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GH2 doesn't turn on
  • I haven't used my GH2 for a week or so. The on/off switch was set to on. I tried to activate/turn it on but nothing happened. I have tried a few other batteries and no result either. Any idea what's wrong on? I think I need to ship it to Panasonic but maybe I am overseeing something. I am also worried that the servicecenter will complain about it being hacked.
  • 21 Replies sorted by
  • They wont know about it being hacked more than likely. Did you install a firmware with battery borderline not full?
  • I don't think so but I am not sure. The last thing I remember I did was upload your AQuarius firmware after which I put the camera away. I think the camera was in sleep mode when I put it away (as the switch was set to on). I have tried 5 batteries and the camera doesn't power up... not even the yellow light -- no reaction.
  • Thats valuable info. Might mean: Switch off and on again after flashing, if cam falls into sleep mode and empties battery it might brick. Might just mean battery was to low (which is quite impossible) or you got a bad model.
    Lets hope the will fix your cam soon.

    Can somebody confirm this behaviour? A little test maybe? ;)
  • sohus - maybe try an AC coupler? Sucks.
  • I don't have an AC coupler. Calling Panasonic tomorrow to have it picked up for repair. Shit happens!
  • Did you have two gh2s? I received files off you yesterday? It does sound strange.Are you sure you didnt flash any other strange settings? Noone else has had problems with AQuarius. The old AQuarius wont work with Vitaliys new 3.63d hence why it was updated for the new ptools. I highly doubt it was because of AQuarius.
  • @driftwood
    I am sure it is not because of your file. Just saying it was the last thing I did before I put the camera away. I might have fucked up during the update, I simply cannot remember. The only thing I remember is that I put the camera away. Might be some hardware error. I still think (but cannot confirm) that when you have a bad firmware update, you should get an error and at least the camera light should blink when the camera is powered on.

    The files where shot a week earlier... the last thing I shot with my GH2 :)

    We'll just see what happens.
  • Did you use a 3rd party battery?
  • perhaps you touched a button when you place tha camera away?, or the camera fall to a side by his own weight later, pressing a button before a full update?
  • maybe put the power switch in the "off" position, then back into "on" position ;-)
  • @sohus My cam died during update and the same thing happened, wouldn't turn on at all, so this is probably the case. Panasonic never knew it was hacked and fixed it under warranty within 4 days. Good luck!
  • @awaterman cause of death?
  • are u using a 3rd party battery? cos last time when my 3rd party battery exhausted and causing sudden cut-off(no lumix logo closing screen), and the camera went dead. Sent to service centre and they exchanged the electronic board.... might have fried the board during the blackout....
  • So I guess this tells us to stay away from third party batteries? Sucks, cause I just started planning for a rig with one central power supply.
  • @Sohus Were you using 3rd party battery when it shit the bed?
  • My GH2 seems to be experiencing the same issue. I installed a hack a couple weeks ago and it worked and I tested it out briefly but I have been too busy to touch it since then. Today i grabbed the camera off the shelf and it would not power on. I own one real battery and two 3rd party but I haven't used the 3rd party batteries in months or really at all in general so it's not likely to be that. I'm quite sure that when I picked up the camera the power switch was set to off so it wouldn't have been in sleep mode and the battery shouldn't have been drained. Nothing happens when I switch it to on. I'm still hoping that somehow all of my batteries just stopped working, but that seems extremely unlikely. I put the lumix battery on the charger so we will see, but it does appear that the camera is bricked... Seems very likely it was caused by the hack I installed, since the camera has worked fine for the ~6months i've had it and the last thing I did with it was finally hack it a few weeks ago... I believe I only installed a basic hack for 44mbps 24h and 32mbps 24l. I'll try to recall more carefully exactly what I did to it.
  • First, it is not related to hack in any way.
    Second, any camera could have it's issues.
  • Vitaliy, can I ask how you are so sure it is not related to the hack? I mean it is certainly possible that it is a coincidence that the hack was the last thing I did on the camera, but I have not heard anything conclusive regarding whether or not it is or is not connected in some way with the hack.
  • I am sure.
    Because hack does not change anything system except video compression and few other things.
    If you camera does not turn on it is because if some hardware problem.

    Certain percentage of cameras fail during their living period. Such percentage is not large, but it is far from 0.
  • Update:

    My GH2 was labeled 'unrepairable'. I received a credit for the full selling price because they didn't have it in stock anymore. That means I made a profit, as prices have dropped significantly.