H3Dii Compact Flash woes

Alex Mac · January 07, 2011, 04:39:18 PM

My "new" H3Dii -31 arrived.

I fired it up to check it out. It works fine when there is no card in it. When
I insert a CF card (Sandisk Extreme IV 4GB) and turn on the camera, the H3Dii
lights up on the back and there is a "starting up" message on the LCD.

And... then it stays like that. I tried disconnecting the battery and retrying. I reformatted
my card on the computer (FAT32) ... nothing.

Did I just buy a lemon?

martinnz · January 07, 2011, 06:15:46 PM

Hi Alex
Does it start up when tethered to phocus without the card ?
Also what happens if you put the card in after its started.
Maybe just a format problem
Cheers Martin

Alex Mac · January 07, 2011, 06:31:06 PM

Oh yes. It tethers fine thru Phocus... thank god.

No it isn't a format problem. I thought that too... so I got in the car and bought a
brand-new Sandisk Extreme card. Still the same problem.

I thought maybe I would try updating the firmware on the camera but it won't work.

Phocus shows "Error when activating the camera! Reply timeout"
the camera LCD shows "digital back has no power"

I assume this is because I have an unpowered firewire port.

[update: read the README.pdf . It seems the firmware update can't be done with a PC laptop. Good thing I didn't throw out my old desktop.. time to buy a firewire card]

It still doesn't help my CF problem. Somehow I feel that this is firmware related... I really hope so.

The previous owner claims he only shot it tethered....

Alex Mac · January 07, 2011, 07:00:48 PM

When I put the card in after the camera is started it shows:

ERROR NONE (9000) Restart Camera

martinnz · January 07, 2011, 07:15:38 PM

All I can add is that the Extreme IV works ok on the latest firmware. Have not heard of this error before but have seen posts re error 9016 and 9011 which were card related. Hope its just a card problem. What version of firmware are you on ?

Alex Mac · January 07, 2011, 07:32:34 PM

Here is some other data I got from the camera

Serial# 57085120
Firmware revision 262
Focus Calibration ID 1/3955
body 2.2.2.
15.0.0
mag 2.15.1

martinnz · January 07, 2011, 07:36:06 PM

thats the latest. Its starting to sound like hardware. Last thing is to try a card from another H3.

Alex Mac · January 07, 2011, 07:38:37 PM

That is just great....

Alex Mac · January 08, 2011, 10:08:14 AM

The settings from the camera LCD says : Firmware 2.2.2. / R262

As soon as any card is put into the camera, it becomes unresponsive.

If you insert the card, then turn on the power to the camera, it will show "H3D-II" on the digital back the camera will start fine.
If you try to press the shutter button, even after several minutes... there will be a "starting up" message in the viewfinder plus
a red triangle.
When the camera is then turned off using the power button on the body, the camera shuts down but the back does not. It continues
to display the "H3D-II" until you remove the battery from the body

Alternatively, when I power up the camera with out the card. The camera/back function normally. If at that point, I insert a CF
card into the magazine the:

ERROR NONE (9000) Restart Camera

message will appear on the digital back and remain until the CF card is removed... where it will go back to functioning normally again.

If the camera is restarted when the ERROR NONE(9000) Restart Camera message shows up. It will do the "starting up" unresponsiveness
again.

I am not able to access any menus on the card to format the card and the quick format button does not work either.

Dustbak · January 08, 2011, 09:03:13 PM

It sounds indeed like a hardware failure. Maybe a bad card has damaged some pins inside the CF bay which now make contact as soon as you shove in a CF card. Get it back to where you bought it and have them repair this.

mharvey65 · January 08, 2011, 09:27:10 PM

Actually, I don't think it is a hardware failure. In my experience of the 15 Digital Hasselblad's I look after, I have never had even ONE hardware issue with a camera. I think it is much more likely that the media is not compatible with the camera or it may be faulty. Has the CF card previously been used in a Nikon or a Canon? Are you formatting the card as soon as you insert it into the camera?

When preparing a new card for a camera...

1. Do not use any card previously formatted for a Nikon or Canon - this can lead to corruption issues
2. Turn on the camera
3. Once everything is functioning... Insert the card
4. DO NOT PRESS THE SHUTTER BUTTON
5. On the menu on the back of the camera - Format the card
6. Format the card again
7. Format the card again
8. Try taking a picture - it should work fine

Regards,

Michael

Alex Mac · January 08, 2011, 09:59:41 PM

Update.

I had a look inside the CF slot in detail and there was a bent pin

I managed to bend the pin back. Slipped in a card... and she works perfect!

Thanks again

martinnz · January 09, 2011, 12:21:30 AM

Great news.

Dustbak · January 09, 2011, 12:47:28 AM

Be aware that you can only bend these pins a limited number of times before they break from metal fatigue. The bend pin is now also a weak spot in your system that you need to remain aware of, it is very difficult to get them completely straight again. I don't know whether you bought your H3D31 from a dealer but if you did make sure you mention this to him. If in the future you need a repair in this area you can make a strong case for having him pick up the repair tab or at least work out something together.

Unless ofcourse it was your own bad card that did the damage in the first place.

Alex Mac · January 09, 2011, 06:12:37 PM

I was mistaken

Actually... it didn't ... the reason the camera appeared to work is that the card wasn't fully inserted.
As soon as the card was fully engaged.. it went back to it's usual behavior.

I had another look at the pins today and they look fine. Nothing that looks weird or out of place.

I tried it again today. There is a message that flashes up when the camera is running and you insert a card. I was so tired last night I might have missed it because it flashes so fast.

It says:

WARNING: Card is Defective
Please use other media

Then it goes to:

ERROR NONE (9000) and stays on the screen until you hit the exit button.

If you start the camera with the card in it. The back will simply display H3Dii until you remove the battery.

I went through all my cards today. I have 6 cards all Sandisk Extreme IV
and 1 Extreme III. They all didn't work.

Just to be sure, I went out and bought a new Lexar Professional 300x card.
It didn't work either. It still brings up the same message too.

So I have tried 2 new cards. A brand new Sandisk Extreme card and a brand new Lexar Professional 300x card and they both say that the card is
defective.

I guess it is off to Denmark....