Hey all,
For some time now, my camera has not been working...kinda. If I use the regular app or any third party camera app, it comes up as a black screen, freezes, and closes down. But then something weird happened.
I started playing Pokemon GO. On the bits where the camera is enabled (to throw Pokeballs), the camera works! Even more bizarre, if I open the camera app while Pokemon GO is running, it will work just fine! This applies to both the front and back camera, both of which had the issue I mentioned.
Only when the app is open though. When I close it and try to go back to the camera then no-go. I have done a reset on the phone, I have tried all kinds of third party apps, I have tried booting in safe mode. Nothing works except what I just mentioned.
Can anyone shed some light on what might be going on? I'd like to use the camera without opening Pokemon GO but I am OK with it for now since I can use my camera again, albeit in a convoluted way.
I was thinking about trying a custom kernel (insomuch as I can with a locked phone). Worth a shot?
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
I have a Droid ULTRA through Verizon running AndroidOS 4.4.4
Related
Noticed today, that the camera on my Vibrant is not working correctly. I push the camera app button, and it comes up and looks like it wants to take a picture, but when I touch the screen to focus or take a pic, nothing happens. My barcode scanner no longer works either. It used to constantly focus in and out looking for bar codes, but no longer does. The only thing I have done recently, is install Angry Birds Rio, and un-installed Meridian. I did a hard reset a few hours ago, and the problem is still there. Running stock 2.2(update from Kies Mini) Any ideas?
tsmithmtb said:
Noticed today, that the camera on my Vibrant is not working correctly. I push the camera app button, and it comes up and looks like it wants to take a picture, but when I touch the screen to focus or take a pic, nothing happens. My barcode scanner no longer works either. It used to constantly focus in and out looking for bar codes, but no longer does. The only thing I have done recently, is install Angry Birds Rio, and un-installed Meridian. I did a hard reset a few hours ago, and the problem is still there. Running stock 2.2(update from Kies Mini) Any ideas?
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have u tried flashing another rom other then stock ? try it out and see if it works. maybe the developers roms are better then the stock. u could also use odin to go back to eclair stock and see if the camera works there. try it out. and u could also wait a little while longer to see what others have to say as well good luck
First, try Odin then back to your stock.
If problem persists...
Try a rom.
If problem persists... your camera might be broken
I have not flashed back to stock, or another ROM. Honestly I feel overwhelmed by it. I've read the stickies, and their just seems to be so much information that it makes my head want to explode.
So I am having a problem with my Thunderbolt.
To start off, not rooted, all stock.
The problem is the seemingly infamous black screen camera app problem. In a nutshell, when I try to open the camera, it goes and stays on a black screen forever, with no buttons other than Home working.
If I hit Home, the camcorder app seems to be running in the background and eats up battery like there's no tomorrow, phone is dead in a couple of hours at most. While the camcorder app runs, every other app that uses camera reports an error stating the camera is in use and to reboot the phone. If I reboot, and try to use any other camera app (from barcode scanner, to papercamera and so forth), it also does not work.
I have read on the issue quite a bit and here are the things I tried with no success:
- clear data for the camera app.
- pull battery for a while.
- install a new camera app and try it.
- use the voice recorder.
- delete all camera pictures and videos off the sd card and memory.
- try it without an sd card.
- gently press the camera to see if it was loosened.
I hope the camera hardware is not dead, and factory reset seems to be the last thing to try. Any ideas of a good way to record what apps I have installed so I can easily reinstall them after, or a backup/restore method?
Or any other suggestions on things to try? It worked fine up to Friday, then Sunday it had issues. Between Friday and Sunday I used my phone like normal and installed two non camera related apps which I have tried uninstalling to see if they were the culprits.
Root and install Titanium Backup. Use the batch operation to backup all of your apps (and data if you choose), then factory reset, see if the camera works, reinstall TB, restore your apps (and data), and see if it still works. The camera itself really can't come loose, at least not without losing the lens cover and quite a bit of force.
Hmm, did a factory reset and the issue continues. Any other suggestions? Or do I resign myself that the hardware is gone?
Since I updated OTA to 2.3.6 build 4.5.141, I have been experiencing a problem with the camera as it shows a black screen (both still and video) and crashes after that.
I am willing to root the phone and install flash a ROM if that could be helpful. I tried a factory reset, SD format/unmount, battery pull, reboot, and everything possible with an unrooted device.
Warranty period is over so I can't ask for a replacement.
Any help is appreciated.
Camera
I had similar problems with upgrading to ICS Roms.
I fixed the problems with installation of Videocam Illusion and ProCapture or FastBurst Camera. I don't know if it is suitable for your Rom.
The only problem I see now with these apps is that I can't open, let say, ProCapture or FastBurst and after any camera or camcorder apps. The only to get these apps to work is to reboot.
Not working
Thanks for your feedback.
