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Help Help - bricked the camera, need the original firmware

While playing with my new Samsung Galaxy i7500, I installed Anycut, and a shortcut to the "Camera firmware" activity. You can reach the same app by dialing the code *#*#34971539#*#*.

Once you launch the Camera firmware, there will be 4 menu entries:

  1. update camera firmware in image - do NOT do this
  2. update camera firmware in sdcard
  3. get camera firmware version
  4. get firmware update count
I chose the first option, and the phone took a while to (probably) flash something, then rebooted. After that reboot, the camera no longer works. It displays a black screen and force closes when I clicked any button, or the screen.

I've since flashed the H8 and G8 firmwares, the Fatal1ty mod, and did lots of factory resets. However, the camera is still broken, and other applications (e.g. SnapTell, Wikitude) can't use it.

If I click "get camera firmware version" in the Camera firmware screen, I get:

CurrentVer: A9A9
RecentVer: DBB6

I guess that this weird "Camera firmware" 'activity' flashed a crap firmware over the camera, which is somehow separate from the "entire" firmware. No matter how many ROMs I've flashed, the camera firmware was not affected.

Can someone please tell me how to get the original camera firmware?

I've paid close to $600 for this phone and if the camera doesn't work, I'm screwed.

*UPDATE* Willing to Paypal $50 to someone who can teach me how to fix this problem.
 
Not sure what you mean by hard reset... As I mentioned in my first post, I had gone thru another firmware upgrade.

Here's what I've tried so far:

  1. upgrade the firmware from H7 to H8
  2. factory reset with H8
  3. restored the nandroid backup I made before messing with the camera firmware
  4. downgraded the firmware to G8
Nothing worked. The damn camera firmware version is still A9A9 (or ADAD sometimes), but not DBB6.
 
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ive not used anycut, why does it want to fk about with the cameras firmware?

I think Anycut simply makes available an app ("activity") that's there already, but not accessible.

could this be a result of you rooting your phone and then linking a shortcut to the wrong command

The command was called "update camera firmware in image". There was another comman, "update camera firmware in sdcard", which did not work ("firmware update failed"). Now both commands return the firmware update failure message.
 
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There's a way to get to the camera update program even without root. Just from the dialer by using one of the service commands.

Galaxy Essentials - Android Wiki - Camera firmware code

Your best bet to get the camera fixed is to ask samsung. Either they send you the file or you'll have to send your phone back to them.

I hoped someone here could extract the firmware and send it...

I had flashed firmwares G8, H7 and H8 but none overwrote the camera firmware. How does the camera firmeware evade the flashing process? The only thing I didn't flash was the CSC, since I'm in the US. Should I try that? With what CSC?
 
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I did the same thing but mine just flashed the same firmware. So I guess you got unlucky.

There's a folder somewhere on the phone where you put the firmware image in, which it flashes.

I'll maybe have a look later and upload that image for you: you'll probably need root to copy it over though.
 
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I did the same thing but mine just flashed the same firmware. So I guess you got unlucky.

There's a folder somewhere on the phone where you put the firmware image in, which it flashes.

Drakaz kindly helped me troubleshoot this issue and pointed out that that folder may be /sdcard/ so I copied /system/firmware/RS_M4Mo.bin there:

adb shell cp /system/firmware/RS_M4Mo.bin /sdcard/
adb shell chmod 777 /sdcard/RS_M4Mo.bin
adb shell sync

However, the firmware update failed. We also tried moving RS_M4Mo.bin to /sdcard/sd/RS_M4Mo.bin, but that didn't help either. He suspected the cause was attempting to flash with the same version.

I'll maybe have a look later and upload that image for you: you'll probably need root to copy it over though.

Cool. Got root already with the hdblog.it recovery image. I just need the file and where to put it.

How would you extract your camera's firmware though?
 
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Drakaz kindly helped me troubleshoot this issue and pointed out that that folder may be /sdcard/ so I copied /system/firmware/RS_M4Mo.bin there:

adb shell cp /system/firmware/RS_M4Mo.bin /sdcard/
adb shell chmod 777 /sdcard/RS_M4Mo.bin
adb shell sync

However, the firmware update failed. We also tried moving RS_M4Mo.bin to /sdcard/sd/RS_M4Mo.bin, but that didn't help either. He suspected the cause was attempting to flash with the same version.

This is what I thought of doing.

I don't think that it's failing because it's the same version; as I told you, I managed to flash mine to the same version successfully.

If you keep your Galaxy connected to the PC and start "adb logcat" while you try to flash, you can observe the process. Maybe it'll give you an informative error message which could help troubleshoot the problem.
 
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I don't think that it's failing because it's the same version; as I told you, I managed to flash mine to the same version successfully.

Very interesting, how did you do it? Could you maybe list the exact steps?

If you keep your Galaxy connected to the PC and start "adb logcat" while you try to flash, you can observe the process. Maybe it'll give you an informative error message which could help troubleshoot the problem.

"W/camerafirmwarejni native.cpp( 5507): {PGH} MSM_CAM_IOCTL_PGH_MSG for FW fail", apparently. The full log is at Private Paste :: Paste efuhyfxxHi
 
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@GalaxyMeh what did you told them when you return the phone? What did go wrong? Did they accept the warranty

I told them the camera didn't work. While it was technically my fault that I bricked the camera, and I do feel bad about it, it was Samsung's fault for including a firmware update the bricked it. So I don't feel *that* bad, also given that I wasted a lot of time (mine and drakaz's) trying to fix this. The retailer, MobileCityOnline, processed the return without asking any questions. In the meantime, I sold my Galaxy and got a Nexus One. Much happier.
 
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