Comment 43 for bug 271258

I am experiencing this issue. The computer starts running very slowly during the boot process and dmesg is filled with errors. Like Tim, I can work around the issue by rotating the camera, which stops the errors.

For those not familiar with the hardware, the webcam on these laptops is mounted on a pivot which allows the camera to point away from the user as well as toward. I believe the hardware may be equipped with a switch which signals the software that the camera is now pointing away and the image must be flipped (the camera rotates on a lateral axis). I wonder if the switch may be playing a role in causing the issue.

The other possibility is that the wiring in the camera is suspect. I'm a bit skeptical of that as a cause, however, for a couple reasons. First, the problem seems to be too consistent, i.e. the computer never boots properly now without the camera being rotated. If it were a loose wire one would assume that sometimes it would work and sometimes it wouldn't. Second, rotating the camera after the system has finished booting does not appear to have any effect, i.e. there is no indication in the log of the device being disconnected/reconnected, and video continues uninterrupted when viewing the preview in Cheese.