Broken digital camera owners...

[dpalmi]

Hello all!

Just wanted to share something I experienced....

I own a Canon Elph/Power Shot Digital Camera S500 that hasn't been working lately for me.  It would show purple/grey lines in the display when taking a picture and also in the picture itself (see sample below).   Turns out, this is a known issue with the CCD in MANY brands/models of cameras out there.  I've owned the camera for about 3 years - but if you have this issue, Canon is repairing this camera absolutely free including to and from shipping.  I have even read of other people getting a newer camera back instead of the one they sent in - sadly, I got my same one back - but it is working.  Only took about a week for the whole process....

Affect Canon models....
- Camcorders: ZR60, ZR65 MC, ZR70 MC, ZR80, ZR85, ZR90, ELURA 40 MC, ELURA 50
- Digital Cameras A60, A70, A75, A300, A310, S230, SD100, SD110, A40(*), A80(*), A85(*), A95(*), S1 IS(*), S60(*), S200(*), S330(*), S400(*), S410(*), S500(*)

Here's a link with the info from Canon..

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=PgComSmModDisplayAct&fcategoryid=225&modelid=13390&keycode=2112&id=48264

A web page with people's feedback on what they experienced...

http://camerarepair.blogspot.com/2007/11/canon-digital-cameras-showing-black.html

A web page with some info on other manufactures...

http://www.imaging-resource.com/badccds.html

I was gonna buy a new camera so this saved me almost $200....your mileage may vary

Dan #2

[jay]

Saved 200 when you could have made a fortune selling this camera on ebay.....

Just claim that it is used to detect a persons aura or that when you take a picture with his possessed camera other paranomial images appear.

[rickhunter]

That's great!!!  I have a pair of S400 cameras that have the issue.

[brichter]

And who said customer service was dead?

Good job, Canon! 

[tjkeller]

And who said customer service was dead?

Good job, Canon! 

I have to admit I have been quite surprised with a few companies lately. Recently I've had several issues which I had to contact companies.

1. Compaq Laptop...Purchased in Oct 08. Called on Keyboard, Touchpad, & CD/DVD-R. Could not find my receipt but called on issues.
    Without question, they O/N Fed-Ex'd a shipping box w/label which I sent my Laptop back in the very next day. They received, repaired, AND
    shipped all in the same day. So all-in-all it was 3 days total from receiving a shipping box to return receipt. All issues resloved! I couldn't believe it that
    it was so quick. I did not even know I had it back. I checked progress online and it showed "delivered". I asked my wife if I had a package (  )
    and she's like Oh Yea...I think its behind the desk. 
2. Shop Vac...I had purchased a smaller unit a couple years ago which I actually had not hardly used...only like 3 times to vacuum out the car. Well
   on the day the plumbing went to crap on me and I REALLY needed a Shop Vac It decided to take a dump!    I couldn't remember when I bought
   it for sure and could not find the receipt for this one either but I DID still have the box which is where I kept it as I never used it. Box and manual
   said 3-Year Warranty. So I called them up and heck, I couldn't even hardly say anything before the lady said they were shipping me a new motor!
   Sure enough, a few days later I received a new motor...installed it and works like a charm!     The REAL kicker here is that now that I had a
   new motor, I opened up the old one to investigate. I found that a small retaining cap had come off which held on the rotary air fan. All pieces were
   there so I simply put it together and guess what?...I now have TWO fully functional motors!...A spare for down the road!
3. Magnavox 42" LCD TV...Bought this one a couple years ago. DO have the receipts on this one! I was smart enough to purchase the Extended Warranty
    on this one....THANK GOD!  It's the difference between hitting "Max Bet" vs "Bet One" on the slot...THIS time I got it right! Anyway, Screen is starting
   to do weird stuff so I call them up. Still haven't gotten this one resolved yet but it's not for lack of trying. They have been trying to contract Service
   from several hundred miles around with no luck. Out here in baron Wyoming not only is there not much around but nobody wants to come here
   for a measly Warranty Repair. There is ONE local repair shop here that initially refused but after weeks of trying to find someone they must have made
   it worth his while cause he is going to do it now. I still have the TV while he is awaiting parts. (it works, just starting to have display issues)

On EACH one of these I was amazed at how PROMPT the companies were to respond and resolve issues...and NOT EVEN ONCE was I asked if I had a receipt! WOW!

[jay]

A lot of companies are now finding it worth their while to do asset tracking.

