Ah. I switched the thumb switch to 'lock'. Don't do this unless you want to experience fear.

Been there. Done that.

Same here.
It did send a chill down my spine at first, until I recalled a thread on this board discussing this very thing.

http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=103020

So I just typed out a whole big question and then I saw it. It's a really obvious fix and I feel like such a moron haha. Thanks guys for inadvertantly helping me. I'm pretty sure I almost soiled my pants since I got this less than twelve hours ago. Thanks again looking forward to being part of the forums.

A few years ago I sent my XM2 back to Canon for repair, when it came back to me nothing worked. Eventually I discovered that Canon had moved that switch to standby.

And they had the cheek to tell me they could not replicate the original fault - the zoom wouldn't work consistently. Unfortunately sometimes it would work for several hours of recording, and at others would zoom out when it felt like it, and you had to wait until IT was ready to be zoomed in again. Eventually it stopped zooming completely, and I could only use it as a fixed wide angle.

And yes, I have managed to knock the switch to standby on the A1 - took a few minutes of methodically checking everything until I found the problem.

My XH-A1 wouldn't fire up some time ago, and it turned out to be bad contact of the battery. I took the battery out, put it back in and it worked again. The spring system, pressing the battery against the contacts, is not 100% reliable, apparantly. I wonder what will happen when the springs loosen up...

I've had that problem once, too.

Same here. Just take out the battery and put it back in. That only happened to me one time and it's been fine since. Same thing happened with the power supply--it's a little tricky to get it properly seated.

Good Lord...

This just had me spazzin out for the last 30 minutes. Glad it happened tonight and not at a shoot. Now I know!!! That is a really bad place for the lock/standby switch.

and this was just after my PC wouldn't start earlier tonight. Turned out it was just a loose DVI connection...OF COURSE AFTER I went out and bought a new video Card thinking I had fried my 8800GTX.

Anyone wanna buy a slightly used 8800GTX? :(

Uhhg and it was such a great day too.

Worst failure I ever had?

I assembled my own PC from scratch, so I felt pretty confident about the ins and outs of it.

Except... it's very easy to mess up the firewire installation. I was one jumper pin over...

That turned the "transfer data" wire into the "O HAI I WILL GIVS YOU ELECTRICITY!" line. I literally -destroyed- an HV20 back when the HV20s were going for $1100. (I also destroyed an iPod I had for years and really liked.) Luckily, the HV20 was still under warranty, and I was able to get a replacement..

Hi, I'm hoping I'm just being an absolute moron (definitely been known to have been one from time to time). I've been away on holiday for the last 16 days, just tried to switch on my camera (which was at home the full time I was away) and nothing. When I turn the power dial anti-clockwise (VCR functions direction) it switches on and functions fine. When I turn the dial clockwise towards the recording function, absolutely nothing.

The camera is literally a week short of 13 months old, not excessive use at all, in fact pretty mild use (less than 40 hrs on the record head). Has anyone else experienced similar, am I panicing and perhaps missing something obvious. If so please point out because this is doing my head in thinking about it.

Thanks in advance

John

If it is what I think it is you will laugh.

This is what happened to me
I tried to get my A1 to turn on, I spent hours looking up why it wasn't turning on, how I could get it to work, etc. I pushed every button, I tried different batteries, with tapes with out tapes, etc.

Where the record button is there is a little standby switch, I had just barely bumped that so it wasn't entirely facing the correct direction and because of this, it wouldn't turn on. Make sure that switch is correctly aligned with run mode and then try to turn it back on. If it still doesn't function, check back with us.

Louis Maddalena

I'm not sure whether it's a chuckle or an embarassed laugh, either way Louis thank you, you've saved me from a long sleepless night (it's 11.30 pm here in the UK)

Thanks again

John

I wonder how many of the Canon engineers laugh til they split their sides every time they read a post describing exactly this problem. I too have fallen for it!

Bryce

I wonder how many of the Canon engineers laugh til they split their sides every time they read a post describing exactly this problem. I too have fallen for it!

Bryce

Me too...right before a shoot. Fortunately I figured it out in time, but I was scared!

It happened to me too!

Merged together a bunch of "camera not working" threads... classic standby / lock confusion.

That's a much better heading than camera not working, since it's an operator problem.

I use this switch all the time. Great function. When I'm doing a shoot I tweek my settings then switch to standby until I'm ready to roll.

I don't recall ever flicking it over accidentally, but regardless, once you know it can happen, it's no longer a problem, surely.