Lumia 1020 Camera Refuses to Load

[Rezzee]

Hi there!

Beginning this morning, my Lumia 1020 can no longer successfully launch the camera. Any attempt to launch the camera through the button on the side, or through various apps that use the camera result in the phone crashing to the start menu.

I was running Preview for Developers for several weeks before the issue popped up. I had the version just before the latest update. Updating to the newest version did not fix the issue.

I also tried soft reset multiple times, and did a hard reset when all else failed. Still no luck.

Has anyone else seen this or heard of it and happen to know how to solve the issue?

Thanks so much!

 

[Ed Boland]

Have you gone into settings - applications/photos and camera/ and "reset camera"?

 

[Rezzee]

Have you gone into settings - applications/photos and camera/ and "reset camera"?

I just tried this, when I select "Reset Camera", there is no confirmation of any kind. I pressed it a few times and it did not solve the problem.

 

[bozza72]

try changing the camera app that the button uses,
settings/swipe left/photos+camera/default camera app

 

[S4b1n]

I have the same problem. I think it is software related, it happened the same day i updated to 8.1. It worked the first time i opened the camera. I think it is software related because because Here Maps is having the same issues. Tried hard resets, rollback to 8.0 (didn't work on 8.0 either), update again to 8.1, still doesn't work. Very disappointed, considering the 8.1 update was an official one.

 

[Rezzee]

try changing the camera app that the button uses,
settings/swipe left/photos+camera/default camera app

Tried that to no avail, it doesn't seem to matter what the app is, if it uses the camera at all, it fails to load.

Pretty bummed out, I love this phone but I really need a working camera for work. I bought it off a buddy who upgraded to a 1520 so I don't think the manufacturer will help me at all.

 

[bozza72]

Itll be software related so dont panic too much you might have to flash the phone with the nokia firmware or try a hard reset first, intructions are in the forum for both operations.

 

[jay6600]

Does the front camera work? To check if it is you can install "nokia glam me" and open directly it should open the front cam

, i remember having a 820 which the camera wouldn't work but in my case it didn't crash but was just a black screen with all the buttons greyed out.

Tying "glam me app" opened the front cam fine and that one worked ok.

In end i purchased a replacement main camera module and swapping that fixed the problem. so in my case the actual camera module was infact gone faulty :-(

 

[lumia0323]

This is a driver issue related to WP 8.1. Camera stops responding on WP 8.1 preview but also offical WP 8.1 (cyan update). I figured out its a driver issue for main camera. Downgrading to WP 8.0 make camera work. I have put a ticket to Nokia. Please go to Nokia, request a live chat and describe the problem. I hope that the offline build may include drivers, but WP 8.1 final through the air does not include them. Please make a ticket to Nokia since I am the only one so far with this problem!? And next time create a ticket in WP 8.1 forum, i was just lucky that I found this thread.

 

[Rezzee]

Bozza: I used the Nokia Recovery Tool to install base Windows 8 back onto the Lumia 1020, but the camera functionality is still nowhere to be found. I did find the firmware flash guide on the forum, and I've added that to my list of things to try. I'm contacting Nokia Support tomorrow morning to see if they can give me a specific solution, and if no luck there I'll try a firmware flash.

Jay: I did install Glam Me, and the front camera fails to load as well. It doesn't seem to recognize that either camera is present in the phone.

Lumia: I found your thread, it looks like while we're experiencing the same general problem, our origin is a bit different. I was running 8.1 just fine for several weeks before the problem popped up, and it was not an update that caused the issue. I reverted back to Windows 8 as you did, and it did not fix the camera issue for me. I will contact Nokia Live Chat in the morning though so I can be sure they log the issue in their database. Thank you for the tip!

I'll update tomorrow after I chat with Support, just in case there are other people out there running into this.

Thanks everyone for your continued ideas and help!

UPDATE: I did a live chat with Nokia Support this morning, after providing the agent with the troubleshooting steps we already went through here, it was determined that they needed to have the phone sent into Nokia for repair. Luckily my phone is still covered under Nokia warranty despite purchasing it from a co-worker. Repair turnaround is estimated between 7-10 business days after they receive it, and shipping is prepaid UPS.

 

[gowcoizer]

I had those problem months ago but it emerged after second time I took it back from repair service so I was so pissed I was ready to play hockey with that yellow puck of mine called 1020... happily the problem stayed for about may be 2 weeks and suddenly fixed all by itself. But that's for the camera... the phone still can't be used as phone for private calls cause of the quiet ear speaker. Giving us brick by brick they're losing us brick by brick.

 

[lumia0323]

Nokia Software Recovery tool now offers CYAN. I will try it. Hopefully the camera works!!!

 

[dfaris]

Let us know how it works.

 

[Grodelj]

I have exactly the same problem on 920, and there are many devices (920, 925, 1020) with same problem. It looks like a faulty front camera. When you downgrade the device to 8.0, main camera works, but front cam doesn't. If you upgrade to 8.1 main camera doesn't work anymore, I suppose the apps in 8.1 first check front cam, and if it doesn't work they crash.

 

[lumia0323]

Hi! I spoke to Daniel at NOKIA Live Chat. He is not very helpful. He told me that he has created a ticket for this issue and forwarded it to a engineer. The engineer have looked at the issue for 3 days but still no solution. Daniel is very rude and told me to **** OFF basically. I have identified the problem but NOKIA/MICROSOFT done care about us users. Everyone need to create a ticket at Microsoft/Nokia support so this problem gets resolved. Its a software issue, so dont trust anything else. DAMIT NOKIA. I HATE YOU! BAD SUPPORT, BAD SOFTWARE... ****TY PRODUCT...

 

[gowcoizer]

We shall move to other OS and hardware. That will make them care

 

[kwool]

This happened to me. I'd be able to take a picture or two, then the camera would freeze up and all apps would crash back to start. Also, the camera lens would stay open. If I turned the phone off and back on, then opened a camera app, it would work again for a couple pictures and then start the same crash process.

It had to have been a hardware issue--I tried hard resets and nothing ever worked. I was still under warranty on AT&T so I was sent a new device.

 

[lumia0323]

STILL NO SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM AND NOKIA KEEPS TALKING ABOUT REINSTALLING APPS. OMG THEIR KNOWLEDGE NOWDAYS IS JUST ######"@@@@ This is what happens when all loosers are left at the company when the good guys allready left

 

[gowcoizer]

We're screwed.... deos anybody know is it possible for us to screw them all together? Somekind of international miltiuser suing ha.... you know this is clear robbery. I have one year of problems with my device and I just wanted to be replaced at the first month.

 

[Roach26]

Having the same problem on my 1020. Noticed it this morning, after opening the camera app to take a picture it crashed. Then it wouldn't open at all after trying multiple times. The Nokia Cam still working though. Hope Microsoft fix the issue sooner than later I hope...