Webcam not recognized

Hey All:

Again, this morning, Cheese is playing it's games. For about the last 6 weeks, it will work for awhile, then shut off on it's own. I have to remove/re-install and sometimes it works for a long time, other times it shuts down after about 30 secs -1min. More often lately, it's been failing faily reguarly. Ran a 'systems" check and that check stated cam is working.(I knew it was, but checked to be sure). 2 questions now #1 What must I do to 'fix" CHEESE app? #2 Or, is there another, better app I could install?
THANX:
RICK

THOSE WHO CAN...DO!! tHOSE WHO CAN'T, USUALLY END UP YOUR SUPERVISOR

You can play your camcorder image with mplayer and record it with ffmpeg, mencoder, or avconv.

$ mplayer -ao null -vo x11 -tv driver=v4l2:fps=30 tv://

Perhaps an after market webcam like a logitech c920 pro might provide a solution and redirect otherwise wasted efforts. Always nice to have options. If only to rule out a hardware or software issue. The O.S. is software and cannot do much about hardware issues. Plus external hardware has the option of hot pugging to reset the device and drivers. Where internal hardware requires a reboot to maybe reset the device.

There is one possibility that has yet to be mentioned.
WiFi routers generally have an adjustable signal strength with the default being the maximum strength.
At high power levels, any length of wire becomes an antenna, causing interference with legitimate signals in those wires.
Two things you can try are;
1) move the router as far away from your computer as possible,
2) set the signal strength to a lower level.

If a strong WiFi signal is causing issues with other equipment, the problems will tend to come and go without any apparent differences to your configurations.

Best practice is to keep signal strength at the lowest strength that still provides reliable connection. Modern routers can often provide signals that are usable up to a mile away which is well beyond what most people need.

(note that this may not be the cause of your issues, but it is worth investigating.)

To shadow7;

OK, thanx for the info. Curious, have you heard of CHESSE acting like this from anyone else? I just have an idea it's the O.S. itself failing and maybe not Cheese. Take care

To; (I'm sorry...is it glue or qlue?)

Oh, this was not my home router. So, I could not "move the router" nor "set signal strength". And the rest of the information you provided is well worth noting. Mucho Gracias

THANK YOU Your responces were appreciated!
RICK

I've heard of cheese and I've run it to see what it was. But I don't really use my webcam capable camcorder as a webcam. So I'm not really in those circles per say.

My old laptop had the wifi card with a cable to the monitor, so I assume that the built in antennae for the wifi is inside the monitor half. Which for you would be in proximity of the webcam. Basically try to disable the wifi and see if the webcam starts to work without issue. Just one more thing to try.

Originally Posted by 69Rixter To; (I'm sorry...is it glue or qlue?)

Common confusion :P
It's "Qlue" with a "q" But the san-serif font makes it hard to recognise a lower-case 'q'

Quick test when Cheese is acting cheesy.

 lsusb -t
/:  Bus 08.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=uhci_hcd/2p, 12M
/:  Bus 07.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=uhci_hcd/2p, 12M
/:  Bus 06.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=uhci_hcd/2p, 12M
    |__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 0, Class='bInterfaceClass 0xe0 not yet handled', Driver=btusb, 12M
    |__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 1, Class='bInterfaceClass 0xe0 not yet handled', Driver=btusb, 12M
/:  Bus 05.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=uhci_hcd/2p, 12M
/:  Bus 04.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=uhci_hcd/2p, 12M
/:  Bus 03.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=uhci_hcd/2p, 12M
/:  Bus 02.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=ehci-pci/6p, 480M
/:  Bus 01.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=ehci-pci/6p, 480M
    |__ Port 4: Dev 2, If 0, Class='bInterfaceClass 0x0e not yet handled', Driver=uvcvideo, 480M
    |__ Port 4: Dev 2, If 1, Class='bInterfaceClass 0x0e not yet handled', Driver=uvcvideo, 480M

at least one can tell the uvcvideo driver not loading, is not the culprit.

I like guvcview better than Cheese but that is just me.

Hey rokytnji:

I tried your suggestion of guvcview; it, just like Chesse, lasted about 30 secs and then quit. Here is the result of lsusb -t.
When I do get this latest problem corrected, I think I'll give guvc a go. Looked like it had more features?
/: Bus 02.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=ehci-pci/3p, 480M
|__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 0, Class=hub, Driver=hub/8p, 480M
|__ Port 2: Dev 3, If 0, Class=vend., Driver=rt2800usb, 480M
/: Bus 01.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=ehci-pci/3p, 480M
|__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 0, Class=hub, Driver=hub/6p, 480M
|__ Port 3: Dev 7, If 0, Class='bInterfaceClass 0x0e not yet handled', Driver=uvcvideo, 480M
|__ Port 3: Dev 7, If 1, Class='bInterfaceClass 0x0e not yet handled', Driver=uvcvideo, 480M
|__ Port 4: Dev 5, If 0, Class='bInterfaceClass 0xe0 not yet handled', Driver=btusb, 12M
|__ Port 4: Dev 5, If 1, Class='bInterfaceClass 0xe0 not yet handled', Driver=btusb, 12M

