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Note: this camera was first sold in Jan 2005. There may be newer versions available.
Sony CyberShot DSC-W5
Sony CyberShot DSC-W5
D
HQ Grade: D
A is outstanding and exceptional, rated in the top 10% of digital cameras.
B means they are good, with some standout features.
C means they are mediocre, and probably more trouble than they are worth.
D & F mean they are absolutely awful or old. Avoid at all costs.
  • 5 out of 5
"the Sony DSC W5... i call it the "set, point and shoot camera"!!!"
  • 4 out of 5
"experiance"
See rating based on 232 user reviews
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Guest 3 pts
September 27, 2006 5:50 AM
6 people rated this question helpful, 3 people rated this question not helpful Subscribe for Email Updates for this Question

i m getting error " turn off power and try again" for all programs. Pls sug

mail me on [email removed] or call me on [phone # removed]..its very urgent ...so pls reply

Removed phone number and email address

Message was edited by: TomH
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Answers This question has been answered!
TomH (tharrison) 9645 pts
September 28, 2006 11:19 AM
4 people rated this answer helpful, 3 people rated this answer not helpful
 
You may also need to remove the batteries and insert them again after about 1 minute. If this doesn't work, then Sony suggests that you initialize the setting (from the Setup menu) ... although I am not sure if you can get to that screen with the error message you report being displayed.

Here's the link to the Sony page for the manual -- see the troubleshooting section for more information.
Best Answer
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Guest 1 pts
September 28, 2006 5:40 PM
3 people rated this answer helpful, 3 people rated this answer not helpful
 
Ì have had the exact same problem.... twice! the first time i sent it back on warranty and it was a problem with the lens, and i have sent it back again yet
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Bluepill 3 pts
October 29, 2006 9:00 PM
4 people rated this answer helpful, 4 people rated this answer not helpful
 
I'm having the same problem. Taking the batteries out for 1 minute, then putting them back in doesnt work. Initializing doest work. Anyone have a solution?
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Guest1 3 pts
November 7, 2006 3:58 AM
4 people rated this answer helpful, 3 people rated this answer not helpful
 
Same problem with me. "Turn power off and then on again".
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Guest1 3 pts
November 8, 2006 4:04 AM
4 people rated this answer helpful, 2 people rated this answer not helpful
 
After 2 days i turned it on and now it works... I have no idea where was the problem...
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guest 14 pts
December 21, 2006 7:36 PM
17 people rated this answer helpful, 1 people rated this answer not helpful
 
Our company camera had the same exact error massage"turn off power and try again" and the len would not retract as well. But after trying the suggestion about pushing the len in during power off cycle I manage to finally fix it. Please keep in mind that it will take a few attempts at doing it before it is finally works.

Here is what I exactly did and I hope you can fix your too.

1) Turn on the camera and wait for the message.

2) After message appears power down the camera and gently help the camera len to retract. This part is important, as you gently help the len retract during the power down cycle and push it all the way into the camera's body. You will feel the len trying to extent again. Allow this to happen but NOT all the way out. The goal here is that you are trying help the camera find it's correct power down cycle since it is currently out of sync.

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Mauricio González 1 pts
December 26, 2006 1:29 PM
1 people rated this answer helpful, 0 people rated this answer not helpful
 
Hello, My camera had the same exact error message "turn off power and try again" and the len is retract. I Have new battery. Only ear a beep when i turn on. Is possible see the picture. Help me please.
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Bluepill 0 pts
December 29, 2006 5:12 AM
0 people rated this answer helpful, 0 people rated this answer not helpful
 
If you follow the exact 2 steps written above, it will work. I've actually been doing that before and it's been working. So far I've needed to do it twice. First time I got the message, I managed to do the 2 steps the first time successfully. The second time i got the error message, it took me a few more tries before I got it working again.

I've done a lot of searching. Almost read every forum topic about this. The 2 step process written above is the only solution that worked.
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Brenda 4 pts
January 8, 2007 1:48 PM
5 people rated this answer helpful, 1 people rated this answer not helpful
 
Hi, I ran into the same problem yesterday (i had the same message appear on the screen and the lens wouldn't retract) and wanted to pull out my hair when i found out that to repair the lens, I'd have to shell out between $125 and $160, possibly more. This especially annoyed me because I had always been careful with my camera, which i had recived as a birthday present and hadnt ever dropped until yesterday, and that my 1 year warranty expired just 3 months ago.

I, like a lot of others, did some searching and i came across the above 2-step process. I tried this a couple of times but it didn't work. A couple people also suggested that the process should be repeated a couple of times.

About the 15th time trying this I tried gently pulling the lens out, instead of pushing it in. Now, my lens had been stuck out, unable to retract, but there was a little room, and when i say little I mean very little, to extend further out. When I pulled the lens out, it started twisting and the lens fully extended and stopped. I should also mention that i did this part while the camera was on. I then turned the camera off and the lens retracted on its own.

My camera now works perfectly, although the circular silver plate that surrounded the lens has a dent in it (probably from when it fell), but I removed that (before attempting to fix my camera) and I'm sure I can fix it on my own, seeing as its not a major problem.

