webcam error - ov511.c: No decompressor available

Ubuntu 6.06 LTS
Webcam Philips PCVC820K To Ucam II : chip OV6630AF bridge OV518.

KERNEL 2.6.15-26-386 and OV511 V1.64 ( delivered with the kernel ) :
ERROR : No decompressor available

KERNEL 2.6.15-23-386 and OV511 V2.32 : OK

KERNEL 2.6.15-26-386 and OV511 V2.32 :
ERROR : ov511: Unknown symbol v4l2_ioctl_names

Detailed and dmesg in attachement.

This bug is still unresolved in Edgy...
Oct 12 17:01:07 localhost kernel: [17229389.840000] drivers/media/video/ov511/ov511.c: No decompressor available

This bug persits in feisty!

Still the same in Gutsy!! Could the maintainer please just tell us why this can't be fixed? Or, what would have to be done?

I am changing this to confirmed, since it hasn't been marked invalid so far...

subject Philips ToU720k Webcam with ov511 chipset

IT IS WORKING !!!!

Hello to all !!!
I've damned a lot with the same problem but i've finnaly found the solution on gutsy (probably works with feisty and edgy too).
In theory, hotplug has to load the ov511 module when you're attaching the webcam.
Check this with an lsmod.
You simply need then to load the kernel module for the data decompression,
I ever supposed the correct decompression module is the ov511_decomp, instead is the ov518_decomp.
After the ov518_decomp module loading I'm able to detect the capabilities of the cam with dov4l and access it using kopete or other software.

OK, I hope that the manteiner will fix this problem in manner to have an automatic module loading when the cam is attached.

PS: if you dont have the module in your distribution try to find the right packet using apt-file tool.

ENJOY !!!! :D

This bug is not fixed in Gutsy. If I modprobe ov518_decomp, then can /dev/video0, I receive the following output:

cat /dev/video0
cat: /dev/video0: No space left on device

I've unplugged and replugged, and done modprobe -r on the modules, to no avail. Google searches have only shown this error message with the ov511 under Ubuntu in languages I don't speak. The output messages, however, were identical to mine. Please fix this! This webcam has worked for me for years in other distros (Debian, Gentoo, OpenSuSe, Redhat, Slackware), so the driver works. This is some sort of Ubuntu-specific issue. As for the above issue, a udev rule does still need to be modified too.

Output in syslog from my last attempt:

Dec 3 16:30:34 mikes kernel: [18860.120000] /build/buildd/linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.22-2.6.22/debian/build/build-generic/media/ov511/ov511.c: USB OV511+ video device found
Dec 3 16:30:34 mikes kernel: [18860.124000] /build/buildd/linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.22-2.6.22/debian/build/build-generic/media/ov511/ov511.c: model: Generic Camera (no ID)
Dec 3 16:30:34 mikes kernel: [18860.360000] /build/buildd/linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.22-2.6.22/debian/build/build-generic/media/ov511/ov511.c: i2c write retries exhausted
Dec 3 16:30:34 mikes kernel: [18860.580000] /build/buildd/linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.22-2.6.22/debian/build/build-generic/media/ov511/ov511.c: Sensor is an OV6620
Dec 3 16:30:35 mikes kernel: [18861.132000] /build/buildd/linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.22-2.6.22/debian/build/build-generic/media/ov511/ov511.c: Device at usb-0000:00:13.0-1.6 registered to minor 0
Dec 3 16:30:35 mikes kernel: [18861.132000] usbcore: registered new interface driver ov511
Dec 3 16:30:35 mikes kernel: [18861.132000] /build/buildd/linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.22-2.6.22/debian/build/build-generic/media/ov511/ov511.c: v1.64 for Linux 2.5 : ov511 USB Camera Driver
Dec 3 16:30:35 mikes kernel: [18861.136000] /build/buildd/linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.22-2.6.22/debian/build/build-generic/media/ov511/ov518_decomp.c: v1.3 : OV518 Decompression Module
Dec 3 16:30:35 mikes NetworkManager: <debug> [1196724635.293078] nm_hal_device_added(): New device added (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/usb_device_5a9_a511_noserial_video4linux').
Dec 3 16:30:48 mikes kernel: [18874.508000] /build/buildd/linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.22-2.6.22/debian/build/build-generic/media/ov511/ov511.c: init isoc: usb_submit_urb(0) ret -28

