Galaxy S5: Camera/Gallery Issue - Grey box over photos

[geologyman]

I have the same problem with the grey area over some pictures. I do not have a SD card installed so that is not the problem. My wife's S5 has the same problem. T-Mobile does not have a clue on what the problem is. Definitely don't go to Verizon and buy a new SD card, they are clueless too, just trying to sell you expensive stuff. I just tried to send a picture to Facebook using the S5 and it added the grey box. This means that the grey box issue is likely related to a software issue in the photo/gallery interface. I repeat, do not buy a new SD card. Unfortunately, the issue may in the bios and can only be fixed by Samsung or by returning it for a new phone.

 

[Eng 13]

I have the same issue and have exchanged the phone 2x once before the 30 days store warranty (T-Mobile ) ran out
and once again this September both times New Phones still the same issue on all 3
when I contacted customer support (PHONE #2)and told them what was going on of course they have never heard of this issue so after going through the diagnosis process I was told they will exchange out the phone my reply was I do not want a refurbished phone they told me that they cant guaranty it would not be so they proceeded to tell me the phone I was going to receive would not have the back cover or battery so its there was of saying that it is refurbished I pushed the issue and spoke to a manager and told them that I DO NOT WANT A REFURBUSIED PHONE.
So after about 43 min they told me I will be getting a new phone got the new phone so I got the new phone got a new Samsung memory card
and started to use the camera and surprise there it is again the weird thing is when you see the picture in the lower part of the photo gallery
there is no gray bay but when you tap on it to expand it the gray box is there or some times you will get this black picture with a icon on it witch is letting you know the picture is corrupted also it happens on the video mode you will get the video file to you computer and it will only play a third
of the way and you get a message the file is not supported I am sure they are aware of the issue but Samsung is taking a blind eye to it just like all the other overseas company like Toyota
my s-3 camera worked every time my son uses it all the time no issue and to make matter worse I took my son shooting for the first time and all the video was corrupted so it look like I will be going to apple the first chance I get unless Samsung comes out with a software fix :'(

 

[Pcok]

Thanks so much for sharing your find. I am so glad I ran across this forum, as it has now solved my issues with my Samsung Note 3 camera. It was my SD card, as well!

 

[Darkguardian823]

I'm not crazy sure there is a correlation, but when I switched the picture size setting on the camera from 16m to 6m it stopped actively corrupting the photos (naturally can't recover what is already corrupted) it was like my phone couldn't recognize the resolution that the camera was using.

 

[tonyakramer]

thats 3 of us. I just got off the phone with Verizon and they are stumped. Told me to go to store and get a card there.

My next attempt at troubleshooting is to test the INTERNAL memory of the phone and not use the external card. Then see if that causes same issues. From what you are saying DiamonRanch, I am now worried about it doing it there too. So far nothing.

Wondering if the image optimization software is corrupting the files? Perhaps the feature that enhances the low light pics? There has to be some common denominator in the files that are corrupting? I really do NOT want to swap the phone 2-3 times and still have same issue..

 

[tinalou81]

I've used two sd cards. One came up saying damaged. This was not a branded card so thought I would get a Samsung card..made sense.
I've had a few of these grey box pics and pics coming up overlapped.
could anyone recommend a decent sd card to use in this phone.
I changed from a iPhone due to not being able to have memory cards.

 

[mwboost]

It always happened on all our samsungs. Sd card did nothing.
It happened to me in average to low light so i thought i might as well use the flash in that situation.No more weird colours.

 

[alwweb]

Unfortunately, I had my drop box set to only synch on WIFI - so all of my pictures are completely gone that I took on the first day of my vacation. I guess word to the wise is burn in the card before taking pictures you care about.

My pictures seemed fine at first. It was when I tried to text one to my daughter that the grey box first appeared - THEN - all of the pictures I had taken became completely corrupt.

 

[blondeambition3]

I'm not crazy sure there is a correlation, but when I switched the picture size setting on the camera from 16m to 6m it stopped actively corrupting the photos (naturally can't recover what is already corrupted) it was like my phone couldn't recognize the resolution that the camera was using.

THIS worked for me also!!! THANK YOU!

