S4 (mini) Camera error

[Loveboy]

Hello Guys,
The camera of a friends S4 (mini) doesn't work. The mobile has a display damage 1 month ago. But he still could use the camera. But it seems not to work since a week. He just told me that if he try to cam with Viber with family someone else, the cam shows just a blackscreen. I tried to reinstall Viber, because he told me that he could skype with cam without any problems (today). As I opened the Camera App, I get a error: Warning: Camera error. And the app closed. If I restart S4, the cam suddenly works and after 5 minutes the error appears again. Can someone help me/him please?

Thank you

[Ni3ls]

Maybe download camera app from the playstore or hard reset?

[Loveboy]

Dowload a Camera app? Hmmm, Android has already a camera app. I am not sure if Android reset will help.

[CaptainSlow]

Does the camera still show up in this app?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mtorres.phonetester

[Loveboy]

I told my friend to install this app and test the camera.

He told me that it still doesn't work.

[CaptainSlow]

I told my friend to install this app and test the camera.

He told me that it still doesn't work.

I'm by no means a cellphone technician but do you hear a clicking sound coming off the camera? If so, that could mean the lens got stuck and the camera fails to initialize the autofocus and won't work. Was a known problem with many iPhone 4s, so maybe also a known culprit to other devices.

[Loveboy]

It's fixed now. Viber caused camera crash. That means if I start this mobile, then the camera works, skype works (camera) and other applications too.
After a video chat with someone, camera does crash and all other applications which run camera crashed too. After a restart camera worked again.

Fix:
Remove Viber
Download an older version of Viber from the Internet (apk file)
Copy and place the file in your mobile
Open File manager
Open the apk file and install the apk file
Disable auto-update of Viber