chdkptp can't switch to record mode

uni7

Hello,

i just installed chdk on a canon powershot s3 and chdkptp on windows 7 64bit.
I can connect to the camera (testet with the gui version) and a test of a few lua remote calls works fine (led on, off, etc.).
But i can't switch to record mode. I try "lua switch_mode_usb(1)" and "rec" but nothing happens.
If i call "shoot" i get the error message "error: not in rec mode". The display always went in play mode.

I don't now what the problem is. I didn't find any solution in the forum. I tried different versions of chdk. chdkptp is the actual release.

Any suggestions?

Thank You

outslider

I am not sure, wheter it helps, but maybe you can try press("shoot_half")?

uni7

Thanks for fast reply. But unfortunately nothing happens. Play mode still remains.

reyalp

There's two possible issues I can think of:

1) Other software interfering with the camera. If the camera receives a regular, non CHDK ptp command (like listing the files for download) it can go into a state where switching to rec is no longer possible. In this case the screen also usually goes black, though this may vary. On windows, I've only seen this happen if using the "filter" driver rather than "inf" driver, but again, YMMV. If you are using the filter driver, try switching.

2) On a few cameras, mode switching on USB flat out doesn't work. G7 was recently reported as having issues, and ~~IIRC maybe a580 as well?~~ edit: A560 https://chdk.setepontos.com/d/7744/1

edit:
One way to find out whether this is just an issue affecting you is to skim through the PTP development thread and see if anyone else has reported it working https://chdk.setepontos.com/d/4338 (yes, it's over a hundred pages, sorry 🙁 and there's also the chdkptp development thread: https://chdk.setepontos.com/d/6231 )

I'd be somewhat surprised if no one had tried it on s3 before, as it was a pretty popular chdk camera at one time. On the other hand, I see no one has implemented the more advanced live view functions.

uni7

I exclude issue 2. I remeber, I used the cam with canon remote capture in past. Furthermore the S3 is listed at several pages as "full remoteable" (http://capture.sourceforge.net/, http://www.gphoto.org/doc/remote/).

So I will have to concentrate on issue 1, though on PaspberryPi I also can't switch to rec mode.
On windows I tried both, the filter and the inf driver.

I will try to connect with a non chdk ptp tool first and reading the huge chdkptp thread in forum.

ps: live view in play mode works fine (ui overlay too)

reyalp

uni7
I exclude issue 2. I remeber, I used the cam with canon remote capture in past. Furthermore the S3 is listed at several pages as "full remoteable" (http://capture.sourceforge.net/, http://www.gphoto.org/doc/remote/).

Canon remote capture is completely different, the fact that canon remote capture works doesn't tell you anything about CHDK (it does give you an alternative though...) In fact, I think the G7 also has canon remote capture, so there might be a pattern.

For #2, I meant "the CHDK mode switching method."

If I get some time and no one else beats me to it, I'll see if it's possible to implement the mode switching method we use on dryos cameras for this camera.

It sounds like you've eliminated #1 fairly thoroughly.

uni7

You are right. I finally tried the procedure on a xp machine, as expected with no success...
So #2 would be the right one.

I think a have to go further into the question (is this a correct expression???).

reyalp

uni7
You are right. I finally tried the procedure on a xp machine, as expected with no success...
So #2 would be the right one.

I think a have to go further into the question (is this a correct expression???).

I had a look at the firmware dump, and the obvious difference between PB2Rec on A540 (a similar era Vxworks camera where mode switching works) and S3 is that the S3 code checks IsControlEventActive(0x1085)

0x1085 is ConnectUSBCable

G7 appears to do the same.

edit: a560 has the same check, the but event ID is 0x10A5

So you can try the following in chdkptp:

=set_levent_active(0x1085,0)
=switch_mode_usb(1)

On my a540, this didn't seem to harm the PTP connection (unlike posting the disconnect event)

If it works, we can add this to the mode switching code for the affected cameras. If it doesn't, there might be some other things to try.

edit:
If the above doesn't work, try

=set_levent_script_mode(1)
=set_levent_active(0x1085,0)
=switch_mode_usb(1)

srsa_4c

reyalp
So you can try the following in chdkptp:
[code]
=set_levent_active(0x1085,0)
=switch_mode_usb(1)
[/code]
If the above doesn't work, try
[code]
=set_levent_script_mode(1)
=set_levent_active(0x1085,0)
=switch_mode_usb(1)
[/code]

I tried both, in the above order, and it did work once on my s80 (script mode was needed apparently). It crashed later when I issued switch_mode_usb(0). Unfortunately, the romlog won't help too much - I don't have a main.dump and I erased that diskboot.bin too later 😳 . It's a "regular" data abort exception - I see exceptions quite often in connection with ptp...
I haven't been able to repeat the mode switch ever since. Cam just turns off on switch_mode_usb(1)... No romlog is written.

