why won't the camera zoom into maximum telephoto? It only zooms up to a point.

You are most likely stuck in optical zoom mode. This can be changed in the menu. Your zoom should be set to digital to get the max amount of zoom that this camera offers.

Thanks Joe,

There is no setting for digital zoom in the menu. I hope it's not a mechanical problem.

What Joe said was true, but You should really stick to your optical zoom and not go into the digital zoom unless really necessary. Optical zoom doesn't lose any image quality, the digital zoom cuts down on quality. Digital zoom is like cropping the photo and only using a part of it, this resalts in less image quality. As for the camera stopping at a certain zoom range, I am not sure what to do about it, but I'd suggest talking to someone at a local camera shop. If it is a more simple problem they can probably help you right then and there and it won't cost you any thing. They also may be able to tell you if it is a mechanical problem, without you paying high prices for tests done on it.