IMX477 camera not detected on Raspberry Pi 4 UC-517 after moving dtoverlay to [all]

Raspberry Pi Cameras
1

Hi everyone, I’m having trouble getting my camera detected on a Raspberry Pi 4B. I’ve got a UC-517 Rev.D3 connected. My config.txt has dtoverlay=imx477,cam0 placed under the [cm5] section. When I try to use the camera, nothing shows up. Is the overlay supposed to be under [cm5]? I’m running Debian trixie with a 6.12 kernel if that matters.

2

That overlay placement is the issue. The [cm5] section only applies when booting on a CM5 module — since you’re on a Pi 4B, that section never gets loaded. You’ll want to move dtoverlay=imx477 under the [all] section so it applies regardless of the detected board.

So your steps would be:

  1. Delete or comment out dtoverlay=imx477,cam0 from wherever it currently is
  2. Add dtoverlay=imx477 under the [all] section
  3. Reboot

Give that a try and let us know what you get.

3

Alright, I made those changes — commented out the old line and added dtoverlay=imx477 under [all], then rebooted. Unfortunately the camera still isn’t showing up.

Here’s what I’m working with:

  • Product: UC-517 Rev.D3
  • Platform: Raspberry Pi 4B
  • OS: Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie)
  • Kernel: Linux raspberrypi 6.12.47+rpt-rpi-v8 #1 SMP PREEMPT Debian 1:6.12.47-1+rpt1 (2025-09-16) aarch64
  • libcamera version: v0.5.2+99-bfd68f78

rpicam-still --list-cameras just says “No cameras available!”

Running rpicam-still -t 0 gives:

[0:02:14.310104087] [1805]  info   camera  camera_manager.cpp:330  libcamera v0.5.2+99-bfd68f78
Made X/EGL preview window
ERROR: *** no cameras available ***

I also checked dmesg:

  • dmesg | grep arducam — no output at all
  • dmesg | grep -E "imx477|imx219|arducam" — nothing

So the overlay change didn’t seem to make any difference. I’ve also uploaded a photo of the physical setup if that helps spot anything.

4

Thanks for the detailed output. The overlay configuration itself looks correct now — moving it under [all] was the right call. The fact that dmesg shows absolutely nothing for imx477 or arducam means the kernel isn’t even seeing the camera on the I2C bus at probe time. This isn’t an overlay misconfiguration anymore.

A few things could be going on here:

  • Ribbon cable not fully seated or oriented incorrectly
  • The FFC connector on either the Pi side or the camera board side not making good contact
  • A driver or kernel module conflict
  • A hardware fault with the board or adapter

I took a look at the photo you shared — hard to tell definitively from a picture alone. I’d like to dig into this interactively. I’ve sent you details for a remote session via private message — check your inbox and we can schedule a time to look at this live.

5

Got it, thanks. I’ve checked the ribbon cable seating on both ends and reseated it, but still no change. Happy to do a remote session — I’ve replied to your PM with my details. Let me know when works for you.

6

Perfect, received your details. I’ve sent the connection info and a time slot confirmation via private message. We’ll go through the live diagnosis then — I want to check the device tree status, I2C probing, and potentially try a different overlay approach interactively. See you at the scheduled time.

7

Looks like we got disconnected partway through the session. I’ve sent you a new link privately — please rejoin when you’re ready and we’ll pick up right where we left off. We were just about to check the I2C bus detection and the cable signal integrity.

8

Just in case the original link is giving you trouble, I’ve also sent an alternative connection method through private message. The issue is looking like it might be at the hardware level — the overlay is loading correctly but the sensor isn’t responding on the bus at all, which typically points to either the ribbon cable, the FFC connectors, or the camera module itself. We’ll nail it down once we reconnect.