[miltllama]

I recently purchased an ME with an M 50/1.7. It was a cheap local sale, and I mainly got it just for the lens, but I figured it'd be cool to try an older manual focus SLR. I immediately appreciated the viewfinder, but the meter didn't seem to be operating. I pulled out the batteries and they looked pretty old and corroded, so I threw them out and got some new ones to put in. However, that didn't fix the problem. I looked up the manual and found out how the meter is supposed to be activated, but it wasn't responding. Is it possible that the old batteries leaked into the camera and wrecked something? I'm not terribly fussed about it, but it'd be nice to be able to use it if I want to.

[hcarvalhoalves]

If the batteries were corroded, there's probably rust left on the battery contacts. Try cleaning those contacts.

Depending on the level of corrosion, you can use a pencil eraser, vinegar or baking soda. Isopropyl alcohol is best, but you probably don't have it available. You can also apply steel wool to get an uniform and shiny surface where the batteries can make contact.

[violini]

I would suggest that you clean the battery contact; it looks like the contact (+) and the door (-) are made of stainless steel. Use only the silver oxide batteries. The batteries in my ME and HP calculator are about 25 years and are still good and no leakage.

Pull rewind lever out about 30 degree to turn the power on, remove lens cap and press shutter button half way, you will see in VF a red dot to indicate the shutter time.

[MysteryOnion]

The ME Super does not need the rewind lever out or the film advance either. Make sure the selector knob is either in the AUTO (white lock buttom up) or M (press the white lock button from AUTO to unlock). As suggested by hcarvalhoalves... careful cleaning of contact points. The corrosion should not have left raised pimples on the battery cap (-) that contacts the battery, if you see badly pitted or a rough surface, that is an indication of severe corrosion and may need are harsh scratching to find metal again. The spring connector (+) inside has two raised nubs or bits that contact the battery, if the corrosion has put a lot of green or dark black gunk bits on the spring, then the leakage might have traveled deeper inside and corroded the wire or the rivet that connects things.

[miltllama]

Yep, it was the door, an eraser worked. Thanks guys!