Acer Aspire A515 laptop - Bult-in camera not working (Solution) - UPDATE [Solved]

[orcrist]

Running guvcview:

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GUVCVIEW (1): Guvcview error
	 no video device (/dev/video0) found

System:

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Snapshot created on: 20240611_0851
System:
  Kernel: 6.8.12-1-liquorix-amd64 [6.8-18~mx23ahs] arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0 parameters: audit=0
    intel_pstate=disable BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.8.12-1-liquorix-amd64 root=UUID=<filter> ro
    quiet splash init=/lib/systemd/systemd
  Desktop: Fluxbox v: 1.3.7 info: tint2 vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.26.0 Distro: MX-23.3_ahs_x64
    Libretto January 21 2024 base: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Aspire A515-57 v: V1.22 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: ADL model: Ganymede_ADU v: V1.22 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: Insyde v: 1.22
    date: 05/31/2023
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT1 charge: 23.7 Wh (44.8%) condition: 52.9/53.0 Wh (99.8%) volts: 14.7 min: 15.4
    model: PANASONIC AP19B5L type: Li-ion serial: <filter> status: discharging
CPU:
  Info: model: 12th Gen Intel Core i5-12450H bits: 64 type: MST AMCP arch: Alder Lake gen: core 12
    level: v3 note: check built: 2021+ process: Intel 7 (10nm ESF) family: 6 model-id: 0x9A (154)
    stepping: 3 microcode: 0x430
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 8 mt: 4 tpc: 2 st: 4 threads: 12 smt: enabled cache: L1: 704 KiB
    desc: d-4x32 KiB, 4x48 KiB; i-4x32 KiB, 4x64 KiB L2: 7 MiB desc: 4x1.2 MiB, 1x2 MiB L3: 12 MiB
    desc: 1x12 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 670 high: 2903 min/max: 400/2501 boost: enabled scaling: driver: acpi-cpufreq
    governor: ondemand cores: 1: 2903 2: 400 3: 424 4: 500 5: 914 6: 500 7: 400 8: 400 9: 400 10: 400
    11: 400 12: 400 bogomips: 59904
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected
  Type: mds status: Not affected
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected
  Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Vulnerable: No microcode
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Enhanced / Automatic IBRS; IBPB: conditional; RSB filling;
    PBRSB-eIBRS: SW sequence; BHI: BHI_DIS_S
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Alder Lake-P GT1 [UHD Graphics] vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: i915
    v: kernel alternate: xe arch: Gen-12.2 process: Intel 10nm built: 2021-22+ ports: active: eDP-1
    empty: DP-1,DP-2,HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 0000:00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:46a3 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: Quanta ACER HD User Facing type: USB driver: N/A bus-ID: 3-7:3 chip-ID: 0408:4033
    class-ID: fe01 serial: <filter>
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 compositor: Picom v: git-df4c6 driver: X:
    loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: iris gpu: i915 display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.00x11.22") s-diag: 582mm (22.93")
  Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: AU Optronics 0x0c9c built: 2019 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 142
    gamma: 1.2 size: 344x193mm (13.54x7.6") diag: 394mm (15.5") ratio: 16:9 modes: 1920x1080
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 Mesa 23.1.2-1~mx23ahs renderer: Mesa Intel Graphics (ADL GT2)
    direct-render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Alder Lake PCH-P High Definition Audio vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI
    driver: sof-audio-pci-intel-tgl alternate: snd_hda_intel,snd_sof_pci_intel_tgl
    bus-ID: 0000:00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:51c8 class-ID: 0401
  API: ALSA v: k6.8.12-1-liquorix-amd64 status: kernel-api tools: alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.4 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
    2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin 4: pw-jack type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Alder Lake-P PCH CNVi WiFi driver: iwlwifi v: kernel modules: wl
    bus-ID: 0000:00:14.3 chip-ID: 8086:51f0 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI
    driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 3000 bus-ID: 0000:2a:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
  IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX201 Bluetooth type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 3-10:5 chip-ID: 8087:0026
    class-ID: e001
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 3 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 3.0 lmp-v: 5.2
    sub-v: 3462 hci-v: 5.2 rev: 3462
  Info: acl-mtu: 1021:4 sco-mtu: 96:6 link-policy: rswitch sniff link-mode: peripheral accept
    service-classes: rendering, capturing, object transfer, audio, telephony
RAID:
  Hardware-1: Intel Volume Management Device NVMe RAID Controller driver: vmd v: 0.6 port: N/A
    bus-ID: 0000:00:0e.0 chip-ID: 8086:467f rev: class-ID: 0104
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 476.94 GiB used: 277.78 GiB (58.2%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Western Digital model: WD PC SN740 SDDQNQD-512G-1014
    size: 476.94 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 63.2 Gb/s lanes: 4 type: SSD
    serial: <filter> rev: 73101100 temp: 25.9 C scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 29.21 GiB size: 28.58 GiB (97.85%) used: 19.48 GiB (68.1%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 601 MiB size: 599.8 MiB (99.80%) used: 288 KiB (0.0%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 4 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 file: /swap/swap
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 46.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Repos:
  Packages: 2549 pm: dpkg pkgs: 2544 libs: 1393 tools: apt,apt-get,aptitude,nala,synaptic pm: rpm
    pkgs: 0 pm: flatpak pkgs: 5
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/brave-browser-release.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64] https://brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
    2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list
    1: deb http://mirror.funkfreundelandshut.de/mxlinux/packages/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free
    2: deb http://mirror.funkfreundelandshut.de/mxlinux/packages/mx/repo/ bookworm ahs
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/skype-stable.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64] https://repo.skype.com/deb stable main
Info:
  Processes: 390 Uptime: 4m wakeups: 2175 Memory: 15.34 GiB used: 2.21 GiB (14.4%) Init: systemd
  v: 252 target: graphical (5) default: graphical tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 alt: 12
  Client: shell wrapper v: 5.2.15-release inxi: 3.3.26
Boot Mode: UEFI

