Samsung Ativ SE camera fix!

[wraedeo_hed]

Soooo I found a fix to this. As noted above, I was experiencing the same symptoms for the camera issue. Basically the stock camera app would boot, but wouldn't let me take a photo. It would tell me to take a photo by touching the screen, but wouldn't respond when I did so.

I was coming from a Nokia handset. The Lumia 928 to be exact. I actually took my Ativ SE back to Verizon for a replacement. Once I received a replacement I specifically tested the camera before I left.....It worked fine. However, once I got home, logged into my Microsoft account, and did the restore to get all my apps and contacts I noticed that it started doing the same thing. The Camera app would work, but wouldn't take photos.

Alas I tried doing a factory reset, and did manual setup (apps, email, and everything else) and I haven't had one hitch!!! The phone EASILY out does the Nokia I had before in every aspect. The camera is far superior in everything except low light. Other than that, speed, functionality, battery life, screen, storage, build quality, and everything else, this is the best Windows Phone by far.

Before I got this phone I thought all phones ran Windows Phone at the same speed, but the Ativ SE is far snappier than my 928 and the 930 and M8 I played with.

So bottom line..... If you're having this issue with your Samsung, do a factory reset, and a manual setup NOT a restore!!

 

[Marquis de Faux]

Have you tried resetting just the camera in Settings?

 

[wraedeo_hed]

Yes, it has no effect

 

[Williaml99]

I thank you for sharing this information. Been using 822 since it came out. Used DP since it came out then upgraded to official 8.1 update 1. Just purchased ATIV SE from eBay arrived today. Followed these forums with great interest as phone looked great but did not want to go back to 8.0. The phone showed up with 8.1 but no updates. The phone functioned fine. As much as I love the restore capability in windows phone I did not do it. It is obvious the seller put DP on but did not tell me. It was factory reset without the DP app so no update could be done yet. Reset the phone one more time for good measure. Installed and configured DP app. Did all the updates and tested functionality every step. If I end up eating humble pie I will share it. So far everything is 100%. According to some on the forums this does not work but it did for me so far. I may miss some of the Nokia stuff but great upgrade over my old 822. Will be nice when Verizon rolls out official upgrade.

 

[wraedeo_hed]

I've been thinking of doing this myself. So you did a factory reset, downloaded and installed the DP, then the updates, and the manually reinstalled everything? I really want to try this. I've been missing some of the features of 8.1, and quite frankly IM losing patience with Verizons "official update".

 

[Williaml99]

I have been studying everything on the forums I could find on camera and the unresponsive screens. I can tell you I have no problem with the camera so far. (Just the weekend to go by) It seems there is some antidotal evidence that the unresponsive screen thing has something to do with the proximity sensor. It also sounds like the folks that restore have greater problems all way around. Late Saturday night after a successful day at work I had sweats on and the phone in my front pocket of the sweats on the couch. I believe there was reminder or notification that made me grab my phone to check it out. I had the un responsive screen. The button on the side would turn on the screen but I could not flip up the lock screen. If I hit the start button the lock screen would come up a little bit to reveal a little bit of the tiles but float back down. I could not interact with the touch screen. Had to reboot. I wondered if the phone in the pocket of my sweats would be like proximity to your face to the prox sensor? Since then I have committed to using nutshell case even around the house to eliminate the possibility. Today no problems so far. My wife and I have had HTC 8X, Nokia 822 and 928. Although pretty rare I believe they have all had unresponsive screens at times. We have had DP on all. I can’t say for sure but I don’t think it was any worse on DP than stock. I had several windows smart phones before the IPhone was released so I have been at this for a while. Been in electronics and computers for a living for a long time so I have some experience. My gut feeling is that I’m in good shape with DP on this phone but I would not take a bullet for it. Only time will tell. I will post to this thread if problems increase.

 

[wraedeo_hed]

I've noticed that if you touch the screen right before the display blacks out it will come back on but will be unresponsive. However when you lock the sleep button and then wake it again, it seems to correct itself. The only reboot issues I've had lately have been from using Here Drive +..... After about 10 minutes it'll reboot for some reason.

 

[PuckCowboy]

I've noticed that if you touch the screen right before the display blacks out it will come back on but will be unresponsive. However when you lock the sleep button and then wake it again, it seems to correct itself. The only reboot issues I've had lately have been from using Here Drive +..... After about 10 minutes it'll reboot for some reason.

Hope this is not a stupid question, but what is the "sleep button" and how do you lock it?

 

[wraedeo_hed]

Well the power button (sorry for the confusion), when you press it the device goes to sleep. Well I've noticed when you touch the screen right as its timing out, it lights back up, ip in a unresponsive state. As long as you hit the power button (locking the device) and then hit it again to unlock it, it carries on like nothing ever happened.

I though this was a Nokia problem, as I discovered it on my 928, but it seems more like an OS issue now.

 

[Williaml99]

Greetings everyone.

This should probably be in the “Don’t install Windows Phone 8.1 on the Samsung ATIV SE on Verizon” but oh well.

An update. I did have one more un responsive screen (total of two) after reset and rebuild without restore. I did the setup on the 3rd of January. I will share what happened. I had to make a support call to a company that required you to punch in a code for security on the keypad. I did not get the normal beeps when I pressed the keys. That should have been my first clue. In the old days of cell phone you had to manually turn on tones to emulate land line phones that produce tones when you push the buttons. Forgive me if I think everyone has to be as old as me to know that. Fortunately I did not lose the call because of it. For security they call you back to make sure you are who you say you are. They had me stay on line and just answer the incoming call when it comes in. When the call came in I answered and they asked me to hang up the other line. I tried to but it would not hang up. I said oh well and we conducted our business. When they hung up the screen was not responding so I had to reboot. After the reboot I verified tones were working on the key pad. Have used it the rest of the day with calls, text and streaming no problem.

I would sure like to see the official update come down.

Bill

 

[jonthysell]

Well the power button (sorry for the confusion), when you press it the device goes to sleep. Well I've noticed when you touch the screen right as its timing out, it lights back up, ip in a unresponsive state. As long as you hit the power button (locking the device) and then hit it again to unlock it, it carries on like nothing ever happened.

I though this was a Nokia problem, as I discovered it on my 928, but it seems more like an OS issue now.

You know, I was suspicious it was something like this. After a month with this phone I use the power button lock-unlock almost all the time, and no problem. But it's always when I'm like "oh wait, don't!" and try to stop it from unlocking that I "know" that I'm going to have a stuck screen. Either way, I had similar issues occasionally on my 8X before DP, so I'm not overly concerned.