600D: half bricked camera

[Thomas131]

Hello!
I have an 600D which worked perfectly with ML for 4 years, since Wednesday (I did nothing). It didn't start.
I don't remember if the on/off-switch was initially on or off (wasn't used for some days). Pushing buttons, switching on/off switch or switching the picture-mode, didn't help. Open Battery Door/SD-Card Slot didn't get the LED to flash like usually. Using another (working) 3rd party battery didn't help eighter. Yesterday, I got it working after ~2 minutes and the camera worked for the whole afternoon.

Today, it didn't work again. I tried a lot while removing the SD-Card to except any possible ML-errors. After a while, it worked. I don't know what I did. I inserted the SD-Card and it didn't start again. Then it started again. After that, it started all the time. I removed the ML-Flag successfully.

I tried to flash the plain 1.0.2 to the camera again and it stuck on "LOADING" for two hours (then I removed the battery). Then I tried to flash 1.0.3, the same freeze again ... It starts without problems and shows 1.0.2.

Do you have any ideas why the camera doesn't work? Old Caps? I personally think that the flashing-issue is seperate from the other one ... But I'm not sure ...

Thanks in advance for any idea!!!
Thomas

[a1ex]

If there was no LED blink with a ML card when reinserting the battery (something that any ML-enabled camera does, even with the power switch off), it was likely a power issue.

If the camera is locked up, switching the on/off button and opening/closing the card/battery door will not work (there will be no reaction). These are all soft switches. To get the LED blink at startup, you have to remove the battery and put it back, with a ML card inserted. The diagnostic tools can give some additional feedback, but a known good ML card is also good for checking whether the camera is alive (ML turns on the LED at startup immediately after checksumming itself, and on recent models - since 550D iirc - Canon bootloader turns on the LED while loading ML from the card).

If the camera is not locked up, you also get the startup LED blink on actions such as opening closing the card/battery door, or (un)twisting the lens, with the power switch off. In other words, that happens if (and only if) the camera was powered down cleanly.

If the firmware update was stuck at Loading, it was most likely an issue reading from the SD card. Formatting the card from the camera (important) and copying the FIR afterwards should help getting past this step. However, I doubt upgrading and downgrading the firmware will solve anything, and I wouldn't advise trying it when you suspect a power issue.

[Thomas131]

Hello!
THANKS for all the answers! I've risked setting the ML Bootflag again ... I will try the LED Blink test when nothing works again ...

Before reenabling the bootflag, I found out something interesting: The LED blinked only on certain events (Card open/close; remove/attach lens) when the battery-door was open, not when it was closed.

THANKS in advance! I will wait some time, try again and probably send the camera to Canon for repair ... if that isn't to expensive ...
Thomas

[a1ex]

With the power switch off, 60D blinks the LED on any transition on the above variables (card door open/close, battery door open/close, lens mount/unmount), regardless of how you mix them and in what order. For example, removing the lens will produce a blink even if the battery and card doors are open.

With the power switch off, 5D3 blinks the LED as long as the final state does not include "battery door open". So, opening the battery door will not produce a blink, but closing it will do. Removing the lens with battery door open will not blink, but doing the same with battery door closed will blink.

600D is between these two; I don't know its exact behavior, but I'd expect it to be like 60D.

Could your observation indicate an issue on the battery door micro-switch?

BTW - with vanilla Canon firmware (or without card), there will be no sign of life whatsoever if any of the card/battery covers are open (or if one of these switches is defective). There might be some activity on these pins (didn't try, but I now have the hardware to check them, so it's on the list).

[irvcobb]

With the power switch off, 60D blinks the LED on any transition on the above variables (card door open/close, battery door open/close, lens mount/unmount), regardless of how you mix them and in what order. For example, removing the lens will produce a blink even if the battery and card doors are open.

600D is between these two; I don't know its exact behavior, but I'd expect it to be like 60D.

I can verify this. LED blinks in all these cases on the 600D.