Replacing camera module on 8900?

[glo106]

Hi all, first time post here. I've had my 8900 since February and last week the camera and video camera decided to stop working. Basically the camera and video camera open fine, but all I get is a black screen. It's as if I'm in a dark room and all the lens sees is blackness. When I take a picture or start recording, it'll take a picture/video but the picture is black and for video, all I get is sound. The video camera plays back the stock John Mayer video fine. I've searched extensively on the forums here and tried pretty much everything that anyone with similar problems tried (wiping with JL Cmder, upgraded/downgraded OS, battery pull, clearing the cache, opening the back of the BB and gently pushing on the lens), but nothing's worked. I'm guessing there's some kind of hardware issue, and am contemplating replacing the camera module with a new one from cnn.cn. I don't think I qualify for any kind of warranty replacement because I purchased the BB from eBay brand new and unlocked. It's tmo branded and I'm at&t. Is there anything else I should try before purchasing a new camera module from cnn? I'd hate to try replacing it on my own and have it not work. And plus, I have no idea how to remove the current camera module from the phone.

Thanks!!

[illie003]

is there a warranty you can maybe try to trade in for a working model?

btw, this brings up a problem i have my own... i cant zoom before taking a picture. manual says to scroll up or use volume up key, neither work for me =T

[glo106]

I'm not sure about the warranty because I don't know who would be replacing it for me. As an at&t customer using an unlocked tmo 8900, I doubt tmo would let me trade in for a new BB. I guess I should've purchased the SquareTrade warranty when I got the BB off eBay.

[illie003]

not sure if the unlocked factor will be negative, but if you have that sticker that shows you didnt temper with the screw and open up the phone (back, under battery cover), it should stand decent chance for trade in. your ebay seller sounds like the most responsible one to me, ask them about the problem, then i would try blackberry company next (contact them using website info)

[amanberry]

Best thing to do is to buy this part..

ORIGINAL BLACKBERRY 8900 CHASSIS MIDDLE HOUSING+BUZZER* - eBay (item 260434136179 end time Jul-23-09 03:25:08 PDT)

You will have a brand new camera, flash, Buzzer, new antennae...
Plus Bonus your phone will have a new Unbranded Camera..

and its much easier to replace than the camera itself..

Enjoy.

EDIT:: Whoops my bad.. this part doesnt have the camera module.. only the flash.. Maybe it will fix your problem though..

[glo106]

I wrote to the seller, so hopefully they say something good! If not, I might have to try replacing the camera module or as amanberry suggested, changing the middle housing. I don't know how the original camera module is supposed to be taken out though.