60D turns itself on (even when switch is in the Off position)

[jjmarston]

My 60D keeps turning itself on. I turn it off and about two or three minutes later it's back on again all by itself -- with the physical power switch in the Off position. The result is that my batteries keep draining down. I thought perhaps it was related to the memory card but it does the same thing with no memory card in. Additionally, when I switched off and took the memory card out it then didn't turn back on. So, once I managed to get it back on, I tried removing the card (causing it to automatically turn off); then, after closing the door to the empty card bay, I flipped the power switch to Off and then back to On and it turned on. So I know none of this is because of the battery, which is charged. It's like the camera has a mind of its own - I keep finding it on with the power switch in the Off postion.

[jjmarston]

One further discovery: with Auto Power Down set to Off I removed a dead battery and installed a new one. With the camera switched Off. As soon as the battery was in - the camera still in the Off position - the red light started flashing as if the camera was accessing the memory card (like checking it out? organizing it?). This went on for some time. I took a photo, viewed it and then still the red light kept going. Even after I switched the camera back off again. I came back an hour later and it had stopped. This was my first suspicion of why my batteries were draining: that the camera - even while Off - accesses the memory card for long periods, doing what I have no idea.

[jrhoffman75]

" It sounds a little bit like being told to shut down and restart my computer irrespective of the specific problem. "

The reason that is a recommended action is that many times it resolves the issue. All it takes is a electrical surge or a static discharge to cause a random 0 to turn to 1 or vice versa to mess things up.

[BurnUnit]

Well here's a question that hasn't been asked yet.

Are you using a full sized SD card or a micro SD card with an adapter?

[Waddizzle]

“OK but why would resetting to the factory settings solve the problem? It sounds a little bit like being told to shut down and restart my computer irrespective of the specific problem. Not that I have any settings I'm afraid to lose but I don't want to do this if there's not a compelling reason to think this problem will be solved by it. Have you ever encountered the problem I've described?”


Seriously? Your camera is in an usable and unstable state. Isn’t that a sufficiently compelling reason for you?

You have also provided enough information to question the reliability of your memory card. I suggest that change to a new 32GB card from a name brand manufacturer. Buy a full size card, and do not buy one on Amazon.