I have a Canon powershot digital camera and I opened it because I was suspecting the CCD sensor (the LCD display was showing me dashed lines instead of the actual display). After opening it, I decided to leave it aside as the work would take more than my available time. But then, the camera wouldnt turn on again.. even after I used newly charge batteries and power supply to bring it back to life.
Does anyone has experience in camera repair? Does anyone have an idea what could be the problem here? I really don't see how Im able to check for current running in a camera.. and cameras dont usually come with schematics. If I want to get to the board I need to open it even more than I just did before and I am afraid it could get worst.
If you're worried about doing damage, then don't do it. Take it to someone who can do the repair.
The unskilled should never deal with a piece of electronic equipment until they've reached the point where they've decided it's not worth paying to have repaired, and are about to toss out the thing. Then, it becomes viable for the unskilled to give it a try, because they won't be losing anything. If they are somehow able to enact a repair, then that's good. If they damage it, or at the very least can't fix it, that's good to because they were going to throw it out anyway.
Repair first requires troubleshooting, ie figuring out by available information about what's wrong. You "figured" it was the CCD because you didn't get a display. But you ought to have taken some pictures, to determine whether it was merely the display, or something earlier on in the camera. If it was merely the display, then you'd get lots of good pictures.
Whatever the original problem, you seem to have compounded it by whatever you did when you opened the camera.
I did take pictures which of course turned out to be blanks, and Axx series did have problems with Sony's CCD and Canon was offering repair (during that time I did not know, now I don't think Canon accept such repairs.. they even didnt announced it in Europe). Anyway, the camera is past its gaurantee limit ...
And yes, I did realize that the repair cost will be just as much as the cost of a new camera.. and that otherwise the camera should be discarded... that is why I opened it =)
I read several posts on digicam repair.. and I havent seen one in which someone said with confidence that he/she was able to repair them.. so I guess its time for a new digicam :)
Anyway, if anyone is interested in camera parts I would gladly send it by post. It would be a pity if I just discard the camera. I might, worst case, just keep it... if I have the time I can experiments on some parts, maybe I can use the CCD sensor or the lenses to do something cool :)
I actually asked because I thought maybe digicams have specialized built.. maybe.. they have some secret mechanism that if an ordinary radio technician opens it he will destroy the circuitry in some sort.. but I guess Im thinking too deep :p
Here's one. I have an older Sony DSC-P20 camera that started popping up an error code on every startup. It would beep, flash the error code and shut down every time. Sometimes it would power up OK, but it was touchy...touch it and watch it blow up, throw the error and shut down again. It got to the point where I had to use the timer to take pictures--just pressing the shutter button would set it off. I did notice that the "InfoLithium" logo that's displayed when using an InfoLithium battery would vanish if the camera was going to throw the error, and this should have clued me in.
I put up with this for a long time before finally breaking out the screwdrivers. This camera isn't very high resolution by today's standards, but it does take excellent VGA-resolution pictures...which is what I want to do with it above all else.
When I got it apart, the camera worked perfectly. I couldn't faze it by tapping, shaking or touching anything. Put it back together and it was right back up to its old tricks. I finally did get it, though. When I took it apart a second time, it decided to keep malfunctioning. Only this time, it put up a message telling me something along the lines of "for Sony battery only". It turns out that the battery door had become just ever so slightly splayed out at one hinge. This made whatever set of contacts Sony uses to detect InfoLithium packs fail to make good contact.
I glued a very tiny shim to the back of the battery instead of trying to fix the hinge on the battery door. I also cleaned the battery contacts a little, although they did not look too dirty. While I had heard that some Sony digital cameras had problems with dirty contacts, this one wasn't mentioned in anything I read. Ever since I added the little bit of material to the back of the battery, the camera has been absolutely reliable.
There you go. Now you have heard of a successful repair. By the way, I did search against the fault code that my camera was returning. Every answer I found suggested the memory stick was failing, but that's clearly not correct. I'm still using the same Memory Stick.
It wouldn't be unheard of. I've not heard of it in cameras, but some TV sets are said to have so-called "trap" switches that you can get into trouble with.
I would look for obvious but hidden stuff. You could have pulled a ribbon cable loose or disconnected a ground that the camera requires to operate properly. Has it got a reset button? If so, did you press and hold it for a while? I think there is a possibility you might still fix it or at least get it turning on again.
I have had some luck fixing a few digital cameras and camcorders but i had others on hand of the same model to rob parts from . The assemblys and boards are usually just replaced by those service centers . Taking one of those apart and getting it back together is a chore itself . I too have made some worse because i got one little connector back on a tiny off center that caused a short . They were useless before hand anyhow .
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