Flash trouble on XTi

My rebel XTi is about 6 months old but seems to be having hiccups already.
When I press the small button on the side to pop the flash out, it hangs with an error and the flash never pops up! The LCD then has a error msg and I have to turn it off and back on to get it working.

It worked a couple of times after that but since then it has gone bad again! Now it has reached a stage where I cannot shoot in automatic modes at all where flash is needed (unless I decide it myself and pull the flash out) since the flash doesnt pop out on its own.
I dont know if this is a hardware issue and is common to all the xti models?
If so, is there a good place around NJ,NY,Pennsylvania. Delaware to get it repaired?

Any help appreciated! thanks!

My XTi never had an issue like that and I've had it for almost a year. If I'm not mistaken, there is a Canon Service Center in NJ.

I had a problem with my XTi where the flash would pop but it would ERR 99 when it tried to fire. Canon had me send it off to Newport News, VA and returned it a week later all fixed and completely covered by warranty.

Hmm, mine sometimes used to do that - I gave it a gentle thump and it was ok again. I think it was having trouble opening and would give up after a second or two of trying. The thump seemed to dislodge whatever was causing it.

I've never had any problem with my XTi (knock on wood). If you can pull it up manually and it works fine that means theres something wrong with the release or the actual springs that allow it to pop up. Take a look inside and see if there is anything obstructing the movment.
On a side note, I had a friend with an XT that got a pop or juice on the flash and it had a very hard time popping up automatically, and would give an error whenever it couldn't.

Did you buy it locally? When I had problems with my Sony camera I took it back to henrys close to the end of the 1yr warranty period and they sent it off to get repaired no charge.

I've never heard of that problem with the flash, I'd get it fixed before the 1yr is up.

Yes..called up canon support and they asked me to ship it to Newport news in VA. Seems like a hardware problem since he asked me to try a couple of resets. But they didnt work.

Thanks for the comments!!

The first thing I'd check is the hotshoe. There's a little spring under the hotshoe rails on one side of the camera hotshoe. This spring actually actuates a tiny switch, and disables the flash popup at times when you have a hotshoe mounted flash onboard.

You can test this on a working camera by manually depressing the spring with a toothpick or screwdriver, etc, and then pushing the flash button. With the spring depressed, the flash will not pop up.

I'm not sure, however, about your error. You may have a different problem.

Just an update. I contacted Canon and they asked me to mail it to their service center at VA. I sent it on sunday and have it back in my hands today!! So they took just a day to repair it and they have cleaned it as well and it was covered in my warranty.
So hopefully this is behind me and it wont break again!!

Thanks everyone, for your help!!