[arch-general] Laptop's webcam gets blocked randomly

[riveravaldez]

On 3/20/21, Emil Velikov <emil.l.velikov at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, 19 Mar 2021 at 15:33, riveravaldez via arch-general
> <arch-general at lists.archlinux.org> wrote:
>>
>> On 3/8/21, Björn Seifert via arch-general
>> <arch-general at lists.archlinux.org> wrote:
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > I have the same laptop.
>>
>> Hi, Björn, could you confirm if you have installed the xf86-video-intel
>> driver?
>>
>> Because I'm under the suspicion that maybe the issue comes from it.

Hi, Björn, this was apparently incorrect, problem appears also without
xf86-video-intel, **but**, your solution seems to work also here!

I'm deeply thankful. You saved me in the middle of a job.

How do you discover that fix?, and do you have any idea why this
happens and how that flashlight-action works?

> I suspect that you might be conflating things.

I suspect you're completely right, Emil.

> The xf86-video-intel driver has nothing to do with the camera (v4l2)
> or audio (alsa) subsystems. They are quite orthogonal.

Thanks a lot for the info.

> Now, if the mentioned programs refuse to work - without any
> v4l2/alsa/pcm warnings - then the issue might be xf86-video-intel
> related.
>
> For a dead trivial way to dismiss issues related to X (via
> xf86-video-intel or otherwise) and Wayland compositors - switch to a
> VT and run the following:
> $ gst-launch-1.0 autovideosrc device=/dev/video0 ! autovideosink

Thanks a lot for your answer and explanations, Emil.

I tried the `gst-launch-1.0 ...` and obtained a playback capture in a
separate window but extremely laggy, freezing a lot. Any idea?

Right now this seems kind of a webcam-hardware issue, that gets
incidentally solved (at least for the moment) rapidly exposing the
webcam to an intense light (like the mobile phones flashlight) in the
precise moment it's needed to be used (and appearing as blocked).
Maybe if I can understand well the nature of the problem this could
end in the Wiki, so other users have a quick-fix for this problem
(specially in this times).

Thanks a lot for any answer or hint.
Best regards.