Thanks for the input Arrow, I have never tried formatting the cards before. Would that cause the flash to not work?? I Get good day time photos with the camera, the only problem shows up at night... WHen i look at the photos on the SD card it shows that the camera was activated but it only shows a black screen with the time and date at the bottom right hand corner of the screen just like in a regular photo... so im thinking that the camera itself is workng fine, maybe just a problem with the bulb in the flash or something ????