Sonix webcam (0c45:613c) regression

[Jonathan Blackhall]

This webcam worked with Ubuntu 8.04. With Ubuntu 8.10, the image sensor was no longer detected. The same is true with the latest Jaunty kernel. The problem appears to be that the sn9c102 kernel module is loading and that the gspca module found in 8.10 and 9.04 alpha5 do not load and handle the image sensor properly.

This issue is fixable by blacklisting sn9c102 and installing a recent version of gspca from: http://linuxtv.org/hg/~jfrancois/gspca/ . Then the webcam works flawlessly.

My hope is to get this working ootb in 9.04. I've seen from some other webcam bug reports that things get done more effectively if there is a specific bug report for a specific hardware malfunction. I'd like to keep this bug report pertinent to one specific webcam if you think it'll help. Here is some info about my webcam:

Name: Sonix Pccam168 (Ezonics EZVideo Chat Kit EZ-368)
ID: 0c45:613c

From dmesg:
[ 753.196262] usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 2
[ 753.535321] usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 753.690870] Linux video capture interface: v2.00
[ 753.716001] sn9c102: V4L2 driver for SN9C1xx PC Camera Controllers v1:1.47pre49
[ 753.721900] usb 1-1: Sorry, this is not a SN9C1xx-based camera (vid:pid 0x0C45:0x613C)
[ 753.721933] usbcore: registered new interface driver sn9c102

Seems related to http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=11946 but with different hardware.

Let me know what more information I can provide.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
Lsusb:
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0c45:613c Microdia PC Camera (SN9C120)
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
MachineType: innotek GmbH VirtualBox
Package: linux-image-2.6.28-8-generic 2.6.28-8.26
ProcCmdLine: root=UUID=820a4e05-1195-46c5-a7f6-25e4a589b02e ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.28-8.26-generic
SourcePackage: linux

[Jonathan Blackhall (johnny-one-eye)]

similar to https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/292086 but again different hardware

[Tobin Davis (gruemaster)]

I'm seeing the same thing with my Intel webcam (CS330). Again different hardware than this and ~292086, but since gspca is the most widely used driver amongst older webcams (pre-UVC), they all relate.

[Jonathan Blackhall (johnny-one-eye)]

In Jaunty with all updates, my webcam is now fully detected (no error), but the sn9c102 module is still loaded, not gspca_sonixj. Blacklisting sn9c102 (not sure if this is necessary) and installing GSPCA from source still fixes the issue.

Ubuntu Jaunty with latest updates:
[ 519.652012] usb 2-5: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 2
[ 519.875403] usb 2-5: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 519.964990] Linux video capture interface: v2.00
[ 520.007204] sn9c102: V4L2 driver for SN9C1xx PC Camera Controllers v1:1.47pre49
[ 520.009035] usb 2-5: SN9C120 PC Camera Controller detected (vid:pid 0x0C45:0x613C)
[ 520.090029] usb 2-5: HV7131R image sensor detected
[ 521.056033] usb 2-5: Initialization succeeded
[ 521.056095] usb 2-5: V4L2 device registered as /dev/video0
[ 521.056098] usb 2-5: Optional device control through 'sysfs' interface disabled
[ 521.056116] usbcore: registered new interface driver sn9c102
[ 621.400420] usbcore: deregistering interface driver sn9c102
[ 621.400444] usb 2-5: Disconnecting SN9C1xx PC Camera...
[ 621.400447] usb 2-5: V4L2 device /dev/video0 deregistered
[ 740.035841] usb 2-5: USB disconnect, address 2

After installing GSPCA from source:
[ 63.476011] usb 2-5: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 2
[ 63.699615] usb 2-5: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 63.787990] Linux video capture interface: v2.00
[ 63.816253] gspca: main v2.5.0 registered
[ 63.820606] gspca: probing 0c45:613c
[ 63.831017] sonixj: Sonix chip id: 12
[ 63.840079] gspca: probe ok
[ 63.840101] usbcore: registered new interface driver sonixj
[ 63.840104] sonixj: registered

[Jonathan Blackhall (johnny-one-eye)]

Just to clarify, blacklisting sn9c102 alone does not solve the issue. I'm fairly sure.

[Jonathan Blackhall (johnny-one-eye)]

The webcam works out of the box with the kernel in the Karmic beta