Rebel XS only turns on when battery is removed and reinserted

[ArchieFell]

Hello, 

I am an amateur photographer using a Rebel XS. I know it’s an old piece of kit but it’s all I can afford at the minute. 
It will only turn on when the battery is removed and reinserted and the battery cap is put back on. I have tried several batteries including 1 canon and 2 Henjoy. It works completely normal once the battery is removed and reinserted and will stay on for as long as I need it. However, when I power is off using the normal switch, the on switch will not function and I have to remove the battery again. 

I am currently travelling so please do not recommend I buy a new camera as it is not an option. I am keen at wildlife photography and set to go to Komodo National Park in the next couple of weeks so urgently need advice before then. 

Thankyou very much and god bless

[ebiggs1]

"Can you think of anything I could do to fix it from the symptoms described?"

I am sorry but I can not. Aside form a new known good battery and a new known good SD card, that's about it. BTW a known good battery assumes you have a known good battery charger. These items are crucial to the operation of any camera. Any one of them malfunctioning will cause camera problems.

BTW, on the XS the date/time battery is installed on the MB and is not replaceable. If the XS is left unused for a long period of time that battery will also become discharged. It resets and recharges when a fully charged main battery is installed. The date/time battery not being changed will not prevent the XS from working properly. The same is true for the SD card. It is not keeping the XS form working. However, if either the main battery or SD card is faulty that can cause problems.

[ArchieFell]

Hello,

I have a canon brand battery charger and 1 canon battery. I forgot to mention previously, that I had not used my camera in approximately 1 week, and when I came to use it I found that the switch had been knocked from ‘off’ to ‘on’ whilst I had been travelling and as it was not turning on, I assumed the battery had gone flat. 
However, after swapping the batteries and turning it on I realised that somehow the camera (either on its own or through accidental button pushing whilst in my bag) had changed its auto turn off settings from ‘never’ to ‘30 seconds’. I then loaded up the original battery and found that the one that had been in it the whole time had 3 full bars (maximum). 

God knows if this helps or changes anything, I only spoke of the date/time battery due to a post on a different forum page where a man with the same symptoms on a Rebel XS had posted and a man said it was to do with the date/time. It doesn’t make sense to me because, as you have already stated, that is purely for chronological purposes and surely wouldn’t interact with the power on feature of the camera.

Once again I sincerly value your advice and the time you take to help an amateur like myself.

god bless,

archie 

[ebiggs1]

Hope it works for you. If you have an off brand battery and it has some age on it, I would discard it and buy a new one.