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M9 P 'freezing up" or Card read problems? {merged}


Lacapino

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Hi to Everyone

 

Bought the M9 earlier this year in March.

 

My M 9 P is acting up. Bought in March 2012

This started now( a few days ago).

lt freezes up( will not record, or take a shot'), will not display a image, or even respond(sometimes ) to being turned off. One has to remove the bottom plate, and battery

 

This is now happening after many photographs had been taken with the camera and specific cards.(over weeks/months)

All of a sudden the 'jam/freeze-up' has become a regular ocurance!

I have changed cards, but this proceeded to occur/re occur with three different cards(all used through the course of the year before successfully?

The cards where the San Disk Extreme HD video( x 2 cards), then I did the firm ware upgrade ,

And now (this morning) a San Disk (SDHC Card 4) 32 G would not work? It worked yesterday, and it has been working in camera for a week?

The latest firmware versions was loaded last week at the Dealership, where the camera was purchased

 

I wondered if this is a card read issue, or something else?

 

Very frustrating, and for these exact reasons, I sometimes think Leica cannot be taken serious? I v never had an issue like this with my Nikons, or M6

 

Best Regards

Lacapino

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In that case it is something else. With the new firmware the camera has tighter power management. It may be that the battery has -unnoticed in the previous firmware- gone out of tolerance.

If it does the same with another or preferably new battery, the firmware update has messed up the camera and you should contact Leica. Or take the easy way out and reload your previous firmware.

Edited by jaapv
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Something is clearly wrong here(with my camera). I am really perplexed at this occurance. I am /have written to the agent in SA, and await his response. I just purchased some more Leica glass! I fear that I made a big mistake buying all this,

Nikon is crap looking compared to Leica, but my shoot from yesterday is now also 'gone' those pictures, and 500 Kilomters driven for noting.

Bought Leica with the idea of a compact system, and it is great when it works, but now this

 

Thanks for your feedback, I appreciate it.

Very pissed at Leica though

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I have just posted in an earlier thread regarding camera freezing up on me lately. Owned the M9P since March this year. Great thought and some doubt accompanied me before the purchase. I was assured by some Leica owners of Leica quality. I own a M6TTL, and M2. I still use them regularly, and my fridge is full of Velvia, and some Ilford B&W film.

 

I also own a Nikon D700. I bought the Leica seeing I travel some, and from the travel light perspective a Leica makes a lot of sense. And the Lenses!

 

I however have now encountered my worst Nightmare. Yesterday`s photos are nowhere to be found. The card loaded into Lightroom, and they not there? The same procedure was followed as always for the import etc.

 

Earlier last week various cards started acting up, or rather the camera started acting up. All the cards worked previously?

Then I went to ORMS(Dealership in CT) and they did the latest Firmware update for me. I thought that the problem was sorted, although I did not rever back to the problematic cards. I had a t that time a new card in, and was using it. This card froze up this morning, and now likewise nothing is seen when tying to import the photos.

 

Anyhow, does anyone know who I can speak to at Leica. I dnt knw if the SA Agent will be able to give me any real answers

Any help will be appreciated.

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Something is clearly wrong here(with my camera). I am really perplexed at this occurance. I am /have written to the agent in SA, and await his response. I just purchased some more Leica glass! I fear that I made a big mistake buying all this,

Nikon is crap looking compared to Leica, but my shoot from yesterday is now also 'gone' those pictures, and 500 Kilomters driven for noting.

Bought Leica with the idea of a compact system, and it is great when it works, but now this

 

Thanks for your feedback, I appreciate it.

Very pissed at Leica though

 

 

 

Not necessarily. The images are most likely still on your cards, just corrupted.

Don't do anything to worsen the situation by writing on your cards.

If you can't recover them, Leica CS in Solms probably can.

They know how the corruption happens and have a better chance of recovering.

 

There could be something seriously wrong with your camera or just the usual problems a number of us have experienced.

Do yourself a favor and get a Panasonic Gold memory card.

At least that way you should be able to avoid some of the typical issues.

 

You may get in touch with:

 

 

Leica professional repair service

You are a professional photographer? Your Leica product requires servicing or repair at short notice? Please contact our professional repair service at the Solms factory in Germany. Here your Leica product will be serviced and repaired quickly and expertly.

