Hello C31:23, I've experienced the same problem at least twice with our Church's dcr-trv280. It happened during a VERY important filming. We bought this camcorder brand - new about a year and half ago. The 1st instance was about 6 - 7 months thereafter. There were several posts that indicated to smack the side of the camcorder several times. It worked then and later (November 5, 2006). We've been successfully using it every Sunday once again. I'll recommend another brand when we purchase again ...... virgil moffett technology coordinator www.southcentralchurchofchrist.com