No cameras working after Pi/Octopi/Python upgrades

Get Help Webcams
1

Camera model

Raspicam Module 2
Microsoft Corp LifeCam HD-3000
Microdia Angetube Live Camera

What is the problem?

I upgraded from a Raspberry Pi 3B+ to a Raspberry Pi 5.
I also upgraded from Octopi 1.0.0 to Octopi 1.1.0 using the latest build [Octopi (new camera stack) Octopi 1.1.0 with Octoprint 1.11.3 (build 20250930141704 from branch camera-streamer) Released 2025-09-30].
Python was upgraded from 3.9.2 to 3.11.2 as well.

All three cameras work perfectly using the new camera stack in my previous config (Pi 3B+/1.11.3/1.0.0/3.9.2). I followed the tutorial linked below to set them up.

After the hardware/software upgrades (Pi 5/1.11.3/1.1.0/3.11.2), no cameras work. I followed the same tutorial to set up multicam, but also noting that no camera initially worked using the default single cam config.

In the browser, all I see is this message for all three feeds:

image
image760×488 34.3 KB

What did you already try to solve it?

Consulted community articles, mainly
Camera-streamer configuration on the new camera stack for OctoPi - Get Help / Guides - OctoPrint Community Forum
(Tutorial) Adding multiple USB webcams to Octoprint, using new Webcam stack - Get Help / Webcams - OctoPrint Community Forum
After migration from Octopi 1.0.0 to 1.1.0 webcam stream is not working (Raspi Cam v2) - Get Help / Webcams - OctoPrint Community Forum
plus a lot of Googling, modifying camera conf files, reflashing, restarting, getting nowhere

lsusb shows both usb cams are available
libcamera-hello returns 'Command not found'

Have you tried running in safe mode?

Yes, but there's no cam control in safe mode.

Did running in safe mode solve the problem?

Nope.

Systeminfo Bundle

This is the working Raspi 3B+ config. I thought it might be useful to compare.
[Raspi3b] octoprint-systeminfo-20251004100847.zip (48.1 KB)

This is the upgraded config that does not work. Same cams. Only differences Raspi 5, Octopi 1.1.0, Python 3.11.2.
[Raspi5] octoprint-systeminfo-20251004142735.zip (116.1 KB)

WRITE HERE

Thanks for any assistance and ideas. I'm no expert, but am eager to try some fixes.

WRITE HERE

2

@w00termelon I too have been grossly misled by that defective "new camera stack" build.
It should be renamed to "defective camera stack" and marked as a early alpha release at best.

the solution for you is to reflash a normal OctoPi

3

What happens if you plug the SD card you currently have in your rpi5 into your rpi3? I'm seeing some encoder related errors in your logs and would like to know if that is caused by the different underlying hardware.

Side note: the rpi5 is complete overkill for OctoPrint, consumes more power, runs hotter and you will be hard pressed to fully utilise its available resources. An rpi3 works just fine.

4

Instead of ranting here, it would be more productive and helpful if you actually provided feedback on the kind of problems you encountered with it, so they can be fixed. They won't magically fix themselves.

There's a feedback ticket for this very reason:

With that being said, I'll look into making the title of the image in the RPi image better reflect the fact that it is experimental. I thought communicated that quite clearly when it was initially made available and ever since when talking about it on OctoPrint on Air, and I also thought it being a special image at second place in the list around be hint enough, but I can see how that is not enough to reach everyone.

5

I reported this quite long ago here: Lost the FPC connected camera feed after upgrade to new camera stack ...(OctoPi dev is silent) - that was long before there was a thread about it. I suggested back then that it really needed another name, hence my harsh comment when I saw that people were still tricked by the name.

6

You reported that in the wrong place, the feedback tickets where there from the get go and also mentioned in the original announcement about this image.

I understand that stuff not working as expected can be frustrating, but always remember the human on the other hand, the ton of work that gets put into this stuff (in this specific case by me on top of everything else that is OctoPrint) and the fact that it's impossible to test things with every hardware configuration the whole user base might have access too.

Harsh words won't fix issues, constructive feedback and collaboration might.

7

Thanks for the reply @foosel.

Here are some thoughts that may or may not be helpful to the community. After digging in a bit more here and on the Discord, I feel like most of this is already known, but happy to add anywhere else if useful.

My original Pi 3B+ setup with the new cam stack was working fine. Then I started getting the Python version deprecation message and thought I might as well upgrade both hardware and software - I mean, why not go for 8GB RAM and a larger SD card, right? Definitely overkill, I know.

Well...

So I knew the new stack was experimental, just didn't see any issues like mine in the community and also saw some successes.

No matter what I tried, though, I could not get any cams to work on a Pi 5. No Picam, no USB cams.
Went through this great tutorial exactly as I did with the 3B+, but nothing worked: (Tutorial) Adding multiple USB webcams to Octoprint, using new Webcam stack

Then I tried reflashing the latest stable release. The most I could get working was one USB cam. No Picam, not even as the default cam. I also tried going through this great tutorial and went through all the comments, since there was a recently resolved issue: Setting up multiple webcams in OctoPi the right way - Get Help / Guides - OctoPrint Community Forum

Not to mention the Googling, trying something, rebooting, reflashing, etc., along the way. That's how it goes.

I was sure it was something in Octopi, which is fine. I just thought maybe I'd raise the concern in case I could provide any new info for anyone else in the same boat.

Today I reflashed the latest experimental new camera stack and put it in my Pi 3. Lo and behold everything works. The only minor inconvenience is that I had to grab Octolapse from https://github.com/FormerLurker/Octolapse/archive/refs/tags/v0.4.5.zip instead of the repository.

So it feels like the Pi 5 is significantly different than the Pi 3. Like, it didn't even run its own cam out of the box, which is surprising. I didn't know exactly what I was looking at, but it appeared as though everything was failing in the Pi 5 logs. I was under the impression the Pis are basically the same, with some hardware, speed, capacity differences, etc. But a Pi should run a Picam, no problem, right? I don't know much about the dev world, but it feels like significant changes will be needed in the future in order to achieve Pi 5 compatibility.

I'm happy to still be running Octopi on my Pi 3! Happy to be part of the community :smile: I'll go ahead and mark this [SOLVED]