Ruined the camera

[Eri]

Yesterday, I was getting out of the car when my Bionic slipped out of my clutch. It fell onto the pavement and slid underneath my friend's car. To make it worse, it was raining outside, so the phone landed in water on its rubberized size. I thought I'd escaped the worst of it since I didn't crack my screen and the phone still seemed to work okay (called just fine, no speaker damage or anything). I dried it and turned it off, assuming not a lot of water had gotten into. I was proven wrong later when I tried to take a picture of something and saw that my camera wouldn't load, or it would either say 'camera is unable to initialize'.

I have no idea what to do. I don't know if it can be fixed eventually or if I'll have to end up buying another Bionic. Any help would be greatly appreciated. And btw, I'm not some guru on Android phones. Bionic is my first droid, so if I've left any important info out, I apologize.

 

[aaf709]

That's too bad. :frown:

Did you do a battery pull? You might have to do a Factory Reset, but I don't know if that'll help.

 

[Eri]

Thank you for replying. I did pull the battery. That didn't seem to help. How would I go about doing a factory reset, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[BayouFlyFisher]

Thank you for replying. I did pull the battery. That didn't seem to help. How would I go about doing a factory reset, if you don't mind me asking?

It's an option in settings under Privacy.

Factory Data Reset: If your problem persists "grit your teeth" and do a Factory Reset. These have gotten pretty painless lately by following these simple steps: 1. Make sure Backup and Restore are checked in the Privacy setting. 2. When going through the setup after the reset, turn on wifi as soon as you can (assuming it is available). 3. After you have entered your Gmail account info, you will be presented with a screen that has two check boxes. Basically they are "Do you want Google to backup and restore this phone”. Make sure you check both of those. Your apps will then automatically reinstall (paid and free). Set the phone aside for a minute or two and let the apps download and install. 3. If rooted, use an app such as titanium backup to restore data only to select apps such as Tapatalk and you will not have to re-enter all your login information. I do this for 3-4 apps (Tapatalk, SPB Shell, etc.).

I've been flashing new roms/updates about once per day lately and I can be up and running with all my apps and settings back in place in less than 20 minutes. It's pretty painless now.

 

[aaf709]

There are two ways to do a reset. Take a look at 2 Ways to Factory Hard Reset Droid Bionic | Technipages for instructions. You'll lose your apps and have to re-install them, but you won't lose things like photos and music that are on the sd-ext card (unless you check that option). This should bring the phone back to when you got it. If that doesn't work, I don't know what next.

Also on pulling the battery. There's sometimes a difference when pulling the battery with the phone off and when the phone is on.

 

[Eri]

Thanks for all the help, but unfortunately the factory reset didn't help. So now, I guess I have only 3/4 of a phone. Again thanks.

I don't know if its the actual camera or the camera app, though I'm not knowledgeable in tech, so knowing my luck it probably makes no difference and I just don't have a camera anymore.

 

[bioniclover]

Off topic question but if you push the silver piece that says 8 megapixels around the lens does it somewhat click and feel loose to you guys?

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using DroidForums

 

[aaf709]

Thanks for all the help, but unfortunately the factory reset didn't help. So now, I guess I have only 3/4 of a phone. Again thanks.

I don't know if its the actual camera or the camera app, though I'm not knowledgeable in tech, so knowing my luck it probably makes no difference and I just don't have a camera anymore.

You might be throwing good money after bad, but there are some camera apps in the Market. If it's the app, then another should work. Of course it might be a loose connection so nothing would work short of a replacement. Since it got wet, you'd have to find a very sympathetic customer service person. If you insured the phone it might be easier.

 

[Eri]

You might be throwing good money after bad, but there are some camera apps in the Market. If it's the app, then another should work. Of course it might be a loose connection so nothing would work short of a replacement. Since it got wet, you'd have to find a very sympathetic customer service person. If you insured the phone it might be easier.

I hope it isn't a connection issue, though knowing my luck I bet that's what it is. The weird thing is I don't know what got wet aside from the back cover if anything even did. The water damage indicator wasn't tripped. Everything else works--for the most part aside for the fact that it's starting to lag slightly--and it looks like nothing even happened to the phone aside from two small barely noticeable dents on the corner of the body.

 

[aaf709]

Good, if the water indicator wasn't tripped, try taking it to a Verizon store and say the camera stopped working. That's completely true. It may not be a water issue, but a connection issue.

 

[Eri]

Good, if the water indicator wasn't tripped, try taking it to a Verizon store and say the camera stopped working. That's completely true. It may not be a water issue, but a connection issue.

Yeah, amazingly there's no water damage whatsoever. I tried seeing if it was the app that was screwed up by using another camera app. Unfortunately, it is the connection. I'm going to try and take it back. And since the phone still looks great, it should still be covered under my warranty I hope. Thanks so much you all for the great tips. I greatly appreciate all the feedback. :biggrin:

 

[Dave12308]

The proper course of action would have been to remove the battery and let the device sit for a few days in a warm, dry space. It sounds like water has gotten in there and shorted the camera module out.

Unfortunately, since everyone was telling you to do a factory reset and everything except what you SHOULD have done, I fear the damage may have had time to get worse.

Still, I would let it dry sans battery for a few days, and try again.

 

[Dave12308]

Yeah, amazingly there's no water damage whatsoever. I tried seeing if it was the app that was screwed up by using another camera app. Unfortunately, it is the connection. I'm going to try and take it back. And since the phone still looks great, it should still be covered under my warranty I hope. Thanks so much you all for the great tips. I greatly appreciate all the feedback. :biggrin:

Indicator tripped or not, dropping your phone in a puddle constitutes water damage (or the damage was caused by shock from dropping it, either way it is NOT a warranty issue).

If you have insurance, this should be handled through them. If not, strictly speaking your only option is to pay full retail for a replacement, or buy a used one. Again, this is NOT a warranty issue. Hopefully you will do the right thing, and not try and commit warranty fraud. But all I can do is give my opinion, not tell you what to do.

 

[aaf709]

Yes, we don't want to commit fraud, but at this point we don't know the water caused the damage. It was most likely the drop. The OP can tell them it fell, which is the truth. If (and again IF) the water didn't contribute, then remove that excuse for the tech to latch on to.

I took my OG Droid into a Verizon store because the compass was 90 degrees off, the tech said I had too many apps running and did a factory reset. They were looking at my apps list and not running apps. I told them I had done a battery pull which would've killed the running apps anyway.

I'm just suggesting they take it in, tell them it fell and the camera doesn't work. At this point there is no proof the water caused the problem. If they find water damage and ask they can say it was raining when it fell.

I'll go with the suggestion of leaving it dry for a few days just to be sure. It might help.

 

[Eri]

Well I'm not trying to commit fraud. But I'm more inclined to think the drop caused it more than anything. I'm not saying I'm an expert, but it doesn't make sense for just that one facet of my phone to malfunction. I would think the water would have leaked into other places. When I pulled the backing off, it was dry (both on the inside and outside of the cover). But I still wasn't sure whether or not the water had gotten into the phone. I air dried the phone and in rice, it's still malfunctioning. Oh well. Things happen and thanks again.