SX60 turns itself on and sticks at "busy" screen

[Grove188]

SX60 turns itself on then sticks at either the busy screen, or if I remove the sd card then the "no memory card" screen.

[Grove188]

I like the exorcist idea! 

It seems there were no firmware upgrades for the sx60.  I was unable to find the original version either, so not sure what you are supposed to do if your firmware corrupts itself.

So I guess I just have to hope either the cleaning works, or that the problem doesn't get worse if it is the firmware (given that the camera is still usable in its present state).

[John_]

"Rosemary" sounds like a good name for your camera!

As far as firmware, if there are no updates available and in order to reload the firmware, you would have to send it back to Canon or an authorized Canon shop. I don't remember if you have to register the camera first on Canon before any updates are shown, that is free but sending it back would be pricey.

Let's hope that after you get done cleaning it and checking it the problem goes bye-bye!

[Grove188 · Accepted solution]

I found the problem in the end but delayed giving the news in case things went wrong again.  However since Rosemary has been functioning normally for a week I think it is probably safe to now explain: unlike the SX50 the SX60 has an external microphone and the circuitry for that contains its own mercury button cell that looks to be spot welded in place.  When I unplug this the camera behaves normally, so I guess this component is faulty and was sending some bad signal to the motherboard that was causing it to switch itself on.  Luckily I have no plans to use an external mic so all good. 

There did look to be some corrosion on the main chip for this so maybe the previous owner got caught in rain or something.  The motherboard probably switches off in these circumstances, but the external mic probably shorts and has problems.

Thanks for the help and advice though - it was good to have others to talk to rather than just panicking by myself!