 

Address:

Leica Camera AG

Leica Customer Care - Profi Service

Solmser Gewerbepark 8

35606 Solms

Phone:

06442 208 189

Fax:

06442 208 339

E-mail:

andrea.frankl@leica-camera.com

 

Good luck.

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I've had the same thing happen intermittently with two regular M9 cameras recently.

 

I fire a couple of pictures, and then the camera locks, and in the viewfinder, instead of the shutter speed or metering symbols, all I see is three bars "- - -" cycling over and over.

 

Common factors - battery is reading about 1/2 full, and I am usually outdoors in sub-zero © weather (but not always - it has happened at room temperature). Additionally, I often get "Jesus lines" (banding) in the last pictures that do make it onto the SD card before the freeze. See attached

 

Neither has the most recent firmware - one has 1.138 and the other 1.162. No use of discreet or C mode, together or separately.

 

It does seem that swapping to a fully-charged battery helps. And/or swapping SD cards.

 

Also one of my batteries that is most suspect is a hold-over from my M8 years, and I notice in the FW 1.196 notes that those are troublesome. HOWEVER it has happened with more recent batteries also.

 

With 3 batteries shared by 2 cameras, and three SD cards dedicated to each camera, it is taking a while to track down if there are specific "suspect" batts or cards. I am working through the batteries giving them a full discharge/recharge cycle.

 

Another factor is that I've recently intermittently deleted individual pictures, and then shot additional pictures on the half-full card before doing a download and full reformatting (not my usual practice). Which has caused SD card problems of a different nature in the past (half of one picture showing up on another). So I'm working through the cards doing full re-formats to see if that helps.

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I've had the same thing happen intermittently with two regular M9 cameras recently.

 

I fire a couple of pictures, and then the camera locks, and in the viewfinder, instead of the shutter speed or metering symbols, all I see is three bars "- - -" cycling over and over.

 

Common factors - battery is reading about 1/2 full, and I am usually outdoors in sub-zero © weather (but not always - it has happened at room temperature). Additionally, I often get "Jesus lines" (banding) in the last pictures that do make it onto the SD card before the freeze. See attached

 

Neither has the most recent firmware - one has 1.138 and the other 1.162. No use of discreet or C mode, together or separately.

 

It does seem that swapping to a fully-charged battery helps. And/or swapping SD cards.

 

Also one of my batteries that is most suspect is a hold-over from my M8 years, and I notice in the FW 1.196 notes that those are troublesome. HOWEVER it has happened with more recent batteries also.

 

With 3 batteries shared by 2 cameras, and three SD cards dedicated to each camera, it is taking a while to track down if there are specific "suspect" batts or cards. I am working through the batteries giving them a full discharge/recharge cycle.

 

Another factor is that I've recently intermittently deleted individual pictures, and then shot additional pictures on the half-full card before doing a download and full reformatting (not my usual practice). Which has caused SD card problems of a different nature in the past (half of one picture showing up on another). So I'm working through the cards doing full re-formats to see if that helps.

 

 

Andy,

 

Well, I have had certainly intermittent issues with those Firmware versions. You may find some useful info here:

 

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m9-forum/187415-m9-1-162-firmware-bug-just.html

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m9-forum/193430-sd-card-tests-without-m9.html

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/1784766-post26.html

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m9-forum/190113-my-m9-eating-sd-cards-merged.html

 

 

There also was a very informative thread about those stripes in those photos, again caused by certain memory cards.

 

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m9-forum/256428-m9-banding-noise-issues-gone.html

 

In one of their Firmware updates Leica admitted to some battery/power issues that get addressed in version 1.196.

 

 

So, I would kindly like to suggest a memory card that mitigates power failure modes of the M9, such as this one

 

Panasonic 16GB SDHC Memory Card Class 10 UHS-I RPSDB16GB1K B&H, quote:

 

"Power Failure Protection

In the event of a power failure, SICS saves original data back to the card so there is no corruption or loss of material. If a power failure occurs, not only can the current clip being recorded become damaged, but data can be corrupted in other areas as well. With the SICS feature, it is like the power failure never occurred. This has been tested and certified by TÜV Rheinland, a leading Product Certification provider, for up to 1,000 times"

 

or an update to Firmware version 1.196 or both.

