intermittent black video from Logitech Webcam Pro 9000

**halfbeing** · October 27th, 2013

Hello.

Sometimes my webcam works fine, but sometimes it gives me black video in both Skype and Cheese. This obviously makes receiving Skype calls pretty hit-and-miss. When it does this I have found no solution but to reboot. My camera is a Logitech Webcam Pro 9000. Is there any way I can stop this happening?

**dannyboy79** · October 28th, 2013

you could find out which module it uses and when it's a black screen you could try to remove the module and then re-add it. what modules are currently running when the camera works?

Code:

lsmod

**halfbeing** · October 28th, 2013

This is what lsmod gives me:

Module Size Used by
pci_stub 12622 1
vboxpci 23194 0
vboxnetadp 25670 0
vboxnetflt 27613 0
vboxdrv 320359 3 vboxnetadp,vboxnetflt,vboxpci
cuse 13274 3
joydev 17332 0
parport_pc 32701 0
ppdev 17671 0
rfcomm 69070 0
bnep 19564 2
bluetooth 371941 10 bnep,rfcomm
arc4 12608 2
snd_hda_codec_conexant 56945 1
snd_hda_intel 44075 3
iwl3945 69075 0
snd_hda_codec 188696 2 snd_hda_codec_conexant,snd_hda_intel
ip6t_REJECT 12910 1
snd_usb_audio 149162 3
snd_usbmidi_lib 25070 1 snd_usb_audio
snd_hwdep 13602 2 snd_usb_audio,snd_hda_codec
xt_hl 12521 6
uvcvideo 80885 0
snd_pcm 101983 3 snd_usb_audio,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
ip6t_rt 13507 3
videobuf2_vmalloc 13216 1 uvcvideo
iwlegacy 100487 1 iwl3945
videobuf2_memops 13362 1 videobuf2_vmalloc
videobuf2_core 40469 1 uvcvideo
videodev 133390 2 uvcvideo,videobuf2_core
nf_conntrack_ipv6 18938 9
nf_defrag_ipv6 34616 1 nf_conntrack_ipv6
snd_page_alloc 18710 2 snd_pcm,snd_hda_intel
ipt_REJECT 12541 1
microcode 23518 0
xt_LOG 17718 8
snd_seq_midi 13324 0
xt_limit 12711 11
mac80211 613561 2 iwl3945,iwlegacy
snd_seq_midi_event 14899 1 snd_seq_midi
psmouse 97626 0
xt_tcpudp 12884 22
pcmcia 61727 0
binfmt_misc 17468 1
xt_addrtype 12635 4
snd_rawmidi 30095 2 snd_usbmidi_lib,snd_seq_midi
nf_conntrack_ipv4 15012 9
nf_defrag_ipv4 12729 1 nf_conntrack_ipv4
xt_conntrack 12760 18
r852 18301 0
sm_common 16860 1 r852
serio_raw 13413 0
thinkpad_acpi 80701 0
nand 64353 2 r852,sm_common
nand_ecc 13312 1 nand
nvram 14362 1 thinkpad_acpi
r592 18023 0
nand_bch 13227 1 nand
yenta_socket 41019 0
ip6table_filter 12815 1
ip6_tables 27025 1 ip6table_filter
nf_conntrack_netbios_ns 12665 0
nf_conntrack_broadcast 12589 1 nf_conntrack_netbios_ns
nand_ids 8627 1 nand
nf_nat_ftp 12741 0
nf_nat 26653 1 nf_nat_ftp
bch 17397 1 nand_bch
lpc_ich 21080 0
nf_conntrack_ftp 18608 1 nf_nat_ftp
mtd 55348 2 nand,sm_common
nf_conntrack 91736 8 nf_nat_ftp,nf_conntrack_netbios_ns,nf_nat,xt_connt rack,nf_conntrack_broadcast,nf_conntrack_ftp,nf_co nntrack_ipv4,nf_conntrack_ipv6
memstick 16760 1 r592
cfg80211 496195 3 iwl3945,iwlegacy,mac80211
pcmcia_rsrc 18407 1 yenta_socket
iptable_filter 12810 1
snd_seq 61560 2 snd_seq_midi_event,snd_seq_midi
ip_tables 27239 1 iptable_filter
x_tables 34059 13 ip6table_filter,xt_hl,ip_tables,xt_tcpudp,xt_limit ,xt_conntrack,xt_LOG,iptable_filter,ip6t_rt,ipt_RE JECT,ip6_tables,xt_addrtype,ip6t_REJECT
snd_seq_device 14497 3 snd_seq,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_midi
pcmcia_core 23592 3 pcmcia,pcmcia_rsrc,yenta_socket
snd_timer 29433 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd 69141 25 snd_usb_audio,snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_co nexant,snd_pcm,snd_seq,snd_rawmidi,snd_usbmidi_lib ,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,thinkpad_acpi,snd_seq _device,snd_seq_midi
tpm_tis 19123 0
soundcore 12680 1 snd
mac_hid 13205 0
coretemp 13435 0
lp 17759 0
parport 42299 3 lp,ppdev,parport_pc
dm_crypt 22728 1
sdhci_pci 18985 0
firewire_ohci 40060 0
sdhci 42630 1 sdhci_pci
tg3 162230 0
firewire_core 64476 1 firewire_ohci
crc_itu_t 12707 1 firewire_core
i915 655899 4
ptp 18580 1 tg3
pps_core 19027 1 ptp
i2c_algo_bit 13413 1 i915
drm_kms_helper 52651 1 i915
drm 296739 5 i915,drm_kms_helper
video 19318 1 i915

