Dell XPS 9320 camera listed, but not working

[lodjuret2001]

I have a Dell XPS 9320 laptop running Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS, and my built-in Intel MIPI Camera (IPU6) is not working.

• USB Webcam (Logitech StreamCam) works fine.
• The Intel MIPI Camera is detected in v4l2-ctl --list-devices, but it’s not functional.

I am new to Linux and still learning. Any help would be really appreciated!

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Steps Taken So Far

I have followed solutions from similar threads and executed the following commands:

Removed Old IPU6/7 Packages

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:oem-solutions-group/intel-ipu6
sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:oem-solutions-group/intel-ipu7 
sudo apt autopurge oem-*-meta libia-* libgcss* libipu* libcamhal*
sudo apt autopurge lib*ipu6*
sudo apt autopurge lib*ipu7*

Installed Dell Drivers

sudo apt install ubuntu-oem-keyring
sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://dell.archive.canonical.com/ noble somerville"
sudo apt-get update

• Checked available drivers using:

ubuntu-drivers list

Output:

udevadm hwdb is deprecated. Use systemd-hwdb instead.
udevadm hwdb is deprecated. Use systemd-hwdb instead.
oem-somerville-tentacool-meta
intel-ipu6-dkms, (kernel modules provided by intel-ipu6-dkms)

• Installed listed drivers:

sudo apt install libcamhal0

Checked Installed Repositories

sudo add-apt-repository --list

Output:

deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome-remote-desktop/deb/ stable main 
deb http://dell.archive.canonical.com/ noble somerville somerville-tentacool
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ noble-security main restricted universe multiverse

(There was lots of pub keys, let me know if you need more detailed output.)

Tried Installing Kernel Modules

sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends --yes \
    linux-generic-hwe-24.04 \
    linux-modules-ipu6-generic-hwe-24.04 \
    linux-modules-usbio-generic-hwe-24.04

Error Output:

E: Unable to locate package linux-generic-hwe-24.04
E: Couldn't find any package by glob 'linux-generic-hwe-24.04'
E: Couldn't find any package by regex 'linux-generic-hwe-24.04'

Booted Into an Older Kernel

• Used Advanced Options in GRUB to boot into 6.8.0-51-generic instead of 6.8.0-52-generic.
• Still no change—Intel MIPI Camera remains non-functional.

---

Diagnostic Outputs

Kernel & System Info

uname -a

Linux ymannen-XPS-9320 6.8.0-51-generic #52-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Thu Dec  5 13:09:44 UTC 2024 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

hostnamectl

Static hostname: ymannen-XPS-9320
Icon name: computer-laptop
Chassis: laptop 💻
Machine ID: 3b5daaf4c2e94546bcf8a292f4af9e07
Boot ID: 588821a22db545b4a26b0332768f41cd
Operating System: Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS
Kernel: Linux 6.8.0-51-generic
Architecture: x86-64
Hardware Vendor: Dell Inc.
Hardware Model: XPS 9320
Firmware Version: 2.16.1
Firmware Date: Wed 2024-09-11
Firmware Age: 5 months

Webcam Detection (v4l2-ctl --list-devices)

v4l2-ctl --list-devices

ipu6 (pci:pci0000:00):
	/dev/media1

Intel MIPI Camera (platform:v4l2loopback-000):
	/dev/video0

Logitech StreamCam (usb-0000:00:14.0-1.3.3):
	/dev/video1
	/dev/video2
	/dev/media0

• USB camera works fine.
• MIPI camera is listed but does not function.

Again, I’m new to Linux, so any step-by-step guidance would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance for your help!

[lodjuret2001]

After extensive debugging, I, along with my senior software engineer, finally resolved the issue with my Intel MIPI Camera (IPU6) on my Dell XPS 9320. Here’s what we found and how we fixed it.

Root Cause

The issue was likely caused by a mismatch in package versions due to upgrading the kernel without ensuring all required packages were updated accordingly. Some dependencies were either missing or installed in an incorrect location.

Steps to Fix

Check Service Status

We first checked if v4l2-relayd was running properly:

sudo systemctl status v4l2-relayd

It was failing, which indicated something was wrong.

Investigate Service Execution Command

We found the command that the service was executing:

/usr/bin/v4l2-relayd -i "icamerasrc buffer-count=7" -o "appsrc name=appsrc caps=video/x-raw,format=NV12,width=1280,height=720,framerate=30/1 ! videoconvert ! v4l2sink name=v4l2sink device=/dev/video0"

To get more details about the failure, we stopped the service and ran it manually in the terminal:

sudo systemctl stop v4l2-relayd
/usr/bin/v4l2-relayd -i "icamerasrc buffer-count=7" -o "appsrc name=appsrc caps=video/x-raw,format=NV12,width=1280,height=720,framerate=30/1 ! videoconvert ! v4l2sink name=v4l2sink device=/dev/video0"

Errors appeared, indicating broken dependencies or missing files.

Verify Virtual Camera Functionality

We attempted to start a virtual camera to test if the pipeline worked:

gst-launch-1.0 v4l2src ! glimagesink

It did not work, further confirming broken dependencies.

Reinstall Key Packages

We removed and reinstalled the critical packages:

sudo apt remove gstreamer1.0-icamera libgsticamerainterface-1.0-1 libcamhal0 libcamhal-common
sudo apt install gstreamer1.0-icamera libgsticamerainterface-1.0-1 libcamhal0 libcamhal-common

This ensured all dependencies were correctly installed.

Fix Misplaced Firmware Files

Some firmware files were misplaced. We moved them manually:

cd /lib/firmware/intel/ipu
cp -r ./* ../

Restart the Service and Test Again

We restarted the service and verified the virtual camera worked:

gst-launch-1.0 v4l2src ! glimagesink

This time, the camera worked!

Final Check and Reboot

We rebooted the system and verified that v4l2-relayd was running correctly:

sudo systemctl status v4l2-relayd

It was active, confirming that the issue was finally resolved.

Hope this helps someone else!

[federicarike]

Hi @lodjuret2001,

the problem in what you did here is that you installed libcamhal0, but it is not on your list.

udevadm hwdb is deprecated. Use systemd-hwdb instead.
udevadm hwdb is deprecated. Use systemd-hwdb instead.
oem-somerville-tentacool-meta
intel-ipu6-dkms, (kernel modules provided by intel-ipu6-dkms)

Great you solved otherwise.