canon lcd panel on top of camera factory

I have previously activated the auto-shutdown feature to put the camera in sleep mode after about 5 mins of inactivity. So this should kick in after 5 mins, no?

When I checked the camera the next day, the battery was completely dead. It could mean either of two things: either the camera was on all night in video mode until the battery died (this could mean I did turn the auto shutdown feature off and I simply forgot), or I did actually set it up to record video all night and left it like that.

The battery that died was a third-party chinese battery. It died as it was in the camera. The next day I cherged the same battery and re-inserted it. The result was that screen in the picture above. I do have other batteries and I did try the original canon battery that came with the camera. At first it didn"t work but then it actually did turn on normally with the canon battery. But now, even with the canon battery, the display still remains scrambled and functionality is thrown out the window.

I"ve tried all combos - put the battery in while the power switch was on; put the battery in with power switch off; removed sd card, pwr sw off, insert battery, then pwr sw on; the combos go on. It doesn"t matter whether the power switch is on or off, the top lcd turns on like this as soon as I close the battery lid.

Until a few weeks ago, I ignored the top LCD expect for battery checking. Then one day, I was shooting some long exposure bracketed images with a 10 stop ND filter that were about 4 minutes each using bulb. When using bulb, the back Live view screen goes black. I think that this reduces electronic noise for a cleaner exposure. Anyway, with the rear screen black, you don"t know how long you have to wait for the exposure to finish. I also sometimes forget whether I turned on Bulb Timer, and wonder if the camera is just going to continue the exposure forever.

I had the camera on a tripod very low to the ground. I happened to look down at the top LCD during one of the exposures and noticed that there was a timer. Now, I can see how long the exposure has been if I"m concerned about whether I set the bulb timer.

It"s just a little thing, but sometimes 4 minute exposures seem to last for days.