Laptop Webcam not working

Support
1

Laptop webcam is not detected by any software.

guvcview/cheese displays no video device found.

$ guvcview
libv4l2: error getting pixformat: Invalid argument
V4L2_CORE: ERROR opening V4L2 interface for /dev/video0
GUVCVIEW: version 2.0.6
GUVCVIEW: couldn't open /home/akhil/.config/guvcview2/video0 for read: No such file or directory
libv4l2: error getting pixformat: Invalid argument
V4L2_CORE: ERROR opening V4L interface: Invalid argument
GUVCVIEW (1): Guvcview error
	 no video device found

(guvcview:3710): Gtk-WARNING **: 18:14:43.943: Theme parsing error: <data>:1:17: not a number

(guvcview:3710): Gtk-WARNING **: 18:14:43.943: Theme parsing error: <data>:1:31: Using Pango syntax for the font: style property is deprecated; please use CSS syntax

(guvcview:3710): Gtk-WARNING **: 18:14:43.943: Theme parsing error: <data>:1:17: not a number

(guvcview:3710): Gtk-WARNING **: 18:14:43.943: Theme parsing error: <data>:1:32: Using Pango syntax for the font: style property is deprecated; please use CSS syntax

.

$ cheese

** Message: 18:45:33.361: cheese-application.vala:214: Error during camera setup: No device found

(cheese:4318): cheese-CRITICAL **: 18:45:33.378: cheese_camera_device_get_name: assertion 'CHEESE_IS_CAMERA_DEVICE (device)' failed

(cheese:4318): GLib-CRITICAL **: 18:45:33.378: g_variant_new_string: assertion 'string != NULL' failed

(cheese:4318): GLib-CRITICAL **: 18:45:33.378: g_variant_ref_sink: assertion 'value != NULL' failed

(cheese:4318): GLib-GIO-CRITICAL **: 18:45:33.378: g_settings_schema_key_type_check: assertion 'value != NULL' failed

(cheese:4318): GLib-CRITICAL **: 18:45:33.378: g_variant_get_type_string: assertion 'value != NULL' failed

(cheese:4318): GLib-GIO-CRITICAL **: 18:45:33.378: g_settings_set_value: key 'camera' in 'org.gnome.Cheese' expects type 's', but a GVariant of type '(null)' was given

(cheese:4318): GLib-CRITICAL **: 18:45:33.378: g_variant_unref: assertion 'value != NULL' failed

** (cheese:4318): CRITICAL **: 18:45:33.378: cheese_preferences_dialog_setup_resolutions_for_device: assertion 'device != NULL' failed

.

$ v4l2-ctl --list-devices
Dummy video device (0x0000) (platform:v4l2loopback-000):
	/dev/video0

$ sudo rmmod uvcvideo && sudo modprobe uvcvideo
 [sudo] password for akhil: 
 rmmod: ERROR: Module uvcvideo is not currently loaded

$ sudo systemctl enable uvcvideo
Failed to enable unit: Unit file uvcvideo.service does not exist.

$ inxi -Gazy
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Raven Ridge [Radeon Vega Series / Radeon Vega Mobile Series] 
  vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: amdgpu v: kernel bus ID: 03:00.0 
  chip ID: 1002:15dd 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.9 driver: amdgpu,ati unloaded: modesetting 
  alternate: fbdev,vesa display ID: :0.0 screens: 1 
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.0x11.2") 
  s-diag: 582mm (22.9") 
  Monitor-1: eDP res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 142 size: 344x193mm (13.5x7.6") 
  diag: 394mm (15.5") 
  OpenGL: renderer: AMD RAVEN (DRM 3.39.0 5.9.3-1-MANJARO LLVM 10.0.1) 
  v: 4.6 Mesa 20.2.1 direct render: Yes
2

did you install the kernel-headers?

3

Yes, for all the installed kernels.

4

What laptop is it?

Also could you provide inxi -Fazy instead of inxi -Gazy?

5

Acer Aspire 3 (A315-41)

