Mode Switch Broken

It's a fairly easy repair, but you'll need a scrap A2 to cannibalise for parts. They're fairly easy to come by and cheap on auction websites as so many A2's have broken.

What you need is the complete LCD top-plate assembly as trying to refasten the mode switch is a waste of time if the spindle is broken..

To remove it from the donor camera, remove the neck strap from the camera handgrip. Now open the battery cover and undo the screw at the far end of the battery chamber: you'll need a long precision cross-head screwdriver to do this and preferably a magnetic one to withdraw the screw and subsequently replace it. Next, look at the back of the camera, just above and to the left of the power button is another screw; remove it.

Now earth yourself with an earthing wrist strap available from any electronics store and most computer components stores as you're going to be in contact with microelectronics and you don't want to fry them with static discharge.

The panel should now lift: as you do so there are two flexible printed circuit boards to detach and one small plug. Using a pair of tweezers, or the blade of a flat precision screwdriver, ease the plug out, DO NOT just pull on the wire. The two flexible pcb's can be gently pulled from their holders, but a better way to do so is to release the clamps holding them in: the narrow, rearmost one uses a clamp which slides rearwards and the wider frontmost pcb uses a clamp which hinges upwards. The first type of clamp is black (in contrast to the white socket) and using a flat tipped 1mm screwdriver at the edges of it you can easily pop it backwards, the other one is normally blue, but can be yellow and simply flips upwards to release.

You can now completely lift off the panel complete with the mode switch.

Now do the same with your broken camera; it's much easier now that you know what to expect!

Refitting is in reverse order, take care that you don't bend the flexible pcb's any further than you need to when refitting them and be careful to reclamp them by pushing the hinged clamp downwards and sliding the other clamp in until it clicks on both sides. The miniature plug can be a bit fiddly and it's designed to only go in the right way up. refit the screw adjacent to the power button. The most awkward bit is refitting the tiny screw inside the battery chamber so just be patient with it and persevere, and don't fit it until you've checked that the camera is working correctly.

If you've done everything correctly then pat yourself on the back. If anything is not working then you've not fastened one of the pcb's or the plug correctly and will need to do the job again.