Help Samsung Galaxy S3 Camera Not Working Following Water Damage - "Unknown error by ErrorCallback"

[andrewsteven]

Samsung Galaxy S3

unfortunately some water got into the handset. Afterwards when i turned it on the flash was on constantly for around one minute, i couldn't turn it off.

The Camera will not open now, and instead a '! Warning' window pops up with the message Unknown error by ErrorCallback.

The rest of the phone seems to still work properly apart from LED notifications for new messages and mails, missed calls etc, but the LED notification does work on power up, shut down and charging while switched off.

I have tried a Factory Reset and still the same.

Can i fix this myself by replacing camera or flash etc or will a repair be costly?

 

[Mikestony]

Welcome andrewsteven!
Yeah, water and phones don't mix too well. The best thing to do now is shut it off, take out the battery, sd card, sim card, and put it in a bag of rice for several days.

The fact you turned it on after the water intrusion may have damaged it further But let's see if the rice thing will help.

 

[Pookeysgirl]

There was a thread started yesterday with a user experiencing the exact same issue. Another poster gave him some tips, maybe they could help you too?

http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-s3/711055-galaxy-s3-lte-camera-error-message.html

 

[funkylogik]

The big lesson that everyone should take from this is to resist human nature, dont turn the phone on until youre fairly certain that its dried out. Water and oxygen doesnt kill the phone quickly but water and electricity can and will :thumbup:

 

[WAWood8]

Had a similar problem -- dropped the phone in water -- tried the "rice fix" -- and it did nothing useful. Sometimes it works; sometimes it does not. All depends on how far the water got into the phone and what got damaged in the process. I had to go through Assurion to get a new S3 (cost me).