Ipad2 front camera not working

[Piergio13]

Hello to everyone, I'm new here.

I'm an happy ipad2 owner since 6 months and a few days ago I discovered that my front camera stopped working. It used to, I'm sure.

I tried to:

Upgrade and sync the ipad

Reset it several times (turn power off and on)

Clean up the apps ram (e.g. photo booth) by clicking home twice and pressing on the red minus sign

No success so far.

If someone has some clues, before asking the apple assistance, I'd be very grateful.

Ciao

Piergio13

 

[Kaykaykay]

Sounds like you've tried reasonable fixes. This thread might help:

http://www.ipadforums.net/ipad-2-forum/34029-camera-not-working.html

 

[Piergio13]

Thank you. It seems many others are experiencing the same kind of issue. By the way, I have just discovered that the camera is locked, I can take pictures using photo booth only, through the rear camera.
I wonder if a restore could help. Any opinion?

 

[Kaykaykay]

My answer would depend on your comfort level and how much stuff you've got on your iPad. And how quickly you need to work this out.

If you've got everything backed up (including photos, email and files/documents backed up), restoring is worth trying. You might call tech support if you're still under the first 90 days of AppleCare that comes with your iPad, but it might be busy today.

Sorry, just remembered that you've had your iPad beyond 90 days. Duh.

 

[Piergio13]

I'm not in a hurry and my ipad is not full at all, I guess I could give it a try. Kay, should I just go in itunes and ask to restore? Thanks for your help on this.
First 90 days have expired but here in France there is a 1 year warranty, so if I don't succeed, I'll ask them to fix the pb.

 

[Kaykaykay]

I don't want to steer you wrong, because I could work this out on my side given what I know of what I've backed up and how I've got my iPad and iTunes set up.

Are you backed up to the cloud or on your computer? (Either way, make sure everything is backed up, because some people have lost photos, documents or files.)

I have only partial cloud backup, and everything else is backed up to my laptop.

If I were to restore (I have on several iDevices) I would back up one more time because I'm anal, then wipe out everything on my iPad via Settings > Reset > Erase All Content And Settings. Then I'd plug my iDevice back into my laptop via USB and choose restore from my last update.

And yes your one-year warranty will cover in case of hardware failure. AppleCare 90 days would be for phone tech support.

Good luck.

 

[Piergio13]

Thanks, it's clear.
I have backed up everything on my laptop this morning, the ipad is quite empty anyway, we use it mostly to surf the net, play and watch movies.
Once done, I'll let you and the forum peers know what happened.
Ciao

 

[Kaykaykay]

Cool. I didn't want to steer you wrong and have you lose the last photos of your late grandmother, first photos of your newborn, etc., lol.

 

[Nivin37]

Hi All,

I have just received a new iPad for Xmas & the front camera stopped working while trying to get a FaceTime connection with my brother.
I have tried the following;

1. Reboot iPad x 3
2. Restore & reload from backup

The camera app will not work & just has a closed shutter on the screen.
Photo both will use the rear camera only.
No other camera app works, camera + app will use the rear camera however when the swap camera's it then fails to use the front camera & then will not go back to the rear camera.

I feel that this is a bug of some kind or some app is holding on to the front camera & not releasing, the front camera was working while using facetime before my first facetime connection.

Any ideas?

Steve...

 

[alohakanalu]

Just a word of advice. The second I have a problem with one of my devices I start thinking about my warranty. If your state of the art iPad isn't meeting your full expectations apple wants to know about it and the don't want to have to replace any parts under warranty so... While you are turning your iPad off and on trying all the things you know to do call tech support, if they can't sort you out you may just get a new iPad... I've worked as a tech for a while and in that job you learn to take all the help you can get, calling apple is no different than posting on iPF and probably a lot faster. Cheers

Sent from my iPad using iPF

 

[Kaykaykay]

The advantage of calling Apple tech support is, if you've run through all the troubleshooting and they determine it's a hardware problem, they will send you a replacement iPad and a box to return yours, without you having to bother going to a store and maybe having to wait till they get your model in as a replacement. That would be especially useful now, because Apple stores are probably short on some models and will be busy with post-Christmas newbies.

 

[ronaldo_bd]

Just get a new one if you still have the warranty

 

[goldfisher4u]

Thank u. I also had the same problem. Ur information helped me to fix it.. cooll...

 

[Piergio13]

Just to give you an update: I backed-up, erased eveything and restored. Unfortunately the behavior remains the same. I think now that the on.y thing is to contact the assistance and see what they say. I recap: photo booth working with back camera only, camera not working, shutter blocked. Facetime and skype don't work correctly.

 

[Nivin37]

Hi All,

I took some of your advice & called support, after a brief conversation my iPad was declared DOA & I was told to call the shop I purchased it from. Called them, come down for a replacement, replaced, restored & back up working with new iPad in a few hours. Using it now.

Thanks for the advice.

Nivin37...