What I like about Dell is that I can type in my service sticker at anytime and find out what was shipped with my 6 year old machine, still download drivers etc.
I don't typically buy extended warranties but I did with my 42" plasma and my projector. I feel its like choosing insurance on BlackJack - you know its a sucker bet that tips the payouts in favor of the house.  I haven't had to use it with either one. However both are more expensive than your typical disposable hardware and are subjected to a lot of use.

For a long time this was an advantage Dell had over HP. Toshiba still doesn't have it. I am dealing with a warranty issue with them right now and they are absolutely horrible. Due to the poor way they are handling things my next two corporate purchases went to HP. Glad to hear that they took care of you.

[dpalmi]

Speaking of Dell...

I don't know if I ever posted this here, but if you lost your original CD's to reload your machine from Dell and you need to re-load, just use the link below and Dell will send you a copy of all the original discs that came with the PC (1 set only) for free!  Then you just have to re-load from the disks they send you and download any updates that have come out since the machine was new.  I've ordered these a couple times, takes about a week - no questions asked.

https://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dellcare/en/backupcd_form

Dan #2

[stayouttadabunker]

great post Dan!
Just what my missus's computer needed...her Dell is only a year old and dogged down like a pig in quicksand...

[jay]

When a computer gets like that the usual problem is that the registry has grown in size.
Then each operation that occurs has to read in the registry to memory which takes forever.
With low ram this then means swapping things to disk and back again.
When you are doing a bunch of swapping sometimes slowness  can be cleaned up as easy as doing a defrag - which is not as obvious in XP and Vista.
Another cause of slowness is sometimes the Antivirus program and firewall etc has filled up your memory and/or has so much real-time checking going on that it takes over the computer.

In terms of where to spend your money I would rather boost my memory to the max and go with a slower CPU than the otherway around.

So what to do.....
If you have the opportunity to slap some more memory in your machine - do it. Its money well spent.
Then......
Step 1 backup all your data to a memory stick, wipe the computer and reinstall from scratch. This fill fix any kind of fragmentation problem, gives you a fresh registry.
Step 2 Load back all of your important programs
Step 3 Put on a Antivirus program. I recommend Trend Micro especially with Vista.
          For older computers AGP security suite is pretty good as you can Tune what real-time features you have running
          If you have a hardware firewall/router like a linksys you might want to forgo turning on Windows Firewall
Step 4 Image your computer - I use a program called Acronis. This will allow you to rebuild your computer back to this state anytime in the future in about 12 min flat.

[stayouttadabunker]

I've always been careful with my own homebuilt computer...however my honey loves to browse and clicks on everything.
I dont get mad or anything, I just use the Dell vista's cleaning tools and it helps a bit.
But now it's so slow in starting up various programs she uses that the thing is now slower than a turtle.
It never came with any disks so I will get a spare copy from dpalmi's  Dell link he posted and try a re-install.
I agree with your assessment of too big of a registry and defragging.
I just hate getting into any type of registry editing because I'm sure I'll screw it up even more...
I prefer a "re-install"....that procedure has always worked for my now, nearly 10 yr old XP homebuilt.

[tjkeller]

I just hate getting into any type of registry editing because I'm sure I'll screw it up even more...

I have done this several times to clean out viruses, worms, trojans, etc but It makes me nervous EVERY time I have to do it.
I've only screwed up one time but it would be so easy to do so. On my XP computers I have an older version of System
Mechanic the I use a lot (it has a registry editor with backup function). Now I have one computer with  VISTA that my
System Mechanic software is not compatible. I've pondered buying the latest version of System Mechanic but haven't gotten
around to it. Another thing I love about that software is they have a File Wiping program (Incinerator) that securely deletes
files. The problem with these programs nowadays is they only have a 1-yr service.
What ever happened to the days when you could buy a software package and that was it. You own the software now so why
only updates & support for ONE year???

I will say this, if you can learn your way around the registry, you can get a whole lot more out of some software packages.
That said, I am no expert either and could not tell you what 99.9999999% of the stuff in there is or controls!

[slot monkey]

I'm no computer expert but I use Norton Ghost to backup my computer.

So if I get a virus or it starts running slow, I can revert back to my ghost image of my os and everything is fresh and new.

Usually takes about 20 to 30 minutes.

I don't use antivirus because usually by the time it is found, it is usually too late and can't be cleaned anyway.

Plus most antivirus programs are resource hogs.

Just my two cents......