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[Q] [HELP]Microphone and speakers stop working

I had been doing a great deal of tinkering trying to get my phone's battery life back in the last few days, and I made good progress, but I severely jacked up something related to the microphone/speaker/video recording.
PROBLEM:
The problem, as far as I can tell, is that every app that tries to access the microphone can't do it--this shows up when I try to use Google voice input in various text fields with a little "Can't reach Google at the moment." Same with trying to do a search by voice in Google Now--brief brief flash of the microphone red, then back to gray, with "Can't reach Google at the moment". Additionally, my Touchless Input cannot be enabled--the box has automatically unchecked itself, and pressing it makes the button get a little gray, registering the action, but no checkmark will appear.
Additionally, other apps which would use the mic don't seem to have that functionality--Evernote, for example, would crash if I attempted to record an audio clip. This was before I performed a factory data reset last night--and the problem has persisted regardless.
There are two other, seemingly related, issues. First is the inability of the phone to capture videos. The camera opens fine, and I can take fine stills with it, but pushing the video recording button makes the red "record" flash for a moment before a "Not able to record media" message pops up, and the camera returns to the still photo mode.
Second is the inability to play videos. I have tried playing videos in as many formats as I could try, from within several players, including the stock "Photos", "Gallery", and "YouTube" apps. "Sorry, cannot play video" pops up, or the app simply crashes. Similar story for attempting to play music through the stock "Google Play Music" app. And it gets worse. I can't make or receive calls. Actually, let me revise that. I can't hear anything being said on the calls, over the speaker, or through headphones (though I've yet to try BlueTooth). The call appears to connect, but I can't hear anything from them, and they can't hear anything from me.
So--that's the basic summary of the problem--threefold.
1. No audio input through mic
2. No audio output through speakers--my phone doesn't ring when I get a call, although it will vibrate and the options to take the call appear as they normally would.
3. No audio/video playback whatsoever for other media.
I'm running Android 4.4 on a Droid Mini, unrooted, and I just completed a factory reset last night.
ANALYSIS:
Here's the wrinkle. I know this isn't a hardware problem, because I have found a surefire fix that makes all of this work properly if I absolutely need it, it just sucks. Rebooting into safe mode is what does it. Playback resumes as it did before I had the problem. I can play videos, pump music, and Touchless Input works flawlessly--although interestingly, it has me re-enter the catchphrase three times every time I get into safemode, like setting up from scratch.
My consternation comes from the fact that, to my very limited knowledge, all that safe mode is doing keeping any user-added apps from running. Which is all well and good, but I just did a factory reset. Literally when I boot the phone no user installed apps are running, and yet there's a definite difference when I boot into safe mode, cuz everything works there.
So, safe mode must do something more than just disable user-installed apps--and I need to know what that is if I'm going to fix this thing. I have added 4 apps since then-- App Ops, GSAM Battery Monitor, BetterBatteryStats, and Button Savior (Non-root), all of which I know from experience to be very "well-behaved" apps.
Anyone know what safe mode is doing besides disabling user apps? Along those lines, does it revert updated stock apps to their factory state? I ask because very, very briefly, while my phone was slowly trying to upgrade the 40-odd pieces of Bloatware from the Play Store, the microphone was working. Which makes me think that the culprit is one of the system apps in it's updated form. If safe mode runs these apps as they originally appeared on the phone, that might explain it. It would also hopefully let me painstakingly disable these apps, one by one, to find the culprit and disable it.
I say culprit because of something I stumbled across trying to research this--weirdly enough, in a message from the devs of Shazam. devs of Shazam They say that the issue has shown up on 4.4 and the cause appears to be one app somehow monopolizing access to the microphone. I could see this breaking the video as well, and potentially the audio playback if, as I assume, Google uses the mic to help tweak the sound of the speakers.
Anyone know any more about any of the aspects of this? I will be posting back myself as I learn more.

