HI! Newbie, and not a techie either. Since I updated to Mint 20.2 a couple of months ago, I can't find my camera and neither can Zoom. Help?

Deek

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Hello,

Please know, I know nothing about coding in any Linux language. I got fed up with Microsoft and vowed never to use any product of theirs again. My computer repair guy said I should try Linux, and I love the window based version and have done OK with it for a couple of years. I even managed to update my OS a couple of months ago, and I was (perhaps naively) proud I did it by watching a Youtube video and without help. BUT--I have had problems with accessing my camera ever since. I even sold my soul to the devil and installed Google Chrome (instead of using Firefox), as everyone said that would fix the problem. Nope. But I will say this. Sometimes my camera works for a few seconds to a few minutes. Other times I cannot find it, even when doing searches in the Menu, or trying to get Zoom to search for it. I even installed the Cheese app, because some website said that might fix my issue and Cheese cannot detect a camera. The inconsistency is what really does not make sense to me considering computers should use consistent logic or processes, right? I use Zoom for weekly therapy meetings and that is where it's most inconsistent, and I think my therapist is getting frustrated with my constant problems.
I greatly appreciate anyone's willingness to help, but please know I don't know the first thing about using the terminal, other than I can bring it up, and I probably know just enough to be dangerous ; ). So I guess anyone willing to help would have to speak to me regarding terminal language like I am a three year old or an alien. Whichever context pleases you most. Ha ha. Thanks!.
 


what is output of
lsusb
 
Hello,

Please know, I know nothing about coding in any Linux language. I got fed up with Microsoft and vowed never to use any product of theirs again. My computer repair guy said I should try Linux, and I love the window based version and have done OK with it for a couple of years. I even managed to update my OS a couple of months ago, and I was (perhaps naively) proud I did it by watching a Youtube video and without help. BUT--I have had problems with accessing my camera ever since. I even sold my soul to the devil and installed Google Chrome (instead of using Firefox), as everyone said that would fix the problem. Nope. But I will say this. Sometimes my camera works for a few seconds to a few minutes. Other times I cannot find it, even when doing searches in the Menu, or trying to get Zoom to search for it. I even installed the Cheese app, because some website said that might fix my issue and Cheese cannot detect a camera. The inconsistency is what really does not make sense to me considering computers should use consistent logic or processes, right? I use Zoom for weekly therapy meetings and that is where it's most inconsistent, and I think my therapist is getting frustrated with my constant problems.
I greatly appreciate anyone's willingness to help, but please know I don't know the first thing about using the terminal, other than I can bring it up, and I probably know just enough to be dangerous ; ). So I guess anyone willing to help would have to speak to me regarding terminal language like I am a three year old or an alien. Whichever context pleases you most. Ha ha. Thanks!.
Not all Microsoft products are bad.
 
Is the camera an internal camera? Or an external one?

If it’s an external camera, plugged in via USB and the connection is intermittent - it could be that the USB cable is damaged.
If it’s an internal one, they generally tend to be cheap, crappy ones too. So it could be that it’s failing, perhaps?!

May even be a problem with the USB port, or the USB bus itself?!

Generally speaking, if your webcam is UVC compliant, it should work flawlessly, out of the box with Linux. Most modern cams from the major brands (and even a lot of lesser known ones) are UVC compliant and do work.

But certain brands and/or older webcams that pre-date UVC are hit and miss.

Webcams that are not UVC compliant often require specific, proprietary drivers. And manufacturers of older, or non-UVC compliant webcams rarely supply Linux drivers for their devices.

But because you said yours was working sometimes - that makes me think that perhaps it’s some kind of fault/hardware failure?!
 
Hi JasKinasis, it's internal, original to my HP Latitude E6430. I was thinking about buying an external, though I really can't afford it because I am unemployed right now. So I thought I would ask here (for free), and see if there was a way to solve the problem without spending money. But it should be noted: It worked fine before the update a couple of months ago.
 
I am sorry, dos2unix, I don't understand your comment
Open a Terminal.... ctrl+alt+T)
when it has opened,

Less:
lsusb
just copy and paste the code from here to the terminal, and then hit enter

Copy and paste the result into your next reply.
 
Open a Terminal.... ctrl+alt+T)
when it has opened,

Less:
lsusb
just copy and paste the code from here to the terminal, and then hit enter

Copy and paste the result into your next reply.
This?
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
 
first thing to do, is check to see if you have cheese installed,
go menu, all applications, scroll down and look for cheese, if its not installed then in a terminal run

sudo apt-get install cheese
 
first thing to do, is check to see if you have cheese installed,
go menu, all applications, scroll down and look for cheese, if its not installed then in a terminal run

sudo apt-get install cheese
Yes, Cheese is installed, but it cannot find my camera either. "No Device Found" when its window opens.
 
Next possibility, the camera may be turned off in the bios, open full bios' menu find the camera and make sure it is enabled
 
Where do I find the "bios' " menu, please?
Just to emphasize how little I know, beyond using the window type of features in Mint, typing into the terminal what Condobloke instructed a few posts above, was there very first time I have ever done anything in the Terminal. I was not joking when I said I knew nothing about it.
 
On a DELL, it's normally jiggle F2 as you power up
 
BTW, thank you to everyone who has responded so far, for your time, patience with me, and help!!!!!
 
On a DELL, it's normally jiggle F2 as you power up
OH, yeah, that. Ha ha....I was stuck in Bios for while because I had tried to do some updates, but did not realize the entire list of updates was selected by default and I was in a hurry. I stopped the updates by closing the window and the updates for Linux were not done and it messed everything up. Computer guy had to bail me out--man he's expensive, but very good. Learned a big lesson there. Ha ha. BRB...going to bios.
 
OMFG!!!!!!! Thanks 1,000,000,000,000 times, Brickwizzard!!! I went into the bios menu, and I just guessed (semi-educated or dangerously---take your pick), clicked on video and nothing was there, and it asked if I wanted to reset original settings. Being a gambling kinda lady, I said "yes." It restarted, I went to cheese and viola!!! My crappy camera now works! My therapist thanks you more than I do! You made my day. I wish I could buy you a coffee or give you a hug or some small gesture. I cannot thank you enough and everyone else who offered their help and expertise. I am so grateful.
 
@Deek your welcome, with the mix of experienced members we all have different ways of looking at a problem, some will immediately look for programming errors others like myself look at possible hardware problems, so between the different approaches, we manage to find fixes for most problems,
now as a thanks you can pop into the members introductions and tell us about yourself
 

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