webcam not working

[Duch]

webcam is not working, probably a gspca problem. device is detected, /dev/video0 created but i get no (serious) image. camera has a vimicro chip. the same problem by a pixart chip (trust wb-1400t). device also detected, /dev/video0 also created and also no (serious) image.
dmesg (for vimicro):
[ 340.372043] usb 1-4: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 2
[ 340.610924] usb 1-4: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 340.882540] Linux video capture interface: v2.00
[ 340.908552] gspca: main v2.2.0 registered
[ 340.915957] gspca: probing 0ac8:303b
[ 342.816066] zc3xx: probe 2wr ov vga 0x0000
[ 342.985068] zc3xx: probe 3wr vga 1 0xc001
[ 343.000055] zc3xx: probe sensor -> 13
[ 343.000063] zc3xx: Find Sensor MI0360. Chip revision c001
[ 343.020309] gspca: probe ok
[ 343.021009] usbcore: registered new interface driver zc3xx
[ 343.021996] zc3xx: registered

ubuntu release: kubuntu 8.10 32 bit, kernel 2.6.27-12-generic

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 8.10
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: firefox-3.0 3.0.6+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.8.10.1
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=
 PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: firefox-3.0
Uname: Linux 2.6.27-12-generic i686

[Duch (martin-bazala)]

forgot to mention, the vimicro webcam used to work on kubuntu 7.04 from which i upgraded to kubuntu 8.10. i don't remember which kernel was there..

[Jonathan Blackhall (johnny-one-eye)]

Your device ID is listed as "Being Tested" in GSPCA V4L2: http://moinejf.free.fr/webcam.html

Your best bet to see if things are working are to install the latest GSPCA from source: http://linuxtv.org/hg/~jfrancois/gspca/

Basic instructions: http://hansdegoede.livejournal.com/6630.html

Other things I had to do (in a fresh Jaunty install) before instructions would work: install libncurses5-dev, libncurses5-dbg and mercurial.

I also blacklisted the module that was incorrectly loading when I plugged in my webcam, but I don't think you do since for my camera it was simply loading the wrong module.

You may want to give it a few weeks before you try this as it seems that they're working on your camera now and things might be rough :)

[Chris Jeffries (chris-candm)]

I can report a similar problem on Lucid Lynx 10.4. It worked fine previously in Hardy Heron 8.04. I also tried a Logitech camera with the same result

lsusb identifies (among others)

Bus 005 Device 002: ID 0ac8:303b Z-Star Microelectronics Corp. ZC0303 Webcam

Not an expert. Happy to give further details. Tell me what to do to get them.

[Chris Jeffries (chris-candm)]

This workaround worked for me

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so <program name>
eg
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so amsn

[Duch (martin-bazala)]

thank you chris, it's working now. but it's not working for programs started when kde session is restored, for example skype. any idea how to fix that? ;-)

[Duch (martin-bazala)]

fixed :-) program excluded from session and added to autostart (KDE4.4)