But I tried installing all those apps but they all give the same problem (black screen, which later freezes). I tried changing the resolution of the camera and then the camera app did not open at all saying: camera unable to initialize.
Occasionally, it shows a large camera icon in front of the screen and then it just closes down saying 'Activity Camera (in application Camera) not responding.
I do still think it is a software (not a hardware) problem because the phone has not been exposed to any physical damage whatsoever and everything else works smoothly on it.
I am already considering getting a replacement camera but thought I'd exhaust all other options before doing so as it does take a while to get a replacement. Luckily, it is under warranty.
Thanks again.
Id you're looking for a good stock based rom id try nottachrix. I've been on it roughly 2 months no issues
Sent from my MB860 using XDA
Hello everyone. I just got this phone the other day after returning the galaxy s5. I am loving it but I have one issue and maybe I'm just doing something wrong.
Everytime I take a picture in the camera app after tapping the check button, the camera closes and I return to the home screen. Does anyone else have this problem or is there something obvious I'm doing wrong?
Not normal. If the phone is stock (unrooted, etc.) I would try a factory reset (backup any personal data first) and see if the problem persists.
Only time I see a check in camera app is when sending picture via mms and it asks where I want to send [email protected],camera etc... if this is case of attaching picture directly from camera to an mms then this is a normal function, if taking a picture and it just closes then this is not normal reaction
Well it seems that the problem has resolved itself. I was just about to post a screen shot of the check mark so you guys could see it and then it just starting working as normal. Thanks for the responses and I'll post here if it comes up again.
Ok the problem returned... I showed the issue to a buddy who has the same phone and it also turned out that I was missing several options on the camera. I did a factory reset and the problem persisted.
I think I found the issue... I was using Google Now Launcher. Apparently that launcher doesn't play well with the camera. I uninstalled the launcher and voila, all the features (video, zoe, dual camera,etc) are back and the camera no longer closes after taking a pic.
Anyone else want to test this theory and see if happens?
confirmed issue and workaround
Hi there,
I can confirm that the Now launcher uses the native Google camera instead of the Zoe camera. I have also found that from the lock screen with the now launcher installed, unlocking by pulling the camera icon opens the full HTC zoe-enabled camera again. I find this super annoying as I'd like to have Google launcher and have the camera work properly. Anyone know a fix for this other than my workaround?
Ditto for T-Mobile HTC One (M7)
There's a lot I really like about the Google Launcher, but this just drives me nuts. I didn't really understand the workaround suggested here ( though I have no doubt it works). But the suggestion sounded on target. So, I went into my app list and shared it from there. It didn't do the funky stuff any more. I wonder if there's a setting to change that behavior: like someone thought, Hey, take a picture and go back to our regular programming? It's a shame because I really feel that the Google camera takes better picture.
In any case, just to let folks know that this is a real problem. The OP was on target.
To anyone else having this problem that does not use Google Now Launcher, another app that causes this is Omni Swipe. The default camera button in the tools section isn't the right camera (not sure what it's trying to access but still). If you add the correct camera app to the app section, it'll be fine.
Yes, this solved my problem as well. I went back to the default launcher and now the camera is working fine
When using the front facing camera for video, the app will record while pressing the button and as soon as I let go, it force closes. Once I re-open the app and go to the next page to play the video, it's upside down.
I have gone to extreme measures and completely wiped the phone and re-installed Instagram and it does the same thing. It doesn't seem to be a conflicting app issue at this point so I'm wondering if anyone else has this issue? Thanks.
I had every app the used the camera (Amazon, facebook, snapchat, instagram, camera, etc) force close on my. I replaced my phone through T-Mobile after they thought it was defective since performing a factory reset did not do anything to correct the issue
mpapple10 said:
I had every app the used the camera (Amazon, facebook, snapchat, instagram, camera, etc) force close on my. I replaced my phone through T-Mobile after they thought it was defective since performing a factory reset did not do anything to correct the issue
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Did you get the new one? How's it working? Mine is T-Mo too. Out of curiosity, was yours a pre-order and what color was it? Want to see if there's any trend.
Mine was a black preorder. The new one comes today. I'm hoping it just works. I've read a few reports here and Reddit about camera issues so hopefully its isolated to only a few units. Seems like most of the people on here like the phone and its working for them.
I'm in the process of downloading the stock firmware and reflashing to see if that works. I'll update when complete.
I tried to Odin with the firmware I found out there and the latest version of Odin. I got to the the part where Odin said passed, then phone went to update and aborted. So I did another factory reset and now it seems fine. Slowly installing apps to eliminate conflicts...let's see what happens.
My new one was just delivered. I was going to try to smart switch again tonight. If that does not work I might skip this upgrade.
With the replacement (new) S9+ i received yesterday I have not had this issue yet. I've only been using the phone for about 12 hours so far.
After the factory reset from the update menu (power button+volume up+Bixby) instead of the one in the pull down tools menu, I'm all good.
Now I can go back to making annoying Instagram posts. ?