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Help Upside Down Camera & No Screen Rotation

DJGEP said:
I had the same issue. Suddenly the screen was not rotating in any app. I had experienced a small fall in the last days, but also I had performed a massive apps update on my cell (20+ updates). I fixed the issue by starting my galaxy S5 in Safe mode and then checked that the gyroscope was working by using the commands "*#0*#" in the phone keyboard (without quotes). With this I was sure that it was not a hardware issue. Then, still in safe mode uninstalled about 10 apps which had recently been updated and that could potentially make use of the "rotating feature". Restarted my phone and issue fixed. I'm in the process of installing again one by one to see which app had the bug.
Click to expand...

On Verizon phones, those codes never work.
I have tried and nada...

you will immediately get "that is a non-working number" voice message.
 
I experienced the same problem with my Droid Turbo, and tried everything I could possibly find that did NOT require hitting my phone. Even installed GPS Status and that still didn't help. But I did notice on that app that my accelerometer was stuck on around 15.000. Moving or shaking it would register, but only slightly. So, I finally decided to drop it. Just about a foot, and flat on its back, with the protective case still on. And it immediately went back to normal!
 
My phone developed the same issue of not rotating last week. Did the whole remove battery reboot and cache deletion with no luck. Even took the phone back to the Verizon store only to be told it was a software issue and to wait for the fix to come out. Then I took the advice from above and dropped my phone still in it's protective case flat on the back from about a foot high and now the screen rotation is working.
 
All this is good information, but it hasn't helped my phone. I've tried dropping it, removing & replacing battery, figure 8 motion, & restarting. Still won't rotate.
It won't install the GPS or compass app. I wonder if that is part of the issue.
All Verizon says, is "Factory reset". Can't waste time with that.
Would really appreciate some help. Getting kinda desperate/angry.
 
Someone suggested I clear the cache & reboot by turning off, & holding power, volume & home keys simultaneously. Didn't work. This is a great phone otherwise; but this is making me nuts! I'm a fanatic about things working the way they should!
 
Phone was fine one minute and next thing it wouldn't rotate and had an upside down camera out of the blue!!!Must say that dropping it worked...after battery removal, restarting, "figure 8" rotations...all didn't work. Dropped it in protective case on bottom end from less than 2 feet and it worked after that...
 
Haha! I'm amazed that worked.

My screen rotation wasn't working. My phone failed the GYRO test. I decided to cautiously try the "whack" approach, and it worked.

I used more of a strong bump across the back with a protective phone case, but same idea.

I ran the GYRO test again and my phone passed. Screen rotation is back, and the tilt is working in games again.

Thanks!
 
I am absolutely amazed at how many people are willing to smack their phone or toss it to the ground . . .I don't care if you do think it "fixed" something, that is the worst solution I've ever heard of; by this logic I should toss my laptop from the roof whenever I have a software problem, and this IS a software problem. As someone with an IT degree, a better approach is to do a step-by-step analysis of the problem to find the cause and/ or solution . . .a shocking approach, I know.

After spending a day working on this, I've found resetting the phone (using settings-backup & reset-"reset settings", NOT "factory data reset"!!) . . .that will reset all screens, ringtones, etc. to factory defaults, but leaves all other data intact.

After doing that and restarting the phone, rotation works fine again . . .UNTIL the screen times out and goes dark, then I once again get vertical orientation only. If I close the screens myself, the rotation works fine for days, until I miss a call or message and the screen times itself out; restarting the phone then restores rotation, each time so far, and I've only had to do the reset the first time.

Based on this, and the behavior prior to and during the problem, it's most certainly software related . . .I'm going to start isolating the apps one by one to see If I locate the specific problem and whether the issue is Samsung, Verizon, or a third-party app , but that's going to take a while. At least I've got it narrowed down enough to (mostly) restore function . . .and never had to slam or drop my phone to do it.

Good luck!
 
I tried whacking my phone on the side of a chair and it actually worked LOL. Kind of a weird fix, but if you're having this problem, I would try it!
 
Hi all,
I too have had this problem recently and after reading all of the suggestions I think I found out the cause of the problem. At least for me. I dropped my phone from about 4 feet. The corner of the phone hit the floor pretty hard. After rebooting, taking the battery out, rebooting again still the problem remained. Then, I purposely dropped my phone again onto my tile floor (The case was on the whole time) and that seemed to do the trick. My screen wouldn't rotate and my camera was inverted and upside down. Hopefully this helps. Good luck. Cheers!
 
