Leonardo Borda (lborda)]

Hi Joe,

I have tried with latest kernels 3.5 and 3.2. No luck so far.

[Leonardo Borda (lborda)]

In the hopes that this can help [1].

[1] - http://mactaris.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/webcam-settings-20-will-support.html

Apple moved the webcam to a PCI device as of 2013...

[Faruk Tuefekli (faruk-tuefekli)]

it's the same for my MacBook Air 6,2 2013 Model.. i get everything working but the webcam..

[eric r (ericribellarsi)]

Has there been any update on this bug? It has been several months.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Can you see if this still exists in the latest mainline kernel, which is 3.15:
http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.15-utopic/

You could also test 3.16-rc1:
kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.16-rc1-utopic/

[hippich (hippich)]

tried latest rc4 kernel. Cheese still says no device

joe@fbi-van:~$ uname -a
Linux fbi-van 3.16.0-031600rc4-generic #201407061635 SMP Sun Jul 6 20:36:26 UTC 2014 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[Chris DiGiovanni (cdigiovanni)]

Looks like movement on this issue isn't going anywhere any time soon.

https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=71131

[Patrik Jakobsson (patrik-r-jakobsson)]

There is no driver for the Broadcom 1570 webcam so we need to write one. I've been working on this for a while but it's a lot of work. The Webcam is basically a SoC sitting on the PCIe bus. So we need to boot the SoC with some firmware and then figure out how to talk to it. I'm currently fiddling with the DRAM timings.

The code is available at https://github.com/patjak/bcwc_pcie

[Leonardo Borda (lborda)]

Hi Patrik,

Please refer also to this upstream bug. Maybe we can reopen it and get some more help from upstream.

https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=71131

Thanks for your efforts!

Leo

[psanford (pms-mail)]

Very cool, Patrik.

[viresh kumar (viresh.kumar)]

Hi Guys,

I just bought a macbook pro retina and was planning to install Ubuntu in dual boot configuration and saw this thread.
I am a regular kernel developer and not completely confused on what should I do. Get ubuntu over a Virtual Machine (I have tried that earlier and there are lots of things you would find difficulty doing), or get a external webcam until the time we get support for inbuilt camera.. Not sure which I should go for :(

What other problems are we already aware of with ubuntu 14.04 with Macbookpro11,1 ?

[Leonardo Borda (lborda)]

Hi Viresh,

I am running Ubuntu 14.04 natively on my Macbookpro11,1 Late 2013 and I am using an external webcam in the meantime. That's the only thing that does not work for me. All the rest runs smoothly. You may have to perform some of the steps found here [1] but I don't remember exactly what.

[1] - https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBookPro11-1/Saucy

[viresh kumar (viresh.kumar)]

Hi Leonardo,

Thanks for your response, even I have placed an order for a webcam now :)
I have done the initial installation with help of this link only and have done most
of it.

Will ping you in case I find some difficulty fixing something.

[Šarūnas Valaškevičius (rakatan)]

Does anyone know what can be done to get this sorted? Can I help anyhow?

[Leonardo Borda (lborda)]

@rakatan

If you have some friends at broadcom that are willing to provide us with the specs we can help in developing reverse engineering the driver...

[Šarūnas Valaškevičius (rakatan)]

Sadly I don't.. Is there a chance broadcom would just provide the specs for the good cause? Or am I too naive? Ie having someone willing to do the hard stuff implementing the drivers would benefit them (I think?)

[John Russell (jrussell-88)]

I have a late-2013 15-inch Macbook Retina Pro (11,2) and the same issue.

lspci shows:
   03:00.0 Multimedia controller: Broadcom Corporation Device 1570
which would be the Facetime HD webcam.

Cheese shows 'No device found'.

[Peter Sanford (psanford)]

FYI as of 2015-12 the https://github.com/patjak/bcwc_pcie/ driver is now working enough to see video. It requires a kernel newer than what 14.04 ships with by default. I've successfully tested it with the linux-image-generic-lts-vivid (3.19 kernel). It also still requires you to manually extract the binary blob for the camera from an existing OS X partition. You can find more details on the github project's wiki page.