Phil Addison wrote:
On Sun, 11 Mar 2012 16:24:23 +0000, Newshound
wrote:

On 11/03/2012 01:27, Phil Addison wrote:
Just bought this on ebay, opened tape door and mechanism whirled and
opened up the inner slot ready for a tape. I put in a tape with its
write-protect switch set to see if would playback, and pushed the inner
mechanism shut. Switched on and silence! it now seems almost dead. All
that happens is the viewfinder lights up blue, and the red 'on' light
comes on (not flashing) when switched to any of the 'on' positions.
Nothing else works. There doesn't seem to be a manual eject hole as on
some camcorders.

The guy offered to refund me but I'd rather get it going, and need to
get my tape out anyway before returning it. Has anyone taken one of
these beasts to bits or got a maintenance manual?

Phil
General answer, Google. There are loads of good "how to" pages on the
web, also videos on You Tube (never needed one for a camcorder though).

Makes this group somewhat redundant doesn't it.... or it might had the
mighty Mr Google actually have had the answer, but in the case google
has no more of a clue than you. Generally this group has in depth
expertise on the more obscure points that defeat "General answer,
Google".

I had, of course, tried Googling before posting. And YouTubing, where
the potentially promising video how-tos turned out to be come-ons for
USA camera repair outfits. Google also kindly informed me that this is a
not unknown problem with this camcorder, and a few others, but
apparently no one has seen fit to post any DIY fixes.

Oh, and in case your next bit of advice it to take it to a repairer, I
have already found the Canon UK repair franchise (from google would you
believe?) where the repair cost would handsomely exceed that of another
foray into eBay.

Now, has anyone taken one of these beasts to bits or got a maintenance
manual?

The Canon user manual, as you've found, isn't much help, but users of
the XL2 have found that either taking the battery out overnight and/ or
gently pushing the "push" marking on the cassette cover while
simultaneously firmly moving and holding the eject slide has worked.

If you're *really* unlucky, the tape gets tangled up in the transport.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.