GeorgeH Loc: Jonesboro, GA

My K 5 has locked up. The train of events: Saturday night I checked the charge state of the battery in the body and in the hand grip. Both good. The memory card had 91 RAW images remaining. Sunday morning I went to a water fowl rookery in Port Royal, SC to shoot the birds. Mounted my Sigma 135 - 400 zoom to my tripod, mounted the K 5 to the lens, plugged in a wired remote release, and turned the camera on.

The top screen showed no response to changing shutter or aperture, no change in ISO. I turned the camera off, then back on. Still no response to the wheels. I tried an exposure, and the camera locked up. Mirror locked up, top screen blank. Nothing.

Back at our son's house I removed both batteries, and reinserted them. The mirror returned, I tried a shot. Mirror lockup, no top screen, nothing happening. Home here in Georgia I've done the battery thing again, but no luck.

Looking at the pdf of the manual the index mentions "Reset," but that of course requires access to the Menu. Anyone have any ideas, or do I now have a paperweight. I suspect that a repair would cost more than the cost of a second hand K 5.

Norm.P Loc: Northeast, UK

you could try the Pentax forum. Someone had a similar problem https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/115-pentax-k-5/163726-k-5-freezing-up-no-biggie-just-tad-annoying.html

DanielB Loc: San Diego, Ca

Did you accidentally place your camera in "Bulb" mode (This is what they call it on Canon systems)on some tethered triggers there is a slide lock that holds it open and isn't that obvious. This happened to me once and I was sure I had a camera fault. There is also a mirror lock up setting in most DSLR's for cleaning the sensor - check that also.

GeorgeH Loc: Jonesboro, GA

Good suggestion, but I had the camera in TAV mode. My remote has that same slide switch, but the camera remained locked up after unplugging it. Yes, there is a mirror lock-up, but it is accessed through the Menu, which I can't access.

GeorgeH Loc: Jonesboro, GA

Yep, I've posted to Pentax forum. Thanks for the link; I've reviewed the posts there and those folks usually could "fix" things by removing/replacing the battery. No such luck for me! The temperature was about 80F and the camera didn't feel particularly hot.

DanielB Loc: San Diego, Ca

Ouch! Sorry to hear that. Good luck - post back if you get a solution.

GENorkus Loc: Washington Twp, Michigan

Not that things can't happen but for years Pentax has noted for being very reliable and built strong, so that seems strange. When you find the PDF of the manual, look on page 335.

Among other models, I also own a K5. If you use a third party battery grip, remove it. My K5 was doing strange things for over a half a year and I was thinking about replacing it. I happened to remove the BG one time. Perfection ever since!

My two other Pentax dslr's both have factory BG's. Not a problem at all with them.

GeorgeH Loc: Jonesboro, GA

Thanks for the hint. My BG is factory. P 335 etc will be handy, if I can ever access the camera's menu system!

GENorkus Loc: Washington Twp, Michigan

Resetting the Menus:

1 Select [Reset] in the [Set-up 3] menu and pressthe four-way controller (>). The [Reset] screen appears.
2 Press the four-way controller (^) to select [Reset] and press the OK button. The settings are reset.

Another thing you might want to check is if there are any updates available. With your K5 being turned off, push and hold the MENU button while turning the K5 switch to the ON position. That will quickly display whatever your K5 has been updated to. My K5 is updated to the most recient I know of and that is Version 1.16. Do a Google search for any updates. I believe the Richo site has the updates available for all the Pentax cameras... somewhere. They also have directions to load the upgrade.

Good luck!

GENorkus Loc: Washington Twp, Michigan

Just thought about something else. Clean the contacts on the camera, SD card, and the battery(s) while your at it. You'll not be able to reach into the camera's SD slot and maybe not the battery slots so don't worry about everything.

Just take a soft "pink pearl" pencil eraser, (or similar), and gently erase the dirt/corrosion off. If you have ever touched any of the contacts, even finger prints can cause corrosion. Be careful that any eraser "crumbs" don't fall into the camera and just rub the eraser on the side of your pants to clean the black off the eraser. Cleaning contacts is only done be me about once every two or three years. You don't need to clean them very often.
Caution: DO NOT use an ink eraser as that will act like sand paper and scratch away the plating on any contact it touches.

GeorgeH Loc: Jonesboro, GA

On a suggestion from another Forum I loaded AAs into the battery grip and all is fine, which strongly suggests that the two Wasabi batteries, which I bought in August 2012, had failed. Many thanks for the help from all of you!

DanielB Loc: San Diego, Ca

Well heck! Why didn’t I think of that. Just too obvious I guess. Happy you figured it out.