USB webcams and mics fail since 5.10.x update

[nachokb]

Ever since the upgrade to 5.10.x I can't use any USB mic or webcam. Downgrading to 5.9.6 makes everything work again.

This happens on wayland and xorg sessions, on Ubuntu 22.04.

The devices get listed in the dropdown but when chosen, no audio is heard for the mic and a black stream is sent for the cam.

By chance I tried the built-in mic and realized it only happens with USB devices.

[smlx]

I've got a USB webcam and microphone working with version 5.10.6.3192. Maybe something else is going on with your USB hub? Anything in dmesg?

[dtrunk90]

Same for my usb webcam on 20.04.4 LTS
USB mic is working but webcam isn't.
With "cheese"/outside of flatpak the webcam is working.
Version: 5.10.6 (3192)

[nachokb]

just tested again and webcam seems to be working... I'll leave this open because

(1) @dtrunk90 is observing similar behavior
(2) I'll test rebooting and logging in and out

[dtrunk90]

It works again here too, magically. Even after a reboot. Really weird.

[nachokb]

ok it seems that it doesn't work when I'm not alone... not joking 🤷

[nachokb]

(still testing)

[nachokb]

ok if I run zoom via flatpak run and then join a meeting, I can use my webcam... if I click on a link, then webcam shows a black picture

I'm not seeing anything on dmesg

(still testing)

[tzie0062]

Same here on Ubuntu 20.04 and a Logitech, Inc. Webcam C270

[nachokb]

@tzie0062 do you mind describing your case with a little more detail? is it working? does it work sometimes? is there a different when running using flatpak run vs clicking on an invite link?

[tzie0062]

I have not tried flatpak run.

What I (consistently) see is:

• I click on an invite link - zoom opens - camera works for ~ 1sec then it freezes (in case it matters: I have virtual backgrounds enabled)
• joining calls works but then it's audio-only. (people can hear but not see me)

My workaround:
sudo flatpak update --commit=972052877d97e307ba6ef722172d742331ef9f4dc868a31af8b7906d1f644237 us.zoom.Zoom

[nachokb]

similar thing happens to me, but running with flatpak run us.zoom.Zoom and joining rooms by number, everything works ok 🤔

[makew0rld]

@nachokb I can confirm that my camera only works when joining rooms through the Zoom UI. If I join rooms by clicking a link (which is the same as running Zoom from the CLI with a zoommtg:// URL as argument), then my camera doesn't work.

Importantly, this is not a flatpak-specific issue. The same thing happens with Zoom in a firejail. Maybe with un-sandboxed Zoom as well? Not sure.

[makew0rld]

@tzie0062 thanks for that downgrade fix, that works for me as well.

[dtrunk90]

It started happening again. Mic works always but Webcam doesn't. Nevermind. Downgrading to 5.9.6 with your above provided command and everything seems to work again. Maybe I should try the official deb if the error occurs there as well. Or maybe I should get rid of flatpak at all because it only brings weird issues I don't want to get bothered with.

[jbiel]

Or maybe I should get rid of flatpak at all because it only brings weird issues I don't want to get bothered with.

FWIW I've had the opposite experience on Arch (the Flatpak has been much more stable than the AUR pkg.) The comments on the AUR have a lot of traffic and seem to be a lot of the same issues as what's reported here. I wish Zoom would improve their development team.

[ledufakademy]

same issue here on ubuntu 20.04 LTS, last release : video issue, camera is working 2 sec. then freeze. (zoom still working)

[nachokb]

same issue here on ubuntu 20.04 LTS, last release : video issue, camera is working 2 sec. then freeze. (zoom still working)

not sure this is the same issue, though

I see nothing but black

or maybe it is and I didn't pay enough attention

so, if anyone can reproduce this with unsandboxed zoom I'll just close this, but otherwise I'll leave this open for a few more days in case it attracts someone else... I'll also test DEB zoom but over the weekend I don't want to break my work computer

thank you everyone

[dtrunk90]

Seems to be fixed with 5.11 now

[makew0rld]

Can confirm, this issue is fixed for me.

sudo flatpak mask --remove us.zoom.Zoom
flatpak upgrade