USB webcam weirdness

[Net Llama!]

I hate replying to myself, but this is just weird.  On its own, the cam
came back to life.  I'd still like to know what happened though.

For all you wacky voyeurs out there, have fun:
http://netllama.linux-sxs.org/llamava/

On Tue, 30 Nov 2004, Net Llama! wrote:

> On Tue, 30 Nov 2004, Roger Oberholtzer wrote:
> > 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?
>
> Well the kernel tools handle unloading and loading drivers transparently,
> so that does happen as well.  I did try rmmod'ing and modprobing the pwc
> module for the camera, but that didn't help.  I guess i could try manually
> unloading all the assorted modules and see if that has the same function
> as un/re-plugging the camera.
>
> Is there a way to reset the USB bus?
>
> > After 12-15 hours of images, might it just be getting dark outside :)
>
> Well sure, but the camera ran fine overnight last night.  It actually does
> a pretty decent job of handling lighting changes.  I checked it this
> morning at around 6AM, and it was still working, but at 7AM i get the
> image that I noted above.
>
> > 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.
>
> Well yea, but i'm seeing the reverse of that behavior.  THe camera seems
> to die at dawn  *shrug*
>
>

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lonni J Friedman                                netllama at linux-sxs.org
Linux Step-by-step & TyGeMo                  http://netllama.ipfox.com