I bought “Arducam 12MP IMX708 Quad-Camera Kit, Wide Angle Stereo Synchronized Camera Module for Raspberry Pi SKU B0484”, and a Rasoberry Pi 5 for a project, admittedly I’m not all that familiar with either but I’ve been trying to connect the 2 for a while now but no matter what I do, my Pi 5 wont register that the Camarray Hat is connected to it and I’m not sure what to do or figure out whats wrong after days of trying to connect them.
A while back, several of the pins on my Pi 5 were slightly bent, but after some testing, they were confirmed to still be in working order. When I plug the Camarray Hat into the PCIe pins it goes on, the green light flashes for a few seconds then disappears and the red light for “3V3” stays active the entire time, but when i run checks to see if my PI can find anything on the PCIe pins, it cant find it, or any of the cameras.
If anyone wants me to run code to see more debugging info feel free to let me know and ill run it and share the results.
I’ve tried connecting all the cameras, the PCIe, the ribbon cable, the cables facing opposite directions (in case I had them the wrong way prior), and pretty much every combination I could think of in terms of what was and wasn’t connected during tests. Ive also tried to connect it both with and without a PCIe “stacking header”, and with both the PI 5 and the HAT plugged in and just the PI 5 plugged in and just the HAT plugged in (tho both weren’t plugged in at the same time until after significant prior testing that didn’t work).
Apologies in advance if i misexplained stuff or left out key details as I’ve not posted on many tech forums before but I’ve pieced together most of my info I know and used to try and set it up from many tutorials and forums and chat models so I know I might just be missing something obvious but I’ve been stumped for days now and dont know what else to do other then post here,
Ive tried plugging it in both cam 0 and cam 1. for the following responses, its with it plugged into cam 0, and the red light for the “3V3” on the Camarray was active the entire time with the green light flashing on startup.
Automatically load overlays for detected DSI displays
display_auto_detect=1
Automatically load initramfs files, if found
auto_initramfs=1
Enable DRM VC4 V3D driver
dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d
max_framebuffers=2
Don’t have the firmware create an initial video= setting in cmdline.txt.
Use the kernel’s default instead.
#disable_fw_kms_setup=1
Run in 64-bit mode
arm_64bit=1
Disable compensation for displays with overscan
disable_overscan=1
Run as fast as firmware / board allows
arm_boost=1
[cm4]
Enable host mode on the 2711 built-in XHCI USB controller.
This line should be removed if the legacy DWC2 controller is required
(e.g. for USB device mode) or if USB support is not required.
otg_mode=1
[all]
is my current config.txt file, Its current setup might be incorrect or such as its what left off with after a full day of trying to get it to work. I have 707 instead of 708 in the file as when i tried hooking just 1 camera up, even tho it wouldn’t connect, that’s what it was telling me the camera was instead of a 708 (but I’ve tried both numbers). I ran “dmesg | grep imx” and “dmesg | grep -i imx” to try to get what you asked for the next question but it just started a new terminal line so I’m not sure if maybe I’m doing something wrong.
running libcamera-still --list
says
No cameras available!
and
sudo apt list --installed | grep libcamera
says
WARNING: apt does not have a stable CLI interface. Use with caution in scripts.
I’m not an expert, but I have been working with the CamArray HAT successfully with the quadcam imx519 for a few weeks now.
dtoverlay=imx707 is almost definitely wrong. For CAM0, it should be: dtoverlay=imx708,cam0. For CAM1, dtoverlay=imx708 should be sufficient, since CAM1 is the default on rpi5.
With the correct dtoverlay line, reboot the Pi and check dmesg | grep imx again. For me, when I had the correct dtoverlay, but the cables were incorrect, I would get error messages in dmesg | grep imx. And when everything works, there is an info (non-error) line in dmesg about my imx519 being loaded.
The cables can be tricky to get right, since nothing prevents you from inserting the cables upside down, and they need to be correct on the pi, on the hat, and on the cameras. It may help to post clear photos showing your cable connections.
Also, I assume you’re using the cables that were included in the kit? If you get your own cables (or extras), be aware that there are so-called “type-A” and “type-B” 0.5 mm pitch, 22-pin flat flex cables which are very different.
One other concern is the pip list --installed shows you have the most recent libcamera0.5 (which is the official raspi version released on Apr 29), which is not from arducam. Arducam modifies the official libcamera (and other related packages), which is separately installed.
