S120 - NO FLASH Symbol is Always On

[debeby]

I've had a PowerShot S120 for several years, and have had no issues with it.  I'm familiar with the need to manually pop up the flash when directed.  Something happened, however, and now I cannot get the flash to engage.  It refuses to manually go up, and no matter what setting I put it on, manual or automatic, it always shows the "No Flash" symbol in the display.  Pressing on the right side of the dial (where the "flash" image is printed) does nothing.  Pressing other sides of the dial seem to work fine.

I've searched the web for an answer, with no luck.  Hoping someone here can help!  I'm not an expert with this camera, so it could easily be that I've accidentally set something.  If so, it was not intentional--I'm pretty much a basic "point and shoot" picture taker.

[Mark35mmF2]

Hi there,

If I understand correctly, the flash does not pop up when you pull the switch to raise it? If so, the camera will give you the "no flash" warning as long as the flash is prevented from coming up, but if that switch or hinge can be released to raise the flash, you should see the icon disappear.

If you are not intending to use the flash then this will not affect the image quality.

[debeby]

Not exactly.  When I turn the camera on, I see the "NO FLASH" symbol on the digital display.  It's on the upper left side of the screen.  If I click on the right side of the dial (where the "FLASH" symbol is shown, I get nothing--no response.   I am not able to pull the switch to raise the flash.

If I try to take a picture in a dark room, instead of the typical "raise flash" message I used to get, I now get a red blinking symbol telling me it's too dark.  But I'm not able to raise the flash--same as above, the latch won't release.

It seems like the camera has become locked in the "NO FLASH" position.  I just can't figure out how to get it out of that mode.

[Mark35mmF2]

Thanks for the clarification.

It sounds to me like there is likely an issue with the latch that releases the flash, there may be a hardware issue with the flash itself as well. In order to resolve this you may need to submit it for repair.

https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/support/service-repair