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Powershot SX1IS damaged during Time Lapse shooting?

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Offline wishediwouldknow

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Powershot SX1IS damaged during Time Lapse shooting?
« on: 01 / June / 2012, 20:01:48 »
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I did some time lapse test runs. Set to 10 sec interval in auto mode. One was around 500 shots the second 1200 - both worked well - movie is good. The third stopped after approx 800 shots (batteries were still good)and camera seems now to be faulty. Cannot start camera in shooting mode. No display and as soon as the lens drives it will stop dead. Display comes in replay mode - cannot set time. CHDK loads when started in playback and settings can be accessed. Lens drives seem to work all the way. Pressing shooting button will activate lens drive and then all stops - display off. Have removed SD card with CHDK (no difference) and tried to re-install the 2.00 firmware update. Cannot execute the update  - tells that it is already updated.
Has anyone an idea how I can diagnose if the camera hardware is faulty or the firmware has become corrupted (and if that is the case how to fix that)?
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Offline matt314159

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Re: Powershot SX1IS damaged during Time Lapse shooting?
« Reply #1 on: 01 / June / 2012, 20:47:56 »
As I understood it, the CHDK itself didn't write any changes to the FW, only ran from the SD card.  You might want to do an in-camera format of the SD card if possible and see if that helps--I don't really think it will but it's worth a shot.

Coming from a background repairing computers (my career is IT) it might help to take out the battery and hold down the power button for 15 seconds or so.  This is coming from my background with laptops where this will completely drain the system of residual power.  Might transfer over to camera as well, I don't know, but it certainly wouldn't hurt anything. 

I would also look for and execute a function in the settings to do a full reset if possible. 

These are just some random suggestions off the top of my head, I'm a newbie here, myself, so good luck!
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Offline waterwingz

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Re: Powershot SX1IS damaged during Time Lapse shooting?
« Reply #2 on: 01 / June / 2012, 21:01:06 »
Taking out the battery for a few minutes is always a good idea when things go wrong. But if you can restart the camera and CHDK loads then that's most likely not a solution.

Quote from: wishediwouldknow on 01 / June / 2012, 20:01:48
CHDK loads when started in playback and settings can be accessed. Lens drives seem to work all the way.
Are you saying that you can actually move the lens mechanism while in playback mode ?  Does that mean zoom in & out and focus ? Or just that it "opens"

Quote
Pressing shooting button will activate lens drive and then all stops - display off. Have removed SD card with CHDK (no difference) and tried to re-install the 2.00 firmware update. Cannot execute the update  - tells that it is already updated. Has anyone an idea how I can diagnose if the camera hardware is faulty or the firmware has become corrupted (and if that is the case how to fix that)?
Sounds like a mechanical failure.   Google "lens error" - you'll see a lot of sites like this :
http://camerarepair.blogspot.com/2007/12/fixing-lens-error-on-digital-camera.html
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Offline wishediwouldknow

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Re: Powershot SX1IS damaged during Time Lapse shooting?
« Reply #3 on: 01 / June / 2012, 22:26:11 »
resetting and removing batteries (including the button cell) overnight makes no difference.
Starting via on/off button will illuminate power button orange, lens moves about 2 mm and all stops dead, no display. Starting via replay button will give display and some brief lens movement. I can hold the lens barrel tight and gently move it out during starting in replay mode. The motor pumps and tries to retract but it is possible to get the barrel smooth all the way out. It will stop after a few second and report lens error - restart camera. Doing this with on/off button will initiate retracting and stop immediately - all off. Restarting with playback will have display and smooth  retraction of the lens barrel in on go. No bad noises - sounds just fine. I assume that there is no mechanical fault. Note that the camera was on tripod when the problem started and has never benn rough manhandled or dropped. Everything is repeatable and things behave same whatever I do. Can I somehow reflash the firmware?   
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Offline reyalp

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Re: Powershot SX1IS damaged during Time Lapse shooting?
« Reply #4 on: 01 / June / 2012, 23:27:57 »
Quote from: wishediwouldknow on 01 / June / 2012, 22:26:11
Can I somehow reflash the firmware?   
CHDK does not change the firmware. If you remove or re-format the card, then you are running the original unmodified firmware. We do not have any method to re-flash the firmware.

Edit:
Note this page http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/Camera_failures_suspected_to_be_caused_by_CHDK exists to track failures suspected to be due to CHDK. You are welcome to add yours.
« Last Edit: 01 / June / 2012, 23:31:56 by reyalp »
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Offline fe50

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Re: Powershot SX1IS damaged during Time Lapse shooting?
« Reply #5 on: 03 / June / 2012, 19:00:21 »
Quote from: wishediwouldknow on 01 / June / 2012, 22:26:11
Starting via replay button will give display and some brief lens movement.
If the camera moves / tries to move the lens when powered on in playback mode (i.e. with the [>] button), the lens is not rectracted completely: whith completely retracted lens mechanics, there's no movement of the lens when the camera is powered on in playback mode.

When the camera crashes with expanded lens or power is interrupted (e.g. when you open the battery containment door), the camera looses all informations about the lens mechanics position.
The next time the camera gets powered on (either in playback or in record mode) the camera moves the lens mechanics and tries to move the lens to a known reference point.

In your case this results in a lens error or another crash, so there's most probably a problem with the lens mechanics or the mechanism which detects the lens position.

Your camera can't retract the lens completely and/or can't detect the correct position - therefore the firmware reports the lens error and stops all activity to protect the mechanics...
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