Thanks for the advice!! It really helped!!
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pepBerlin 1 pts
February 14, 2007 4:30 AM
1 people rated this answer helpful, 0 people rated this answer not helpful
 
yep, that gentle pushing while powering the camera down fixed it. although it took about 20 tries to work.
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jwm 0 pts
March 5, 2007 9:24 PM
0 people rated this answer helpful, 0 people rated this answer not helpful
 
Excellent advice - gently "forcing" it finally worked for me, too, after about 20 times. I tried both pushing and pulling. Think it finally worked when I pushed during shut down so it closed properly when the power went down. When the lens got stuck, I was on a trip in the Dominican Republic, didn't have a manual or able to access the internet. I didn't even know what was the problem (batteries, reset, etc). Wish I had been able to get (to) this info then!! Thanks.
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krikor 1 pts
March 28, 2007 10:14 AM
1 people rated this answer helpful, 0 people rated this answer not helpful
 
Hey! it works!
the user brenda is the right choise! gently pul out an give a little twisting until you ear a samll crack.. but PLEASE GENTLY.. gently means soft movements.. remember is very fragile.
thanks a lot from argentina!
guillermo
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deep 1 pts
April 17, 2007 2:05 AM
1 people rated this answer helpful, 0 people rated this answer not helpful
 
Do this if you are a confident technician.
This problem ocur because sluggish movement of auto focus mechanism inside the camera mechanism. Because of this " time out " happens and we see the error massage. As some one said if you help barral assy to take position faster it may work.

Open the lens mechanism, clean it, if required lubricate it with very low viscus oil, and re assamble. Your problem will solve once and for all.
While diss assembling if possible record the sequence by video camere / mobile camera / cyber camera or on a piece of paper. Do reverse of it while assembling.

This is a very risky job. If you are not confident, take it to a proffessional.
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Troy 1 pts
April 28, 2007 9:40 PM
1 people rated this answer helpful, 0 people rated this answer not helpful
 
I did the 2 steps about 10 times and nothing. I held the lens in so it was not sticking out when the camera was OFF.

I then removed the battery for about 2 minutes and put it back in. Turned on the camera and lo-in-be-hold. Camera works like new.

Thanks for the tips. Something worked for me just not sure which it was.

Good Luck if your having the trouble.

Troy
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Jessica 0 pts
June 5, 2007 7:58 PM
0 people rated this answer helpful, 0 people rated this answer not helpful
 
I had the same error message / problem. The solution that worked for me was to pull out the lens (same as Brenda). I had to gently "help" it before the error message hit and it retracted again.

This worked great, thanks Brenda!
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ASH 0 pts
June 18, 2007 3:44 PM
0 people rated this answer helpful, 0 people rated this answer not helpful
 
I had the same problem. Just gettly try to help in the zoom during the power off cycle. It worked for me. For beep you seem to have set up the beep on and that is ok. May sure when it is powering off. It used to try but would not succeed retracting off its own.

It is high time Sony comes up with a standard instruction for it. It seems to be a mechanical defect in the lense system.
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KC 0 pts
June 20, 2007 12:36 PM
0 people rated this answer helpful, 0 people rated this answer not helpful
 
God Bless you all, It worked!
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hf 0 pts
June 27, 2007 5:23 PM
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it really does work! i just fixed mine by pushing it in after pressing the power button... it took me maybe 40 tries..haha.. but it DOES work... so keep trying!

thanks everybody else for the good advice.
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stéphane 1 pts
June 29, 2007 2:07 AM
1 people rated this answer helpful, 0 people rated this answer not helpful
 
Thanks Brenda
I think it´s the ultimate solution but yet my camera work again
I twist it right and then left with the "crac" power off and the lens is on his original position

Thanks from France
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Terry 0 pts
July 8, 2007 5:05 PM
0 people rated this answer helpful, 0 people rated this answer not helpful
 
Thank you very much Brenda. I twisted the "bigger" part of the lens, left and right while the camera was on and after only 5 tries it worked. It extended all the way out. I turned it off then back on and thankfully enough it works.

Once again Thank you for your post. = D
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Wamz 0 pts
July 27, 2007 7:20 AM
0 people rated this answer helpful, 0 people rated this answer not helpful
 
Our organisation digicam also exhibited the same problem. We held the lens face down and turned on the camera. Whilst the lens was trying to come out, it got stuck, so we helped it by pulling gently. It still gets stuck but we are pulling it out gently for the moment.
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Fenri 0 pts
August 28, 2007 1:49 PM
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Wah! I have no idea what I did! My Brenda, you are a GENIUS!
I twisted the lower part of the lens out slightly, and it worked on my 5th try! Thankyaz!

