Logitech QuickCam Messenger fails on 4.0 [Solved]

[thenthenio]

It should be related to gspca driver.

Luckily on my portable PC I still have SL 3.5.1 (x86_64).
Here is what happens on it:
Before connecting the USB camera:

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#lsmod | grep gspca


After connecting the USB camera:

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#lsmod | grep gspca
gspca                 626960  0
compat_ioctl32         10112  1 gspca
videodev               34816  2 gspca,compat_ioctl32


On my home PC with SL 4.0 (x86_64) it works but image is odd.
Here is what happens on it:
Before connecting the USB camera:

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#lsmod | grep gspca


After connecting the USB camera:

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#lsmod | grep gspca
gspca_zc3xx            50432  0
gspca_main             29568  1 gspca_zc3xx
compat_ioctl32         17408  1 gspca_main
videodev               42752  2 gspca_main,compat_ioctl32


So now the loaded driver are different, it seems that the gspca driver has been splitted in two: the basic driver and the chip driver.
Unfortunately now it doesn't work any more!

Could you/I revert to the previous gspca version?
Thanks.
Mauro

EDIT:
Very strange the installed gspca package is exactly the same version in both systems but on the portable it is for kernel 2.6.25 (gspcav1-20071224#2.6.25-sabayon-r1) and on the home one is for kernel 2.6.26 (gspcav1-20071224#2.6.26-sabayon)!

EDIT:
I found something:
The installed gspca driver is for kernel 2.6.26 but:

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# uname -r
2.6.27-sabayon

my kernel is 2.6.27!!!
I'm going to recompile the module for 2.6.27...

[xlnagla]

eselect kernel list. make sure it's set for .27 - otherwise you've already discovered what you should do.

~xlnagla

[thenthenio]

Ok here is the result.
Mainly thanks to Lwonderltoo, Thev00d00 and Tangent on the Sabayon IRC!

Here is the explanation and solution:
I was confused because gspcav1-20071224#2.6.26-sabayon was installed and I was on 2.6.27-sabayon.
So I was thinking that the loaded driver was wrong for the kernel version...
This was proved to be wrong: kernel 2.6.27 has an embedded gspca driver and the driver loaded was correct for the kernel version!
So, the diagnosis was: the gspca driver that comes with 2.6.27 is broken!
I tried to recompile kernel.
I tried to install libv4l to enable v4l support for v4l2 gspca driver embedded with the kernel (using LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib64/libv4l/v4l1compat.so kopete to run for example kopete with v4l to v4l2 support), but wit absolutely no result.
So, at the end the solution was reverting to 2.6.26 kernel and external gspcav1 driver:

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# eselect kernel set 2.6.26-sabayon

Edit /boot/grub/grub.conf to load kernel 2.6.26 instead of 2.6.27.
Remove the nVidia driver for 2.6.27 and install the latest for 2.6.26:

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# equo remove nvidia-drivers
# equo install nvidia-drivers-173.14.12-r10#2.6.26-sabayon
# equo conf update
# eselect opengl set nvidia

Then reboot.
The old external gspcav1 driver is now loaded automatically and the webcam works!

Pay attention: some other drivers like, in my case, vboxdrv may need to revert to previous version...

EDIT:
In fact I had to reinstall Virtualbox, here is what I did:
Package virtualbox-modules was not available in Entropy for kernel 2.6.26 so I had to use Portage.
I removed with equo virtualbox-modules (and it removed also package virtualbox-bin):

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# equo remove virtualbox-modules


Then moved to emerge to install them for kernel in use (2.6.26):

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# emerge virtualbox-bin

Now emerge told me to donload virtualbox-bin from http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/2.0.6/VirtualBox-2.0.6-39760-Linux_amd64.run, to put it in /usr/portage/distfiles and rerun emerge:

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# emerge virtualbox-bin

Now also Virtualbox is up and running again!

Cheers.
Mauro

[xlnagla]

you are quite self-sufficient now mauro. Thanks for posting back your steps to your solution for the benefit of others in the forum with similar issues. It's because of users like you that we have such an extensive, friendly, and useful knowledge base.

~xlnagla

[thenthenio]

Thank you Xinagla, I'm very happy for your appreciation!
I do this because here I found this same help from this community and others may need it.
I do also because I strongly believe that the spread of information (at any level) is the best way to improve everything.
Lastly I do because it could be a reference even for me in the future, it's better writing it here than in some block-notes...

Cheers.
Mauro

[Thev00d00]

Its all down to the excellent IRC crew

[Fitzcarraldo]

gspcav1 was moved into the kernel sources in kernel 2.6.27, that's why people who used it with kernel 2.6.26 and earlier are having trouble with SL 4.0/4.0-r1 (or with earlier versions of SL if they have updated the kernel to 2.6.27).

I also have the 2.6.27 kernel installed, but did not need to revert to the 2.6.26 kernel in order to get my Webcam working again. I found the answer on the Gentoo forums, namely the thread [SOLVED] GSPCA driver problem (Thank you, hasselhoff!).

The solutions for SL x86 and x86_64 are in the above-mentioned Gentoo thread. I use the x86_64 edition of SL, so the solution is a little bit more complicated than for the x86 edition, but not much. Here's what I did for SL x86_64:

1) emerge -C gspcav1
2) Copy the file libv4l-0.5.7-r1.ebuild from Gentoo Bugzilla Bug Report No. 244918 to the directory /usr/portage/media-libs/libv4l/
3) Recreate the manifest: ebuild /usr/portage/media-libs/libv4l/libv4l-0.5.7-r1.ebuild manifest
4) emerge -1v =libv4l-0.5.7-r1

To run Skype with a working Webcam under SL x86_64 I just need to enter the following command under my normal user name:
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype

(Of course I could set this up as an alias so I just need to enter "skype", or modify my Desktop Config File for Skype so it enters the command for me.)

[thenthenio]

Once again thank you very much Fitzcarraldo!
Even if I said the problem was solved I continued trying other solutions in order to be able to upgrade kernel in the future (not to freeze on 2.6.26).
On the Sabayon IRC somebody came out with a similar solution (with LD_PRELOAD), but didn't work for me...
Maybe I did it wrong, maybe there was a step missing, I can't remember.
Anyway I did your simple steps and it worked!!!
It seems LD_PRELOAD does not work, but it is working indeed.

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$ LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype
ERROR: ld.so: object '/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l1compat.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded: ignored.

Without LD_PRELOAD it doesn't work at all (fails as before).
A difference that I found with the gspcav1 module is that in skype the correct device name was displayed (in drop-down menu) "Logitech QuickCam Messenger" and now a generic "USB camera (046d:08da) (/dev/video1)" appears.
But I do prefer this generic device identification with new upgraded kernel than correct device identification with old (frozen) kernel 2.6.26!

Ciao.
Mauro

[Fitzcarraldo]

Note that Skype is a 32-bit application, that's why it is necessary to specify the "lib32" in the command on an x86_64 edition of SL:

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LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype".

However, applications such as aMSN and Camorama are 64-bit in the x86_64 edition of SL, and you would need to enter to the following command in order to get the Webcam working with 64-bit applications:

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LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so amsn
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so camorama

[thenthenio]

Really interesting, Fitzcarraldo!!!
I have a similar problem with dvb module (downloaded from Mercurial, the module embedded in 2.6.27 and following is not working).
The module is em28xx(-alsa, -sound, -dvb...).
I tried LD_PRELOAD (32 bit) with Kaffenine to see if that could work with dvb module but didn't work, I will try also with LD_PRELOAD (64 bit) if it fixes the problem...

Thanks.
Mauro