Suyin сamera problem

Question

I got an Acer with a Suyin camera built-in. It has worked perfect since I have change from Windows 8 three weeks ago but recently (two days ago) showed me a black screen when using Skype or Cheese.

The camera has been detected by the System Testing but gives me anwers like this for the first test:

Could not load image 'camera_test_25112w.jpg'.Error interpreting JPEG image file (Improper call to JPEG library in state 200)

And the final results:

**camera/detect**   PASSED: */dev/video0: OK name : HD WebCam driver : uvcvideo version: 3.5.7 flags : 0x4000001 [ CAPTURE STREAMING ] Format: YUYV (YUV 4:2:2 (YUYV)) Resolutions: 640x480,160x120,176x144,320x240,352x288,1280x720,640x480 Format: MJPG (MJPEG) Resolutions: 640x480,160x120,176x144,320x240,352x288,1280x720,640x480*

**camera/still**    FAILED  
    **camera/display**  FAILED      
**optical/detect**  PASSED  HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GU61N

**optical/read_sr0**    FAILED  

If you need I also have the lsusb:

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 04f3:0023 Elan Microelectronics Corp. 
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 064e:e330 Suyin Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub

Last of all I ran gstreamer-properties and see what I got:

gstreamer-properties-Message: Skipping unavailable plugin 'artsdsink'
gstreamer-properties-Message: Skipping unavailable plugin 'esdsink'
gstreamer-properties-Message: Skipping unavailable plugin 'sunaudiosink'
gstreamer-properties-Message: Skipping unavailable plugin 'glimagesink'
gstreamer-properties-Message: Skipping unavailable plugin 'sdlvideosink'
gstreamer-properties-Message: Skipping unavailable plugin 'v4lmjpegsrc'
gstreamer-properties-Message: Skipping unavailable plugin 'qcamsrc'
gstreamer-properties-Message: Skipping unavailable plugin 'v4lsrc'
gstreamer-properties-Message: Skipping unavailable plugin 'esdmon'
gstreamer-properties-Message: Skipping unavailable plugin 'sunaudiosrc'
gstreamer-properties-Message: Error running pipeline 'Video for Linux 2 (v4l2)': Could not get buffers from device '/dev/video0'. [gstv4l2bufferpool.c(405):
 gst_v4l2_buffer_pool_new (): /GstPipeline:pipeline1/GstV4l2Src:v4l2src2:
error requesting 2 buffers: Device or resource busy]
gstreamer-properties-Message: Error running pipeline 'Video for Linux 2 (v4l2)': Could not get buffers from device '/dev/video0'. [gstv4l2bufferpool.c(405): 
gst_v4l2_buffer_pool_new (): /GstPipeline:pipeline2/GstV4l2Src:v4l2src3:
error requesting 2 buffers: Device or resource busy]

If anyone can share their toughts on it. Much appreciated!

Peace

Answer 1

First, make sure your camera is switched on. Many laptop models have a special function key on the keyboard for turning the camera on/off:

https://askubuntu.com/a/91735/18665

A recent update broke some Lenovo webcams. I'm not sure if this would apply to your Acer or not, but it's worth a try:

https://askubuntu.com/a/264461/18665

If this fixes your issue, please follow the instructions at the end for updating the bug report so we can get more attention from the developers for this bug.

Since that solution is specific to Lenovo laptops, there's a chance it won't work for your laptop. But if your camera was working and stopped working, it's possible one of the kernel updates broke it. I'd recommend going through and trying older kernels to see if any of them fixes it:

1. Run this command in a terminal to see which kernel you're currently using, and make a note of it:
   uname -r

2. Run this command in a terminal to see which kernels you have installed:
   ls /lib/modules

3. You should have at least a couple older kernels installed. For each older kernel you have installed, reboot your machine and at the GRUB boot menu, go to Previous Linux versions and choose one of the older kernel versions (for example, Ubuntu, with Linux 3.5.0-23-generic).

4. Test your camera using the older kernel version in Skype and Cheese. Make a note of the kernel version (use uname -r if you don't remember which one you picked) and whether or not the camera works.

5. You should eventually get to a version of the kernel where your camera works again. If not, search for available kernels:
   sudo apt-cache search linux-image-3 | sort

   And then pick an older one to install. For example:
   sudo apt-get install linux-image-3.5.0-22-generic

   Then repeat the above steps to test that version of the kernel, and keep trying older versions until hopefully you get to one that works.

6. Once you find a version of the kernel that works, submit a bug by typing this in the terminal: apport-bug linux

   Make sure you include relevant information, such as:

   • Your specific laptop model
   • The version(s) of the kernel where the webcam doesn't work
   • The version(s) of the kernel where the webcam works