Canon EOS 300D, error 99

[Telegraphist]

My camera is showing Error 99 and I have tried everything on the internet and AI but cannot sort it. Both my expensive lenses work perfectly well when I take a picture but once I have pressed the button the error 99 comes up, and to enable me to take another photograph, I have to switch it off and then turn it back on again. The CF card also records the photographs OK. 

Therefore, should I reset it to factory settings?..

[deebatman316]

@Telegraphist very rarely will a Forum Moderator or Administrator will comment in the forums. It just so happened that @Stephen commented in the forum. It’s not all that common that a Forum Moderator will comment in a thread. As for the other users who commented in this post. We DO NOT work for CanonUSA. @BurnUnit , @ebiggs1 , @LeeP & @deebatman316 don’t work for CanonUSA. CanonUSA has support pages that show when a products end their service life. So you don’t have to work to see when the end of life cycle of a particular product is.

[Telegraphist]

Obviously you are trying to defend yourself and others. I don’t need your excuses on what you have said and what transpires in how you and Canon put things across, when people need your advice. 

So stop sending me inane comments. I shall work on this 24 year old Canon EOS 300D camera (err 99) and neither you or Canon will be held responsible for what I achieve if any. Remember, you were told that I bought a second hand Canon EOS 300D off eBay complete with a lens for £36.00 and £2.60 for delivery to my home in Stafford United Kingdom and this camera works absolutely perfect even with the other 2 lenses you ask me to send photographs of.

So the moral of the story is the err 99 camera will be on my worktop to try and discover why there is this err 99 message, and if it doesn’t work it goes in the bin.

[rs-eos]

Why the hostilities? The people here that participate in this community are only trying to help.

[BurnUnit]

More power to you. It sounds like you have a pretty good idea of what you may be getting yourself into and the possible outcome. I've taken this approach on several occasions with some limited success. At the very least you'll end up learning something so it seems to be worth a bit of effort. Success or failure, let us know what you find.

[ebiggs1]

"Why the hostilities? The people here that participate in this community are only trying to help."

The advice you get here is worth exactly what you paid for it. Take it or leave it, your decision. If you want to pull it apart more power to you. Have at it.

I believe everyone here has treated you fairly and respectable. It is now on you to do as you wish with what you learned from them. We gave you the basic steps that cause this ambiguous error code. That is generally as far as the average person wants or needs to dive in to it. Good luck.

[Telegraphist]

Hi BurnUnit,

Many thanks for your reply — much appreciated.

I thought I would let you know where I’ve got to with the Canon EOS 300D showing Error 99 with the following paragraphs: -

1. I have carried out several number of tests to try and isolate the fault. The error appears after every shot, but the camera does actually take the photograph, but no review is shown on the LCD screen.  After switching the camera off and back on, the image can be viewed and therefore the picture is correctly saved to the CF and is properly exposed and in focus.

1. I tested the camera with two different lenses (Canon EF-S 18–55mm and Sigma 70–300mm), and the same problem occurs with both. I also tested the camera without a lens attached, and Error 99 still appeared.

1. I then opened the camera and accessed the main board. I reseated several ribbon cables, including those connected to the shutter mechanism. After doing this, the camera powered up correctly and operated as expected, however, the Error 99 still occurs after each shot.

1. From what I can tell, the camera completes the exposure cycle but does not recognise that the cycle has finished, which suggests a fault with the internal detection (possibly a switch or signal from the shutter mechanism).

1. So, at this stage, the camera is very close to working but still throws Error 99 every time a photo is taken. I have included some photographs of the stages of some of the areas inside the camera which I worked on.  Now that I have a good knowledge of the camera, I won’t bin it, as I feel that having had a go then at least, I am aware that perhaps some items could be used as spares if required in the future.

1. As you said, it has certainly been a learning experience, and worth the effort. But if you recall, I still have a Canon EOS 300D which was purchased from eBay for £36 plus a delivery charge of £2.60. So, all is not lost and I can soldier on with taking perfect photographs with this second-hand camera using the 2 lenses quoted above in paragraph 2, and at 84 years of age I am sure it will last me until I die He! He!  

Kind regards John Telegraphist

[Telegraphist]

Hi BurnUnit,

I did post the following message to you with some photographs, but your system does not appear to accept what one writes or perhaps photographs, so hopefully you can see the gist of what I wanted to explain to you in this message and of course you did want me to let you know how I go on so here goes and then I am on my bike off the system. Many thanks for your reply, much appreciated. I thought I would let you know where I’ve got to with the Canon EOS 300D, showing Error 99 with the following paragraphs. I have carried out a number of tests to try and isolate the fault. The error appears after every shot, but the camera does actually take the photograph, but no review is shown on the LCD screen.  After switching the camera off and back on, the image can be viewed, and therefore the picture is correctly saved to the CF and is properly exposed and in focus.I tested the camera with two different lenses (Canon EF-S 18–55mm and Sigma 70–300mm), and the same problem occurs with both. I also tested the camera without a lens attached, and Error 99 still appeared. I then opened the camera and accessed the main board. I reseated several ribbon cables, including those connected to the shutter mechanism. After doing this, the camera powered up correctly and operated as expected, however, the Error 99 still occurs after each shot. From what I can tell, the camera completes the exposure cycle but does not recognise that the cycle has finished, which suggests a fault with the internal detection, possibly a switch or signal from the shutter mechanism. So, at this stage, the camera is very close to working but still throws Error 99 every time a photo is taken. I have included some photographs of the stages of some of the areas inside the camera which I worked on.  Now that I have a good knowledge of the camera, I won’t bin it, as I feel that having had a go at it, then at least, I am aware that perhaps some items could be used as spares if required in the future. As you said, it has certainly been a learning experience and worth the effort. But if you recall, I still have a Canon EOS 300D, which was purchased from eBay for £36 plus a delivery charge of £2.60. So, all is not lost, and I can soldier on with taking perfect photographs with this second-hand camera using the 2 lenses quoted above in paragraph 2, and at 84 years of age, I am sure it will last me until I die. Kind regards, John Telegraphist

[LeeP]

The site of late has been very iffy about saving text or uploading pictures. I was working on a Knowledge Base article and literally had to input it from scratch due to error messages, I'm sorry you had that experience.

[jrhoffman75]

Looks like there was some sort of water intrusion at some time based on what appears to be rust in second image.

[Telegraphist · Accepted solution]

Thanks for your reply. When I inspected the inside, in particular the PC board there appeared no water ingress, and I guess the rust you saw was down to a bit of condensation. As I said in my report, it does take pictures now that I have put it back together, but rather a pain in the backside having to switch it off and back on to take another picture and I am glad I have a second Canon EOS 300D. So this error 99 camera will probably be used as spares.

John United Kingdom