G1X sometimes doesn't start

[tomkincaid]

I have a G1X that usually works fine, but every once in a while it doesn't start when the power button is pushed. The battery is fully charged. I notice that if I take the battery out and leave it for several hours, when I put the battery back in, it usually starts.

Sometimes when I have been using it, the screen flashed random lines, then the camera turned off with the lens extended. After several hours, it turned on retracted the lens on its own. After that, it seems to be working again.

[John_]

Hoiw old is your battery ? Usually when it shuts off so fast that the lens does not have the time to retract it is because of the battery.

Just because the battery charges to what seems full it does not mean the battery still has the ability-capacity to hold the charge and it can drain-short out instantly. It can be random too if the cells are failing iinternally.

[tomkincaid]

Maybe 1 year old. When it works, the battery hold enough charge to last days. It's just that sometimes it doesn't turn on at all for no reason, then once it does turn on it works find and the battery seems good.

[John_]

Well the least expensive thing to try is a new battery and then either you will have fixed it or you will have a spare battery. It is not that uncommonfor batteries to fail in that time period you mentioned.They can also work intermittently as you described, Turning the camera on creates a large demand on the battery. If it is shorting out under load it will happen at those times.

A few other things that can do that that are dirty contacts on the battery or in the battery compartment or the battery door is not closing properly or statying closed. Anything else would be internal and would need to be $erviced.

SHould you suspect dirty contacts use a good electrical cleaner like DeOxit that will not hurt any plastic or rubber.

200% proof denatured alcohol on a Q-tip will work but you dont want to get to much of that on the plastic parts.

The key in what you first said is it shuts down with the lens still extended too. That means and instant loss of power before it can shut down properly....like a computer.

You can also try doing a reset all through the settings menu in hopes it's just a glitch.

[RobertTheFat]

---

@John_ wrote:

SHould you suspect dirty contacts use a good electrical cleaner like DeOxit that will not hurt any plastic or rubber.

200% proof denatured alcohol on a Q-tip will work but you dont want to get to much of that on the plastic parts.

---

If I remember my high school and college chemistry correctly, the only way to achieve 200 proof (100%) ethanol is to distill it in the presence of benzene. Otherwise, it forms a constant-boiling solution with water at about 190 proof. So if getting the water out is that important, you may have to live with trace amounts of benzene. Moreover, "denatured" alcohol at any proof strength contains, by definition, adultrants that make it undrinkable (so that it won't be taxed as vodka). All this may make DeOxit more attractive, even if it's more expendive.