Hello! I am having an issue with Ubuntu using the built-in camera.
I have an Acer Aspire 5 by the way, brand new if that can help.
The system knows it exists (Firmware Updater can find it easily) but no software can make it work. I have looked up online and these are all the fixes that I tried, unsuccessfully so far:
Install Cheese
systemctl --user restart pipewire
sudo usermod -aG video $USER
sudo apt-get install v4l-utils
dmesg | grep -i webcam
sudo modprobe -v uvcvideo
sudo apt install guvcview
lots of reboots
The thing is that while using Windows, the camera works just fine. I was able to have a video call a couple of hours ago, so it's not a hardware issue.
inxi -F -xxx already showed what your webcam is, which is as follows:
Device-3: Quanta ACER HD User Facing driver: N/A type: USB rev: 2.0
speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-7:3 chip-ID: 0408:4033 class-ID: fe01
serial: 01.00.00
If you were able to read the details, it says:
driver: N/A
This is because the drivers are yet to be added to the kernel under this issue, which is a pending open task. See the details here.
I've seen some members of the Arch community (and its close derivatives) who have successfully made this device work. However, it seems to me that you have to compile a kernel module for this one, which isn't an easy feat either.
P.S. I've found a Github repository which should make it easier for you, from the same people in the Arch community who've worked on it. View the repository here. Please follow the instructions very carefully. Have a good one!
interesting for me as I had similar issue, turns out for me that there is a Function key that enables the camera on my laptop. It actually removes the camera on the hardware level.
$ lsusb |grep Facing
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 0408:4033 Quanta Computer, Inc. ACER HD User Facing
It's a kernel issue, and I wrote about it on my blog last August.
There are two very similar cameras used on many Acer Aspire 3 and 5 models, with IDs 0408:4033 and 0408:4035.
After almost 2 years since solutions have been first proposed, Linux 6.11 introduced support for 0408:4035 but not for 0408:4033. Go figure. The situation did not change with kernel 6.12.
The first Linux kernel I've ever used was 0.99p14, so I'm not that young, but definitely grumpy.
EDIT: I came here to revisit this forum because, in the end, I came back to using Ubuntu MATE, hopping (hopefully) for the last time (this time from AlmaLinux KDE). 3+ months later, I'm still with 24.04 LTS MATE. Note that after having switched (back) to MATE, I didn't try to rebuild the webcam driver, because I didn't need to use the webcam. I should probably try again and see whether that still works or not. (The old and successful attempt was made in Kubuntu 24.04.)
Welcome back When you were attempting to patch the kernel - did you try via a KVM-backed virtual machine? My anxiety about blowing up my desktop has been greatly reduced since I started doing all my kernel-side shenanigans on a VM first. It should be relatively easy to add the USB device via virt-manager.
I didn't mean to imply Cheese doesn't work just that it might not work on different hardware. Also there was a reason Ubuntu Mate changed the default to Webcamoid.
i am facing the same issue would anyone suggest me whats the issue. I followed the steps mentioned over here but it does not working
**Device DMA IRQ I/O Ports
When you were attempting to patch the kernel - did you try via a KVM-backed virtual machine? My anxiety about blowing up my desktop has been greatly reduced since I started doing all my kernel-side shenanigans on a VM first. It should be relatively easy to add the USB device via virt-manager.