EMERGENCY: P2 Slot broke!!! Please help!

Spartacus

Spartacus

Veteran
Guys,
when inserting a P2 card in the top slot of my HVX it made a (louder than usual) "click" and push-click button that ejects the P2 card is not working anymore.
It just comes out completely and doesn´t snap, the P2 card can´t be pushed out/ejected.

I have a 3day shoot starting Monday, and there is no service center I could contact over the weekend!

Has this happened to one of you before?
Is there a way of getting the P2 card out manualy?

This is bad timing...:embarasse


PS on the rear, right under the 2 slots are two tiny screws to take of the slots´cap (whatever it is called...), should I try it this way...?
 
Haven't heard of this before... on my old Dell laptop the PCMCIA slot ejection button had a habit of breaking, so I had to manually pry the card out. Never had a problem, I just had to use a thin-blade screwdriver and pry on the side of the card to get it to slide off the internal pins.

I don't know if it would be safe to do so with a camera, obviously you'd be performing any such technique at your own risk, but if it was mine I'd probably try it.
 
Thanks Barry,
I´m torn between just pulling in out by force or leaving it as is and keep switching the cards in the second slot (thankfully I don´t need continous shooting this time)
So there is no "lock" or so, keeping the P2 card inside?
The Push/Click button on the right of the P2 slots is just a "helper"...?
 
Since they conform to the PCMCIA standard, I don't think there's any sort of additional lock.

But, again, I haven't looked inside the connector, so no telling what unforeseen situation might exist in there. But I'm pretty certain that the push-button switch there is a direct physical "pusher" that pushes the card away from the pins.
 
If you don't "need" the slot for this shoot as you say, I'd put the write protect on that card and get it fixed properly for the long term anyway.
I wouldn't want to count on trying the pliers on the shoot over and over on the shoot. But it will get you buy if needed.
Another option not mentioned is to use both slots and dump from camera if you have the time.
Best of luck!
 
Thanks guys!
I never had any problems with the HVX and having P2 with no moving parts was a big plus when deciding against tape based HDV cameras back then.
That now of all things the P2 mechanism breaks, is like HDV laughing in my face by hindsight...

I´m also wondering if this has happened with other HVXs before...?
 
The push-button is most certainly an ejector mechanism that "pushes" the card away from the pins.

There are no additional locks or anything, so you can feel free to pull the card out by hand, or carefully with some pliers, and be fine. In fact if you remove the card from the bottom slot, you may be able to pull the card from the top slot using only your fingers.

(and just to be sure...I happen to have a HVX in my possession right now, and I went ahead and removed the bottom P2 card, and then pulled the top from it's slot using only my fingers)

If you pull on the card, it should have resistance at first, and then as soon as it's broken away from the pins, there should be no resistance -- just like pulling a compact flash card out of a camera, or pulling any card out of the sort of card readers that you find on computers and photo-kiosks.

In the rare event that something in the ejector mechanism is jammed between part of the slot and the P2 card, you will probably feel resistance/dragging even after the card breaks away from the pins.

In this case you may want to stop pulling on the card, buy quite frankly, to fix it they're likely going to do exactly what you're worried about doing -- and that's yank the card out independent of the ejector mechanism.

You know how much force it takes to push the button -- imagine that much force but "pulling" instead of "pushing." Don't force anything much more than that amount of force, and you should be fine.

In fact if you get the card out, cycle the button a few times, and put the card back in, the problem might even fix itself. This is speculation and not based on any kind of experience.
 
OK,
I pulled it out, but I can´t get the eject mechanism to work again...
It´s really funny, but now, after examining the mechanism, this really feels like a cheap ballpen push´n click mechanism, nothing fancy.
Sth worth probably under 5c...
At least everything is still working, but I start to understand complaints about Panas built quality.
I also had the battery mount break on this HVX...

Thanks for your suggestions guys!
 
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