For my imx519 quadcam, I definitely need Arducam’s version. However, I am not sure whether your imx708 quadcam needs Arudcam’s version. I’m guessing yes (@Dion, do you know?).
P.S. Use the blockquote or preformatted text tools in the forum reply form when copy-pasting things like your config.txt, otherwise, the formatting is really weird and hard to read.
Hi!
Sorry for not using blockquote, ill try to keep that in mind going forward.
Ok, I updated the line to
dtoverlay=imx708,cam0
and then when I ran
dmesg | grep imx
after a reboot it said
[ 0.064796] /axi/pcie@1000120000/rp1/i2c@88000/imx708@1a: Fixed dependency cycle(s) with /axi/pcie@1000120000/rp1/csi@110000
[ 0.064822] /axi/pcie@1000120000/rp1/csi@110000: Fixed dependency cycle(s) with /axi/pcie@1000120000/rp1/i2c@88000/imx708@1a
[ 0.064936] /axi/pcie@1000120000/rp1/i2c@88000/imx708@1a: Fixed dependency cycle(s) with /axi/pcie@1000120000/rp1/csi@110000
[ 0.064962] /axi/pcie@1000120000/rp1/csi@110000: Fixed dependency cycle(s) with /axi/pcie@1000120000/rp1/i2c@88000/imx708@1a
[ 0.454004] /axi/pcie@1000120000/rp1/i2c@88000/imx708@1a: Fixed dependency cycle(s) with /axi/pcie@1000120000/rp1/csi@110000
[ 0.469130] /axi/pcie@1000120000/rp1/i2c@88000/imx708@1a: Fixed dependency cycle(s) with /axi/pcie@1000120000/rp1/csi@110000
[ 0.469149] /axi/pcie@1000120000/rp1/csi@110000: Fixed dependency cycle(s) with /axi/pcie@1000120000/rp1/i2c@88000/imx708@1a
[ 2.068799] rp1-cfe 1f00110000.csi: found subdevice /axi/pcie@1000120000/rp1/i2c@88000/imx708@1a
[ 2.541511] imx708 10-001a: failed to read chip id 708, with error -5
[ 2.603975] imx708 10-001a: probe with driver imx708 failed with error -5
those errors look like ones I had in testing prior, but couldn’t fix (tho they may be slightly different).
Indeed! The cables can be quite tricky, I’ve tried lining up the metal i see on the cable with the metal I see in the slot. Attached is some images of the current setup, tho in prior testing, I’ve tried just about every combination I can think of for the cables so odds are above 0 they might still be incorrectly placed (can provide more pictures if needed). I used only the cables that were included in the package I got from arducam.
Here is a link to the images as for some reason when I try to post them here I keep getting errors even if i crop the image down to a tiny size and change the format.
Sounds like an interesting update indeed, if you think its worth me trying to download it or an older version (if that’s possible I’m not sure, sorry I’m still a newbie ), just let me know and I can.
Hi @simplesimon
Thank you for your explanation in this thread. That really, really helps. I’m also learning your grammar since your words are smooth and straightforward(my mother tongue is not English).
Regarding the IMX708(including individual arducam imx708 or quad-cam imx708), unlike the IMX519 and the arducam 64MP camera, we don’t need to install the arducam libcamera.
Thanks! That’s helpful to know that imx708 doesn’t need the arudcam version of libcamera. That explains why there is no mention of pivariety_installer.sh in the quickstart for imx708, while it is mentioned in the quickstart for imx519
Maybe try to enable i2c in the /boot/firmware/config.txt by uncommenting the line #dtparam=i2c_arm=on and rebooting and checking dmesg | grep imx.
I don’t know if enabling i2c is necessary if you only plan to use all four cameras at once (which is the default, i.e. where each image contains 2x2 camera images at 1/4 of their max resolution). If you do plan to switch between cameras, you’d have to use i2c commands as documented here. Anyhow, it shouldn’t hurt to try enabling i2c on your Pi.
Also, I think the quadcam kit comes with the cables already installed in each camera, right? If so, no worries about this issue. If not (or if you tried taking them off), check that the cables are in the right orientation on the cameras, and maybe post a photo.
If those don’t solve the problem, hopefully Dion, who is part of Arducam’s offical support team, can help you further
), just let me know and I can.
