Camera not working, black screen

K.....here is my 2 cents on this.I have the old iphone ,one year warranty lapsed in July this year.

Sometime last month,before I had the 2.2 upgrade,I had the same black screen /inactive camera button problem come up .Reboot,reset ,nothing worked.I upgraded to 2.2,still the same shutter animation leading to a black screen with the camera icon inactive.

I thought the problem was mechanical because my phone had dropped quite hard 2-3 times the week before the problem surfaced(though there was no specific the-phone-fell-just-now-and-****-the-camera-is-not-working moment, just trying to recall any possible source of the dysfunction).And someone else in this forum had mentioned how he had the same problem and he opened his phone and kinda sorta saw some camera wire disconnected from the system board and reconnected the wire and the camera was fine again.

I planned on doing the same,get some soft tools to pry the phone open and dibble-dabble with the camera and its connections a little.

However,today,all of a sudden,camera started working again.I have done nothing different with the phone last few days except the usual (almost daily ) routine of power-off/reboot etc.The camera was not working last night and this morning as I just randomly touched the camera icon in the homepage,the shutter animation was not followed by the black screen but the camera images....!

So I really dont know if its a software or hardware problem ; but just intuitively,since the phone reset and/or upgrade to latest firmware had solved all my previous glitches,I felt it was more hardware related(some wire/cable disconnect or broken lens etc).Now I am not sure.

Has any found a solution for this problem apart from sending it back? Also does it matter how many days you've had the iphone before u can send it back?

Has anyone found a reason why this happens? I just got my iphone a few weeks ago and this is happening. I have no warranty so I need a solution!!

I have had this same problem until i disected my iphone and detached camera ribbon from iphone and attached it back and then put the phone back together and the camera started working! 🙂 DO NOT LET ANYONE TELL YOU THAT YOU NEED A NEW CAMERA REPLACEMENT IF YOUR PHONE IS BASICALLY BRAND NEW BECASUE YOU DONT. THEY ARE JUST TRYING TO GET MONEY FROM YOU... if u are a rookie like myself at disecting ur iphone, it will take u a long time. I tried this site and it helped http://www.rapidrepair.com/guides/iphone3g/iphone3grepairguide.html Or just take it to a shop and have them detach camera ribbon and ur back in business. Good LUCK!!!

Same issue here with my iPhone 3G. All of a sudden the camera is not working.

- Camera starts up fine, shutter animation opens, black screen, camera button dim or greyed out.
- Camera button will rotate with iPhone landscape mode.
- Cannot take photos.
- Everything else fine.
- Tried soft reset, reboot, deleting various apps.
- Not unlocked or jail breaked.
- 3G 8Gig, iPhone version 2.2.1, Rogers Wireless

Been searching with Google for two days now, no solution so far.

Anyone found anything yet to fix this?

Thanks
Tim

Just an update, did a full backup and restore today, still did not fix.

Did a full restore to virgin 2.2.1, still did not fix.

Just for the **** of it, tried the chown -R DCIM trick everyone talks about, still did not fix.

Tried SNAPTURE, also did not work, black camera screen.

If it's a software bug, it's an impressive one.

---

Looks like I'll fully restore to 2.2.1 again and visit the Apple store...

Well took it into an Apple store, they also could not fix and simply replaced the iPhone under warranty.

Not a fix but at least they are standing behind the product under warranty.

Cheers
Tim

Having tried all the restore methods and to no avail, I tried the "soft reboot" and suddenly I have a camera working!! Thanks for the advice!

I have the same problem. Is there a file I can replace using ssh, or is there a format option to fix the camera. I used ssh and I found files that were on the phone after several soft reboots, dfu restores, and standard restores. Apparently the person that had the phone prior to me had nes games on it.

It seems that restore only replaces some files, and does not do a complete format of the phone. Is there any way to do a complete erase ad replacement for the phone?

Move your finger from the lens of the camera and may you will see something? If not, wait for 3.0 update...

wow that wasn't helpful at all. Why even comment if you have nothing of use to add.

Hi Guys !
I Have the same problem on my iPhone , i can fix it , if a replace one file ? with ssh ? , or i need downgrade my iPhone to 2.1 ? , or update to 3.0 Beta ??

Message was edited by: moliveira14

Same boat but with a twist. I get static. Weird purply and green static. Camera button is active, but when I snap it i get a green screen.

Tried the soft reboot, now the screen is totally black. This is not the 3G version.

Thoughts?

If a reset (p. 34 of the manual) doesn't help, try restoring as new or from a backup (p. 141 of the manual)

http://manuals.info.apple.com/enUS/iPhone_UserGuide.pdf

When you restore your iPhone make sure you check the "treat this iphone as new" box. It is a pain because all of your old settings & information do not get transfered over, but it is the only way it will fix this problem. I know from experience, I went through the restore process but did not treat as new the first time & it didn't work. The second time I restored I treated the iPhone as new and it fixed the problem.