The Hardy Heron kernel was recently uploaded for testing. We'd really appreciate it if you could try testing with this newer kernel and verify if this issue still exists. Unfortunately, the Hardy Heron Alpha1 LiveCD was released with the older 2.6.22 kernel. You'll have to manually install the newer Hardy Heron kernel in order to test. This should not be the case for Alpha2. However, here are the instructions to install (if you choose to do so):

1) edit the file /etc/apt/sources.list and add the following line:

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hardy main restricted

2) sudo apt-get update
3) sudo apt-get install linux-image-2.6.24-1-generic
4) reboot and select the new kernel from the grub menu

After you've tested, please feel free to revert back - ie boot into the old kernel, sudo apt-get remove linux-image-2.6.24-1-generic, and remove the line from /etc/apt/sources.list . Please update this report with your results. Thanks in advance!

Against linux-source-2.6.22 and linux-source-2.6.15 this bug does not meet the criteria for a stable release update and is being marked as Won't Fix. You can learn more about the stable release update process at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates . However, we are still interested in getting this fixed in the Hardy Heron kernel. Thanks!

Hello !
Finally, I've got a definitive solution for using my Philips ToUcam 720k on Gutsy Gibbon.
This is the "recipe" :

install this package:
sudo apt-get install ov51x-jpeg-source

install also the headers of linux kernel:
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-2.6.22-14-generic

move to jpeg decomp module source directory
cd /usr/src/modules/ov51x-jpeg

compile the jpeg decompression module
sudo make

copy the module in module tree
sudo cp ov51x-jpeg.ko /lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/ubuntu/media/ov511/

update the module dependency database
sudo depmod -a

now, unload the ov511 module
sudo rmmod ov511

load directly the decomp module, it will load the devide driver module automatically
sudo modprobe ov51x-jpeg

now, test the module with vlc
vlc -> click on play key -> choose video4linux -> insert the correct device file (/dev/video0 if you dont have any other acquisition card, otherwise /dev/video1 and so on ) -> ENJOY your bad face :)

PS: change the name of kernel headers and modules directory according with the one that you are using, you can discover this magic name/number with the command "uname -a".
At this moment, i ear an high frequency noise which is quite annoying, but video works perfectly !!! It should work for every ov51x based wabcam.
Moreover, In the next days I will try to fix an automatic loading of the decomp module with udev. In the meantime enjoy your old camera working.

CIAO CIAO

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. You reported this bug a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering is this still an issue for you? Can you try with latest Ubuntu release? Thanks in advance.

Hello,
I had the same problem with all the Ubuntu releases 'till Hardy.
However, i solved the problem downloading the source of ov51x_jpeg module
from the repository and compiling the module.
Once it has been placed in /lib/modules it is sufficient to unload ov511 by
rmmod and then load in sequence ov51x_jpeg and ov511 modules with modprobe
to obtain the philips toucam 720 camera support with colors and other.
However, I noticed that there ar still some problems with kopete and other
IM softwares while it works with vlc and mplayer.
It would be nice to automatize the module loading when camera is plugged and
to fix the problems with kopete in order to get a full solution for video
calls, but I think It will take me less time buying a new camera, maybe with
a higher resolution.

Alessandro

2008/8/24 Connor Imes <email address hidden>

> Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make
> Ubuntu better. You reported this bug a while ago and there hasn't been
> any activity in it recently. We were wondering is this still an issue
> for you? Can you try with latest Ubuntu release? Thanks in advance.
>
> --
> webcam error - ov511.c: No decompressor available
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/41779
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. There are one of two ways you should be able to test:

1) If you are comfortable installing packages on your own, the linux-image-2.6.27-* package is currently available for you to install and test.