What happens if you factory reset without restoring any apps? In other words, factory reset, choose not to restore your apps (or don't attach to a Google account on initial setup, and do it post-setup). In other words, do you have an app that is blocking this access?

doogald said:
What happens if you factory reset without restoring any apps? In other words, factory reset, choose not to restore your apps (or don't attach to a Google account on initial setup, and do it post-setup). In other words, do you have an app that is blocking this access?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trying this now. Thanks for the suggestion!
Update: Tried this. Did another FDR, signed in to one of my Google accounts afterwards, but haven't updated a thing. The audio/voice/video/bugs seem gone; however, the ****ty battery drain I had before is back. I'm playing around with some settings to find out what can be done. I'm also going down the list and updating the system apps one by one.
Does anyone know a good testing process (ie, should I run the app? do I need to restart after install? run the app and close? etc) that will keep me from getting false negatives (ie thinking an app isn't causing the problem when it is)?
Update again: I'm working down in alphabetical order through the factory apps. However, after the most recent factory reset, it appears that my battery drain is back, and as long as the battery drain is there, the phone works normally. So, not looking good in terms of battery+functionality for me. Went through the 40ish apps that were on the phone stock--after the fresh reset, the phone is working, but the battery life is shot to **** all over again. Not sure what to make of all this, and now back to being frustrated with a 4 hour battery life from the phone that never sleeps. UGH
Update yet once more:
For kicks and giggles, tried unchecking the "Touchless Control" in settings, to see what effect that would have on my battery. But, reasoning that whatever wakelock was keeping my phone up all the time had to be persisting after it was needed, I guessed I needed to reboot to get rid of them. Booting up again, I'm back to battery life without audio/video/etc. Very confused here. Apparently it has nothing to do with the apps installed, period.

Facing the Same problem please someone tell me What should i do

Same problem! No audio call
Inviato dal mio Redmi Note 3 utilizzando Tapatalk

Please help me I have this same problem. No audio, cant play video, nd mic isn't working.

NEXUS 5 CAMERA FIX "Cannot Connect to Camera" (Requires Root)

