Arducam IMX477 camera not connecting to Raspberry Pi 4B at all

Raspberry Pi Cameras
1

Hi everyone. I’ve got an Arducam IMX477 camera (M12/CS/C Mount lens series) connected to a Raspberry Pi 4B and it’s not being detected at all. It has never worked since I got it. I followed the quick start guide on the Arducam docs site, but nothing shows up. Any idea what I should check first?

2

Thanks for reaching out. To get a clearer picture of the camera and system state, could you generate a diagnostic bug report for us? Please do the following after a fresh reboot:

  1. Reboot your device.
  2. Download the bug report tool:
wget -O arducam-camera-bug-report https://github.com/ketai-dhr/arducam-camera-bug-report/releases/download/tools/arducam-camera-bug-report
  1. Make it executable:
chmod +x ./arducam-camera-bug-report
  1. Run it:
./arducam-camera-bug-report

This will produce an arducam-bug-report.txt file in the current directory. Please send that file over so we can dig into it.

3

Sure. For reference, I’m on a Raspberry Pi 4B with the IMX477, M12/CS/C Mount lens series. I followed the instructions at Quick Start Guide - Arducam Wiki for the software setup.

4

Just to add what I’ve tried so far:

  • Checked the cable for any electrical breaks, didn’t find anything.
  • Tried a software workaround to get the camera tools running, but the camera still isn’t detected.
    I’ve sent the bug report file over via private message.
5

Thanks for the details. Let’s start with upgrading the kernel, since the IMX477 needs a recent kernel to work properly. Run:

sudo apt -y update && sudo apt -y upgrade

After that, follow the camera configuration steps in the docs link to get the camera enabled. Let me know if the camera shows up after a reboot.

6

I ran the apt update and upgrade, and also tried modifying the camera_auto_detect setting in config.txt, but the camera still isn’t detected. I’ve attached a screenshot of what I’m seeing.

7

Forgot to mention - I also rebooted after the upgrade and config change, still nothing.

8

Can you run this and paste the output?

dmesg | grep imx477

This checks the kernel messages for any IMX477 detection. Also, could you take a couple of photos of the physical connection - both the camera end of the ribbon cable and the Raspberry Pi end? That helps us rule out cabling.

9

I ran the dmesg command and attached a screenshot of the output. It’s pretty short - there’s basically no imx477 line in there.

10

Thanks. Could you generate the bug report again after a reboot so we can look at the current state? Steps:

  1. Reboot your device.
  2. Download the bug report tool:
wget -O arducam-camera-bug-report https://github.com/ketai-dhr/arducam-camera-bug-report/releases/download/tools/arducam-camera-bug-report
  1. Make it executable:
chmod +x ./arducam-camera-bug-report
  1. Run it:
./arducam-camera-bug-report

Then send the new arducam-bug-report.txt file over.

11

Before that, I also tried changing the dtoverlay config per the docs site. That actually crashed the boot - the Pi wouldn’t come up. I reverted the dtoverlay back to vc4-kms-v3d and it boots again. I’ve sent the fresh bug report over via PM.

12

Thanks, I’ve had a look at the bug report. Your config.txt is missing the IMX477 device tree overlay entry. That’s why the camera never initializes - without dtoverlay=imx477 the kernel has no driver binding for it.

Add this line to your config.txt:

dtoverlay=imx477

Then reboot and give it another try.

13

I added the overlay but the Pi didn’t boot with it - same crash as before. I had to change the overlay configuration back to get it to boot again.

14

Understood. The dtoverlay=imx477 entry is still required for the IMX477 to initialize, so we need to figure out why the boot fails with it. Please do the following:

  • Add dtoverlay=imx477 to config.txt and reboot your Pi.
  • Then run the bug-report script again and send me the new arducam-bug-report.txt file.
  • Also send pictures of the hardware connection, both the camera end and the Raspberry Pi end of the cable.

That way we can check whether the overlay is being loaded and rule out any connection problems at the same time.