FATAL firmare issue with D700 ?

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Ganesh Shankar
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p.1 #1 · FATAL firmare issue with D700 ?

Not sure whether any of you D700 users have seen issue. Today I got my new Sandisk 16GB UDMA Card (Extreame CF 60MB/s UDMA) and used it on D700. The "frames remaining" showed my previous card's (Sandisk 12GB Extreame 3) remaing frame counts (some where around 400+ frames left in that card). The camera was firing fine without any issue. Then I just formatted 16GB card - still D700 showed the same number previous number which was there just before formatting. Again I fired a few frames and then formatted again. Now the frame count decreased (number of remaining frames). I then thought this new UDMA card might not have been supported and then tried by 12GB card and formatted it. The problem now persisted with 12GB card too ! I fire few frames, format it, number of remaining frames was not getting reset to max capacity of the card. Now the frame count was at around 300+. I then decided to fire away all the remaining frames - fired shutter to bring it to 0. Guess what ? Even after formatting card now my D700 shows "Full". Reformatting does not help - I tried 16GB/12GB/2GB/4GB cards.

**As of now my D700 is dead showing "Full" on any formatted empty CF cards**.

I googled around to find whether this issue is reported, but I could not find one. Please let me know if any of you have a solution to this issue.

I tried removing both batteries (I use MB-D10 with my D700 too) and upgrading firmware to the new version. It does not help. Looks like I need to take my D700 to support center now

BTW, I don't see this issue with my D300 ! 16GB UDMA card seem to work just fine without "loosing" remaining frame counts..

Thanks in advance for any solution to resolve this issue...

- Ganesh H Shankar.

Oct 27, 2009 at 04:43 PM

dionysis
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p.1 #2 · FATAL firmare issue with D700 ?

Have you tried doing a reset on your camera?

Oct 27, 2009 at 04:48 PM

gugs
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p.1 #3 · FATAL firmare issue with D700 ?

could you retry by formatting the card on a computer ? there could be a difference.
And btw I never formatted any card in my life on a camera or on a computer, I never understood why the function even exists, and never had any problem with tens of cards of all types....

Guy

Oct 27, 2009 at 07:23 PM

Pavel
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p.1 #4 · FATAL firmare issue with D700 ?

could it be a coincidence, where your D700 simply developed an issue ?

Oct 27, 2009 at 08:25 PM

NikonAndy
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p.1 #5 · FATAL firmare issue with D700 ?

I think there's a small cr battery that is in the body that's there to retain memory, iirc. Might try popping it off then back in?

Oct 27, 2009 at 10:05 PM

epuja
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p.1 #6 · FATAL firmare issue with D700 ?

I don't think its a fatal issue - As the posts above suggested, try resetting the D700 and format the memory stick on a PC. Are you at the latest firmware?

Oct 27, 2009 at 10:09 PM

Ganesh Shankar
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p.1 #7 · FATAL firmare issue with D700 ?

Friends, thanks or your suggestions. I have not tried formatting the card on my computer. I will try that. But for every card (formatted or otherwise) now my camera shows "Full". But for this issue (which makes the camera unusable) everything else seem to work just fine - all menu functions work.

I did custom reset on the menu but it did not help. Is there a way to do the entire camera reset ? Also, as NikonAndy mentioned there is a small battery there in the camera which retains memory. Not sure how to access it..

After the issue I did upgrade the firmware to the latest version but it did not help.

Oct 28, 2009 at 12:42 AM

eos-m42guy
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p.1 #8 · FATAL firmare issue with D700 ?

As I remember, the small battery in the D700 is recharged by the main battery and can't be easily accessed as in Canon cameras. I'm certain I've seen this in the D700 manual but can't find it right now.
Sounds like a trip to Nikon might be in order, unfortunately.

Oct 28, 2009 at 01:12 AM

epuja
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p.1 #9 · FATAL firmare issue with D700 ?

Ganesh Shankar wrote:
Friends, thanks or your suggestions. I have not tried formatting the card on my computer. I will try that. But for every card (formatted or otherwise) now my camera shows "Full". But for this issue (which makes the camera unusable) everything else seem to work just fine - all menu functions work.

I did custom reset on the menu but it did not help. Is there a way to do the entire camera reset ? Also, as NikonAndy mentioned there is a small battery there in the camera which retains memory. Not sure how to access it..

After the issue I did upgrade the firmware to the latest version but it did not help.

A far fetched idea -- have u tried calling Nikon tech support?

Oct 28, 2009 at 01:18 AM

DGC1
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p.1 #10 · FATAL firmare issue with D700 ?

gugs wrote:
could you retry by formatting the card on a computer ? there could be a difference.
And btw I never formatted any card in my life on a camera or on a computer, I never understood why the function even exists, and never had any problem with tens of cards of all types....

Guy

I know you are an experienced photographer as I have seen many of your images posted here. I do not understand your comment. You say you've never formatted a card. Does this mean when your cards are full you stop using them and buy more? The function of formatting is to "remove" existing images to allow room for new ones. Please explain.

Oct 28, 2009 at 03:02 AM

Rexspangle
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p.1 #11 · FATAL firmare issue with D700 ?

