Dreaded Message - Memory Card Error (K10D)

Thought I'd post my (unfortunate) experiences with the K10D as a little warning

Quite a while ago I bought a partially defective K10D that had an intermittent memory card error message. Having looked through the service manual I thought I'd give it a whirl and try and get a half decent dSLR for one of my sons.

Getting the thing apart wasn't difficult... until I came to the main board. Taking it off the chassis (having desoldered the crazy amount of wires) I find that disassembly has ripped off a tiny 14-way connector off the main PCB. Unfortunately this connector bridges the main board with the SD reader board. So, now I have a microscopically small, partially damaged connector, with a main board that has broken tracks which I can't repair (I could if the tracks were larger). I can see that there were definitely dry joints too in the way that the connector came cleanly off some of the tracks (but ripped other off).

Everything else about the camera is A1. Hey ho. So I ponder a long while on what to do (and I mean months)...

Then I purchase a cheaper K10D that has a broken LCD. Cool, me thinks! I can easily replace the LCD and get the K10D back and running making one out of two.

I take a few photos with a broken LCD - first with the 18-55 then the 50-135 and all looks fine

Disassemble, replace LCD, and reassemble took about 40 minutes working slowly. Feeling happy that it's all lighting up properly, I take a couple of shots, have a look at them and all seems well.

Then "Memory Card Error" shows up. Huh!? Uh-oh...

...and then I have another Google around and stumble on this (with the photos). Oh dear.

Looks like a design fault of the K10D that any impact can create pressure between the main board and SD reader. Adding to that the serial numbers of the two K10Ds (unfortunately for me) are probably within the same block.

Sooooooo.... looks like I have a less than 5% chance of getting one working out of the two, with a high likelihood of having two cameras that are fine for remote tethering only

You could say I'm a bit cheesed off! (Should've saved the cash for a neat Pentax Q kit instead.... grrrr) Anyone have a couple of K10D with broken mirror/shutter/prism that need some spare parts??

Let that be a lesson!!!
Matt

Is it worth getting the better one repaired professionally (eg by Johnsons)


My K10D has developed an aversion to one of my Sandisk Ultra 2GB SD cards. It will ONLY save to it as jpg, even if I shoot RAW+ (RAW isn't saved at all that I can see). When set to RAW+ it advises 94 shots available (413 in Jpeg).

The card works fine in my brothers Sony and in my friends Nikon and both say they get no hiccups at all in the equivalent modes available to them.

Meanwhile 2 other apparently identical cards work 100% in my K10D. These 2 advise 91 shots in RAW+ and 402 in Jpeg, so there are obviously some variations somewhere.

regards
Bernard

Thanks for the suggestion Bernard

To be honest, it's not worth spending extra on them... I've seen the mashed up mess that becomes of the interconnector and it will definitely mean a new main board, plus a full recalibration and setup.

I wouldn't be surprised if a repair bill was over £200.
Given that I can buy a second hand K10D with 6 month warranty for £220 it doesn't make much sense.

Apparently they can be used tethered even without an SD card (or LCD for that matter). They may end up being used for stop-gap animation and having the shutters run into the ground

I have a slim chance of carefully pulling off the main board, bonding and resoldering the connector and getting a working one. But it's going to be several hours work... hey ho!

Matt