Hi All,
This is the first time I have posted but have used this site to diagnose issues all the time so I thought I would give back to the community on what I have found to fix the dreaded Nexus 5 "Cannot connect to Camera" issue.
The day I brought this phone I thought it was one of the best devices around for money and the hardware was nothing to joke about, but over time the smaller cracks started to show which became quite a hassle such as Camera and Battery.
Camera Issues:
Cannot connect to Camera
Grey Screen with the image logo on it
After an hour or so the Camera cannot connect
Typical Fixes:
Clear Camera Cache (Temporary or no effect)
Reboot Phone (Temporary)
Uninstall software (Possible fix but at what cost)
Run in Safe Mode (Not of much use apart from diagnosing)
I have found most of these to be quite useless if not unproductive.
So a brief history on what I have found with the Nexus 5 Camera, it appears that when Google partnered up with LG to design this phone they skimped on a few things and unfortunately the Camera was one of them, its unclear whether this is a hardware or software issue but I have been able to solve it. I had googled dozens of pages read through hundreds if not thousands of comments and none have seemed to have fixed it permanently until now.
Common things that you will find when trying to find fixes for the Nexus 5 Camera.
So I have the following steps which should help you fix the camera issue and possibly battery life in one go!
1. First thing to do is to confirm its not a hardware/software (can it be fixed or do you need to return it for replacement) is to put it into Safe mode, to do this push and hold the power button till the "Power Off" menu come up and hold the soft button till you get the "Reboot to Safe Mode" (make sure you Camera cannot connect before doing this or you will be wasting your time).
2. Once in safe mode open up the camera app and see if it starts up, if it doesn't then its most likely a hardware issue and will need to be RMA'd and take a pic or two then just exit out by pressing the back button. next is to let it sit for an hour or so then try again (this will also check if its a bug in the ROM/Hardware). Chances are if you could get the camera working fine in safe mode it will continue to do so. If it fails check the rom or RMA.
3. If the Camera continues to work fine Reboot the phone into normal mode by just shutting it down and starting it back up. From here we can pretty much say its a software issue, now reading all these forums and comments it seems that it can be almost a dozen different apps that cause the camera to drop off and not reconnect, the resolution? App Ops (Unfortunately I cannot post the link but its not hard to find, search name exactly) this handy program lets you control the permissions for each individual application on your phone and the time they last accessed it, do note this does require ROOT access.
4. Next step is to run App Opps and go to the media tab, just note or take a screen shot of everything running, now go to the camera and take a picture and exit it via the back button and go do something for an hour or 2 or when you suspect the Camera to fail (best to not use your phone/camera during this time for more accurate diagnostics). After your break, test the camera, if it still works just take a break till it fails.
5. Now that the camera has failed go back to App Ops and check the media tab, you will see a list of programs that last tried to access you media hardware/software with a time and what they tried to access, in this instance mine was Viber, which tried to access the Camera in the last 10 minutes of it failing.
6. From here you want to go into the app in App Ops, scroll down to the setting that uses the camera and disable it (set it to off) this will prevent the application from using your camera without a manual input.
It doesn't prevent me from using the Camera in Viber but it does prevent Viber from automatically opening the Camera and then leaving it in an unusable state. I have had this going for about 2 days now and have been able to open my Camera up every single time and it also seems a lot more responsive.
It might take you a while to find out exactly which app it is but it will be well worth it to get the camera going like a normal smart phone should.
If you found this guide helpful please let others know and give some stars to App Ops for such a great program.
Tested on Stock Lollipop 5.0 but I do not see why it would not work for Kit Kat or Custom Rom's.
If you have any questions feel free to ask.
Battery Save?
Another thing I forgot to add in this is that App Ops also controls start up and keep awake applications, just like the Camera function you can disable the Keep awake and Auto start up applications to prevent unnecessary battery drain, I have managed to get it from 1.5% to 0.8% battery drain per hour while in sleep mode, of course this will only be effective if you have multiple programs which keep your phone awake (please note it may also stop notifications coming through so choose wisely what you disable).

S7 EDGE Camera failed

Got my pre ordered edge in Dubai from the Samsung store. Disappointed with the camera function, as it kept on giving an error, Warning Camera failed
Tried to wipe data and cache from application manager, rebooted into recovery, wiped cache, but still the same. At last formatting the phone to factory settings worked. Unfortunately the same again repeated after 2 days, when again had to factory reset. Very upsetting for a premium phone, as I've been a user of all Galaxy S series and the Note 4, but never faced this issue
Anyone who has faced a similar issue? What is the solution?

virafhavewalla said:
Got my pre ordered edge in Dubai from the Samsung store. Disappointed with the camera function, as it kept on giving an error, Warning Camera failed
Tried to wipe data and cache from application manager, rebooted into recovery, wiped cache, but still the same. At last formatting the phone to factory settings worked. Unfortunately the same again repeated after 2 days, when again had to factory reset. Very upsetting for a premium phone, as I've been a user of all Galaxy S series and the Note 4, but never faced this issue
Anyone who has faced a similar issue? What is the solution?
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Click to collapse
Either your trolling, or you have a defective unit that they'll surely replace free of charge.

