Logitech quickcam does not work with newer linux kernels

proffi · 10-26-2010, 05:10 PM

Hi all!
I have a rather old webcam, a Logitech quickcam messenger. This webcam was working fine with older linux kernel version, I think < 2.6.27. The gspca driver that makes this peripheral working has been merged into kernel sources, and I think that my webcam stopped working with this merge.
I am a Slackware user, and until version 12.2 my webcam was working (I manually compiled and installed drivers). If I well remember, with version 13.0 (kernel 2.6.29) the video was full of strange artifacts, and with Slackware 13.1 (kernel 2.6.33) the webcam does not work at all.
I am performing these tests with skype, that had videocalls fully working before gspca was merged into the kernel tree, while now I can only make phone calls.

This are the informations given by dmesg:

Code:

usb 3-3: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 6
usb 3-3: New USB device found, idVendor=046d, idProduct=08da
usb 3-3: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=0, SerialNumber=0
gspca: probing 046d:08da
zc3xx: probe 2wr ov vga 0x0000
zc3xx: probe sensor -> 0011
zc3xx: Find Sensor HV7131R(c)
gspca: video0 created
gspca: probing 046d:08da
gspca: intf != 0

and these are the loaded modules:

Code:

ste@localhost:~$ lsmod | grep gspca
gspca_stv06xx          22225  0 
gspca_zc3xx            39116  0 
gspca_main             20146  2 gspca_stv06xx,gspca_zc3xx
videodev               32975  1 gspca_main

some other information:

Code:

ste@localhost:~$ uname -a
Linux localhost 2.6.33.4-smp #2 SMP Wed May 12 22:47:36 CDT 2010 i686 mobile AMD Athlon(tm) XP-M 2800+ AuthenticAMD GNU/Linux

Any idea or analogous experience?

Stefano

mlangdn · 10-30-2010, 01:49 PM

I have the same webcam and can use it on 2.6.35.4. This is using the generic kernel with initrd.
Slackware64-current

Drakeo · 10-31-2010, 07:30 AM

for skype you must do a preload. for the gspca. this is a 32 bit system. write not multilib x86_64. system open a terminal and type this in.

Quote:

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype

this way it uses the v4l1 and not v4l2 the gspca modules are for both through v4l-util but skype has to be pointed to the right conversion.

proffi · 11-08-2010, 01:53 AM

I'm sorry for this late reply, I had no internet access last week. This evening I'll try to get my webcam working, according to your hints, thanks.

proffi · 11-08-2010, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drakeo

for skype you must do a preload. for the gspca. this is a 32 bit system. write not multilib x86_64. system open a terminal and type this in.
this way it uses the v4l1 and not v4l2 the gspca modules are for both through v4l-util but skype has to be pointed to the right conversion.

Thank you, that solved my problem! I'm still wondering why this problem appeared... Maybe because on this installation of Slackware, I didn't recompiled the kernel and created the initrd? This time I'm still using the 2.6.33.4 huge-smp, that is not recommended, and can give problems with some peripherals. Since, as usual, I have to do this recompilation, I will test if this is the problem.

Thanks again,
Stefano