If your 5D Mark II won't turn on...

[inkista]

Don't forget not only to pull the card, battery, and memory card, but pull the clock battery, too. I completely forgot about this, and damn near had a heart attack as I tried to get the camera to come back to life for an hour or so.

The clock battery is not, like on the dRebels that had them, in the main battery compartment. It's in the bottom corner of the camera on the other side. Lift up the two rubber flaps protecting the ports, and you'll see a small screw. You need a small philips head to get it out. Then, you can pull out the clock battery.

Left the camera with both the batteries out for about two or three hours, put 'em back in, and it started up again.

Whew.

[OsmosisStudios]

More importantly: why does this sound like normal maintenance?

[inkista]

It is, but it's 5-year maintenance, not 12-month maintenance. Also, they've eliminated the separate clock battery from the newer generation of cameras, iirc.

[sqforester]

My Canon seemed to be able to focus and adjust settings, but the shutter would not work or the screen would not turn on.

I was out shooting, I forgot to turn off the camera, and replaced memory card and that's when it froze up. I'm assuming it gave the camera a bit of a shock (not literal) and screwed up the electronic components inside.

I'm trying the battery process in hoping it fixes the problem. If not, any other suggestions I can get from subscribers?

Thanks!

S

[RichardTaylor]

What model Canon camera?

[armis]

Did you try turning it off, removing the battery, replacing the battery (with a fresh one, perhaps) and trying again?

edit: nevermind, you just mentioned that.