 

[BuzzBuzzSam]

Thanks for letting me know. I'm on Sprint and I hope it's just my sd card as it seems okay the last 2 days and I have not ever had the message about my camera failing...... fingers crossed

 

[BuzzBuzzSam]

Thanks for letting me know. I'm on Sprint and I hope it's just my sd card as it seems okay the last 2 days and I have not ever had the message about my camera failing...... fingers crossed

I have sprint and a galaxy s5. Some of my pictures in my gallery are turning black. Does that mean I have to get a new SD card?

 

[Joanne Hanna]

I had exactly the same problem, grey box over pics, and distorted pics, I bought a new Samsung memory card, and photos are fine now

 

[Jonette2]

Ugh, I've been going crazy with these half grey photos. I'm going to try everything suggested here. Wish me luck!

 

[VZW-NRB]

Many times this is caused by the Media Storage database being corrupt. Go into the phone's settings\apps\app manager\all scroll to Media Storage clear data and restart your phone. After reboot, go into the phone's gallery and it will start to rebuild the Media Storage database. At first it may appear that all of the photos are gone, but just give it a moment while it rebuilds the database. This can take more time if there are a large number of photos on the phone.

 

[ThaLorax]

Many times this is caused by the Media Storage database being corrupt. Go into the phone's settings\apps\app manager\all scroll to Media Storage clear data and restart your phone. After reboot, go into the phone's gallery and it will start to rebuild the Media Storage database. At first it may appear that all of the photos are gone, but just give it a moment while it rebuilds the database. This can take more time if there are a large number of photos on the phone.

I wanted to bump this thread since I signed up for this site just for this problem. I tried your suggestion to no avail.

I tried uploading some of the pictures for examples, but this forum says I need 10 posts before I can post links/upload so I guess I can't help there.

However, I'll say that I am also using a Samsung 64GB Pro micro-SD card. A couple weeks after I got it, my phone said the entire card was corrupted after I had moved most of my apps to the external memory. This forced me to reformat the card, losing all my pictures/apps/data. After that though, the card worked fine. Then, this box over the pictures corruption problem started about a month ago. Has anyone found a solution this yet?

 

[Abayomi Mosi]

Finally Hope has AREIVED I have found the solution.


1. Go to gallery
2. Hit hidden settings touch screen button with the 3 lines (bottom left button on phone opposite to Back button or left to home screen button)

3. Hit settings

4. Hit accounts - 1st tab mine was my Gmail account.

5. Turn off and uncheck sync photo back up
6. Problem solved

7. For extra security on gallery settings page uncheck "SNS data management" to off or "Sync Only Via WiFi" to off or uncheck box.

 

[Uriel Rodriguez2]

I had the same problem with my S5, downloaded a different camera app and it solved the issue.

 

[blast77]

Ok so I was experiencing the same issue with my Galaxy S5 and while I'm not sure what the cause is I found an easy and inexpensive solution. No, you don't need to buy a new SD Card.... that will fix the problem, but it's total overkill and not necessary.

What you need is a file manager app (such as Astro File Manager is what I used) and you need to navigate to the location on your SD card (or internal storage) where the pictures taken by the camera are saved. You want to look for a file that has no thumbnail and open that file in the gallery. For me this was the file with the newest date. You should see an icon that looks like the head and shoulders of a human being (kind of like the icons for restrooms) instead of a picture. Delete that file using the file manager and voila! problem solved. You could also change the directory where the photos are saved (in the camera settings) to solve the problem, but then you would not ever be able to save in the directory with this broken file.

Also, some people have downloaded a new camera app to solve the problem. This works because it saves the photos in a different directory than the "stock" camera app.

I hope this helps some of you who have run into this issue. For me, I was about to go out and buy a new phone when I discovered the solution whilst moving the 'ole bowels! (yes, a thinking man's paradise! lol)

 

[jonduey]

I agree, I am so afraid I'm going to swap this phone again and have the same gray squared pictures! Mine also was freezing-like freeze frame/ jumping and sound cutting in and out on my videos I shot. Was about to return it for that when all of a sudden it started playing them perfect again (those videos were on the sd card). But I cannot get the gray squares to disappear yet. I have noticed that all of my pictures that are gray squared were taken outside (everything normal mode/auto), but then again I take most of my pictures outside.

 

[jonduey]

The gray screen over pics is due to the viewer mode has a virus or a bad flaw when you choose a pic it pulls up gray or half gray or less, but at least 40% do this only when you instruct your phone to pull a individual file to see close up, this due to the gallery having a viewer issue. You can download to computer and it's over. Pics are awesone. Our viewer mode is messed up.