He is not Trolling there is another post here with People having same Problem around the World! I have the same since 5 days i am owning the Phone gt635f german. So as i said before there is an extra thread here regarding this. Its caused by the sd card. You have to reformat the sd card. Than in System settings disable Samsung Diagnostic reports. In You have the failure again Press volume down + Power for 20 seconds this is like the an reboot. Sorry i am on travel now this is what i remembered from the other post.
Here i found it!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/s7-edge/help/camera-failed-rma-t3333500

yaesudx said:
He is not Trolling there is another post here with People having same Problem around the World! I have the same since 5 days i am owning the Phone gt635f german. So as i said before there is an extra thread here regarding this. Its caused by the sd card. You have to reformat the sd card. Than in System settings disable Samsung Diagnostic reports. In You have the failure again Press volume down + Power for 20 seconds this is like the an reboot. Sorry i am on travel now this is what i remembered from the other post.
Here i found it!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/s7-edge/help/camera-failed-rma-t3333500
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Click to collapse
Its not the SD card as us with Dual Sims are not using a card, apparently it's to do with playstore, usually just by resting settings resolves the issue but you can clear camera cache too

Hi. I have had this issue also. The fix for now is to turn off Smart Stay and reboot your phone. Samsung know about the issue and are working on a fix for it.

I had the same issue. Didn't know it was smart stay. Did a factory reset and disabled Skype since I thought it was the cause as the camera stopped working immediately after Skype force closed. Good to know though! We'll get a fix soon enough. Samsung said they'd had numerous calls/complaints.

switching off smart stay worked for me - in selfie mode camera worked but minute tried turn it round i got the error. and then it was frozen and couldn't switch it back.
annoyed as this is a pretty fundamental thing to be tested on a hand set - especially as the camera changes are one of the improvements advertised for the phone

I was getting really hacked off with my camera constantly crashing. I tried all of the tips and tricks I and everyone else suggested (Smart Stay/SD card/wiping cache/factory resetting/blah), none of them worked.
In the end before I decided I was going to ditch the phone, I flashed firmware for my region (BL, AP, CP and CSC), along with a full wipe and I haven't had a problem in 4 days now.
I'm very happy.

heya, i had same problem, tried to delete camera data, force close app, power off, restart etc...
but what actualy helped me is wipe cache partition and camera started working again (press vol up + home + power after power on)

I got mine on 3.11.16 USA ,and I like the camera it's really fast. Haven't checked quality yet

Issues with the Android Pie Update (Google Play Store and Camera -> Gallery App)

Hello everyone!
Today I updated my HTC U12 + (128GB) to the Android Pie version (9.0):
First I received an update of approximately 350 MB, which was downloaded and installed without any problem, the cell phone restarted without any problems (I clarify that my cell phone is encrypted and when it restarts, ask for a password to continue with the restart). For now everything is going well.
After a while the main update was downloaded (950 MB approx) and I had it installed as soon as the download was finished.
Again the cell phone restarted, he asked me for the password to decrypt it, but after that, it went completely black, he did not advance anything else for several minutes. Amid the panic, fear and despair, I pressed the power button to restart the cell phone, asked for the password again, and apparently charged the rest of the installation.
When I went to use the Camera application, the option thath appears in the lower right corner to see the last photos taken (like a gallery) is not working well, the application crashes and is not letting me see the photos taken. (Here goes the first problem).
Another problem I have is with the Google Play Store app: It doesn't allow me to download apps from the store, as if it were locked or something like that. (Here goes the second problem).
Now, the main problem is: Like any good engineer, any problem can be solved with a reboot to see if everything loads well, but I already tried and it didn't work. And following the good traditions of the good engineer, it can be said that I do a hard reset (erasing all the settings and content of the cell phone, which I also consider an effective solution, I will not deny it), but currently I am outside the country where I have hired My phone number, and for work I need WhatsApp (and as you know, I need a text message with the code to login), and I have no way to activate Roamming.
Can anyone help this good citizen with any advice, trick, recommendation or magic spell that does not involve formatting the phone and solving these problems?
Thanks!
PD: A friend with the "same" model (64GB) had no issues with the instalation, and we compared the camera version number, and everythings is the same.