Thanks for doing the research, btw.

uni7

Yeah 😀

it works with:

reyalp
If the above doesn't work, try
[code]
=set_levent_script_mode(1)
=set_levent_active(0x1085,0)
=switch_mode_usb(1)
[/code]

thank you for this phantastic support!!!

switching back to play mode and back again works also fine. time to play around 😀

reyalp

srsa_4c
I tried both, in the above order, and it did work once on my s80 (script mode was needed apparently). It crashed later when I issued switch_mode_usb(0). Unfortunately, the romlog won't help too much - I don't have a main.dump and I erased that diskboot.bin too later 😳 . It's a "regular" data abort exception - I see exceptions quite often in connection with ptp...

Thanks for testing, I didn't realize that S80 was also affected by this. It seems to me there is a pattern that the cameras supporting Canon remote capture are the ones affected. So maybe there is a different function we can call to unlock rec mode on these cameras.

I suspected the set_levent_script_mode(1) is required, because on my a540 the return value of IsControlEventActive() doesn't change unless I set it.

You could try calling the PB2Rec and Rec2PB functions (found by the corresponding strings directly) but on my a540, this did not work.

If you do get it to work, you could try =set_levent_active(0x1085,1) before switching to play mode, which would more closely follow the dryos switch_mode_usb() code.

reyalp

uni7
switching back to play mode and back again works also fine. time to play around 😀

Great, glad to hear it works on your camera. I'll add some form of it to svn later so you can use the regular controls.

srsa_4c

reyalp
Thanks for testing, I didn't realize that S80 was also affected by this. It seems to me there is a pattern that the cameras supporting Canon remote capture are the ones affected.

Looks like it, but probably only the older (Vx) ones. Would be good to know how the s2is (a620, a640) behaves.

FWIW, you can add the first two Ixus models (30,40) to the list too.

Thx for the advice, I'll keep trying.

reyalp

srsa_4c
FWIW, you can add the first two Ixus models (30,40) to the list too.

Support canon remote capture, mode switching doesn't work, or the workaround works?

edit:
One more note, the event IDs may be different on some vxworks cameras.

reyalp

I checked this in, trunk changeset 3100 release changeset 3101.

After these show up in the autobuilds, it should support mode switching on s3is using regular commands in chdkptp or switch_mode_usb() without the additional hack.

srsa_4c

reyalp

srsa_4c
FWIW, you can add the first two Ixus models (30,40) to the list too.

Support canon remote capture, mode switching doesn't work, or the workaround works?

Mode switching doesn't work, sorry for the ambiguity. Haven't tried the workaround yet.

One more note, the event IDs may be different on some vxworks cameras.

ConnectUSBCable is 0x1085 on the ixus30/40, s80.

reyalp

Based on a report in PM, I added this workaround for G7. However, it reportedly doesn't allow switching back to play mode.

The Rec2PB function is slightly different from S3, but I don't really see anything obvious to try.

VladimirSlavik

I have the same problem, but on A530.

CHDK 1.2.0 (r323😎
chdkptp r436 (self-compiled on x86 Ubuntu with default options in makefile)

Automount is disabled.
Camera boots to chdk.
When the cable is inserted, the screen goes black...

___> list
-1:Canon PowerShot A530 b=001 d=005 v=0x4a9 p=0x3126 s=nil
___> c
connected: Canon PowerShot A530, max packet size 512
con> =return 1+1
3:return:2
con 3> rec
ERROR: switch failed
con 4>

... but apparently the connection is live and talks to chdk.

What would I do here? I tried to find addresses of the functions and events mentioned here in firmware dump, but failed to match the file offsets with what the camera's memory would be... 🙁

srsa_4c

VladimirSlavik
When the cable is inserted, the screen goes black...

That shouldn't happen: the problem is on the PC side. Try disabling any OS services/daemons that "talk" to connected cameras. Unfortunately I have no idea what these are (they may/may not be gphoto related). Try a lower runlevel where X is not running: if the camera's LCD remains lit, the software component in question is not running.

ahull

On Ubuntu 13.10 I recently started to see a similar problem (I suspect related to some recent updates).

In my case the issue is indeed gphoto related.

The quick and hacky workaround is to kill the gphoto daemon that is causing the issue, something like this..

ps -ef |grep gph
ahull     3566  3099  0 19:05 ?        00:00:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs-gphoto2-volume-monitor

kill -9 3566

to make this a permanent change.. this should do the trick (till the next dpkg update puts it back).

sudo mv /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs-gphoto2-volume-monitor /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs-gphoto2-volume-monitor.old

Of course this will break the auto-mounting of "photo volumes", so you might be better just scripting a killall /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs-gphoto2-volume-monitor into your chdkptp startup script.

The above applies only to Ubuntu, but may point you in the right direction.

The exact method for other flavours of Linux will depend on your OS (Windoze users, look away), and you may well be able to think of a neater long term solution to the issue than mine.