2017 MS LifeCam causing RoboRio to bootloop:

[subho]

Hello:

When trying to plug in the USB camera (MS LifeCam HD) we found that is causing the RoboRio to boot-loop (RoboRio keeps rebooting ever 7-10 seconds) in the following manner:
- All LEDs go off - 0 second mark
- Power, Status and RSL go orange after a second
- Power turns green at about 3-4 second
- All lights go off in 2-3 more seconds and the loop restarts

Unplugging the camera stops the bootloop. Battery level is showing at 90% ~ 12.4V.

Firmware version: 3.0.0f0
Image version: FRC_roboRIO_2017_v8

We have not reimaged or updated firmware on the RoboRio - it has stock firmware that it shipped with. We are using LabView for programming, and the Rio has LabView Robot code installed (built and deployed to the robot from LabView).

I see some errors like the ones below in the systems log viewer web page on the Rio:

------------
spidev spi1.0: buggy DT: spidev listed directly in DT

and

UBIFS assert failed in ubifs_set_page_dirty at 1419 (pid 1106)
------------

Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

[dirtbikerxz]

Is it possible that the ports on your roborio have some metal in them, and when you plug in the usb its causing it to short the pins, or maybe the usb plug on the camera is "messed up" and causing the roborio to short.

[subho]

Originally Posted by dirtbikerxz

Is it possible that the ports on your roborio have some metal in them, and when you plug in the usb its causing it to short the pins, or maybe the usb plug on the camera is "messed up" and causing the roborio to short.

The USB ports look clean - just to be sure, I cleaned the usb ports w/ compressed air from a can and tried again, no joy.

The camera works well enough when connected to my laptop, so doesnt look like the usb plug is messed up. Any other ideas?

[subho]

Originally Posted by subho

The USB ports look clean - just to be sure, I cleaned the usb ports w/ compressed air from a can and tried again, no joy.

The camera works well enough when connected to my laptop, so doesnt look like the usb plug is messed up. Any other ideas?

Also - I plugged in a usb mouse receiver to see if the pins are shorted - the mouse receiver did not cause the bootloop. The RoboRio continued to work fine...

[euhlmann]

Originally Posted by subho

Also - I plugged in a usb mouse receiver to see if the pins are shorted - the mouse receiver did not cause the bootloop. The RoboRio continued to work fine...

Have you tried using a different lifecam?

[subho]

Originally Posted by euhlmann

Have you tried using a different lifecam?

Sorry - no. We are a rookie team, and don't have additional lifecams...

This lifecam seems to work okay with my laptop (windows 10 x64).

[dirtbikerxz]

Originally Posted by subho

Sorry - no. We are a rookie team, and don't have additional lifecams...

This lifecam seems to work okay with my laptop (windows 10 x64).

I suggest you invest in one of these. They are "only" 20 dollars, and are definetly known to work with the roborio (many, many teams use them).

[Greg McKaskle]

Would it be possible to get details on the LifeCam that is causing the issue? Model number, picture, etc.

We try to test many cameras during dev and beta, and I have never seen or heard of this symptom. But if you give details, we will try to reproduce it.

Greg McKaskle

[bobbysq]

Have you tried plugging it in after booting the RoboRIO? If that works fine, you should check if the camera is noticed by the web config or by sshing into the RoboRIO and running

$ ls /dev/video*

[subho]

Thanks so much for the response: I am working w/ NI to try and get this fixed. Will let you know how that turns out.