Try to use webcam in skype -> complete system crash

[TreeHugger]

I am having the exact same problem.Every program I have tried that requires the webcam freezes the computer. I am forced to restart. From reading your previous thread, we have the same webcam: SC-0311139N. I just installed Fedora 16 and this is my first time to run Linux. I have been working on this problem for a day now following whatever guides I have found. Below is some information I gathered from my system. It seems to be detected. The dmesg command shows:

[ 19.712280] mtp-probe[603]: checking bus 1, device 3: "/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb1/1-8"
[ 19.715456] mtp-probe[603]: bus: 1, device: 3 was not an MTP device
[ 19.732964] Linux media interface: v0.10
[ 19.737196] Linux video capture interface: v2.00
[ 19.740707] uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device WebCam SC-0311139N (2232:1020)
[ 19.742856] input: WebCam SC-0311139N as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0/input/input7
[ 19.743319] usbcore: registered new interface driver uvcvideo
[ 19.743326] USB Video Class driver (1.1.1)

And it has an entry in the USB. The lsusb command shows:

[ 19.712280] mtp-probe[603]: checking bus 1, device 3: "/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb1/1-8"
[ 19.715456] mtp-probe[603]: bus: 1, device: 3 was not an MTP device
[ 19.732964] Linux media interface: v0.10
[ 19.737196] Linux video capture interface: v2.00
[ 19.740707] uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device WebCam SC-0311139N (2232:1020)
[ 19.742856] input: WebCam SC-0311139N as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0/input/input7
[ 19.743319] usbcore: registered new interface driver uvcvideo
[ 19.743326] USB Video Class driver (1.1.1)


Here is the PCI information in case that is relevant:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation N10 Family DMI Bridge (rev 02)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation N10 Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation N10 Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 3 (rev 02)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 4 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation NM10 Family LPC Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH7 Family SATA AHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family SMBus Controller (rev 02)
05:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller (rev 01)
09:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8040 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller


This is the only thing that isn't working properly. Any ideas?

---------- Post added at 07:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:23 PM ----------

I am not so sure this is hardware related. I was able to get the webcam working by booting an older kernel. My Fedora installtion came with the 3.3.2-6.fc16.i686 kernel. After the installion I also installed several updates to get the wireless to work. When I chose to boot the 3.1.0-7.fc16.i686 kernel from the bootloader the webcam works perfectly, but I no longer have wireless. No I am confused. Is it possible to revert to an older kernel? WIll that cause conflict with several of the updates I already made including the one's necessary for the wireless to work? What could have changed between kernel versions that would create this error? Is there a setting I might modify?

[TreeHugger]

I also replied to the thread started in the hardware forum, but want to provide the same info here. I am also having this problem using kernel number 3.3.2-6.fc16.i686. Every program that tries to use the cam causes a complete system halt. It seem that some recent change is causing the error. When I boot the older kernel that came with the Fedora 16 installation I have no problem with the webcam, but then I do not have wireless. I had to install updates to get the wireless to work even with the newer kernel. Is it possible to revert to the previous kernel and selectively apply the wireless updates. The webcam is the only thing that doesn't work now and it is frustrating.

[Dan]

Threads merged. One thread per topic per customer.

Thanks!

[oldcpu]

Originally Posted by ghostdog

I also have this problem. I've got a lenovo x120e laptop, recently upgraded from fedora 16 to fedora 17 beta with preupgrade.

I don't know if relevant, but the thinkwiki for the X120e : http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Instal...ThinkPad_X120e has this to say:

Anyone with skype camera issues, make sure you have the following lines inside /usr/bin/skype-wrapper

export XLIB_SKIP_ARGB_VISUALS=1
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so /usr/bin/skype "$@"

... I note that was for a different GNU/Linux distribution/version.

[redcopper]

I'm having the same problem with my desktop box and external USB camera. With Skype I can get to about 10 minutes before it happens. So I just have to use Windows for Skype. Even tried with Skype 4 but same result. But it also seems to occur occasionally when I'm watching a video or streaming video as well.
The camera is working with Cheese and Skype so I doubt if it is the camera.
I'm using the Sandybridge C200 series chipset and the latest kernel if that is any help. Oh and F17.

I'm going to disable the camera and see what will happen.

[UPDATE] I disconnected the camera. The problem seems to occur as mentioned. It doesn't appear to be a Skype problem per se but a problem maybe with the grahics. Next step check CPU/Memory load. The problem is that it is totally random.

[Stardus]

I installed Fedora 17 yesterday and immediately had similar problems when using the webcam with Camorama or Cheese, (I don't have Skype installed yet, I do not know what could happen with it).
When I tried to use the cam, the computer freezed and the only way out was to reboot manually.
I also experienced results from lspci, lsusb ... similar to those reported by the previous users.

Then I found a good solution for me in the following discussion:
http://ask.fedoraproject.org/questio...ezes-fedora-16
in the first comment, by libregeek.

It is sufficient to create a file named uvcvideo.conf in
/etc/modprobe.d/ containing the line

options uvcvideo nodrop=1

and everything works perfectly.
Even if that discussion was focused on Fedora 16, in this case it was the same for our Fedora 17.

I hope it works for you.

[jlpierce]

Create a file named uvcvideo.conf in the /etc/modprobe.d/ directory.

In the file place this line:

options uvcvideo nodrop=1

Save the file and then execute the following:

modprobe -r uvcvideo
modprobe uvcvideo

After that give the camera a try and see how it does.