My Canon XTi is dead

[Manic]

Hello guys,

I usually just hang around the forum reading posts. This time I need your help.
Yesterday I was flying back from a trip to Australia. I was taking pictures out of the window and the pictures were turning up good. I normally don’t turn off the camera when I’m taking sporadic pictures, I just let it go to “sleep” mode. One time I took a pic, still inside the plane, reviewed it in the screen and let it go to sleep. Next time I tried to take a pic the camera was dead. I thought it was the battery, and didn’t want to get up and change the battery, so I put it away. Once I got home I put a new battery in, and nothing, I loaded all my three batteries with the same result: nothing. I also swapped memory cards and lenses, to include the one that came with the camera. Finally, I took all the batteries out, including the small “hockey puck” battery hoping it would restart the camera. Still dead

I had the camera for about 6 months, so it is covered. I just don’t want to send it back before I try everything. So this is where I need your help….. What should I do???

At the time I was using a Sigma 28-300 lens.
I have never dropped the camera. I’ve always taken extreme care of it.

So, what’s next???

Thank you,

[Photo-John]

Sounds like you've covered pretty much all the options available to you short of tearing it apart. The next step is to call Canon customer service. Based on what you've said, I expect they'll tell you to send it in.

[Manic]

Thank you Photo-John for your reply.

I just want to make sure I cover all the troubleshooting I can do before I send it in. The little booklet/instruction is very basic.

[Manic]

I sent the camera to Canon and when i checked today it said that the camera was repaired; however, it didnt mentioned what was wrong with it. I called the 1-800 number and was told the "PCB assembly" shorted out and could not take the power, or something along those lines. The lady transfer me to the technical support department but after being on hold for 20 min i hang up.
Maybe you guys can answer my questions.
What exactly is the PCB assembly and is this is common problem in XTis, and what can be done to avoid this problem.
For some reason i dont think humidity had something to do with it as it was in an airplane when it broke. Airplanes are relatively dried, specially when cruizing, low humidity.

So what are your thoughts.

[Medley]

PCB is short for "printed circuit board", and could encompass just about any electrical component of the camera.

Humidity is only one factor that may have contributed to the problem. Problems could range from dust to a loose piece of circuit-board foil to condensation to a faulty component. Without talking to the techies, you'll probably never know for sure. I wouldn't really be surprised if they don't know either though. As someone who used to troubleshoot electronics, I can tell you that their job is to fix the camera, not necessarily to find out what broke it. Generally speaking, this equates to "find out which board is bad and replace it." After all, time is money.

In truth, all they told you was that the camera was broke and they fixed it. You already knew that. The only thing they've eliminated are mechanical problems. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

- Joe U.

[Photo-John]

I don't know if there's anything you can really do to avoid the problem. It may have been a bad board from the beginning. I've been using my XTi in all kinds of conditions for almost a year now and haven't had any problems. It's been in the pouring rain on numerous ocassion and set down in the dirt 100 times. I've never had any problems. I would just chalk your problems up to bad luck and move on. Someone has to get a bad camera every once in a while. This time it was you. Hopefully they fixed it completely and you won't have any more trouble with it.