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I currently run 300Ds and 350Ds for horse trials and, with long lenses, for candids at weddings. The pages below describe what I've done to fix them over the years, and gives links to other sites I've found. For weddings I use a 5D with fast Canon lenses, but I've not needed to take it to pieces yet (weddings being perhaps a less testing environment than a muddy field in the rain). I have however made a sound-proof wrapper for it, to reduce the shutter noise in the church.
Here is my page on helping the pop-up flash to live up to its name (ERR05 on the display and the flash stays stubbornly in its little house), mostly without dismantling the camera.
If that doesn't work, Here's a description of how to get inside the camera and how to test and replace at least one of the fuses. This page was written for the Canon 300D. It has helped people with 350Ds and, as of May 2008, seems to be applicable to Canon 450Ds which still blow the same (or similar fuse).
ERR99 seems to cover a multitude of sins including the common 300D plastic mirror pin failure. Here's a link to someone who's fixed it (with what looks dangerously like a paper clip...but it seemed to work).
This is another guide I've found to dismantling (and modifying) the 300D.
And here's a link to how to tweak the focus. Not sure if I recommend this entirely: firstly because it's very easy to slip and hit the sensor with the allen key and secondly because the website is in french. Not sure which is the bigger problem but I suggest you make very sure that it's the camera and not you before you start fiddling; motion blur, depth of field, auto-focus picking the bit you didn't want and hand-held camera shake account for far more "soft" pictures than cameras that are incorrectly adjusted.
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