Canon 350D wont go on anymore!

Having to use a USB cable wouldn't really be the end of the world, I've done if for the last 4 years since my cardreader broke, and besides, if the alternative were to be using the camera for a garden ornament I know which one I'd choose...

The pin in the center of the back row looks like it's touching metal. It seems longer then the rest of them, could be the that it came out of the connector itself.

the longer ones are earth pins - supposed to make contact before all the others...

That might be the case, but no METAL CONTACT for sure! The way I see it, you insert the CF card and you push that pin harder against the metal.

I have done the bent pin thing as well in my 350D, the CF cards seem to be looser in this body than any of my subsequent CF card bodies (30D, 1DsMk2, 1DMk3).

The attached photos are of the CF pin assembly that Canon replaced. I had bent a few pins a couple of months prior and had straightened them (with a thin piece of metal). The camera developed other non-related issues and while they were repairing those problems, I got them to replace the pin assembly.

Working from memory, the part was about $20.00 and would have been their minimum labour charge to replace which at the time was about $150.00.

Personally, I wouldn't bother repairing it, put the money towards a slightly newer body.