This readout does not appear to be as extensive as the one you posted. Could you please tell me what my readout is saying?
THANX roky:
RICK


Thanx for the clarification QLUE

This readout does not appear to be as extensive as the one you posted

That is just hardware differences. I was on my Samsung RV510 when I posted earlier.
When

lasted about 30 secs and then quit.

and video driver

__ Port 3: Dev 7, If 0, Class='bInterfaceClass 0x0e not yet handled', Driver=uvcvideo, 480M |__ Port 3: Dev 7, If 1, Class='bInterfaceClass 0x0e not yet handled', Driver=uvcvideo, 480M

shows it is running. I am starting to wonder if you have flaky hardware instead of a flaky software problem. Like the webcam connection heats up and disconnects. Then cools down and reconnects and works again.

I ran into something similar on a wirless pci card on a Acer Aspire ZG5. Which would drop wifi
connection after about 2 minutes or so. Then cool down and work again.

Try a external usb webcam to test if this is the case. Reboot is required. If Bios has a
entry for turning web cam off or on ,(enable/disable), disable it to keep the Linux kernel
from seeing it. It is how I found and trouble shot my wireless problem on the Acer. I used a external wifi usb device and turned of wifi in bios. No drops then.

Hey roky:

I could see where you'd think it was hardware, but I ran the "UbuntuSystemsTesting" and everything checked out OK!!?? OK, look, I've had with Ubuntu12.04. I'll post the results of your suggestion later. But I NEED to quit f#*^in' around with issue after issue every day because of some piece-of-shit O.S. Had 3 more weird "issues" pop up first thing this morn, that I KNOW are directly relalted to/caused by the O.S. Gonna take a few days away from this, otherwise, if I don't, I'm liable to do some extremely violent things to this laptop.

Talk At You Later:
Rick

Originally Posted by 69Rixter Hey roky: I could see where you'd think it was hardware, but I ran the "UbuntuSystemsTesting" and everything checked out OK!!?? OK, look, I've had with Ubuntu12.04. I'll post the results of your suggestion later. But I NEED to quit f#*^in' around with issue after issue every day because of some piece-of-shit O.S. Had 3 more weird "issues" pop up first thing this morn, that I KNOW are directly relalted to/caused by the O.S. Gonna take a few days away from this, otherwise, if I don't, I'm liable to do some extremely violent things to this laptop. Talk At You Later: Rick

When I switched to Crunchbang it was because I had had enough of troubleshooting issues with Ubuntu.

The latest Ubuntu releases won't even run on my old netbook. (at least, not in any usable way)
Crunchbang "just works" for most common activities.

Hey QLUE:

I wholeheartedly agree with you. ("When I switched to ##### it was because I've had enough of troubleshooting Ubuntu). I've had nothing but problems with Ubuntu 12.04 since initial installation. NOONE...I repeat NOONE should have to dick with the comp's O.S. as much as I've had to. And it still is presenting problems!! Yesterday , it posed 3 more weird tricks to play...that I know are fault of O.S. and not the comp nor the programs installed. I'm gonna back off for a few days and calm down. As I stated before, I'll be moving on to either LinuxMint or PINGUY very shortly...and it can't be soon enough!! Thanx for all the help and I'll get back to everyone soon.
Take Care:
RICK

Hey All:

OK, I've had it with 12.04. I need to know where/how to locate and remove 12.04/partition ONLY. Just want RID of 12.04 and leave rest of HDD intact. Then I'll install a WORKING O.S. that is stable!! 12.04 and it's predecessor's have been complete failures for Ubuntu. 10.04 was great....too bad they tried to 'fix" it!! Trust me ...TRUSTY WILL NOT be a future O.S. of mine.

THANX:
RICK

If running Windows next to 12.04. Restore Windows bootloader on MBR first. Google it. The delete Ubuntu Partition.

Otherwise Grub gets lost and throws errors.

Or have some form of bootloader available. Grub on CD. Or USB sticks with a bootloader and other linux's. The sentiment holds true, if you boot from grub and grub is part of the ubuntu install, removing it breaks it. Boot windows and do the fixmbr or fdisk /MBR or whatever variation (and there's many) applies to your "version" of windows. Spamming F8 at boot or whatever window-ism of the week applies. Otherwise it's just data on a disk. Ignore it, change it, whatever applies.