I tried everything on this thread (except wacking/dropping/slamming) and the screen rotation problem would not go away. It would work after restarting the phone for a bit and stop working again.

I found a fix that works for my phone.

I started in Safe Mode and left it running in Safe Mode for 2 days. No problem with the screen rotation, works great. I noticed that in Safe Mode, my 3rd party widgets were disabled. Specifically GTasks https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.dayup.gtask&hl=en

So, I restarted my phone in Normal Mode, and removed the Gtasks widget. Its been a week now and the screen rotation problem has not appeared.

I don't know if its only Gtasks that is causing a problem, because not everyone is using that, but maybe try disabling widgets on your home screens to see if that helps. At least for me, it seems like 3rd party software is conflicting with something in the OS.

Good luck.
 
jond72 said:
Okay problem solved...and here's how.

I thought perhaps the gyroscope is 'stuck'. I'm not at all technical but that was my deduction.

I then tapped the phone against the chair I was sat on and...voila! All resolved! Unbelievable.

I'm pretty sure that probably means I have a dodgy/faulty phone but it is resolved none-the-less. A good old-fashioned whack fixed it!
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I can also confirm hitting the device works. Just smacked it on my hand a few times and waa-lah , just smacked a dumb phone smart again
 
With the screen rotation, my Galaxy S5 would not rotate the screen at all. Verizon also has the diagnostic screen disabled, so that was a no-go to see if it was a hardware failure. After the lollipop update (5.0) it started working, so either kit-kat (4.0) had faulty coding in the software, or Samsung decided to write a fix for it. Being noteworthy, ever since the 5.0 update, I've had to do at least 5 software updates that came through, mostly being security updates.
 
IF your using "NOVA LAUNCHER" instead of Galaxy Launcher then you need to enter Nova Settings app and change the orientation. Mine suddenly change itself and needed resetting as just the homepages were upside down in AUTO orientation.
 
Thanks for your suggestion to whack the phone gently with the case on. It worked for my Motorola Droid Turbo. Motorola and Verizon tech couldn't help. They had me to a factory re-set. Contacts saved on cloud missing. Thanks again for good advice that works!
 
I had this exact same issue with my samsung Galaxy s5 after I dropped it on its edge on a concrete floor luckily it wasn't damaged (thanks otterbox) but the camera was upside down and rotation wouldn't work at all. I did EVERYTHING starting with the most simple solution and ending up doing a factory reset.... nothing fixed it. Then I found this forum and I see a lot of people recommend whacking it on a table. I tried it, whacked it on its back onto my desk and that fixed it! I think if it gets dropped on its edge it makes the gyro get stuck and whacking it on its back "unsticks" it.
 
Here's what just worked for me. Turn off screen rotate, power down device, power up and turn rotate back on, simple I know but I tried several things for weeks until I found this. Not certain how long this will last but thought I would pass it on. I read this worked from someone else on a Verizon forum.
 
Hi everyone, I did all the above methods mentioned before and the one who works was the method of safe mode and looking for the app making the problem. The app was Opera. I uninstalled and it is working perfectly.
 
EarlyMon said:
Before someone breaks their phone with this genius fix, use this, tap the wrench, and calibrate the sensors.

Check out "GPS Status & Toolbox"

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eclipsim.gpsstatus2
Click to expand...

Thank you for this link. It was actually useful. I am having the same issues in this thread, except my phone never had the upside down camera thing. I have hard reset, soft reset, tapped the back, turned it on and off, cleared the cache. Pretty much everything that comes up in a search.

With this app, it showed me that the, GPS sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, gyroscope (uncal), linear acceleration, orientation, rotation vector, step counter & step detector were all faulted out (all displayed a ! next to them.)

I am unsure where to go from here. Am I facing an actual hardware issue?

Thanks,
Taco
 
Welp I inadvertently dropped it and all those sensors came back to life. Only problem now is they seem to time out after 3 minutes, I timed it. I can use a compass or rotate the screen as much as I want for 3 minutes then I get no input from those sensors until I restart. What is the missing link?
 
Try disabling YouTube. It worked for me but I have not let my S5 hibernate. Like other post, after factory reset, rotate worked until screen hibernated. I watched a Google Play app video that linked to YouTube. It made my phone screen landscape mode. So, I previously uninstalled everything else but YouTube. Restarted phone .... Fingers crossed.
 
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