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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
07-03-2016, 07:07 AM
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I'm posting this here in the hopes that it will help someone else in the future who is googling for a similar problem. I submitted the following to Pentax (Ricoh) tech support. Before I got a response, I was able to solve the issue using richandfleur's advice. See the UPDATE section below for the solution that seems to have worked for me:
My K-30 suddenly started going haywire after 2 1/2 years of no problems. It was not dropped or abused in any way.
When turned on, the shutter speed, aperture value, and sensitivity values start blinking. When I press the shutter release halfway, the autofocus lens alternates focus between the two extremes (when it responds at all). If it is able to take a picture, the picture comes out so overexposed the image is nearly white.
Turning the capture mode dial usually has no effect. Whatever mode was selected when the camera was first turned on is the mode that remains on the viewfinder.
Turning the main switch from ON to OFF does not turn off the camera anymore. The auto-shutoff feature does not work, either. Usually the only way to turn it off is to remove the battery.
I did fully charge the battery. I updated the firmware from version 1.00 to version 1.06 (the latest version for the K30). That had no effect.
The issue does not appear to be lens related. I have the same problems with both a Pentax DAL 18-55 lens and a Pentax DA 1:1.8 50mm lens.
I tried resetting the settings to their defaults, but that made no difference, either.
Is there a sensor that can be cleaned? It seems like the exposure metering sensor is causing a lot of the problems, but that does not explain why the camera won't turn off and the display becomes unresponsive. Is there a way to do a hard reboot of the operating system or a fresh install of the camera's software? Is this a repairable problem?
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UPDATE: I took the lens off and snapped a few pictures. Put the lens back on and it worked for a bit, then went haywire again.
I took the lens off again and shot a bunch of pictures (maybe a dozen). Put the lens back on and it seems to be working fine.
Also, I made several changes back and forth to option 23., "Using Aperture Ring." The default is 1. I changed it to 2. Then back to 1. And back to 2. And finally back to 1. I did this both with the lens on and off. I'm not sure if this made any difference or if it is just a red herring, but I thought I should note it in case it's what ultimately helped fix the problem.
I've only taken a dozen or so pictures since my camera has been working again, but it seems to be holding up for now. I'm hoping I dodged a bullet with a potentially expensive repair.
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