Re: webcam doesn't work on some USB ports (gspca_sonixj module)

[Luiz Ramos <lramos.prof@yahoo.com.br>]

On Sun, Jul 24, 2011 at 10:44:41PM -0400, Dave Fine wrote:

> I have a Microsoft LifeCam VX-3000. My desktop computer has two USB
> buses. 4 external ports on one bus in the back of the computer, and 2
> external ports on another bus in the front. The webcam only works
> properly on the front-facing ports. I'm using the lastest stable
> release of the gspca_sonixj module.
> 
> The problems I experience is that the webcam is not able to work with
> Google's gchat video chatting. The screen remains black for a few
> seconds, before fading to gray. Sometimes I see myself for a
> split-second before it fades to gray permanently. The webcam always
> work fine with local programs like cheese.
> 
> syslog output:
> 
> webcam plugged into "bad" USB bus:
> 
> Jul 24 22:09:22 Bluemoon kernel: [432235.451132] usb 1-1.3: new full
> speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 10
> Jul 24 22:09:22 Bluemoon kernel: [432235.562660] gspca-2.13.2: probing 045e:00f5
> Jul 24 22:09:22 Bluemoon kernel: [432235.563467] sonixj-2.13.2: Sonix
> chip id: 11
> Jul 24 22:09:22 Bluemoon kernel: [432235.564042] input: sonixj as
> /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1a.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.3/input/input17
> Jul 24 22:09:22 Bluemoon kernel: [432235.564178] gspca-2.13.2: video0 created
> Jul 24 22:09:22 Bluemoon rtkit-daemon[1365]: Successfully made thread
> 9824 of process 1506 (n/a) owned by '1000' RT at priority 5.
> Jul 24 22:09:22 Bluemoon rtkit-daemon[1365]: Supervising 4 threads of
> 1 processes of 1 users.
> Jul 24 22:09:40 Bluemoon kernel: [432253.344199] gspca-2.13.2:
> bandwidth not wide enough - trying again
> Jul 24 22:09:41 Bluemoon kernel: [432254.622338] gspca-2.13.2:
> bandwidth not wide enough - trying again
> Jul 24 22:09:42 Bluemoon kernel: [432255.900844] gspca-2.13.2:
> bandwidth not wide enough - trying again
> Jul 24 22:09:44 Bluemoon kernel: [432257.179608] gspca-2.13.2:
> bandwidth not wide enough - trying again
> Jul 24 22:09:45 Bluemoon kernel: [432258.457975] gspca-2.13.2:
> bandwidth not wide enough - trying again
> ... (repeats)
> 
> 
> 
> webcam plugged into "good" USB bus:
> Jul 24 22:06:47 Bluemoon kernel: [432080.751839] usb 2-1.4: new full
> speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 9
> Jul 24 22:06:47 Bluemoon kernel: [432080.863272] gspca-2.13.2: probing 045e:00f5
> Jul 24 22:06:47 Bluemoon kernel: [432080.863943] sonixj-2.13.2: Sonix
> chip id: 11
> Jul 24 22:06:47 Bluemoon kernel: [432080.864304] input: sonixj as
> /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.0/usb2/2-1/2-1.4/input/input15
> Jul 24 22:06:47 Bluemoon kernel: [432080.864578] gspca-2.13.2: video0 created
> Jul 24 22:06:47 Bluemoon rtkit-daemon[1365]: Successfully made thread
> 9637 of process 1506 (n/a) owned by '1000' RT at priority 5.
> Jul 24 22:06:47 Bluemoon rtkit-daemon[1365]: Supervising 4 threads of
> 1 processes of 1 users.
> Jul 24 22:07:22 Bluemoon kernel: [432116.213808] gspca-2.13.2:
> bandwidth not wide enough - trying again
> Jul 24 22:07:24 Bluemoon kernel: [432117.542586] gspca-2.13.2:
> bandwidth not wide enough - trying again
> Jul 24 22:07:25 Bluemoon kernel: [432118.831024] gspca-2.13.2:
> bandwidth not wide enough - trying again
> (webcam operates normally at this point)
> 
> 
> Has anyone seen this before? Any suggestions to help debug this?
> 

Don't know if relates to your case, but here the webcam doesn't work
properly if I connect it through a USB hub *AND* using 640x480 rather
than 320x240 or 160x120.

As it seems that this is a matter of bandwidth allocation, I didn't 
investigated this problem further, and solved it connecting the webcam
directly to one of the notebook's USB port.

- Luiz Ramos


> -Dave
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