I also do not reformat cards in the camera or computer...

Oct 28, 2009 at 03:11 AM

epuja
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p.1 #12 · FATAL firmare issue with D700 ?

Ganesh Shankar wrote:
Not sure whether any of you D700 users have seen issue. Today I got my new Sandisk 16GB UDMA Card (Extreame CF 60MB/s UDMA) and used it on ......
- Ganesh H Shankar.

Ganesh -

Just saw your webpage, man u have some amazing skills!!

this one's out of this world!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artistic_creative_nature_photography/3571453077/sizes/o/in/photostream/

Oct 28, 2009 at 05:17 AM

HapZungLam
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p.1 #13 · FATAL firmare issue with D700 ?

The number of counts may screw up if u are set to loseless compress. Cuz it compress your RAW base on whatever best it can do. Every file will be a different size. It 'll fails on counting down the number of remaining frames.

Oct 28, 2009 at 10:04 AM

Ganesh Shankar
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p.1 #14 · FATAL firmare issue with D700 ?

HapZungLam, currently my camera shows 0 frames remaining irrespective of the card I insert - formatted or otherwise, 2GB/4GB/12GB/16GB. All it shows "Full". It can't fire a frame since it thinks there is no space on the (empty) card !

epuja, I have already filed my complaint with Nikon support (yesterday). Just got an automated receipt of it. Nikon support is yet to get back.. Thanks for your suggestion and compliments on my images.

Oct 28, 2009 at 01:40 PM

Ganesh Shankar
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p.1 #15 · FATAL firmare issue with D700 ?

Good News - Based on suggestion from another forum I tried creating a new folder and formatting. It worked !! If any of you see this issue here is a workaround -

1. Go to "Shooting Menu" ("MENU" button and then "Shooting menu" )
2. Select "Active Folder" menu option.
3. Select "New Folder Number"
4. Just bump up the counter
5. Press OK.
6. Go to "Setup Menu"
7. Format the card !!

Hope Nikon will fix this issue in their next firmware release. I am unable to reproduce the problem now with the new 16GB card too. May be it happens sometimes..

Edited on Oct 28, 2009 at 03:03 PM · View previous versions

Oct 28, 2009 at 02:28 PM

cputeq
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p.1 #16 · FATAL firmare issue with D700 ?

Hrm, strange, but good to know you have it fixed. Sounds like a firmware bug.

Oct 28, 2009 at 02:32 PM

eos-m42guy
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p.1 #17 · FATAL firmare issue with D700 ?

Congrats on the fix and thanks for the procedure. Hope I don't have to use it though.

Oct 28, 2009 at 02:51 PM

DGC1
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p.1 #18 · FATAL firmare issue with D700 ?

Rexspangle wrote:
I also do not reformat cards in the camera or computer...

Where do you reformat them and why not use camera or computer?

Oct 29, 2009 at 02:46 AM

Slug69
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p.1 #19 · FATAL firmare issue with D700 ?

Some people just delete the photos on the card after copying them across.

Some people also "Move" the pictures from the card onto a PC.

You don't have to format every time you transfer pics.

Oct 29, 2009 at 10:03 AM

Kit Laughlin
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p.1 #20 · FATAL firmare issue with D700 ?

Well... I use the two-button 'format' command every time I put a card back in the camera after saving files onto the HD, and have done so in all Nikon bodies since this was an option. 100% no-problems; many tens of thousands of images.

Moving, deleting, etc., via the computer is (IMHO, anyway) potential problem-city. YMMV, of course. Reason is computers and cameras do not use the same protocols for deletion or formatting; truly, better to do this in-camera. Formatting is like starting over: safer all around.

Oct 29, 2009 at 12:53 PM

tomb18
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p.1 #21 · FATAL firmare issue with D700 ?

Ganesh Shankar wrote:
Good News - Based on suggestion from another forum I tried creating a new folder and formatting. It worked !! If any of you see this issue here is a workaround -

1. Go to "Shooting Menu" ("MENU" button and then "Shooting menu" )
2. Select "Active Folder" menu option.
3. Select "New Folder Number"
4. Just bump up the counter
5. Press OK.
6. Go to "Setup Menu"
7. Format the card !!

Hope Nikon will fix this issue in their next firmware release. I am unable to reproduce the problem now with the new 16GB card too. May be it happens sometimes..

Hmmmm....this gives me an idea. The auto rollover function on my D3x doesn';t work. i.e. when the first card is full, the second one doesn't accept additional images even though it is told to do so. I wonder if I give the second card a different name....
Thanks for the tip!

Oct 29, 2009 at 03:37 PM

DGC1
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p.1 #22 · FATAL firmare issue with D700 ?

Kit Laughlin wrote:
Well... I use the two-button 'format' command every time I put a card back in the camera after saving files onto the HD, and have done so in all Nikon bodies since this was an option. 100% no-problems; many tens of thousands of images.

Moving, deleting, etc., via the computer is (IMHO, anyway) potential problem-city. YMMV, of course. Reason is computers and cameras do not use the same protocols for deletion or formatting; truly, better to do this in-camera. Formatting is like starting over: safer all around.

Ditto

Nov 03, 2009 at 04:24 AM


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