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Canon EOS400D not connecting to PC

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Hi all.

This is my first post, so please let me start by sending a huge thanks to KNRO for developing Ekos!

I am going crazy after an issue I can't solve:
- I own a Canon EOS400D (it's old, I know, but it still works for my astropics) and a USB cable
- I use Linux (latest openSuse) on my PC and both gphoto and libgphoto2 are installed and up to date
- Problem: I can't manage to make my PC recognise the camera!

What I tried:
- lsusb: no usb detected (apart from other known devices)...camera does not communicate (not a great start...)!
- gphoto --auto-detect or similar from digiKam (and other software too): not working (since there's no usb detected...)
- of course the camera is on and the usb cable is working.
- some other people online suggested to play around with the PTP protocol setting but....there seems to be no such setting (e.g. communication settings) on the camera! ...but the gphoto2 website says the EOS400D is supported!
- I can't try on a Windows machine, but anyway I've read that EOS Utility software would work up to Windows 7.

Conclusions: I think something fundamentally wrong is going on here!
- is this DSLR model even able to be setup with PTP? (PS: just to be super sure - can you confirm that PTP is the protocol needed to communicate with INDI/Ekos? or maybe something else is needed to make the camera model accessible?)
- in the camera settings, Firmware is set to 1.1.1: do you think I need to try and reinstall the firmware?
- bonus question: I heard about the Shoestring USB solution, but I don't know if it's what I need to make this work...and I definitely prefer not to waste money on a hope! Any clue?

Basically the camera doesn't even communicate with the PC. I tried every setting or button, but nothing. Ideally, my aim is to connect it to a Linux machine (or a raspberry pi in the future) to automate captures and dithering, etc...
I would be very grateful if someone could help me here. Even if your opinion is negative and you think this model can't be used with Ekos...that's an acceptable reply, at least I will stop trying.

Thanks to all in advance.

Cheers
3 years 8 months ago #57205

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Hi, as long as lsusb doesn't list the camera you shouldn't bother with Indi or any other software. I agree with your conclustion, something is going fundamentally wrong. If you connect other usb devices using the same cable, does lsusb list any of these other devices? Does your camera work on any other computer/OS?
Last edit: 3 years 8 months ago by Alfred.
3 years 8 months ago #57255

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Hi,

I have old cameras that connect to Linux, like the Canon 350d (older than the 400D) and also a NIkon D5000. I'm sure it's something simple like:

- dodgy cable,
- flat battery,
- etc.

The PMP setting shouldn't make any difference. Maybe it could get locked if you have automount on, but lsusb should still work.

Does it work at all, even without a USB cable?

try dmesg and see if there are any helpful messages.

Sorry.

Regards

Steve.
3 years 8 months ago #57280

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Hi and thanks for your replies.

I did some more tests to exclude some causes.

- just to be clear, the camera and all of its components (e.g. battery) work perfectly fine. Definitely not a case of low battery or such.
- more than one cable has been tried, and none worked with the camera. all of these cables worked with other devices (e.g. a hard drive)
- checked the mount list before and after plugging in and activating the camera: no changes
- I managed to find a machine with Windows 7 to try: new plugged in device not found by the system, and of course also Canon EOS Utility failed.
- I also tried dmesg to see if anything was happening at kernel level: I attach here a screenshot of the output (PS: same output if I use other USB ports on this computer).

After this, my conclusion is that everything works and the Linux system is actually doing something to connect to the camera, but the camera is not working well. I am sure it is the camera itself and not the cable, or any other thing.
Other possible causes that I am thinking about:
- although it's hard to believe, but could the mini usb port on the camera be broken/faulty?
- the dmesg output mentioned the "xhci_hcd" module (for usb3 ports); I know in the past (more than 6 years ago, I think) this module and its older brother "ehci_hcd" (for usb2 ports) had some issues in many Linux systems, but I think everything should work fine now straight from xhci_hcd....but if anyone is aware of any issue please let me know.
- I think the only thing left to try is reinstalling the firmware, but I can't find it online...I'll give a better look, but if you have a link to suggest, please feel free to let me know.
- one thing I have noticed is that I am using a CF card (the only one I have at the moment) with Magic Lantern included (I use it on another camera): could this maybe mess up with the firmware and usb communications?

Thanks for your time again.
Cheers
3 years 8 months ago #57367
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My guess is the camera's USB port is defective. Do you have any other camera to test with?
3 years 8 months ago #57370

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Yes, I've just tried (with the same cable) with a Canon EOS 700D (a non-astro-modified camera I use for normal photography) and it works perfectly.
It is now also my impression that the 400D's usb port is the problem and, since it's an old camera, I'm not even going to attempt a repair. Such a shame :/
Thanks anyway for your comments, everyone.
3 years 8 months ago #57385

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