[ulysses378]

I recently repaired my K-X. After my white K-x dropped to the floor, the build-in flash can not pop up. but actually, it works well just can not pop up, which means I can't use the Av Tv Sv M P ... modes.
so I disassembled it, and shot the problem.
firstly, take all circled screws except the squared one


7 screws total, do not miss the last one under the battery
then, you will see sth like this:

the problem is here: in the square area

it should be like this:

......
......
then
everything done when I fixed all screws back. it works as before.

[vladimiroltean]

Hi! How did you actually discover the problem?

[ulysses378]

English is my 2nd language, I will try to explain it clearly.
1. when I use any mode except no-flash mode, the flash works even it didn't pop-up. so I think there must be a sensor or something small setup to detect whether the flash was poped up.
2. the setup in the left side box (fig 3) is electromagnet, which can pull the hook (fig.2) then free the flash.
3. please notice the black cylinder in squared area of fig 4, 5. Principle is certainly a signal from the copper contacts to determine whether the flash pops up. in the process of the flash pops up, the coaxial rotating black plastic semi-cylinder (shown in fig 4, 5) adjusts the pressure on the copper contacts. So the flash pops up, the reed should be two different locations - contact and no contact.

[vladimiroltean]

Ok that's clever

[photogem]

Allthough an old thread, yet never too late:

There is another possibility why the pop-up flash won't work:

Picture 2 square: Behind the metal hook (which locks the pop-up flash and releases it when the solenoid goes into action) there is a small black plastic rod.


This rod was just missing on the K-x which I had repaired and used for a tutorial.

Luckily I had the top from a defunct *istD body which had the same rod, I'm pretty sure it is the same in all those Pentax DSLR's which need batteries inserted and camera switched on for the flash to pop up!


Picture 3 large square: Here one can see the metal spring which holds this rod in up position when the flash is up!. The rod moves down when one closes the flash.


Anyway, this pink K-x II repaired was working alright in all modes but one had to open the flash manually.
Luckily the owner did not need the flash so it wasn't a problem. But when I stumbled over your thread I thought "hey, this might be it".
So today this friend visited me, I opened the K-x again but found all what you described was o.k.
But then I noticed this tiny rod missing. After inserting it, all was fine, the K-x now works perfectly also with flash!

This is what this forum is also great for, one can find little treasures like yours which pave the way for faultfinding and faultsolving!

[photogem]

I came across another Pentax K-x, whose pop-up-flash wouldn't open.
It was again just this tiny plastic-rod which is held by a spring.
With the K-x and the K-m this is quite tricky, people lose it when the unscrew this complete mechanism holding the solenoid.
It is held with one screw inside and one tiny screw when the pop-up-flash is open.

In this case it wasn't just the plastic-rod missing but also the spring was not working, obviously the previous owner disassembled more and didn't get it how to assemble it (and lost the rod).

The first two photos show the spring (red arrow) which pushes the plastic rod upwards.

The third photo shows the rod (red arrow) and the tiny screw which holds the mechanism from here (green arrow)

All entry level Pentax DLSRs preceeciding the K-m have that rod, but it is easier to fix, the mechanism of the K-m and K-x is more complicated but a little bit more clever as well.