X20 switch on problem

I'm away at present on holiday and find my X20 will only switch on if I take the battery out and reinsert it. It then works for a few shots and same problem happens again. Same with all three batteries. I've tried a camera reset and that doesn't help. At home I'd probably reinstall the firmware as the next step. Any other ideas?

Well, no replies so I guess this isn't a common fault. Spoke with Fujifilm UK and they have asked me to send the camera in for repair.

Well, it looks like I'm answering myself for a second time, but this might be useful information to others. I'd read somewhere of a similar problem with the X10, that was linked to a corrupted SD card (or from the camera's point of view). It seemed to me that the camera couldn't in some way shut down properly, and maybe that was because it couldn't finalise the writing of the last file, causing the firmware to "hang". So, I tried a new SD card - seemed to fix the problem - I then low-level formatted the SD card in the camera at the time of the problem using Windows (formatting in-camera did not improve matters). As I write this I've taken many shots and turned the X20 on/off numerous times with no re-occurrence. So...maybe that (SD card) hypothesis is correct? Time will tell. Anyway, it's not on its way back to Fujifilm.

I've always though the safest approach is to let the camera format the card - then there is no question that it will be able to write to it without any difficulties or incompatibilities. Your theory that maybe the camera could not write to the card and was 'hanging' seems at least plausible to me. Hopefully your camera is working properly now and going forward.

Elyharbour said:

Well, it looks like I'm answering myself for a second time, but this might be useful information to others. I'd read somewhere of a similar problem with the X10, that was linked to a corrupted SD card (or from the camera's point of view). It seemed to me that the camera couldn't in some way shut down properly, and maybe that was because it couldn't finalise the writing of the last file, causing the firmware to "hang". So, I tried a new SD card - seemed to fix the problem - I then low-level formatted the SD card in the camera at the time of the problem using Windows (formatting in-camera did not improve matters). As I write this I've taken many shots and turned the X20 on/off numerous times with no re-occurrence. So...maybe that (SD card) hypothesis is correct? Time will tell. Anyway, it's not on its way back to Fujifilm.

Click to expand...

Its great if your Camera is working fine now. That's really a useful information. However one thing to ask that have you ever tried changing the batteries or recharging the batteries again? one piece of advice: For corrupted SD card, you can try using SD card recovery software to recover photos back!

Reference: Stellar Phoenix Photo Recovery Software

photofreak985 said:

Elyharbour said:

Well, it looks like I'm answering myself for a second time, but this might be useful information to others. I'd read somewhere of a similar problem with the X10, that was linked to a corrupted SD card (or from the camera's point of view). It seemed to me that the camera couldn't in some way shut down properly, and maybe that was because it couldn't finalise the writing of the last file, causing the firmware to "hang". So, I tried a new SD card - seemed to fix the problem - I then low-level formatted the SD card in the camera at the time of the problem using Windows (formatting in-camera did not improve matters). As I write this I've taken many shots and turned the X20 on/off numerous times with no re-occurrence. So...maybe that (SD card) hypothesis is correct? Time will tell. Anyway, it's not on its way back to Fujifilm.

Click to expand...

Its great if your Camera is working fine now. That's really a useful information. However one thing to ask that have you ever tried changing the batteries or recharging the batteries again? one piece of advice: For corrupted SD card, you can try using SD card recovery software to recover photos back!

Reference: Stellar Phoenix Photo Recovery Software

Click to expand...

Yes, I have three batteries and freshly charging them made no difference. The card corruption (if that's what it was) was not the usual - it was perfectly readable on a PC (and indeed by the camera once I'd re-inserted the battery), but I do believe that for some reason the X20 could not reliably write to it...and that froze the camera requiring a complete de-power (ie. battery removal) Seems to be fixed now anyway.

I have a feeling this problem arose after backing-up my files to an Android tablet - a process that I think I interrupted before it was complete. But that's just a possibility.

PS - Fujifilm support in the UK were not at all helpful. The only words I got out of them were "send it in". Not impressed.

UPDATE: The problem came back! My SD card "write" theory seems to have been just that - a theory. In fact I concluded that there WAS a camera fault causing the X20 to freeze on shut-down, and in fact if I left it in that condition, it became warm and the battery ran down. My further observations lead me to believe the lens was not shutting down correctly. So back to Fujifilm UK it went (under an extended warranty I'd purchased last year).

Now, some praise for Fujifilm UK. I'd been very unimpressed the previous time I'd called them. I think it depends who picks up the phone. Better attitude this time (and even better with my XF1 problem - see below). The X20 was fixed and returned to me in just under a week!! They changed the lens unit and various other components. Seems fine now - fingers crossed.

My XF1 decided to fail (the well-known over-exposure problem) at about the same time - but some months out of warranty. Fujifilm UK replaced the lens unit, with no charge. It was back within a week.

So, whilst it bothers me somewhat that these faults occurred in the first place, the speed and the way in which Fujifilm UK dealt with the issues was impressive - and that's good to know.

oh that's really quite impressive