Kodak Easyshare Camera Suddenly Stopped Taking Photos/Videos :'(

Earlier today, I heard the New Year's fireworks go off outside of my apartment building and decided to grab my digicam (the Kodak Easyshare Z730, in case you were wondering) and after popping in the battery to capture a small amount of footage, for some reason, it decided not to start recording the video. I then switched the camera's recording mode from videos to the auto exposure photo setting (hoping it would still allow me to capture photos), but even after pressing down on the shutter button several times, nothing happened. Everything else on the camera, from turning on and being able to set the time/date to the mini USB  port to the side of it, works perfectly fine except for photo and video capturing/recording and it all happened out of the blue.

It wasn't giving me this problem until today, and I made sure to troubleshoot various things from switching from SD card storage to local storage, removing and reinserting the SD card and battery, making sure the battery was fully charged before reinserting it to try it again, and trying different focus settings, but nothing has worked. In addition, I also made sure to closely inspect and test the shutter button, but I'm doubting that the shutter button is the problem here, as it presses down and springs back up the same way it always has and doesn't appear to have anything wrong with it from what I can tell from looking and pressing down on it several times to see if that's what the problem with my camera is. 

I'm pretty sure there are 3 possibilities of what could be wrong with my camera: 1 would be some sort of internal disconnect/malfunction of the shutter button's functionality, 2 would be some sort of weird problem with the camera's software that is somehow only affecting its ability to take photos and videos and nothing else, and 3 would be a problem with the settings the camera has been set to, with the last option being the easiest one to fix. However, the only way to really be sure of what the problem is would be to keep tinkering with the settings and then to consider and hopefully finding someone that can and is willing to open up a 20 year old camera from a discontinued line of digital cameras to see whether there's anything wrong with the hardware or not (though I'm doubting this problem is due to issues with the hardware components inside) and hopefully be able to fix it if there are any problems with its hardware.

I know I can easily replace it for about $30 USD with another camera of the exact same model from eBay in tested/working condition (which is the usual asking price for the Z730 model that I own), but I've only had this camera for 2 years now (got it as a Christmas present in 2022) and I don't want to have to replace it just yet unless I absolutely have to and nothing can be done to fix the problem (or if the cost of repair significantly exceeds the cost of a replacement). I've grown too attached to my digicam by this point to accept defeat unless it's the only thing I can really do about it, and even then, I still want to own and be able to use this model of camera for the foreseeable future as it's overall an amazing camera minus the battery life for the batteries it requires (which is why I always carry around 2 batteries with me whenever I take it out with me). Even if I get other model digital cameras/camcorders in the near future, I would still like to have this one in my collection available for use at any time I feel like using it.

Has anyone else had this sort of issue with their digicam? If so, please share what steps you took to resolve the issue or if you've had to replace the camera.