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GH2 "power board" died twice in a fortnight - probable causes?
  • sam_sticklandsam_stickland

    My GH2 camera died, without any obvious cause. It just completely refused to turn on. I took it into a camera shop in Phnom Penh where they very quickly diagnosed that the "power board" (their words) had failed, and repaired it for me for $90 within 24 hours.

    Now, two weeks later, exactly the same problem has happened again. I was walking along taking pictures, I went to turn it on again and.. nothing. It didn't get wet or dropped. I've tried a different battery etc.

    Any idea what would cause this twice so quickly? I'm travelling with a number of spare batteries and I'm wondering if it's possible that a discharge from the bad battery could blow the power circuity in the camera? Or is it more likely a bad repair job?

  • 12 Replies sorted by
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @sam_stickland

    Fo me it seems like this guys lied to you. And just bent battery connectors or similar thing.

  • sam_sticklandsam_stickland

    Yeah, I did figure that it probably wasn't a $90 repair job, but they wouldn't move on the price and I was leaving town the next day so I was just thankful it could be fixed.

    I'll have a look at the battery connectors - I'd be surprised if it's that simple though. This second time it's broken it was just hung round my neck for a few seconds, nothing more.

  • sam_sticklandsam_stickland

    The battery connections all looked good to me. I took it back into the same shop and they repaired it again for free.

  • svartsvart

    What battery are you using? Hopefully not the EBAY specials..

  • jleojleo

    Heat and high humidity? I wonder how many repair shops have Lumix GH2 circuit boards lying around?

  • MRfannyMRfanny

    @jleo my thoughts exactly..lol

    whats that trick where you stick your wet electronics in rice for a day to get moisture out? maybe try that next time.

  • jleojleo

    Japanese stores like Daiso sell silica gel paks in various sizes, large ones for suitcases and closets. Much faster than rice! Or carry a camera dehumidifier!!

    http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/camera-dehumidifier.html

    http://www.the-digital-picture.com/photography-tips/Cameras-Humidity-Condensation.aspx

    http://www.jmg-galleries.com/blog/2009/04/29/10-tips-when-using-dslrs-in-high-humidity/

  • shianshian

    Didst thou hold in check thine ire at the apothecary who didst then tell thee such apparent falsehoods?

    [Since you decided to bring fortnight back into the vernacular, I thought I'd maybe try to drag the entire old english repertoire along with it.... see if the whole swag catches on again.]

  • kazuokazuo

    @sam_stickland,

    Dude this happened to my camera last year. After a long production, I was cleaning up equipment and I would usually test the batteries and condition of camera before putting them away. The camera would not turn on. I am based in Singapore, and I took it to Panasonic HQ, who duly diagnosed the problem and isolated it to a dead logic board. It cost me $350 Sing dollars to get it changed. Camera now is good as new.

    I find it hard to believe that the guys in Vietnam checked your camera thoroughly, let alone knew what they were changing. A rip off? Seems like I am not only one here with the same thoughts.

  • sam_sticklandsam_stickland

    @kazuo My thoughts too. This was in Cambodia actually, so it seems even less likely they would have Lumix power boards lying around! although it wasn't the camera shop that repaired it, they sent it someone else for diagnosis and repair. Any I suspected a rip off, but they wouldn't move on the price and I did need it to work again in a hurry, so it's no big drama.

    I did wonder about the heat and humidity but three days in a sealed bag of rice didn't make any difference.

  • svartsvart

    I used my GH2 for 2 weeks in 90F and 90% humidity.. Never had a problem even though I constantly had to clean the fog off the lenses and dry out the camera.

  • kazuokazuo

    @sam_stickland

    It's not humidity. It's most probably the logic board, it's the same with computers, I have had my fair share of CPUs that can't start, and every time I sent the bugger in for repair, the shop would just change the board. Whether Mac or PC, the same logic applies.

    One thing i found out is that 3rd party batteries can kill your main board. This was what happened to me. I was using a mix of original Panny bats, and cheap $10 ones. It came to a point where my camera could not recognise the originals, but accepted the imitations!!! It started flashing error messages, saying it could not read the bat. Soon after, the logic board died.

    Coincidence? I dont think so, when you trace the sequence of events.

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