USB webcam weirdness

[Roger Oberholtzer]

On Tue, 2004-11-30 at 07:25 -0500, Net Llama! wrote:
> I've got a Philips 690 USB webcam, which was working flawlessly until I
> started using it on an old laptop running FC3.
> 
> Now it runs ok for several hours (where several is anywhere from 12-15)
> and then it suddenly stops capturing images.  The weird thing is that its
> not generating any errors, its just that the image which is getting
> captured is blank.  Here's what i'm referring to:
> http://netllama.linux-sxs.org/llamava/home.jpg
> 
> What you should be seeing is the view from outside my living room window.
> 
> I've checked messages log and there are no errors.  Everything that is
> logged is as if all is normal.  The only way i've found to fix this right
> now is to manually unplug and replug the camera into the USB port.  Then
> it works fine again for several hours, and the cycle begins again.
> 
> Since there are no errors anywhere, i'm at a bit of a loss as to what is
> going on.  Anyone have any suggestions on how to troubleshoot this
> further?

You unplug the camera and that is all? You do not restart any software?
Not even the USB drivers?

After 12-15 hours of images, might it just be getting dark outside :)

Don't laugh. I ran an all night test of a firewire capture system and
initially got concerned when the images got both smaller and darker.
Then it dawned on me. Literally.