-- Download the corresponding kernel source from here: https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v6.x/, in my case: linux-6.8.tar.xz
-- Extract the downloaded .tar.xz in the Home folder
-- In thunar, Navigate to ~/linux-6.8/drivers/media/usb/uvc/
-- Open with a text editor (geany, featherpad, etc) the following file:

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uvc_driver.c

.. Now search for this line with ctrl+f

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static const struct usb_device_id uvc_ids[] = {

-- Add the following on the next line:

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/* Quanta ACER HD User Facing 4033 - Experimental !! */

  { .match_flags 	= USB_DEVICE_ID_MATCH_DEVICE

                        | USB_DEVICE_ID_MATCH_INT_INFO,

    .idVendor = 0x0408,

    .idProduct = 0x4033,

    .bInterfaceClass = USB_CLASS_VIDEO,

    .bInterfaceSubClass = 1,

    .bInterfaceProtocol =	UVC_PC_PROTOCOL_15,

    .driver_info = (kernel_ulong_t) &(const struct uvc_device_info ) {
    .uvc_version = 0x010a, } },

-- Save the file and exit the file editor
-- While still in ~/linux-6.8/drivers/media/usb/uvc/ (VERY IMPORTANT), open the terminal (right click in thunar) and run:

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sudo make -j4 -C /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build M=$(pwd) modules

-- The new kernel module, named uvcvideo.ko has been created in the directory we are currently working in
-- Unload the currently running kernel module

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sudo rmmod uvcvideo.ko

-- Load the new one

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sudo insmod ./uvcvideo.ko

-- Test with guvcview, it should work now
-- The following shows that the old module is compressed as .xz

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ls /lib/modules/6.8.12-1-liquorix-amd64/kernel/drivers/media/usb/uvc/
uvcvideo.ko.xz

so, we also should compress the newly created one

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xz uvcvideo.ko 

-- In order for the new compiled module to load automatically on system boot:
Backup the original module

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sudo mv /lib/modules/6.8.12-1-liquorix-amd64/kernel/drivers/media/usb/uvc/uvcvideo.ko.xz /lib/modules/6.8.12-1-liquorix-amd64/kernel/drivers/media/usb/uvc/uvcvideo.ko.xz.OLD

Copy the new one its correct place

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sudo cp uvcvideo.ko.xz /lib/modules/6.8.12-1-liquorix-amd64/kernel/drivers/media/usb/uvc/

-- Reboot the machine to see if it works...

Please keep in mind that the procedure has to be followed every time after a new kernel is installed !!!
It works also with other distros, be it Debian or Arch based. You have to make sure that the correct kernel headers are installed, though !!!
Hope it helps.
I have found the solution here: https://community.acer.com/en/discussio ... -fedora-38

[CharlesV]

Interesting and thank you for that post.

I wonder if the 6.9 kernels resolve this? There has been quite a bit of work for Asus, Acer and HP's, with quite a bit happening on camera and sound.

[orcrist]

You' re welcome, as a matter of fact I have found this solution months ago but I am too lazy..... Anyway, I finally have taken the time to post the guide, I hope it' ll help some users with Acer laptops.
I am currently running the 6.9.4-1-liquorix-amd6 kernel, the problem persists...

[orcrist]

!!!!!UPDATE!!!!!
After having installed the 6.12.6-1-liquorix-amd64 kernel, there is no more need to do all this.
The camera is recognized and works by default.
Again, eternal thanks to the devs for providing the latest Liquorix kernels!!!

[Eadwine Rose]

Please click the checkmark in the top right of the post (to the left of the username/user image) that holds the solution to mark the topic solved, thanks :)