panasoni dmc fz20 hang

[astrozzack]

hi there,
i bought a panasonic dmc fz20 last year and at first it worked great. one day the camera started to not respond so i would then switch it off and back on again and it would be fine. but now, the thing refuses to respond to anything. once turned on and if on shooting mode, it still shows a display but nothing happens if for example i try to press the button to take a picture (or any button for that matter). i have no access to menu and thus cannot do a factory reset.
i called panasonic US (am based in the uk) but could not get thru to them.
i am not so keen on taking it to a shop since i suspect all they will do is charge me an extortionate amount to basically flash the camera's firmware.
has anybody ran into a similar problem already? is there any way to hard reset the machine to its factory settings?

[Telecorder]

Its hard to envision what the issue(s) may be from your limited descriptions. Try listing a step by step sequence of what happens on power on.
1.Slide switch to ON
2. no noise, no movement of lens, no screen etc.

or
1. power on
2. lens moves slightly but not to full extension
3. screen displays error message etc.

Try power on in all of the switch modes of P; A; S etc and detail the sequenced results for each. Diagnostics usually starts with a baseline of what's happening at each step of operation to try and identify what's the problematic step.

Oh, and make sure you're using a good battery - preferably a new, fully charged one for testing. Also, if you're able to get into the setup mode, try restoring the digi to original factory settings.

I'd compile all of the diagnostic steps and post in the Pansonic sections of all of the camera forums (DCRP; Steve's, DRP etc) to maximize the responses and opinions...


Good luck...