A77ii intermittent camera error

Hi all.

Out of the blue after only 24.000 clicks, my A77ii started showing a camera error.
The weird thing is it happens in less than a minutes after I turn the camera on: there is a shutter sound, and then the camera error. I have to remove the battery and restart.

BUT

if I take a couple photos just after turning it on, there is no camera error.

Everything else works perfectly, no ibis error, first curtain on/off doesn't have any influence, ibis or ss on or off doesn't have any influence either, tried all my batteires, different SD cards, factory reset: no change.

It's just if I don't take a photo just after it's turned on, I get the camera error.

Any idea? should I get ready to mourn it?

well, that sounds like black magic but why not.

I will definitely give it a try. I have a few other cameras I can use.

well then, the camera error is legit, and sounds like a fuse is popped too. get ready to mourn it.

jb92346 wrote: The weird thing is it happens in less than a minutes after I turn the camera on: there is a shutter sound, and then the camera error. I have to remove the battery and restart.

"there is a shutter sound" - I think this is an important clue!

First, try to make sure the sound really is from the shutter (the aperture motor and the focus motor clutch can make similar sounds). Look carefully, any signs of movement of the shutter?

You may also try to operate the AF clutch and aperture (there is a stop down button opposite of the AF selector) immediately after the camera turns on (to see if they can work as an alternative to taking a picture "for bringing the camera back on track").

amrep wrote: "there is a shutter sound" - I think this is an important clue! First, try to make sure the sound really is from the shutter (the aperture motor and the focus motor clutch can make similar sounds). Look carefully, any signs of movement of the shutter? You may also try to operate the AF clutch and aperture (there is a stop down button opposite of the AF selector) immediately after the camera turns on (to see if they can work as an alternative to taking a picture "for bringing the camera back on track").

I checked: it is indeed a shutter sound: the shutter moving just before I get the camera error.

I tried to operate the AF clutch and the DOF preview button: I still get the camera error.

LAbernethy wrote: the internal battery? no flash and the fuse and bulb are good? It still sounds like a break in the line or a short. you're getting power where it shouldn't be and power not where it should be.

The internal battery delivers 2.9v. There is no indication of what the normal voltage should be in the service manual.

It could be indeed a break or a short somewhere.

My current thinking is, during boot up, the camera is self checking for a lot of stuff, and returns a camera error. But if I take a photo, it might sorta be force aborting those self tests.

It must definitely be related to the flash function, because if I try to turn on the flash, nothign happens and after 10/20 secondsI get a camera error again. (I tried all the possible flash settings in the menu, makes no difference)


That thing is about to become a rabbit hole. It's quite stupid because I don't really need (or even really ever liked) that camera. I just need to understand what is wrong with it.

You say that removing the battery reset the camera with the error, just turning it off does not, correct? Activating shutter at start up, no error. Can you turn off the camera and turn it back on in the no error state? Or does it awake from power saver mode with no error? Not that any of this will make a lick of difference, camera error = finished, the fix and parts is usually not worth it with consumer electronics. A perplexing problem though.

Edited by LAbernethy - 09 November 2021 at 16:21