Rhonda Bracey: At Random

After the “memory card error” on my Canon IXUS 400 yesterday, I decided enough was enough! I’ve had this error on and off for ages now, and it usually goes away by itself. But today I did something about it.

I searched the internet and found a whole slew of disgruntled Canon IXUS 400 owners out there who get the same error message, and who, after trying many various things, put it down to an error in the camera, not the memory card or the removable battery. One solution that seemed to work for many of them was to take apart the camera case and remove the internal lithium battery, then reinsert it. All those who did this advised to make a note of the screw location as these screws are tiny, and some are longer than others. But no site I found had a simple diagram of where these screws are located (one screw is hidden!), and no-one said how many there are (11), so I’ve added a simple diagram at the end of this post for anyone else who wants to try this solution (which, BTW, didn’t work for me… so the camera is off to Sydney for ‘repair’).

Here are some of the forums and websites where the problem is discussed (and whined about!), and where various solutions are offered (NOTE: I’ve used TinyURL to shorten the very long web addresses):

• http://tinyurl.com/2wjta5 (Steve’s DigiCam Forums)
• http://tinyurl.com/2sd9kp (more from Steve’s DigiCam Forums)
• http://tinyurl.com/2jx9y2 (Wikipedia article on this camera, with this documented as a ‘known issue’)
• http://tinyurl.com/32c2a4 (Canon Australia’s Customer Support ‘Hot Topic’)
• http://tinyurl.com/3doxqx (Will’s Web Miscellany blog where you’ll get details – including photos – on removing the case and flipping the internal battery)
• http://home19.inet.tele.dk/ne/manualer.htm (Parts catalog and exploded technical diagrams of many cameras, including my Canon IXUS 400)

Diagram of the location of the 11 screws that hold the casing together

NOTE: On the left side, one screw is hidden behind the rubber flap.

Update 4 November: After almost a month away with the technicians in Sydney (why so long??), I got my camera back late last month. Supposedly it was fixed. There was no charge as it was a ‘known error’. I popped in my 256MB CF card in anticipation—and got “Memory Card Error” straight away. My words are NOT fit for printing here. I popped in the 32MB CF card—no error message. Over the past few days, I’ve tried the 256MB card several times, each time with the same error message. I called Canon in Sydney—they said to try a new CF card. Yeah right—like they’re going to pay for it, not! I’m a 90 min drive from where I can buy one, so I’ll have to wait until Friday to test out another one. I’ll take my old card with me too, as I really don’t think it’s the card. This 256MB card has worked well for a few years—the “Memory Card Error” has always been intermittent and doesn’t seem to be associated with just the one card. I’ll get my CF card tested in the camera shop, and will try out one of theirs that I hope they have available for testing. To be honest, I might even consider getting a new digital camera. The prices are MUCH cheaper now and this one is 4+ years old. I hate throwing away stuff though—especially stuff that I paid hundreds of dollars for and works perfectly well except for this intermittent issue. Mutter, mutter, mumble, mumble…

Update 9 November 2007: I took the camera and CF card in to the camera shop (Camera House, Bunbury, Western Australia). The nice guy behind the counter asked if I’d reformatted the card since the fix. I hadn’t. Didn’t know I should. I definitely hadn’t reformatted the 32MB card, and it worked fine first up. He reformatted the 256MB card and it worked fine! We tested it a few times with no error. He recommended that I reformat after I download photos instead of deleting them off the card. There was no charge for this service or advice, but I purchased a couple of spare cards anyway—his advice and ‘fix’ was a lot cheaper than getting a new camera!