5d2 won't turn on. Fast flashing red light.

Last night my 5d2 was acting kind of strange. It was rebooting itself frequently. I removed my grip and it seemed to stop doing it and go back to normal. This morning I go to turn my camera on and it doesn't turn on. I pull the battery, put it back in and the red light by the dial is flashing fast and the camera doesn't turn on. I tried other batteries, tried pulling the CF card and putting it back, no change.

Anyone else ever run into this? Anything else I should try?

Try pulling the battery AND the date/time battery. Let it sit for a few (15?) minutes without either battery installed. That should force a hard-reboot. While the batteries are out, clean all the electrical contacts. This is more of a generic computer solution than a specific camera solution. Good luck.

I wasn't aware of the date/time battery, thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately that didn't fix it.

One thing to add to TSchrief's procedure - while all batteries are out turn the power switch to the ON position and hold down the shutter release for 15 seconds. This will insure that you have bled off any residual power that mioght still power up the circuitry. Then...

Turn the power switch to the OFF position.

Reinstall all the batteries.

Turn the camera back on ON.

If you have forced a hard reboot you should have to reset the date and time.

Beyond that, get yourself a flashlight and look very carefully into the CF card slot. You may perhaps have a bent pin.

dfinn wrote in post #15435745
I wasn't aware of the date/time battery, thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately that didn't fix it.

How did you even try it if you are posting 7 minutes after receiving the suggestion to leave the batteries out for 15 minutes?

No change unfortunately. All the pins look good. CF card slides in and out easily, I also tried a couple of different CF cards.

What's interesting is that as soon as I put the battery in, even with the power switch set to "Off" the light flashes.

TSchrief wrote in post #15435830
How did you even try it if you are posting 7 minutes after receiving the suggestion to leave the batteries out for 15 minutes?

Good point, I missed the part about 15 minutes. Doing that now.

No change after waiting for a while.

TSchrief wrote in post #15435830
How did you even try it if you are posting 7 minutes after receiving the suggestion to leave the batteries out for 15 minutes?

Wow! I'll bet your tough on your kids!

I deserved it. And I bet his kids listen to instructions better than I do.

dfinn. I have read about that exact phenomenon on several forums over the years. Not one single person was able to come up with a solution. Every one had to go into service to Canon to get fixed. Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings.

That is a bummer but it's pretty much what I was thinking would need to happen. I'm heading to my local authorized canon repair center in about an hour to have them check it out.

Sorry to hear it wasn't an easy fix. Good luck at Canon.