--or--

2) The upcoming Alpha5 for Intrepid Ibex 8.10 will contain this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. Alpha5 is set to be released Thursday Sept 4. Please watch http://www.ubuntu.com/testing for Alpha5 to be announced. You should then be able to test via a LiveCD.

Please let us know immediately if this newer 2.6.27 kernel resolves the bug reported here or if the issue remains. More importantly, please open a new bug report for each new bug/regression introduced by the 2.6.27 kernel and tag the bug report with 'linux-2.6.27'. Also, please specifically note if the issue does or does not appear in the 2.6.26 kernel. Thanks again, we really appreicate your help and feedback.

Unfortunately this bug report is being closed because we received no response to the last inquiry for information. However, the Intrepid Ibex 8.10 Beta release was most recently announced - http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/intrepid/beta . If you are able to confirm this is still an issue with this most recent release please feel free to reopen this report. To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to "New". Thanks.

Hi, thi bug is still occuring for me. However, my web cam worked fine on previous versions of Ubuntu. However, it won't work on 8.10 for some reason. Here is the camera in "lsusb"

Bus 003 Device 005: ID 05a9:a511 OmniVision Technologies, Inc. OV511+ WebCam

if anymore information is needed please feel free to let me know. I am on most nights so I will keep an eye out :D

Marking confirmed. Just tested with an old Creative PD0040.

Still an issue in Intrepid, 8.10 with kernel 2.6.27-10-generic.

The kernel module for these webcams is included in the kernel, but the JPEG decompressor portion (which is required to actually USE the webcams) can't be included in the module for licensing reasons. Ubuntu packages the JPEG decompressor as a source package, ov51x-jpeg-source.

Perhaps the decompressor should be automatically built with DKMS and pulled in by the linux-restricted-modules?

Hi Craig,

Care to actually open a new bug repot? The reason I ask is because you mention this issue only started to appear with Intrepid and this bug report was open against an older release so I feel you likely have a slightly different issue. In your new bug report, along with the lsusb output you provided here it would be great to also include your dmesg output as well as /var/log/syslog . Thanks.

Hi Leann,

Thanks, I have opened a new bug report here https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-source-2.6.15/+bug/303755

Per a decision made by the Ubuntu Kernel Team, bugs will longer be assigned to the ubuntu-kernel-team in Launchpad as part of the bug triage process. The ubuntu-kernel-team is being unassigned from this bug report. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies for more information. Thanks.

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. You reported this bug a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue for you. Can you try with the latest Ubuntu release? Thanks in advance.

This still doesn't work in Intrepid with kernel 2.6.27-11-generic. It's been YEARS now.

The problem is a missing JPEG decompressor. It's not needed by ALL ov511 cameras, apparently.

The decompressor source is already available in package ov51x-jpeg-source which is designed to be built using module-assistant, `m-a a-i ov51x-jpeg-source`. Unfortunately, that package does not build - it's broken. Apparently this has been fixed in Jaunty.

See bug #262853.

Here's a dmesg snippet:

*plugged in the camera*

[44274.490731] Linux video capture interface: v2.00
[44274.508539] ov511: USB OV518 video device found
[44274.510124] ov511: Device revision 9
[44274.522126] ov511: Compression required with OV518...enabling
[44275.913164] ov511: Sensor is an OV6630AE
[44276.118369] ov511: Device at usb-0000:00:1d.1-2 registered to minor 0
[44276.118443] usbcore: registered new interface driver ov511
[44276.118451] ov511: v1.64 for Linux 2.5 : ov511 USB Camera Driver

* cat /dev/video0 *

[45736.549348] ov511: No decompressor available

Thank you Gabriel,
Hopefully this will be fixed in the Jaunty release - are you able to test in Jaunty development? You can find out more about the development release at http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/ . Alpha5 is due out in a few days, perhaps you test a LiveCD for us then?
Thanks again.

