T5i Camera pop up flash not opening

[robertinca]

I purchased a T5i a few months ago and it worked fine. Recently the popup flash is not opening up. When a try it manually, I get a message that says an error has occurred and I should power the camera off and on. I do so but get the same result. I hear a click but the flash does not "pop up". 

Any ideas?

[jrhoffman75]

Try removing the battery and reinstall.

[robertinca]

I tried removing the battery and replacing it. No effect. Popup still does not pop up

[TCampbell]

When you press the button, this activates a small solenoid which releases a spring-loaded catch hook.  The flash itself is also on a spring and should pop up.

It's possible to have a bit ot sand/dirt wedging it or even anything sticky so that it doesn't pop up when it should.

You can use your fingers to gently assist the pop-up flash to raise up as you press the button to pop it open (incidentally do you even hear the solenoid clicking?)

If it does not make a clicking sound then ANOTHER possibility is that the camera thinks you have an external flash in the hot-shoe.  The hot-shoe rails have tiny leaf-springs in them to provide some tension as you slide in an external flash.  When you slide a flash in, those leaf springs press a tiny little miro-switch.  If that swtich is stuck down then the camera will believe you have a flash installed and it wont pop up (because the on-camera flash would hit the shoe-mounted flash.)

In either case, you can try a can of compressed air ot blow out any dust.  If there's anything sticky it could be cleaned off with something which self-evaporates and leaves no residue behind... such as denatured alcohol (do NOT use any type of "oil"... that wont evaporate and could work its way into the camera.)