Dropped my camera

[Joe Camel]

I have a pentax optio. I dropped it the other day and now whenever I try to turn it on it comes on and then just cuts back off. Is there any way I can fix it?

[Jack]

Drop it again.

Worked for mine. :thumbsup:

[Virus]

Long story: Probably not.

The majority of camera repairs are actually replacing the part, not actually fixing the camera, so unless you have access to spare parts, it's not going to happen :(

[MunkeyQ]

What Virus said is mostly true - it's about replacing sub-assemblies most of the time.

However, it's worth opening it up and reseating all the connectors. There's loads of little ribbon cables which might have come unclipped and a lot of the PCBs have integrated connectors which might have popped off.

Speaking of bitchy camera repairs, I once repaired a HP camera with a stuck lens - it wouldn't go past a certain point. Turned out a single grain of sand was stuck in the geartrain.

[fogfreak]

I like the idea to check all the cables, but before you open that thing up, make sure you know what you're getting yourself into. I'm all for taking apart and seeing how it works and trying to fix it, but digital cameras especially are so freakin complicated because all the parts are crammed into a tiny space, and, in my opinion, some of those ribbon cables are almost impossible to reconnect once you disconnect it. And then they pop back out and it's a huge pain in the ass to get the damn closed again. My point is, if you take it apart to a point where you can't get it back together, this might cause problems down the road if you try to get it professionally repaired. Repair people usually get pissed off when you hand them a pile of parts.

[Ioabs]

It should be covered under warranty. You could try replacing the battery it could be fucked up. More likely however it is a problem with the logic gate (or pld not sure what it uses exactly), pretty complicated to fix unless you can get your hands on the original schematics. If it is a PLD error then you will have to reprogram it. Sorry.

[MunkeyQ]

It should be covered under warranty. You could try replacing the battery it could be fucked up. More likely however it is a problem with the logic gate (or pld not sure what it uses exactly), pretty complicated to fix unless you can get your hands on the original schematics. If it is a PLD error then you will have to reprogram it. Sorry.
Nominated for Post Of The Year Which Makes No Sense.

The battery can only realistically be harmed if you dent or puncture the outer metal case - they're very resistant to shock. The inner membrane could theoretically burst, but that's only if you really try and severely slam it on concrete again and again. Even then it's debateable.

As for "the logic gate"...well...a logic gate is an arrangement of transistors to form a gate which functions in a certain way - and, or etc. There's hundred of thousands of them in an IC like in a camera. You can get dedicated logic gate chips, but you won't find any of those in a camera...way too compacted and modular. More like a section of a controller IC, which will have many many thousands of logic gates.

Not to mention even with the schematic it's nearly impossible to fix an electronic fault. Ever tried soldering an SMD resistor you can hardly see? Or replacing a 48 pin chip with hair-thin legs? Impossible. They're soldered using epoxy in the centre of the chip and a solder bath at the factory.