Member Avatar for Cudmore

Heyo

My laptop has a webcam and a mic built-in on top.

The laptop is XPS M1210
The distro is Kubuntu 2.6.20-16-generic

The problem I've had, ever since I bought the laptop and installed beloved Ubuntu, is that while the webcam is not supported, it overheats rapidly while the laptop is merely turned on. My best guess is that the laptop is providing power to the webcam in a way it can't handle, since it's connected as a USB device, or maybe hotplug is probing it continually or something.. Who knows. But I have no idea how to prevent it from heating up to extreme temperatures, but I don't want to change distros, either.

Does someone know how I could prevent the overheating? I'll provide more system information if you know what to ask for. I'm terrible with hardware management, so I don't know where to begin tackling this problem.

Thanks!

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Dani AI

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Looks like the sensor never goes idle in Kubuntu, so it stays powered and runs hot. Under Windows the vendor driver suspends it when not in use; your 2.6.20 kernel often does not. is right that a correct driver can help, but if you just want a software unplug, ’s blacklist idea plus an explicit unbind is the cleanest path.

Try this quick triage to see what is binding and who is poking it:

sudo lsusb
dmesg | egrep -i 'uvc|gspca|spca|video'
sudo lsof /dev/video0  # shows any process keeping it open

If you only want it off, prevent any driver from loading:

echo 'blacklist uvcvideo' | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-webcam.conf
echo 'blacklist gspca'   | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-webcam.conf
sudo reboot

If it still heats (some devices draw power even unbound), forcibly detach it from the USB core. Find its bus address (it will look like 2-2 or 1-3):

for d in /sys/bus/usb/devices/*; do
  [ -f "$d/idVendor" ] && cat "$d/idVendor" "$d/idProduct" 2>/dev/null && echo "$d"
done

Once you have the address (say 2-2):

echo 2-2 | sudo tee /sys/bus/usb/drivers/usb/unbind
# to re-enable later:
echo 2-2 | sudo tee /sys/bus/usb/drivers/usb/bind

To make that permanent, add a udev rule that unbinds it on boot (replace IDs with yours):

echo 'SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="046d", ATTR{idProduct}=="xxxx", RUN+="/bin/sh -c '\''echo %k > /sys/bus/usb/drivers/usb/unbind'\''"' \
| sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/99-disable-webcam.rules

Notes:

  • The integrated mic is usually on the audio codec, not USB, and should not generate heat; the sensor is the hot part.
  • If your camera is UVC-capable, loading uvcvideo and ensuring nothing keeps /dev/video0 open will let it autosuspend when idle, which also stops the heating.

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Member Avatar for John A

It's possible that finding a proper driver for it may allow Ubuntu to communicate with the device correctly. What's the make/model of your webcam?

Member Avatar for Cudmore

It's possible that finding a proper driver for it may allow Ubuntu to communicate with the device correctly. What's the make/model of your webcam?

The cam is Logitech QuickCam for Dell Notebooks
The mic is QuickCam for Dell Notebooks mic
I've had it running on Ubuntu in Ekiga. V4L and V4L2 are installed, etc.
The heating might even be the mic, which is located directly beside the camera.

What I was hoping to do was completely block the system from recognizing those USB ports and sending power to them, as long as Ubuntu is running and not Windows. The hardware doesn't heat up when Windows is running, and I unfortunately can't access it through the BIOS setup on startup.

Any idea how to block Ubuntu from dealing with those devices? Maybe a config file somewhere :idea:

Member Avatar for John A

while the webcam is not supported,

I've had it running on Ubuntu in Ekiga. V4L and V4L2 are installed, etc.

I'm confused. Does it or doesn't it work under Ubuntu? I was under the initial impression that it didn't work, and if that is the case, why not simply unplug it?

Member Avatar for Cudmore

I'm confused. Does it or doesn't it work under Ubuntu? I was under the initial impression that it didn't work, and if that is the case, why not simply unplug it?

:-/

It works in Ekiga... poorly.
But not in Kopete, or Camorama.
Perhaps it's a configuration issue, and it would otherwise work fine. By unsupported I vaguely meant that Logitech hasn't developed Linux drivers for the camera. Any supporting drivers would be third-party.

In any case, the issue stands. It begins to heat up from the moment Ubuntu is booted. I'd like to unplug it, but since this is a laptop, any unplugging will have to be software-based. Any idea how to do that? Prevent Ubuntu from acknowledging a USB device in any manner. I suppose this is the amateur's solution.

Member Avatar for Sturm

you could blacklist it I guess.. not sure how to do it with non BSD init scripts or ubuntu (yes BSD init scripts rock). Ubuntu tends to complicate things by making them simple!

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