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my T3i will not power up with sd card in place

majorblunders
Contributor

My Rebel T3i fails to power up with sd card in place.  I have three fully charged batteries and have tried each one.  I've checked for debris in the battery compartment, cleaned the contacts.  I've checked the contacts for both of my lenses and the contacts on the body where the lenses attach.  Tried several different sd cards as well.

 

The camera will start up w/o the sd card in place, but must first remove and replace the battery, after removing the card.   Only then will it start..

 

Help!  Any ideas what causes this?  Is there something I can do to remedy this situation without resorting to sending it in for repairs?  Seems to me that nearly $200 is a lot to charge for what may only be dirty contacts internally for the sd card..(.Just guessing, of course)

 

Thanks

18 REPLIES 18

Hi majorblunders!

 

If you can recall the approximate year and month, that should suffice.  For example, if you remember you purchased your camera in August, 2012, use August 15th, 2012 as the purchase date.

 

Hope this helps!

Well, I wish I could..I'm not even sure of the YEAR I purchased it!  Don't understand why that matters as I know this much; It's not under warranty.

If it's not a warranty claim, I'd make your best rough stab at it and don't worry that it's not even close to correct.

 

I suspect Canon only wants that date to attempt to establish whether it might be a warranty claim as even owners of brand new cameras would use the same page.

 

 

Tim Campbell
5D III, 5D IV, 60Da

Hi! im having the some issue, were u able to fix it? thanks


@romibustelo wrote:

Hi! im having the some issue, were u able to fix it? thanks


The most likely cause is a bad memory card.  Try a new one from a major manufacturer.  Do not use a micro-SD card with an adapter.  Buy a full size card.  Do not exceed 32GB capacity.  I recommend a Sandisk Extreme 32GB SD card.

--------------------------------------------------------
"The right mouse button is your friend."

Zytron
Apprentice

I think I might be having the same problem. Did you figure out a way to fix it with out sending it for repairs? 

Sometimes when I turn on my T3i, it just doesn't come on. It's like as if you were to power it up with the card or battery door open. Power comes into the camera, but it's blocked from Turning on. 
The reason I believe that power is actually coming, is because my lens responds when I stick it on. I have a Canon 28-135mm, and if you've ever used this lens, you've probably noticed that when you stick it on the body, it seems to fire up the IS for a second. It just makes a little clicking sound what I believe is the Image Stabilizer. Anyway, it does this even when the body is doing it's little "play dead" action. Even when it's having the problem and the body isn't turning, the IS still fires off when I stick on the lens. So this is why I believe that it that power is coming in from the battery, but the camera isn't coming on as if it thinks one of the doors is still open. 

When this happens, I've tried opening and closing the doors repeatedly. Pulling out, and reinserting the card and battery. Using different SD cards and batteries. 
Then somewhere along the way randomly it will just come on. Then it's good for awhile and 2 days...A week... Maybe a couple months down the road it will do it again. Seems to be completely random when it pulls this stunt. Pretty irritating though because I'll pull out my camera to grab a shot and.....it doesn't come on. You can understand why this would get in the way.

Anyways.... All that to say, have you figured anything out? 

Where majorblunders said "The camera will start up w/o the SD card in place, but must first remove and replace the battery, after removing the card.   Only then will it start.." This seemed to be the case for me also. If I take the card out, and replace the battery, it will start up, but that's still about useless because I kind of need a card in there to take pictures..

Cheers.

I still haven't sent mine in for repairs, although I will need to do so soon.  I've discovered that I have one sd card only that will work.  It's a 2GB card.  I've tried 6 or 7 other cards and had no luck with any of them.  Sometimes my shutter release cable will work, sometimes not; sometimes it will power-up and other times it's as dead as a doornail, and I haven't been able to discern any logical reason for this.  Perhaps our cameras are haunted...  Seriously though, this seems to be a common enough problem that Canon should offer a free replacement for our cameras, or at least a large discount on a new one.

 

Good luck with your problem.  If I find a solution, I will post it on this site.

 

Carl

Bro am having the same problem, infact even my camera turns on only when 2 GB card is there or am using it without a card. You found any solution to this problem?


@Sagnik7896 wrote:

Bro am having the same problem, infact even my camera turns on only when 2 GB card is there or am using it without a card. You found any solution to this problem?


Maybe you're using a card that's not properly formatted or is too large for the camera. Check the Instruction Manual for possible remedies.

Bob
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA
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