This bug is not fixed yet... using Jaunty Beta, I get following output from dmesg:

[ 1302.688064] usb 2-1: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 3
[ 1302.907635] usb 2-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 1302.983916] Linux video capture interface: v2.00
[ 1303.015788] ov511: USB OV518 video device found
[ 1303.016965] ov511: Device revision 1
[ 1303.052969] ov511: Compression required with OV518...enabling
[ 1304.704979] ov511: Sensor is an OV6630
[ 1305.317103] ov511: Device at usb-0000:00:0b.0-1 registered to minor 0
[ 1305.317171] usbcore: registered new interface driver ov511
[ 1305.317178] ov511: v1.64 for Linux 2.5 : ov511 USB Camera Driver

after "cat /dev/video0 ":

[ 1612.020092] ov511: No decompressor available

Dieter: Have you already installed the decompressor - ov51x-jpeg-source?

Bug 262853 seems to be the right way going foward starting with Jaunty. Specifically, Comment 19:
(https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ov51x-jpeg/+bug/262853/comments/19)

We should concentrate of getting the in-kernel gspca_ov519 working correctly.

Due to the licensing problems with the jpeg decompressor, it isn't possible to get this fixed easily for an out-of-box experience for releases older than Jaunty. Users will be expected to get the latest decompressor source and compile it.

The newer kernels now support the jpeg decompression and thus we should focus our attention to fix that driver. Please test with latest Jaunty and gspca_ov519 driver.

gspca_ov519 doesn't work for me, but installing ov51x-jpeg-source seems to work, thanks for that.

lsusb:
Bus 002 Device 005: ID 05a9:0518 OmniVision Technologies, Inc. OV518 WebCam

dmesg:
[ 1802.884974] usbcore: registered new interface driver ov51x
[ 1802.884983] ov51x_jpeg: 1.5.9 : ov51x USB Camera Driver
[ 1825.180049] usb 2-2: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 3
[ 1825.395444] usb 2-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 1825.396937] ov51x_jpeg: USB OV518 video device found
[ 1825.399802] ov51x_jpeg: Device revision 1
[ 1825.435795] ov51x_jpeg: Compression required with OV518...enabling
[ 1827.958797] ov51x_jpeg: WARNING: Sensor is an OV66308. Your camera may have
[ 1827.958806] ov51x_jpeg: been misdetected in previous driver versions. Please
[ 1827.958811] ov51x_jpeg: report this to Mark.
[ 1829.088324] ov51x_jpeg: Device at usb-0000:00:0b.0-2 registered to minor 0

Thank you for your help!

This issue has been fixed in Karmic.

OV51x cameras are now handled by the gspca_ov519 driver which works out-of-the box.

Seem the very old bug is coming back in trusty. I hope im not the last one using this old webcam.

syslog tells me:

May 8 19:05:03 LAPold kernel: [ 2317.728499] usb 2-1: USB disconnect, device number 5 │·
May 8 19:05:11 LAPold kernel: [ 2325.776273] usb 2-1: new full-speed USB device number 6 using uhci_hcd │·
May 8 19:05:11 LAPold kernel: [ 2325.966331] usb 2-1: New USB device found, idVendor=05a9, idProduct=0518 │·
May 8 19:05:11 LAPold kernel: [ 2325.966350] usb 2-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0 │·
May 8 19:05:11 LAPold kernel: [ 2325.966361] usb 2-1: Product: USB Camera │·
May 8 19:05:11 LAPold kernel: [ 2325.966371] usb 2-1: Manufacturer: OmniVision Technologies, Inc. │·
May 8 19:05:11 LAPold kernel: [ 2325.972198] gspca_main: ov519-2.14.0 probing 05a9:0518 │·
May 8 19:05:13 LAPold kernel: [ 2328.149350] gspca_ov519: WARNING: Sensor is an OV66308. Your camera may have been misdetected in previous driver versions. │·
May 8 19:05:14 LAPold kernel: [ 2328.836638] input: ov519 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.0/usb2/2-1/input/input19 │·
May 8 19:05:14 LAPold mtp-probe: checking bus 2, device 6: "/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.0/usb2/2-1" │·
May 8 19:05:14 LAPold mtp-probe: bus: 2, device: 6 was not an MTP device

the old Workaround from 2008 to do "sudo apt-get install ov51x-jpeg-source" is not working at the moment.