$ inxi -Fazy
System:
  Kernel: 5.9.3-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.0 
  parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.9-x86_64 
  root=UUID=48f6f4db-4328-431d-97ce-36d27acdb2f2 rw 
  resume=UUID=2684318c-de19-4ade-b558-e90fbf894edc 
  Desktop: Xfce 4.14.2 tk: Gtk 3.24.20 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm4 
  dm: LightDM 1.30.0 Distro: Manjaro Linux 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Aspire A315-41 v: V1.18 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: RR model: Metapod_RR v: V1.18 serial: <filter> UEFI: Insyde v: 1.18 
  date: 06/18/2020 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT1 charge: 24.5 Wh condition: 24.5/37.0 Wh (66%) volts: 8.4/7.7 
  model: PANASONIC 0x41,0x50,0x31,0x36,0x4D,0x35,0x006A type: Li-ion 
  serial: <filter> status: Full 
CPU:
  Info: Quad Core model: AMD Ryzen 5 2500U with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx 
  bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen family: 17 (23) model-id: 11 (17) 
  stepping: N/A microcode: 810100B L2 cache: 2048 KiB 
  flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm 
  bogomips: 31949 
  Speed: 1371 MHz min/max: 1600/2000 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 
  1: 1497 2: 1426 3: 1372 4: 1373 5: 1593 6: 1482 7: 1371 8: 1370 
  Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected 
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected 
  Type: mds status: Not affected 
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected 
  Type: spec_store_bypass 
  mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp 
  Type: spectre_v1 
  mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full AMD retpoline, IBPB: conditional, STIBP: 
  disabled, RSB filling 
  Type: srbds status: Not affected 
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Raven Ridge [Radeon Vega Series / Radeon Vega Mobile Series] 
  vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: amdgpu v: kernel bus ID: 03:00.0 
  chip ID: 1002:15dd 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.9 driver: amdgpu,ati unloaded: modesetting 
  alternate: fbdev,vesa display ID: :0.0 screens: 1 
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.0x11.2") 
  s-diag: 582mm (22.9") 
  Monitor-1: eDP res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 142 size: 344x193mm (13.5x7.6") 
  diag: 394mm (15.5") 
  OpenGL: renderer: AMD RAVEN (DRM 3.39.0 5.9.3-1-MANJARO LLVM 10.0.1) 
  v: 4.6 Mesa 20.2.1 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD Raven/Raven2/Fenghuang HDMI/DP Audio 
  vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
  bus ID: 03:00.1 chip ID: 1002:15de 
  Device-2: AMD Family 17h HD Audio vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 03:00.6 chip ID: 1022:15e3 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.9.3-1-MANJARO 
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
  vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: r8168 v: 8.048.03-NAPI modules: r8169 
  port: 2000 bus ID: 01:00.1 chip ID: 10ec:8168 
  IF: enp1s0f1 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter 
  vendor: Lite-On driver: ath10k_pci v: kernel port: 2000 bus ID: 02:00.0 
  chip ID: 168c:0042 
  IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
  Device-3: Lite-On Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 Bluetooth type: USB driver: btusb 
  bus ID: 1-4:2 chip ID: 04ca:3015 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 167.43 GiB (18.0%) 
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Seagate model: ST1000LM035-1RK172 size: 931.51 GiB 
  block size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s 
  rotation: 5400 rpm serial: <filter> rev: ACM2 scheme: GPT 
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw size: 464.91 GiB size: 456.61 GiB (98.22%) 
  used: 167.41 GiB (36.7%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda7 
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache pressure: 100 (default) 
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 16.00 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 
  dev: /dev/sda6 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 50.2 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 50.0 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:
  Processes: 230 Uptime: 54m Memory: 3.31 GiB used: 1.26 GiB (38.0%) 
  Init: systemd v: 246 Compilers: gcc: 10.2.0 Packages: pacman: 1221 lib: 383 
  flatpak: 0 Shell: Bash v: 5.0.18 running in: xfce4-terminal inxi: 3.1.08
6

Thx

Because this part in guvcview shows it does not find a webcam.

no video device found

So does

v4l2-ctl --list-devices

or

sudo dmesg | grep -i camera

give any output?

7 
$ v4l2-ctl --list-devices
Cannot open device /dev/video0, exiting.

.
$ sudo dmesg | grep -i camera

8

Meaning the cam is not detected by Manjaro.

Perhaps one of the users here have the same laptop and know how to fix this. Since according to Arch for instance the webcam should work out of the box.

9

okay, thanks.

10

Pleas post the output of lsusb and sudo dmesg | grep -i uvc.

11 
$ 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 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 04ca:3015 Lite-On Technology Corp. Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 Bluetooth
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 3938:1031 MOSART Semi. 2.4G Wireless Mouse
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 04f2:0833 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd KU-0833 Keyboard
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

.

$ sudo dmesg | grep -i uvc
$
12

Can you post the output of lspci? Can you rule out hardware failure?

13 
$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Root Complex
00:00.2 IOMMU: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 IOMMU
00:01.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-1fh) PCIe Dummy Host Bridge
00:01.6 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 PCIe GPP Bridge [6:0]
00:01.7 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 PCIe GPP Bridge [6:0]
00:08.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-1fh) PCIe Dummy Host Bridge
00:08.1 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Internal PCIe GPP Bridge 0 to Bus A
00:08.2 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Internal PCIe GPP Bridge 0 to Bus B
00:14.0 SMBus: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SMBus Controller (rev 61)
00:14.3 ISA bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH LPC Bridge (rev 51)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Device 24: Function 0
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Device 24: Function 1
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Device 24: Function 2
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Device 24: Function 3
00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Device 24: Function 4
00:18.5 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Device 24: Function 5
00:18.6 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Device 24: Function 6
00:18.7 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Device 24: Function 7
01:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8411B PCI Express Card Reader (rev 01)
01:00.1 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 12)
02:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter (rev 31)
03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Raven Ridge [Radeon Vega Series / Radeon Vega Mobile Series] (rev c4)
03:00.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Raven/Raven2/Fenghuang HDMI/DP Audio Controller
03:00.2 Encryption controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 10h-1fh) Platform Security Processor
03:00.3 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven USB 3.1
03:00.4 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven USB 3.1
03:00.6 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 10h-1fh) HD Audio Controller
04:00.0 SATA controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 61)
14

Looking at similar devices it seems the camera should be available over USB, but that appears not to be the case here. Can you rule out hardware problems?

15

How do I do that?

Thanks

16

for instance do you double boot and does the cam work in Windows (work as in not only detect)?

1 Like
17

Yes, it does.

18

Oke do you have an FN and CAM key on the laptop?
at my wives laptop that is fn+F10

Could be you need to activate the cam first.

Mind I don’t have this laptop but that’s all I could think of.

2 Likes
19

It will work If I simply follow this direction?

20

Could be. Not sure as I told it works that way on her laptop, no idea if it goes for all laptops.

What I did notice was that before hitting fn+cam button the webcam did not show up in lsusb or v4l2-ctl --list-devices after it there was a webcam listed.

1 Like