EX3 crashed - please help!
 

Hi,

My ex3 is displaying some seriously worrying symptoms. After about five minutes of the camera starting up, none of the buttons (menu, record, etc) will work and the camera will not switch off unless I eject the battery. Ive tried a factory reset but it doesnt work. Please somebody help!

Re: EX3 crashed - please help!
 

Try plugging it in using the charger/power supply. That's the first thing I would do as you go through a troubleshooting exercise. Remember to swtich the battery charger to power mode.

Re: EX3 crashed - please help!
 

Hi Andrew, thanks for the reply - I should have mentioned that I tried this too but unfortunately it didn't work either :-(.

Re: EX3 crashed - please help!
 

Time to contact Sony I think. Is it still within the 2 years Silver Support period? (I hope it is as this certainly sounds serious...).

Just for the record it cost me about £150 (+ VAT) in July last year to extend my EX3's Silver Support for a third year. Money I felt well worth paying. By the way, when I last looked it cost more to extend the cover an EX1 than an EX3. I guess (and this is only a guess) because they are perhaps less reliable. We certainly don't read about too many failed EX3's. I suppose since most cameras are basically computers in a plastic shell with bits of glass on the front of them these days locking up/software crashing type failures (which is what this sounds like) will happen...maybe all they need to do is re-flash the firmware to removed a corrupt file (hopefully).

Let us know how it goes and good luck!

Re: EX3 crashed - please help!
 

Oh-oh sounds like it might get expensive. Is it the same procedure to upgrade the firmware as to reflash it? My warranty has run out...

Re: EX3 crashed - please help!
 

I had EX1R lock-up, after leaving no power and battery disconnected for couple hours the camera resolved itself and powered up normally.

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-xdc...dia-error.html

Re: EX3 crashed - please help!
 

Hi,
Tried removing the batterys (CR2032 backup and main battery) and left it a day. Although normal operation is restored on power up, after five minutes or so it reverts to it's old tricks...

Re: EX3 crashed - please help!
 

Nothing to do with daylight saving??
Sounds really daft but you could try resetting the time...

Re: EX3 crashed - please help!
 

Hasn't been near water or anything. It's a bit of a weird fault though isn't it, the fact that it works perfectly for about five minutes then all hell breaks loose. Does anybody reckon it could be caused by sdhc media? I have been using it with an sxs adaptor although the fault still shows itself when using genuine sxs cards...

Re: EX3 crashed - please help!
 

No. It would be just as likely to be a SxS card or anything else you plug into the camera.

Sounds more like a component issue. Possibly something getting up to operating temperature and then failing.

Re: EX3 crashed - please help!
 

You don't indicate how old the camera is, so this is only a stab in the dark - have you checked the voltage of the lithium backup battery? I know that you have removed it, but did you test it? Does the camera lose its settings after you have removed the main battery? It may be pulling itself up by its bootstraps every time you start it up and glitching because of it. Might be worth a test.

Cheers

Russ

Re: EX3 crashed - please help!
 

Just tried a fresh backup battery. No luck there either I'm afraid.

Re: EX3 crashed - please help!
 

Oh, one thing I think I should mention is that it fails even without the lens attached or any media in the slots too.

Re: EX3 crashed - please help!
 

Somethings getting hot and failing by the sounds of things. I would not use the camera and get it looked at. It could be a voltage regulator putting out too many volts and causing things to heat up more than they should. This could cause more serious damage if the camera continues to be used.

Re: EX3 crashed - please help!
 

Just carried out a full diagnostic check in the service menu. It says everything is ok and there are no errors?