Has anyone replaced an A7R2 motherboard themselves?

[Dan2los]

I recently got the dreaded "camera error turn camera off then on" screen on my a7r2 along with a stuck shutter. I assumed that it was a broken shutter module/charge unit, so I ordered the parts and pulled the camera apart to replace them. After getting the whole thing back together, the shutter still sticks when I take a photo and the error screen pops up. The only way to get the error to go away is to remove the bottom plates from the camera and physically force the assembly arm up to release it. After calling some repair places, they said the next move is to replace the whole motherboard and that it has to be done by a tech since you need special software to do it. Does anyone here know if that's true? And if so, is there a way around it?

Thanks for the help.

[VTC]

Can't help with the motherboard issue but maybe you can help me with my hot shoe problem. Mine's loose. How the hot shoe fastened to the top? Found pics of the camera disassembled but no clear view of how it's fastened or the minimal stuff I need to remove to get to it. I assume there's screws that poke up from the bottom or the nuts have loosened. Use a Blackmagic Video Assist 5 on it and I can tighten to the socket but socket wiggles on camera.

[Dan2los]

Its hard to say how the hot shoe is attached, since there is a ribbon cable that blocks that area. To get proper access to it, you would need to get to the point where you have removed the rear screen, the rear housing, the button wheel plate and the motherboard protector. From here you would just need to detach the viewfinder from the motherboard and pull it out of the upper casing. From there you would have space to work on it. This would be about at step 10 of the ifixit teardown. https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Sony+a7R+II+Teardown/45597

If you really don't want to have to remove the screen, you could try unscrewing the whole back plate, taking off the outer viewfinder covers and bending back the motherboard cover to gain access to where the viewfinder plugs into the board. At this point the risk of tearing an important ribbon cable is probably not worth any time saved.

 

 

[Chrissie]

There is a "teardown" description on ifixit.com for this camera. Maybe you can extract some important info from there.

Oh. double-post. Credits go to @Dan2los.

Edited November 12, 2018 by Chrissie
double-post. No new information.

[Nuvolari]

Did you ever find a DIY solution?  I've heard there is software initialization that needs to be performed after a motherboard replacement but not sure if that is absolutely necessary. 

[Dan2los]

I ended up sending it to a private repair tech to get it fixed. He said I was as close as he's seen anyone get to doing it on their own, but still missed a few things that needed to be done. I sent it in to Video One Repair. They were pretty quick and reasonably priced from what I remember.