I never got an error message. The screen went all the way until 'access' when I removed the battery and put it back in. But after that, 1 second starting chime, and it went off.
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Ary 0 pts
October 10, 2007 12:21 AM
0 people rated this answer helpful, 0 people rated this answer not helpful
 
My DSC-W5 work good as long as I have it on preview mode, as soon as I turn it to camera mode, the scene turns on for about 3 seconds and the camera turns off, leaving the lense sticking out. Any one got any sugestions?
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Aaqib 0 pts
October 15, 2007 10:32 AM
0 people rated this answer helpful, 0 people rated this answer not helpful
 
Thank You.....The two step process works great. I also tried to gently tap the camera on my hand to remove any dust or foreign body, although there was none. My camera DS-w55 is now working nicely.
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Caleb 0 pts
December 1, 2007 6:46 PM
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I have the same problem. I have'nt found the exact reason but I think it's temperature related. When I moved the camera in a warmer place, it worked well.
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lauren 0 pts
January 18, 2008 5:31 PM
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my camera, same model, says turn power off and then on again but no lense sticks out. i dont know what to do, ive had it just over 3 months!! and its done this!! i have tryed all solutions abouve, and nothing. i cant exctly send it back to where i live, in on the other side of the world, hollidaying. what do i do!! any suggestions??
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Matheus 0 pts
March 21, 2008 10:20 AM
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I've done the what the guest of 6th answer suggested and it worked.
It was hard and I havent reached it on the first attempt, but you may insist because it really works!
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Jim Bean 0 pts
May 21, 2008 10:07 AM
0 people rated this answer helpful, 0 people rated this answer not helpful
 
Tryed the slight turn thing while powering down.WORKED LIKE A CHARM! Many THANKS To All posters for there info. It took several trys But saved me A bunch of money !
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Waqasi 0 pts
June 10, 2008 6:18 AM
0 people rated this answer helpful, 0 people rated this answer not helpful
 
My camera had the same exact error massage"turn off power and try again" and the len would not retract as well. But after trying the suggestion about pushing the len in during power off cycle I manage to finally fix it. Please keep in mind that it will take a few attempts at doing it before it is finally works.

Here is what I exactly did and I hope you can fix your too.

1) Turn on the camera and wait for the message.

2) After message appears power down the camera and gently help the camera len to retract. This part is important, as you gently help the len retract during the power down cycle and push it all the way into the camera's body. You will feel the len trying to extent again. Allow this to happen but NOT all the way out. The goal here is that you are trying help the camera find it's correct power down cycle since it is currently out of sync. (As told by one of the guests)
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ashley 0 pts
June 30, 2008 11:07 PM
0 people rated this answer helpful, 0 people rated this answer not helpful
 
how do you power down the camera?
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VG 0 pts
August 17, 2008 1:36 PM
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Worked like a charm after about 15 retries.
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Fox 0 pts
August 24, 2008 11:33 PM
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Working!!!! With a 2 step techniques!!! Thanx a lot, people!
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Kevin 0 pts
October 14, 2008 5:10 AM
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By me it doesn't work,

from the begin: when I turn on my camera, the lens goes out and in twice, then the message comes "turn the power on and off again", than I turn off the camera and it goes out and in again twice.

I tried what was written above but it doesn't work, anyone who can tell me what to do?
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gonenuts1967 0 pts
November 26, 2008 8:35 PM
0 people rated this answer helpful, 0 people rated this answer not helpful
 
I had the same thing happen to mine. Error message and lens stuck out. I was ticked!!!!! But I tried the same method with the camera powered off gently pushing the lens in. Sever times and bingo back in business. I think Sony needs to address this problem since several owner are having the same exact error.
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zibex 0 pts
January 21, 2009 6:10 PM
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tBv5V2 hi! nice site!
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Bruno 0 pts
February 9, 2009 10:05 AM
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Thank You Brenda...
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Myderwyk 0 pts
July 24, 2009 1:44 PM
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I tried the exact same thing with my camera. Thanks for the advice everyone...mainly brenda i suppose! I just find it pretty sad that a company with high standards such as sony has such a poor lense on so many occasions......thanks though

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Meg 0 pts
August 12, 2009 9:23 PM
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It took me about 60 tries, but pushing it in gently as it powers down DID work!! Keep trying ya'll!!
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Steve 0 pts
September 13, 2009 10:02 AM
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I had the same problem and I found that by gently tapping the bottom corner of the camera with the power on caused the lense to retract and open properly when powering up again. I have seen this methode from other sites and it seems to be faster than multiple times of pushing the lense in manually.
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Kayla 0 pts
October 21, 2009 4:40 PM
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It works! When I turned on the camera and the lens retracts three times, on one of the times I gently grasped the lens and pulled out until it clicked to normal shooting mode. It immediately went to picture mode and is working just fine. Try pullying it out very carefully if pushing in isn't working.
Thank you all so much!
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jason 0 pts
November 10, 2009 9:55 AM
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My Cybershot DSC-W90 gives the 'turn power off then back on' message when the lens is fully retracted already. Does anyone know if you can pull the lens out somehow to negate this problem. Any other solutions?
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Howie 0 pts
November 18, 2009 4:21 PM
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How do you pull out the lens?
I am having the same problem and nothing seems to work!
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