I’ve got a Theta SC that is a couple years old and has been sitting in a desk drawer for maybe a year. I pulled it out to try and use it again but every time I went to turn it on it would beep three times, the red light would flash, and camera mode light would turn on all for about 5 seconds, then it would go off.
I’ve been through a lot of forum posts and troubleshooted things like updating the firmware, deleting a .trash folder, reformatting, etc. Nothing has helped. Throughout all of the troubleshooting I have been able to connect to the camera through the phone app if I turn it on while pressing the wifi and shutter button but I have never been able to see anything or take pictures. Just black.
After all of the troubleshooting, I’m now getting a little bit different power-up sequence but it still shuts off every time. Here’s where I’m at now:
sorry to hear about this. You might be facing a mainboard problem with the camera, which would be unfortunate as the camera is out of warranty.
You should try all other solutions that are safe before trying more desperate measures that could brick your camera.
The thread below might help, but if you read to the end, the person had to replace the camera (under warranty in his case).
If it’s out of warranty and you considering throwing out the camera, you can try the file system techniques.
Before you take this step, did you try deleting all the pictures from the SC with the USB cable? Maybe there is data corruption on the internal (not user serviceable) SDCard.
Before you throw out the camera, you can try and take it apart and access the SDCard (not recommended unless you’re desperate).
Before you open the case of the camera and potentially break a part, you may want to consider the file system format technique described on the link above. I have not had success with that technique myself, but it seems safer than opening up the camera.
If you’ve exhausted all possibilities and want to change the battery or SDCard, you can look at this topic:
There’s more details here on a guy that also had a circuit board problem, which he AMAZINGLY fixed. Incredible, but likely beyond the ability of most people. I would not be able to replicate his work.
Though it seems like if the battery is bad, not the main board, it’s an easier replacement.
I have not attempted this.
Also, I think you may be able to find a specific THETA SC teardown video or blog post.
