[mrmoses]

So after 15 years of photography I bought my first Pentax yesterday-a beautiful Pentax K X with twin kit lens.
The screen does not work!!! It will take photos but the screen has remained black from the first switch on. Devasted I phoned the UK hotline, they say it must be a hardware fault and send it back!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Have I made a bad decision by switching to Pentax?
Can anyone here help?

Thank you

[Nass]

If the support guys say it's a faulty body then that's probably what it is . QC issues happen to every DSLR manufacturer. Lots of us have Pentax cameras and don't regret it. Hopefully the replacement will sort you out.

Good luck!

(ps - fyi I deleted your two duplicate posts saying exactly the same thing)

So after 15 years of photography I bought my first Pentax yesterday-a beautiful Pentax K X with twin kit lens.
The screen does not work!!! It will take photos but the screen has remained black from the first switch on. Devasted I phoned the UK hotline, they say it must be a hardware fault and send it back!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Have I made a bad decision by switching to Pentax?
Can anyone here help?
Thank you

[mrmoses]

Cheers Nass, I hope so, it does seem really unusual..
Will post the solution when I find out in case someone else has same problem.
Thanks

[Ira]

So after 15 years of photography I bought my first Pentax yesterday-a beautiful Pentax K X with twin kit lens.
The screen does not work!!! It will take photos but the screen has remained black from the first switch on. Devasted I phoned the UK hotline, they say it must be a hardware fault and send it back!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Have I made a bad decision by switching to Pentax?
Can anyone here help?
Thank you

I'm going to assume you tried hitting both the Info and Menu buttons.

What happens when you hit LiveView?

[hangu]

Have I made a bad decision by switching to Pentax?

You shall rue the day you switched to Pentax.

[Ira]

You might as well put the firmware update on the SD card and power it up and see what happens. That might fix it, and since you have to send it back anyway, what's the harm?

[hangu]

You might as well put the firmware update on the SD card and power it up and see what happens. That might fix it, and since you have to send it back anyway, what's the harm?

I think you need the use of the screen in order to upgrade the firmware. There is probably a confirmation dialogue. It would be awful he bricked it as a result.

Perhaps someone can upgrade their camera and write down the exact buttons pressed in sequence?

[Ira]

I think you need the use of the screen in order to upgrade the firmware. There is probably a confirmation dialogue. It would be awful he bricked it as a result.
Perhaps someone can upgrade their camera and write down the exact buttons pressed in sequence?

I was thinking that maybe that will trigger the viewfinder. And he won't brick it if he doesn't start the update, right? Don't you have to hit "Okay?"

An okay which he won't see anyway if it doesn't work?

[FattyMcJ]

Funny you should post this!

My K-x was sent to Pentax last week for the same issue.

I didn't post the problem because I'm sure its an isolated incident and I want to give Pentax a chance to fix the issue before I give them any negative comments.

May I ask, DID you try the menu & info buttons? New batteries? New memory card? Wait a day and try it again?

I did all of the above to no avail.

[hangu]

I was thinking that maybe that will trigger the viewfinder. And he won't brick it if he doesn't start the update, right? Don't you have to hit "Okay?"
An okay which he won't see anyway if it doesn't work?

I would at that point spastically press every button in hope of hitting the right one and then disconnect it in the middle because it seems like nothing's happening.

[GerryL]

Kinda sucks specially when you are excited at receiving your new toy at to which it may have provided countless sleepless nights waiting for it to get delivered..and finally when that day comes, you just find it disappointing and have to send it back and wait some more.
..but it does happen and one just has to be patient about it.
It has happened to me but with small electronic items, so I know the feeling.

[mrmoses]

Hi all
Thanks for all the replies, it is good to hear someone else had the problem - FattyMcj
I tried everything, I pride myself on solving any problem that is in my path and I don't give up easily. This including pushing and holding various buttons as I powered on, the screen did not show any sign of life from the moment the camera had batteries inserted for the first time.
I tried several batches of brand new and fully charged batteries.
I tried 2 separate memory cards.
The information in the viewfinder was spot on and the camera was able to switch through the various scene modes using the mode dial. I even took some photos and checked them on my laptop, camera in perfect condition apart from the screen not working.
I downloaded the firmware update but as someone pointed out I could not see the screen to work the sequence of buttons-this was a last resort.
So YES!! after all this it was so disappointing to finally have to pack it all back in the box and post back to Pentax

[sterretje]

Just a good reason NOT to buy online But maybe I'm lucky: at least 2 big shops doing Pentax and the national repair centre in a radius of about 20km.

But indeed, very frustrating.

[rodneyr]

Hey I know you may be frustrated but they will fix it and it will be worth the wait.
I have found the K-X to be a great camera.

Rodney

[mrmoses]

Hey I know you may be frustrated but they will fix it and it will be worth the wait.
I have found the K-X to be a great camera.

Rodney

Cheers Rodney, looking forward to the replacement!