USB camera not even registering with motioneyeos "add camera" interface

[rcho5840]

Preliminary Docs

I confirm that I have read the CONTRIBUTING guide before opening this issue.

I confirm that I have read the FAQ before opening this issue.

motionEyeOS Version

I am running motionEyeOS version: 20200606

Board Model

I am using the following board/model: Raspberry Pi 4B

Camera

I am using the following type of camera:V4L2

My camera model is: Emeet C960 / Testing on various other usb cameras

Network Connection

My motionEyeOS unit is connected to the network via: WiFi

Peripherals

I am using the following peripherals that I consider relevant to this issue:

N/A? Usb camera setup

Log Files

I consider the following log files relevant to this issue:

• (attach e.g. motioneye.log)
• (attach e.g. boot.log)

Hello, when I try to add various usb cameras to the motioneyeos "add cameras" option, none of them are registering. I only see bcb2835-codec-decode 3 times. I have tried this with multiple other cameras as well (usb). Should I just try a different raspberry pi?

I will note that I used this tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOxcYCbPc9o&t=133s
as my motioneyeos was not booting and had issues with start4.elf. I therefore used the most recent raspberry pi os files for start4.elf and fix up4.dat and replaced the original files flashed onto my sd card with it.

[starbasessd]

If you are using a non-default (included with motionEyeOS) start4.elf or other kernel files, USB doesn't work, and it's a known issue.
There are only a couple of bootloaders (firmware) that work on the Pi4, and they are dated around 4/2020. You can search here for how to check and flash other bootloaders, but it seldom works going from the most current back to one of the older ones.
Your best bet would be to load RaspiOS Buster or Bullseye Lite and install motioneye 0.42.1 for Python2.7, or you can try Bookworm with Python 3 and motioneye 0.43.0.

[rcho5840]

@starbasessd are there similar issues on the pi3? pi zero 2W? I'm getting frusturated and wondering if it might just be worth trying on these boards

[starbasessd]

MotioneyeOS (dev20201026) works fine without mods. The forked PiZero2W fork works fine, too... #2875

[rcho5840]

@starbasessd I also tried 20201026 on the pi4 and it said that start.elf is not compatible. Any thoughts? I tried replacing start.elf and fixup.dat with the same files of the newest debian bookworm but it still didn't work

[starbasessd]

If you are using a non-default (included with motionEyeOS) start4.elf or other kernel files, USB doesn't work, and it's a known issue.
There are only a couple of bootloaders (firmware) that work on the Pi4, and they are dated around 4/2020. You can search here for how to check and flash other bootloaders, but it seldom works going from the most current back to one of the older ones.
The bootloader system is unique to the Pi4s and Pi5s, and you can check the bootloader in the eeprom on them by running the command:
vcgencmd bootloader_version

one of mine reports:
pi@raspi1:~ $ vcgencmd bootloader_version
2024/04/15 14:12:14
version e608a69d210bb737ebb095ad04f7f1a05373a6ec (release)
timestamp 1713186734
update-time 1715711612
capabilities 0x0000007f

and doesn't run motionEyeOS dev20201026, but another that reports the date of 2020/04/16 works.
Downgradinmg seldom works though.

[rcho5840]

so would the pi3 and dev 20201026 probably work given that I download the lastest os and add in the wpa_supplicant files. Or do I download a different os and add in start and fixup files. I can't really find anything recent about the pi3 and 20201026

[starbasessd]

it does with a Tiga USB Dashcam quite well on a Pi3 and motionEyeOS dev20201026

[starbasessd]

Other options are:
load RaspiOS Buster or Bullseye Lite and install motioneye 0.42.1 for Python2.7, instructions here
or you can try Bookworm with Python 3 and motioneye 0.43.0. instructions here