Delete camera and gallery data in settings and reboot. If that don't work do a factory reset... Sometimes after an update it is necessary to delete old caches that get stuck

dioggo92 said:
Delete camera and gallery data in settings and reboot. If that don't work do a factory reset... Sometimes after an update it is necessary to delete old caches that get stuck
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Click to collapse
I have already deleted the cache of the applications with problems, but it still does not work properly.
Thanks for your answer and support with this.
(Until I can return to my country, I cannot do the hard reset... sadly)

no issues here since yesterday evening
So far it's great, very smooth, phone (64GB blue on TMO US w/ 128GB SD) is faster & battery life seems to have improved a lot though it's only 1PM here so we will see...
Upgrade went the same way like yours except I waited patiently to come back from the "blackout" after the decryption was done, thanks for the heads-up (though I usually wait a while anyway.)
UI is a tad more responsive - I have a lot running on my phone, I use it heavily for business all day long.
I like the clock's new location in the upper left corner actually more than the previous one - however the new UI design is a too bubbly and too colorful, too 'pop' for my taste, the previous one was far more elegant, I think. I will give it some time, see if I get used to it - if not I will just look up some more subtle theme.
I only had to re-apply my notification sound setting, everything else was kept intact so it's all good.
All in all I'm satisfied so far, very smooth upgrade - it did worth the wait, thank you HTC!

Question HELP! Front camer showing "Camera Failed" warning in all apps

Hi. I've had the S22 Ultra for 3 days and this morning I noticed that when I tried to unlock with Face Recognition it says "Couldn't open camera. Try again."
I then tried opening the camera app, all rear sensors work. But when I switch to the front camera, the app crashes with a warning "Camera failed". I also can't open the front cam in third party apps like messenger and Instagram.
What I did so far:
1. Deleted cache and data for camera app. Still same error when switching to front cam.
2. Removed permissions for All apps except the default camera app. Same error.
3. Uninstalled all apps I have installed since it was last working, still no dice.
4. Booted in safe mode, front cam works fine.
Since it's working in safe mode, I guess this isn't any serious hardware issue, I hope.
I have the Snapdragon version with 512gb storage model SM-S908E/DS.
Anybody have an idea what may be causing this and how to fix it?
Thanks in advance!

It's a 3rd party app. Look at which ones have or request cam permissions to start.
A package disabler is helpful as you can disable apps one by one until you find it.

blackhawk said:
It's a 3rd party app. Look at which ones have or request cam permissions to start.
A package disabler is helpful as you can disable apps one by one until you find it.
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Click to collapse
Got it to work eventually by doing force restart (holding down power button + volume up key). Turned it back on and front cam started working again.
I also then re-allowed the app permissions when I was diagnosing it and front cam still works fine.
Yeah might have been a third party app though it's weird that it didn't work even when I removed all camera permissions for all the apps.
Glad it's working again though, and thankfully I did not need to do factory reset and it's not a hardware issue so I avoid the trouble of returning the unit.
Thanks!

Unless you find the root cause it likely will return.
This is why one should use factory reset as a last ditch measure. It can be tedious but rewarding.
Many times issues are inadvertently caused by the user, many times by installing buggy 3rd party apps. I tend not to experiment with new apps unless I need them because of the trouble they can cause... like 2 back to back factory resets because of boot looping. Android's should run fast and stable if not the cause(s) should be tracked down.
Malware, boot loops*, major firmware upgrades, apps changing hidden user settings and corruption of the user data partition are the only exceptions.
*if app caused you'll still need to track it down

The only recent apps that I remember installing was an app called Nice Lock (an alternative to good lock since we don't have it in my region) and the Keys Cafe module, as well as the "Write on PDF" app from Samsung. I uninstalled these when I was having the front camera problem but removing them did not solve it even after a few regular restarts and cache/data clearing. It only started working when I did the force restart. I reinstalled "Write on PDF" back and so far, so good.

Hard reboot is the solution sometimes.
If you need to continuously use it though it can indicate a hardware issue.
Run it through it's paces while still within the window of return.

Yeah I might need to keep an eye on the issue.
Thanks!

hard reset and start installing apps 1-by-1 and test camera