Lens error, restart camera

sounds like the motor is cactus to me, have you checked to see if there is any drive (power) to the motor?

Sounds like the drive motor assembly has quit. this needs to be repaired by shop, probably had nothing to do with the cold.

Try the procedures in this tip.

that could be the lens cover not opening all the way, try and look at the lens as if you were doing self-portrait, and power on. if lens cover opens all the way but lens doesn't come out, the lens might be stuck or motor broke.

I had the same problem with the same camera. Ended up twisting the lens by hand back and forth while powering the camera on and off till the lens pins finally realined and let it close properly. Took alot of patience and care but has worked since. Usual cause of this problem is powering camera while the lens is blocked from extending, ie in a case, laying on its face etc.

My wife's Canon SD200 got stuck with an open lens and the E18 error. I opened the case and wiggled things and still nothing. Then, I turned the camera on and started tapping the edge of the lens casing with the magnifying glass I'd been using (need the battery and memory chip in place and make sure you've transferred pictures to your computer before trying this). Voila! The lens closed. But, of course, it wouldn't open and still gave the E18 error. Well, one good tap deserved another and Voila! again. It opened. After a few more iterations - and cleaning the lens casing each time, it was back to normal. The trick is the timing of the tapping. Just after turning on the power to the camera start tapping on the lens casing - not hard - just a light tapping. And don't tap on the glass lens itself -- you don't want to really break it.

There are several causes for this to happen.
1. The lens assy is out of alignment and stuck; stalling the motor.
2. The motor itself is defect
3. If you can hear the motor working , then it will be a stripped plastic gear between motor drive and lens assy.
DIY repair not recommended (possible)

Lens errors are fairly common. Usually it's sand or grit interfering with the lens extension mechanism. Or the camera's been dropped with the lens extended. Or the camera has been powered on, but the lens had been blocked preventing its extension. Or the battery ran down with the lens extended ...

Here's some things that you can do to try to correct it. They only seem to work for less than 50% of the lens errors, but if the camera is out of warranty, they're worth a try:

http://camerarepair.blogspot.com/2007/12/fixing-lens-error-on-digital-camera.html

Same problem. The lens is stuck in the zoom position. When the camera is turned on, the lens moves a just afraction like it want to fully open or close, then the camera beeps and prompts with the "Lens Error" Restart Camera. Solutions?

remove the lens make the manual mode and then fit lens manual mose it will work again
thanks