Fujifilm Finepix A500 Error

[paranoidandroid13]

My girlfriend and I recently took a trip to St. Louis to visit my dad and see the sights. On our last night there, she turned on her Fujifilm Finepix A500 camera and saw that it wasn't focusing properly. She handed it to me and it said "Focus Error." I tried researching some solutions to the problem online, but did not find too much. I tried gently wiping the lens to remove and dust/dirt, but to no avail. The manual directed me to take it to a dealer, but if anyone has any possible solutions, I would really love to avoid paying much to fix it. Any suggestions would be appreciated!