Whirr whirr, error D: 5e02

Doesn't seem to be my summer for tech. I posted the other day about how undeveloped green spaces were disappearing here in London. I shot the construction vehicles with my Olympus Stylus 700 All Weather point n shoot. I mentioned then that it was having focusing problems. Well now it seems to be dead, or at the very least unreliable.

I hear a buzz and a micro motor whirr, the lens opens and extends partially, I then hear the micro motor whirr again, see a blurry image on the back screen, the lens closes-opens-closes and finally a blue screen appears with the error D: 5e02. It wont do this in picture review mode, but will on any of the other shooting modes including video.

That error doesn't seem to have too much in the way of useful official fix-its. But from one page I found after Googling it, it seems it has to do with the motors/gears or lenses being out of alignment when the three tiered lens pops open and out of the camera body. Other theories are that it is related to trying to shoot when the batteries are low and the lenses didn't close or open properly then and got stuck. so I fully charged the battery and tried again without success.

Solutions offered included totally disassembling the camera which worked for someone and he left really detailed instructions on how... Didn't do that. Others suggested a button pressing combo when powering up which I tried to no avail several times.

Two suggestions that might or might not have worked which I did try were as follows. More than one person said that when the lens popped out of the body to grab it with thumb and finger and pull it out all the way and hold it there. And possibly rotate it slightly. Tried that a few times and it didn't seem to do anything.

Another fix was as follows. When it is powering up and the lens extending, hold the camera tightly in one hand and slap it firmly into the palm of the other hand once or twice. First time I tried it, nothing. Second time I tried it, it worked. Camera turned on and stayed on, and would do so for a while after. I was amazed. Like slapping an old style TV on the side to make the picture better. :)

I got the error a couple more times last night after that fix and so I gave up. And when I was blogging this just now, I turned it on to copy the error and of course it turns on no problem. The camera is no longer reliable enough to use as a carry around. I assume something isn't mechanically right inside.

Silly really. I have had this Olympus for maybe 2 years. Not even. And the old 3.2mp Stylus that I got back in 2003 and gave to Corey is still going strong and works all the time without issue. Its chunky and old tech but tough as anything. I Imagine the 15 year old 35mm film stylus I have works too.

It's not worth sending this one in to be repaired. Would cost more out of warranty than to buy a new one. And neither option I can afford now. Just sprang for a new external drive to replace the one that died in June. That's two external drives from different manufacturers that died in the space of 18 months. And now this camera , to mention nothing of the challenges over the winter I had with the Canon I shoot with all the time...

Usually I am pretty good with tech. Or tech likes me. Not so recently. This needs to change. :)



Mike

Mike Wood Photography