I have a 2002 Sony DSC-P3 camera that takes fantastic pictures, until
today.

It had been unused for abut a month, and I plugged in the power supply
to top the battery off before going out to a granddaughters recital to
take some photos. With the power supply still connected, the camera
was very slow to come one, and when it did finally come on, it beeped
and the flashing display was "E:61:00 MEMORY STICK ERROR", with a
symbol of a memory stick also flashing. I unplugged the power supply
and restarted it. Same exact symptoms.
The battery indicator shows an almost full battery, and the memory
stick is empty.

The only thing I can think of is that it somehow got screwed up when I
last downloaded the camera pictures to my computer. But I have done
that hundreds of times with no problems.

The owners manual says if there is an eror code beginning with E, the
camera must go back to an authorized Sony dealer for service. I
really would like to figure out what the authorized dealer can do that
I couldn't do, if I knew the problem. This camera was a gift in 2002
from some very good friends in Tokyo and I would really like to be
able to continue to use it for a few more years. It has accompanied
me on climbs to most of the 14,000 + foot peaks in Colorado and
performed flawlessly in cold and high altitude, and now it dies just
sitting in my bedroom.

All suggestions for what to do will be taken seriously.

TIA,

Bob Hofmann