**dannyboy79** · October 28th, 2013

ok, it's a uvcvideo capable webcam and it looks like the modules loaded. is it a possibility that the picture settings of the webcam are just really dark? have you checked this out yet?
http://phoxis.org/2012/02/24/fix-dar...ype-for-linux/

i have a logitch c260 and I use guvcview to capture facecam's and such and I never have a problem with skype. what version of skype are you using and where did you DL it from? can you please try out guvcview and see if you have a black screen there as well? and or try to issue

Code:

cat /dev/video0 > webcam1.ts

do you see a light come on on the webcam letting you know it's recording? after a minute or so, click ctrl-c for it to stop recording. now try to play that file using whatever media player you have installed. it's a file called webcam1.ts and would be located within whatever working directory you were in when you ran the command line command. (most likely your home directory.)

good luck

**halfbeing** · October 28th, 2013

Thanks for the pointers. I will have to wait for the problem to occur again before I can try using guvcview.

**halfbeing** · October 28th, 2013

Thanks for the pointer. I shall have to wait until the problem occurs again before I can try guvcview. However the problem occurs not only in Skype but also in Cheese, so it doesn't look like a Skype problem as such.

**dannyboy79** · October 28th, 2013

i don't know what's causing it but if you want to solve it without having to restart your laptop you could try the following 2 commands

Code:

sudo rmmod uvcvideo

Code:

sudo modprobe uvcvideo

again, good luck. it almost sounds like the module doesn't get loaded IF you have a black screen in both cheese and skype, so when you see the black screen try to issue the lsmod command and look for the uvcvideo line and if it's no in lsmod than you simple have to sudo modprobe uvcvideo and you should be good then. let me know

**halfbeing** · October 30th, 2013

The problem has just occurred again. I've tried the "sudo rmmod uvcvideo" route, but Skype continued to show a black picture. I've tried running guvcview and playing with the settings, but even though I get a good picture in guvcview, the picture in Skype remains black. I then tried opening Cheese and found that there too I had a black picture. So the problem is not limited to Skype, since it occurs also in Cheese, but it does not occur with all applications because it does not occur with guvcview.

**dannyboy79** · November 1st, 2013

if it works in guvcview than i am assuming maybe some permission access issue with those apps to the video device node. if you issue sudo rmmod uvcvideo than you have to reload the driver using sudo modprobe uvcvideo.

have you tried launcing cheese or skype from the terminal to see what messages are being displayed

it possible that some of this reading may aid you.
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic....41639#p1241639
let me know if i can help possibly with any question you have about the link

**halfbeing** · January 25th, 2014

The latest state of play is that I found the problem occurred much less frequently once I switched from Unity to XFCE. At the same time the problem of waking from sleep with the network dead happened much less frequently as well, and I suspect therefore that the problems are connected.

I discovered on one of the rare occasions that the problem reoccurred that simply logging out and logging in again was enough to get Cheese and Skype working again.

However now the problem has taken a much darker turn. Video has stopped working in Skype and Cheese and nothing I do will bring it back. Not even rebooting.