Hi
I have tried a few dealers, including the one that sold me the camera. Strangely, my previous camera was a K100D Super which also developed a similar issue. The dealer told me the issue would not occur with the Kx No dealer I have tried so far has an adapter. In fact two main dealers in the south of the UK given to me by the London based Pentax office, when I called them, they told me they no longer sold Pentax dSLRs. I have been watching ebay to see if one comes up in the UK. I really need my luck to turn on this one!

Hi
I am not suggesting it was a deliberate act to add a fault, I am saying that it became a known fault which Pentax should not insist on forcing their customers to pay huge amounts of money to fix. If a camera breaks because of misuse, or mishandling or fails over time due to the wearing out of parts, or an electrical problem that suddenly appears that no-one knew about, then fine, get it repaired. I don't find it acceptable that Pentax know about a problem, so they introduce a firmware upgrade to fix it (they wouldn't do that if just the odd few camera owners complained, they would do it if it became more than a few, maybe hundreds or more), but because of the One Year Warranty, unless your camera fails during the warranty period, you are stuck because to fix the problem that doesn't exist, you have to spend a fortune. That is indeed unnacceptable and cynical behaviour by Pentax. They should be offering an easy fix for this particular problem, not ripping their customers off. If by JP Service Solutions you mean Johnsons Photopia, then I did contact them. They denied the problem exists, they had never heard of it, even though I reminded them about the firmware upgrade designed to remedy the issue! They simply said you would have to send the camera in for fixing (which costs a fortune). If I found their quote unnaceptable, then I would still have to pay £24 before they would send the camera back. I asked them whether I would get charged even if I picked the camera up from them in Stoke on Trent, they said yes, and I can't pick the camera up anyway, it get posted. Unnacceptable. If you took your car to a garage and a mechanic said your wheel bearings need replacing, and it would cost X amount to fix, and you said OK I will take my car away to think about it, you wouldn't stand for it if they said sorry we can't let you drive the car away unless you pay us £24 would you? Sorry if this sounds a bit like a rant, its just that I get so annoyed by companies who's cynical actions hurt their customers, the very people who keep them in business in the first place. If I can't find a solution to this problem, I may very well not buy another Pentax or Ricoh product again.

Hi
Thanks for your answer. Yes I also have the same Energizer batteries. On a voltmeter they measure 1.67v not under load. In the camera they don't even turn the camera on. If i insert Eneloops which measure 1.34 not under load, when they go into the camera the camera comes on and last for about 30 seconds before the Battery Depleted warning comes on and the camera shuts down. I have a feeling that if I can successfully upgrade the firmware that I could get the camera to work OK on these batteries, but without a mains adapter, I can't do it. I said originally that it was a bit cynical of Pentax to launch a camera with a known problem, knowing that after a year or so when the problem would become manifest, customers would either have to spend a huge amount getting the camera repaired, or spend a fortune on a simple cheap plastic mains adapter. Even though the official repairer in the UK (Johnsons Photopia) and the Ricoh/Pentax main office in London both deny that such a problem exists, they clearly don't bother to update their product knowledge or listen to what other areas and departments of Pentax/Ricoh are saying because Pentax released a firmware update which they claimed helped to cure the issue! My problem was that because I haven't used my camera much in last few years, I was unaware of the design fault and simply took advice on battery type, when the real cause was faulty software. Now the problem has got to the point where the camera is unusable unless I can get hold of a mains adapter. The camera has probably taken less than 2000 photos during its lifetime so far.

Hi

I have an older Pentax camera which is a Kx. It suffers from a rather cynical software design fault by Pentax, in that is shows constant Battery Depletion warning before shutting down. It does this regardless of battery type and voltage available. The problem has existed prior to the warranty being up, but I was incorrectly told that I was simply using the wrong batteries. I have used Eneloops rechargables and other full 1.5v non rechargables, all give the same fault. I have done some research and it seems that the issue has to do with a firmware design problem, which (strangely) shows up commonly after one year of use. Ricoh/Pentax deny the problem exists, as do Johnsons Photopia (the repair center), although the London Pentax office agree to it being a problem. The cost of repair is astronomical, and the workaround methods are no longer achievable due to 2 reasons. 1. The problem is partly remedied by updating the firmware, the problem is that the camera needs to be under constant power in order for the update to take place. If it cuts out during the update, the camera motherboard is finished. So batteries can't be used. 2. The only way of powering the camera during an update is the AC power supply adapter. Trouble is, it is no longer available. The adapter is the K-AC84 and no-one has it. On the odd occasion one shows up at a ridiculous price of well over £100 (for a used Chinese made cheap plastic adapter). I have read on one forum site that another adapter the D-AC10 will also work with the Kx, but I have not been able to verify that, and can't find one anyway.
Does anyone have a workaround solution to this problem? Failing that does anyone have an adapter I could borrow to update the firmware? I live in Cambridgeshire, UK.

Many thanks

Joats