If you need the better speed, I would suggest using 1.162 but with a memory card such as the one I just mentioned.

 

All these issues are not new and have been successfully dealt with before.

 

Good luck.

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Thanks K-H. I read your references. All worthwhile.

 

I should note - if I wasn't clear originally - that the cards and batteries I'm using I have used (mostly) ever since the M9 came out, without problem. This is a very recent development with gear that has worked without problem for 3 years or more.

 

Of course that may BE the problem - the cards and/or batteries are getting worn out. One of the cards I use (which may or may not be the one I was using at the time of the problems - I just don't know) is not even SDHC, it is a plain vanilla SD 2G SanDisk Ultra.

 

The other cards which I use and may or may not be the problem cards -

 

Sandisk Extreme III 2G SDHC

Sandisk Ultra II 4G SDHC

Sandisk (no additional name, just Class 2) SDHC 4G

FujiFilm 2G SD

 

All of these have worked fine, without the freezing problem, for quite a while - up until the past month or so. At which point at least one or two (and I'm still figuring out which one(s)) may be linked to the problem.

 

I'm not so much worried about losing a few pictures as such. I just can't have cameras locking up on assignment. Part of my reason for switching to Leica M from Contax G 'way back when was that I need the camera to fire when the shutter button is pressed - every time, right now, no questions asked.

 

One other factor I forgot to mention: while I never use Continuous shooting or discreet mode, I do always use the "soft release" setting. And occasionally both M9s fire two shots in this mode (and have ever since 9/9/09), one on depressing the button, and one on releasing the button. Click/click. There is a partial association of that event with the lockups, although not a consistent one (sometimes the camera locks even without the double exposure happening, and often the double-exposure occurs without a following lockup) - so I can't claim cause-and-effect yet (or even know which event is cause and which is effect).

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Andy,

 

Thanks for the additional info.

 

Also, with those old Firmware versions it depends whether you have several things going on simultaneously on the M9.

For example, storing an image and scrolling an image. That's what got my M9 first into trouble.

 

If I were a betting man I would say your M9s and batteries are not properly power/voltage managed by the Firmware.

That can lead to abject failure and your memory cards get to feel the brunt of that.

 

So, I followed Jamie Roberts' advice and protected my images by using a memory card that protects its content against camera power failures.

That was long before Leica admitted there was such a problem and even longer before they addressed the issue.

My M9 has been trouble free since, even with Firmware version 1.162. My battery is 3 years old as well.

 

So, using Firmware version 1.196 and a memory card that protects against power failure gives, so to say, double protection.

I has allowed me to use my M9 without having to worry about failures of any kind so far, knock on wood.

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Tobey, yes the cards were formatted before re-using after the last firmware upgrade (a long time ago now). I am a vigorous reformatter - after every "shoot" once the images are copied to the computer and backed up.

 

Also - I never use instant review, so it is virtually impossible for me to try scrolling while an image is still writing (remember I also never use Continuous).

 

I also put a power/battery issue first as the likely suspect now. I will make sure I've run all the batteries down to zero and recharged from the bottom up at least once, and then see what happens.

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  • 2 months later...

Jaap, I have recently encountered a similar problem... from time to time, my M9 will hang up after I shoot three or four (rapidly, in an exposure bracket). The red write action led near the lcd continues to blink, almost as though the buffer is full after a measly four RAW. After what feels like an eternity but is probably more like 4 seconds, the shutter recocks and things seem to return to normal.

 

I do have discreet always on and only use single shot mode. The problem started after I downloaded FW1.196 because I needed the new 50 AA profile... when I got my fantastically smooth new Sumicron, I got some odd colors in low artificial light. So I thought I should load the 50 AA profile, and it did seem to make a difference (surprisingly). I imagined this was a coincidence, but is the hanging problem an issue in FW 1.196?

 

Contacting Leica USA is not really a helpful option. They are very polite, but have little ability for technical support of any kind.

 

Also, I miss your old forum icon and have been meaning to tell you. That sure was a beautiful M that always came up next your name!

 

Thanks, Peter

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