I have this Pentax model OPTIO S Digicam for almost a year now
Just recently it developed the nasty habit to show "'interfering strobe
lines"" on its LCD when switched on from a cold start.
When the picture is recorded it does record the strobes as 3-horizontally
lines distributed symmetrically and aprox 1 mm thick.
In view mode the lines are scrolling over the display up, and after a while
down, while the picture (background) remains stable,
it really looks like an out of vertical sync of an overlay. (the cam
settings info is displayed correctly)

The firmware OPTIO logo which shows during the first 3 seconds after power
on is stable as a rock...when the logo times out the "loss of sync phenomen
starts""

After about 30 seconds everything returns to normal and the digicam works as
advertised without any further problems.
Just wonder whether someone has seen this problem before ?

One of the clock gen circuits may be going off sync lock. This can be
anywhere down the line starting at the CCD addressing, or data reading.
Since the fault disappears with time, the component(s) must be thermo
sensitive. You may be able to zero in on the component(s) by using Freeze
Spray to cool them down while the camera is working normally.

If you can determine the faulty parts, your only obstacle would be to get
them, if Pentax will sell them to you. You will most certainly require the
proper tools to change these types of parts, especially if they are on the
flexi type boards that are used in these cameras. Normally the manufacture
will change a complete board as a module when there is a defect. Very little
component level work is done on these.



--

Greetings,

Jerry Greenberg GLG Technologies GLG
=========================================
WebPage http://www.zoom-one.com
Electronics http://www.zoom-one.com/electron.htm
=========================================


"Bram Stolk" wrote in message
...
I have this Pentax model OPTIO S Digicam for almost a year now
Just recently it developed the nasty habit to show "'interfering strobe
lines"" on its LCD when switched on from a cold start.
When the picture is recorded it does record the strobes as 3-horizontally
lines distributed symmetrically and aprox 1 mm thick.
In view mode the lines are scrolling over the display up, and after a while
down, while the picture (background) remains stable,
it really looks like an out of vertical sync of an overlay. (the cam
settings info is displayed correctly)

The firmware OPTIO logo which shows during the first 3 seconds after power
on is stable as a rock...when the logo times out the "loss of sync phenomen
starts""

After about 30 seconds everything returns to normal and the digicam works as
advertised without any further problems.
Just wonder whether someone has seen this problem before ?