Canon 6D not turning on

[Damnfinecoffee]

I have been using my camera for less than a year without any problems. Today when I put my sd card in it just stopped working. I tried to reset it, and it worked fine until I put the card in. I thought there was a problem with the card until I tried another card. Same problem. I do t know if anyone has any ideas as to how to fix this problem. Everytime I put a card in I have to reset it to make it turn on again, only to have to reset it again once a card is put in. Please help, thank you.

[Peter]

Low level format the card in the camera? No switch in the memory card hatch or the battery hatch? Is the memory card slot clean?

[Damnfinecoffee]

Sent an email to canon and they said it may be that the card slot is damaged, so I'll probably have to end up sending it in.

[RobertTheFat]

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@Damnfinecoffee wrote:
Sent an email to canon and they said it may be that the card slot is damaged, so I'll probably have to end up sending it in.

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Who am I to question Canon's expertise in such a matter, but that explanation sounds fishy to me. If the camera won't turn on, even with no card in the slot, then I can't see card slot damage as the problem. More likely it could be a problem with the microswitch that prevents the camera from being turned on when the battery door is open. There may be a similar switch on the card slot door, although it's not obvious to me why there should be.

I don't recall what card slot(s) a 6D has, but card slot damage should be less likely for SD than for CF. It may be harder to detect, however; damage to the pins that connect a CF card is usually pretty obvious.

[TCampbell]

I am inclined to agree with Bob.  If the card slot is damaged then usually one of two things happens.... (1) the camera fails to detect the card and gives the "no card" error, or (2) the camera thinks the card has it's write-lock tab set to lock the card and refuses to write to it.  But neither of these situations causes the camera to fail to power up.

Failing to power up either implies (1) a lack of power (bad or totally dead battery), (2) battery door isn't closed (there's a micro-swtich that kills power if the door is opened.), (3) memory card door open (there's a micro-switch on that door which kills power if it thinks the door is open), or (4) an internal problem (e.g. something electronic has failed to point that the camera can no longer power up.)

Of these, you can test or fix #1 yourself.  You can usually inspect for problems with #2 or #3 by inspecting the doors and the tabs that press the micro-switches and may also be able to use something small & non-conductive (such as a wood toothpick) to press each switch to see if the camera springs to life (e.g. if the switch isn't properly positioned and the tab wasn't engaging the switch enough to close it.)  But if the camera wont power on even with the doors closed then it's likely going to be a trip back to Canon to repair the flakey switch.  #4 could only be diagonsed and serviced by Canon.