Havent flicked your standby switch to lock by any chance?

Take it to your local panel shop or mechanical workshop and give it a good blast all round with the compressed air nozzle.

Still sounds like the standby switch - which I discovered by hitting accidentally - and now use all the time

Trish

stand by switch. i've been caught in the rain at least 4 times, ungodly humid conditions and major dust/ sand. the a1 is a beast.

Yeah, if it plays in VCR mode, that's the standby switch. But that kind of dust is not a good thing. Might be a good idea to send the camera in to the Canon service place and have it cleaned.

lol, k it was my standby switch! OMG i'm starting to have serious questions about my videography abilities.....

Cal..I think we have all been there.
It happened to me on a shoot with the Gl2 years ago.
I had no idea what it was and started pressing and flipping everything I could to turn the damn thing back on. It's actually a handy tool once the stress of discovering it subsides.

Ya, same thing with my GL2 a few years back at a wedding... Freaked me out, luckily I just started moving every switch, which there weren’t a lot of on the GL2. :)

I just got my XH-A1 Last night, and I am glad I ran into this thread seeing as though this camera is all new to me. It’s just one of those silly things, which can feel disastrous.

Help! XH A1 Will Not Power ON in Record Mode
 

I was using my camera the other day with no problems, on record and playback. However, when I took it out of the case again, it will only let me turn the dial to the playback and power on. If I turn to the record side, it will not power on, and the little gray button will not come out and release.

Has anyone had this issue? If so, how did you fix it. I will call CANON if I must, but I hate being on hold forever.

I did the very same thing - I bet the thumb button is set to LOCK.....

You Are Right!!!!!!!!!! Thanks!

Merged several separate threads together which discuss this topic.

Help me plzz!! Important
 

Hi all,
First: Help!!!!!
I'm actually on a holiday trip , I've been recording with my cam for 2 days until now. I just wanting to power it on in A mode. The screens kept black , both LCD and the Viewfinder. It will come on in vcr mode and play back the tape but you can't watch the movie when you press play nothing happens.MH turned it of and an a few more time and suddendly the screen reappeared in A mode. I wanted to get out the cassete which wasn't also anymore possible. Switched back to vcr and got it finally out. At the moment the recording mods aren't working A, TV ,AV none of them, the HDV logo and the green led are illuminated but nothing else black LCD and viewfinder.In this state you can pull the eject button for the cassette an open it but the cassette remains in the cam and isn't coming out.
Powered it off again an ON in A got back the LCD screen I tried to record something, the red dot appears on the screen but the timecode isn't running anymore.If you press END search it doesn't work either the camera remains and does nothing.
And yes the button is in standby position.
Right now I'm rertying to get it work and the LCD screen redisappeared...
Help
Many Thanks
L.G

Little update of the problem.
I have now found a solution for the Black LCD in A,tv,.. mode .
I have to get the cam in vcr position and then quickly turn the weel over to A mode without a stop now I have again the image on my LCD but still can't record or eject the cassette . I think that this is defenitely not a manipulation error.The camera doesn't even as filled an entire DV in it's life it's brand new.
What do you guys think about it?
thx for help
L.G

No one who can help me?or at minimum say that this isn't a manipulation error?
Thnx
L.G