A900 Repair Experience!!

I assume you bought your camera and 3 yr. accidental warranty from some other source than Sony (as Sony never offered the a850 for that price). If that is the case, your warranty spells out what remedy is offered if the camera can't be repaired (for whatever reason).

Graham

I'm not gonna worry about it, I've decided. Just gonna enjoy the gear! After all, its an A900! What's not to love??

Rouge Recon wrote: gnatsum wrote: I basically sold my a900 and sony gear once news photographer Robin Rowland told me he sent his a850's out for repair and they sent him a cheque saying "Sorry there are no more parts left for the a900/850" So now he's running with a77's. At the sound of that, I fled like Lot. Are you serious? They literaly have no parts to fix any more of their flagship cameras?

This is the first time I heard it for the DSLR-A850/A900, but there are lots of cases where Sony was unable to repair smaller models such as the DSLR-A500/DSLR-A550 due to lack of spare parts, and over here in Germany they typically offer the customer to pay back the money for the camera purchase instead.

With no DSLR and no full-frame camera in Sony's portfolio any more, this is extremely bad news indeed, and it still would be unacceptable if they would offer an hypothetical "SLT-A99V" as replacement for free. A full-frame SLT simply cannot replace a full-frame DSLR.

Greetings,

Matthias

matthiaspaul wrote: RobY wrote: No, unfortunately, although Sony have sent me a pic of the port. And yes, it's broken. Is the connector broken or the PCB? If it's not the PCB, the HDMI connector can be replaced by anyone who can solder fine-pitch SMDs. A spare HDMI connector is in the ballpark of 1 to 2 USD. Even if some of the soldering pads were stripped off (why?), a qualified technician should be able to fix this as all signals including the four differential pairs are routed on a surface layer and very easily accessible near the connector. Greetings, Matthias

It's just the connector, everything else works just fine. The only reason I sent it for repair is because I feared it may cause a short in the camera.

If I decline their quote, it will still cost L54! The story continues.

This is the image Sony sent me of the HDMI port, it is clearly damaged. They are now saying:

Thank you for your e-mail, I sincerely apologise for the delay in replying back to you I have been discussing your case details with our head engineer. Our engineering team has advised the following – the penta unit is a sealed unit and cleaning as you requested is not possible, only replacement. we noted there was dust ingress to the Penta unit during our initial checks and reported our findings. This can have an effect on the final picture quality of any pictures taken and would not be acceptable for us to pass through our quality control checks. The dust ingress can only have occurred as a direct result of the conditions the camera is used or stored in and as such is not a manufacturing flaw and subsequently not covered by warranty.

The reported fault (HDMI) has occurred due to damage, which is most likely to have occurred as a result of the connector being mis-inserted and forced in, causing the pin to become damaged. The picture attached shows the HDMI connector magnified and one of the pins of the connector has been damaged – this is the gold coloured pin pointing down on the left hand side of the picture.

In theses instances should the cost to repair your unit exceed the fixed cost repair an estimate is raised to advice of the total cost.

As previously discussed with my colleague Emma, we can certainly arrange to replace the HDMI port only however this would be at the additional cost of L189.79.





Edited by RobY - 16 April 2012 at 18:46

Dryce wrote: RobY wrote: This is the image Sony sent me of the HDMI port, it is clearly damaged. They are now saying: Refer them to their own own US patent 7387542 which says 'It has been noted that such connectors are quite prone to failure. Occasionally pins within such connectors may become damaged or misaligned'. And goes on to describe a solution to the problem.

This is one of the many reasons why I love ddyxum!
Its definitely worth a try.

I don't understand (although I have a good idea) why companies don't disclose or act upon known issues unless the consumer trawls through patents/documents and informs the company they know about it!

RobY wrote: the penta unit is a sealed unit and cleaning as you requested is not possible, only replacement. we noted there was dust ingress to the Penta unit during our initial checks and reported our findings. This can have an effect on the final picture quality of any pictures taken and would not be acceptable for us to pass through our quality control checks. The dust ingress can only have occurred as a direct result of the conditions the camera is used or stored in and as such is not a manufacturing flaw and subsequently not covered by warranty.

Did you notice the dust in the viewfinder when you shipped the camera? Did you request them to clean it?

I'm asking because otherwise their reply would constitute utter nonsense. It is true that the penta unit is sealed, but this is to keep any dust and moisture outside. If there is dust inside the unit, the only way for it to reach there is a broken seal. I have no idea of the condition of the camera, but if it hasn't been abused and worn down, or there have been previous attempts to repair the camera by unqualified people, a broken seal in a camera which was advertised as being weather sealed is what I would consider being covered under warranty.

Further, dust in the penta unit is a cosmetic problem and does not affect the quality of the pictures at all in a DSLR unless there were really huge amounts of dirt inside which would cover some of the metering cells and thereby may cause overexposure. However, this is not something that could have gone unnoticed by you before you shipped the camera to them.

The reported fault (HDMI) has occurred due to damage, which is most likely to have occurred as a result of the connector being mis-inserted and forced in, causing the pin to become damaged. The picture attached shows the HDMI connector magnified and one of the pins of the connector has been damaged – this is the gold coloured pin pointing down on the left hand side of the picture.

Yes, this happens, and it may or may not be the user's fault. But if all the damage done to the port is a bent pin, and not a mechanical loose HDMI connector or a damaged PCB, it is easy to replace the HDMI connector itself without swapping the whole mainboard of the camera. Connector CN3202 is named "CONNECTOR, HDMI (HDMI OUT)" and has the Sony spare part number (1-821-166-21). It can be had for USD 14.61 from various Sony shops, including this one:

https://www.servicesplus.sel.sony.com/PartsPlusResults.aspx?stype=parts

If you find the original manufacturer of this part, you could certainly get it for one or two USD, but USD 14.61 is a fair price as well given the logistical overhead.

As can be seen on page 4-53 in the level 3 service manual of the DSLR-A900, there is plenty of room around CN3202 and all signal traces to the HDMI connector are visibly routed on a surface layer and there are no traces underneath the connector, so for anyone who can solder fine-pitch SMD parts it should be very easy to unsolder and replace the connector without damaging any other parts on the PCB (AM-015).

DSLR-A900 (A1565987A) "AM-015 COMPL (SERVICE)" USD 320.84
DSLR-A900 (A1556575A) "VO PENTA UNIT" USD 371.03
N/A       (182116621) "CONNECTOR, HDMI" USD 14.61

If this repair shop is not qualified to perform this task, I would bypass them and escalate this to Sony customer service to have them speak to the repair shop.

As previously discussed with my colleague Emma, we can certainly arrange to replace the HDMI port only however this would be at the additional cost of L189.79.

There is no need to replace the whole AM-015 board, when replacing CN3202 is all that's necessary.

Greetings,

Matthias

Edited by matthiaspaul - 17 April 2012 at 00:31