Welcome! In this troubleshooting guide, we have to discuss one of the emails sent to us complaining that their Samsung Galaxy S3 camera refused to zoom-in right after system update. The fact that the firmware had been updated, it is possible that the files and data used by the device had been ruined during the process and triggered the issue. Meaning, this could be a minor glitch in the system caused by the update and it can be fixed through basic procedures.
This is how to troubleshoot camera issue on your Galaxy S3
Step 1: Perform battery-pull procedure
If the issue started after the update, it's not far that a glitch in the system triggered that the camera is functioning abnormally. In this case, all you need to do is to perform soft reset or commonly called the battery-pull procedure. Doing this, will refresh the memory of the phone and close all features and apps that might interfering the system. After removing the battery, press the Power key for 30 seconds to discharge all electricity stored in the hardware components.
If this is just a minor system glitch, then, this method would fix it, but if it persists, jump over to the next step.
Step 2: Delete the Camera App's Cache and data
In this instance, we have to delete all app's cache and data so that the device can create fresher ones to be sure that all of could run perfectly once it will be loaded to the newly installed firmware. Nothing to worry about this method because only the app's files and data will be removed. Here's how:
- From the Home screen, press the Menu key.
- From the options, tap Settings.
- Tap Application Manager.
- Swipe twice to left to choose All tab.
- Scroll to and tap Camera.
- Tap Force Close button.
- Tap Clear Cache button.
- Tap Clear data button.
After you do the method, launch the Camera app and see if the issue persist. If so, proceed to the next procedure.
Step 3: Boot your phone in Safe mode
The purpose of booting your phone in safe mode is to verify if one of your third-party apps is preventing the camera from functioning normally. Through this mode, only the pre-installed apps will be running in the system while the downloaded applications will disabled temporarily. So, if the issue is not happening, then, there's an app you need to uninstall to fix the problem.
- Turn the device off.
- Press and hold the Power key.
- When Samsung Galaxy S3 appears on the screen, release the Power key immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume Down key.
- Continue to hold the Volume Down key until the device finishes restarting.
- 'Safe mode' will display in the bottom left corner of the screen. Release the Volume Down key when you see 'Safe mode'.
However, while in this diagnostic state and the issue still occur, there is a possibility that the firmware was messed up on the update that you did or some of the system caches had been corrupted on the process and caused the issue.
Step 4: Wipe the System cache partition
Since, the issue still happening even in safe mode, then, we suggest you to do the wiping the system cache partition. In other words, you have to delete all files and data stored in the cache directory so that newer ones will be created and to be sure that it could run perfectly once it is loaded to the new system. So, if corrupted caches caused this problem, this method will surely fix it.
- Turn off the device.
- Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key and Power key.
- When the phone vibrates, let go of the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and Home key.
- When the Android System recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
- Press the Volume Down key to highlight 'wipe cache partition'.
- Press the Power key to select and wipe the cache.
- With 'reboot system now' highlighted, press the Power key to restart the device.
But after deleting all old system caches and your camera still unable to zoom-in, then, your phone might have a serious firmware issue and you don't have a choice but to perform a reset. But before you do so, we recommend you to backup all your files or transfer it to your SD card or computer because all will be deleted.
- Turn off the device.
- Press and hold the Volume Up, Home and Power buttons.
- When the phone vibrates, release the Power button but continue holding other two until Android System Recovery appears.
- Use the Volume Down button to highlight 'Wipe cache partition' and press the Power button to select it.
- When finished, use the Volume Down to highlight 'wipe cache/factory reset' and press the Power button to select it.
- Still use Volume Down button to highlight 'delete all user data' and press the Power button to select the option.
- Once the master reset is finished, highlight 'reboot system now' and hit the Power button one more time.
