Microphone on a USB Logitech Quickcam does not work

[Andrej Prša]

Binary package hint: linux-amd64-generic

After upgrading to Hardy Beta, the microphone on a USB Logitech QuickCam for Notebooks stopped working. It is recognized by Alsa as a valid device, the mixer appears functional, but no program can access the microphone (the error pops up that the device cannot be accessed). Both the camera and the microphone worked with gspca module in Feisty and Gutsy. Relevant information:

System: Ubuntu Hardy Beta running on HP/Compaq 6820s (64bit Intel)
Kernel: Linux gemma 2.6.24-16-generic #1 SMP Thu Apr 10 12:47:45 UTC 2008 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Attached: lsusb.out (relevant part of the lsusb -v output)

All trivialties such as volume control, etc, checked and the problem persists. Please let me know if any additional details are needed.

[Andrej Prša (andrej-prsa)]

Tested the same on Hardy LTS, both amd64 *and* i386, the issue persists: camera with the gspca module works, but the microphone is dead.

[Andrej Prša (andrej-prsa)]

Just tested the camera on a nearby Windows Vista and it works flawlessly.

[Andrej Prša (andrej-prsa)]

More comments after more testing...

The output from arecord -l:

**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: AD198x Analog [AD198x Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: default [Camera ], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Trying arecord -D hw:1,0 > test.wav says "arecord: main:546: audio open error: Device or resource busy"

However... I don't think I was correct to blame the kernel module for this: finally I managed to squeeze some sound from my usb camera mic by installing bplay and invoking:

brec -d /dev/audio1

That captured the sound from my microphone flawlessly. Trying to do the same through gnome-sound-recorder fails (it captures from the integrated card with no option to change the source)

Trying to change System->Preferences->Sound->Sound Capture to USB Audio causes gnome-sound-recorder to report: "Your audio capture settings are invalid. Please correct them in the Multimedia settings."

[mmalmeida (mmalmeida)]

Same problem with me. I can't use sound recorder to record from my USB camera, even though I can record videos with sound in the "webcam application" if I set the audio to /dev/dsp2.

[Andrej Prša (andrej-prsa)]

One of the updates (unfortunately, not sure which one) corrected this problem for me -- the microphone on the camera is now working flawlessly in Hardy.

[Andrej Prša (andrej-prsa)]

Works flawlessly in Intrepid. I recommend this bug be closed.

[cutlerite (cutlerite)]

I have this issue in Intrepid.

[cutlerite (cutlerite)]

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/aliases

add the line:

alias snd-card-1 snd-usb-audio