Native Development

[bdaemon]

Feb 6th , to test  a tiny OPENGL game, I upgrate IDE from  Flash Builder to  NDK 2.0 and PB OS from 1.0.8  to 2.0.0.7111 ,  the App runs Very well and smooth in real PB device.   

So Great.

but Yesterday , i notice  i can't launch the camera app , both front and rear  , Camera APP is BLACK sreen with some buttons( takeshots  etc).     Reboot , no luck.

the most issue is  that ,i can't take the screen shot too, volumns key is ok with music app  , but  press both the keys (+, -) , DO Nothing, no click sound ,no picture stored . so i can't capture my new app image and post to appworld. 

is software or hardware issue ?

tommorrow ,OS 2.0 will solved ?

[smcveigh]

The camera and screenshot functionality are both handled by the same system service.

It's likely there is a hardware problem with your device which is preventing the camera h/w from initializing.

If you do a security wipe and go back to 1.0.8, do you still have the problem?

How about if you do a security wipe & load the latest 2.0 beta?

[bdaemon]

tks, smcveigh

I'll try a security wipe ,hope lucky come to me.

[bdaemon]

after update to OS2.0 , screenshot still cant' work.

i have to do a security wipe,   just now ,

PB rebootss well, still in the setup screen,  i press the volumn keys (+,-)  ,

 the click sound comes back,  so lucky

but the battery level is just 16%, it is too low to continue the  update

plug and ,wating   battery level  to  20 %.

[bdaemon]

NO LUCKY ,

the issue isn't  fixed  after the install

 screenshot not work again,  camera is BLACK .

but i can capture the sreen while installing. here is the png file stored in the camera dir.

[bdaemon]

after install , the OS is 2.0

how to downgrade to 1.0.8 ,where to choose?

[smcveigh]

You should contact RIM and ask about replacing your unit, as it sounds like the camera hardware may have failed.

Cheers,

Sean

[rcmaniac25]

I have the same issue. But it's only for the front facing camera. The rear facing camera works just fine. The instant I switch to the front facing camera, it breaks. Any app that uses a camera says the camera is in use. Also, the screenshot functionality stops working too.

@smcveigh: Is there any other way to double check if it is a hardware issue? Or should we just go straight to support? Also, what if it is a PlayBook we got from the "submit app, get PlayBook" event from the PlayBook release?

[smcveigh]

Without having physical access to your device, and your logs, I cannot really troubleshoot this.

Here are some rules of thumb I can throw out for you.. perhaps you can devise your own test

• the pps camera service is a single process managing both front and rear cameras.
• this same service also handles screenshots.
• if the process has crashed, screenshot will not work, nor will camera
• The message "the camera is in use" could mean another app has the camera open, or the camera is not openable.  If the process has crashed, the latter is going to happen.  This error is more or less a general "cannot open" message that may be a bit optimistic as to the cause
• the camera app will open the rear-facing camera first.  if your rear camera is broken, it's possible the camera service may enter an unrecoverable state?  in that case, you may not be able to switch to the front-facing camera.
• the video-chat app will open the front-facing camera first.  if your rear camera is broken, the front may still work.
• you should reboot after your tests to bring things back to a common initial state (I recommend holding the power button for 10-seconds to force a hard power-off).
• if both front and rear cameras present black, but screen-capture still works, then it would seem to indicate a problem with some common hardware or software component.
• if none of the above 3 functionalities work, then it's likely that the camera service is stuck in an initializing state (likely caused by a hardware fault), or has crashed.
• if one camera works, but one doesn't, you can try: reboot / camera / reboot / videochat to confirm your suspicions.

In any event, even if the problem is a software one, it is probably being caused by some out-of-spec hardware behaviour, and you should work towards replacing the device.  With access to failed units, it may help to point development in the correct direction to catching any possible issues that may only crop up in very rare circumstances. 

eg. imagine a hardware spec says that the camera should power up within 500ms.  if you have a marginal unit which takes 510ms to power up (maybe due to ageing, maybe an out-of-spec device), the software may already be in an error-state.  if we find that 1-in-a-thousand units exhibit this behaviour, then we can take it back to the camera sensor vendor and find out what would be the cause.  If it turns out to be harmless or expected in rare cases, then simply extending an initialization timeout from 500ms to 600ms could resolve the problem in a future software update.  If it points to a manufacturing issue, then it could be resolved and caught there, etc. etc.

Cheers,

Sean

[rcmaniac25]

I know my rear camera works, it's the front that I get the freeze/crash with. I only had the camera app open so I know nothing else is using the camera. Force-rebooting produces the same result (rear camera works, screenshot works, front camera does not work [messing up video chat and the camera app]).

Is there a way to replace the unit for free (shipping excluded)? As I am still in the 12 month limited warranty period but can't seem to find any way to request replacement without calling up support and providing credit card info.