1.09 M8 Doa?!

[SteveF]

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Boy am I having a bad day. My M8 came in this morning. After opening the box, I find that the 90mm Macro lens I bought along with the camera had everything in the box EXCEPT the lens. The tri-elmers I also ordered have not come in yet. Strike 1.

 

I go home and check my camera bag and the ONLY lens I have for the M are two 50mm f2 from 1956, mounted on an M3 and an M4. These lens are specifically listed in the manual as "cannot be used with the M8".

 

So I charge up the battery and power up the M8 without a lens (leaving the body cover on).

 

Paging through the menus the camera has firmware 1.09.

 

So I decide to clean the sensor. I get a "-10101" error. Strike 2.

 

The batter status LCD and memory status window (upper left hand corner) is blank. I have formatted two different SD cards: 2 GB 150x Transcend and a 4GB Extremememory. After formatting the sd cards, there is still no display at all in the window. Strike 3.

 

I try to trip the shutter with the body cover on, no joy. Maybe the the camera won't run without a lens, but I may have a dead M8 going into the new year.

 

I'm having a bad day.

 

Anybody have tips or ideas?

 

 

FWIW, this is a new batch camera as it came with the pamphlet that mentions registering the camera for 2 UV filters.

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[marknorton]

A real bumpy start to M8 ownership! Like your choice of lenses BTW.

 

You can certainly run the camera without a lens mounted; when you went to clean the sensor, did the shutter open? Is the white band visible across the centre of the shutter?

 

It sounds like the shutter is jammed or something else is seriously wrong. Definitely DoA, don't mess with it, get it back to the dealer.

[SteveF]

I'm going to my local dealer tomorrow to try out a lens ot two just to be on the safe side.

 

It is starting to look like a DOA unit. The shutter will not fire at all and the battery status/frames remaining LCD display is blank no matter what I try.

 

When I try to clean the sensor I get an error message and the shutter does not open or move. White band is in the center of the shutter.

 

Guess I have to wait on Solms like everyone else

[carstenw]

Have you tried fully charging the battery?

[SteveF]

I charged it for 3 hours until the amber led light went out.

 

There is power to run the 2.5" LCD.

 

I'll try charging it again, thanks.

[marknorton]

Shouldn't need to do this with a new camera, but I'd be tempted to try reloading the firmware downloaded from the Leica web-site.

[Guest guy_mancuso]

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I agree Mark and maybe reloading the firmware may kick it in gear. Usually how firmware is installed at the factory is it is flash installed . It certainly should not hurt it more

[marknorton]

Worth knowing there are at least 3 progammable elements in the M8 - the control microprocessor, the Blackfin Digital Signal Processor and a FPGA - Field Programmable Gate Array - made by Xilinx, San Jose, CA, so losing the programming in any one could provide the weird results you are seeing. You might (completely understandably) just want to return the camera but I'm a born meddler.

 

[bTW, for those of you who remember "Anatomy of the Leica Digilux 2", I'm beginning to feel the siren call of a thread called "Anatomy of the Leica M8"]

[SteveF]

I tried charging the battery again last night and still no go. This thing is DOA.

 

Called my dealer this morning and he said they will swap it out with the next unit that comes into stock if that is my wish.

 

Will try updating the firmware this afternoon.

[mitchell]

Oh my God Mark!

 

I haven't stopped laughing, a nervous gleeful thing, since I read "the siren call" of the "Anatomy of the M8."

 

As a friend, I would say "Don't do it!!!"

 

As a curious bystander and M8 owner, I would say "Jump, jump, jump!!!"

 

I loved "Anatomy of the Digilux 2." Was amazed and impressed you got it to work again.

 

I was the kind of kid who took things apart, rarely getting them back together.

 

I can assure you it would be a very popular thread.

 

Best,

 

Mitchell

[ho_co]

BTW, for those of you who remember "Anatomy of the Leica Digilux 2", I'm beginning to feel the siren call of a thread called "Anatomy of the Leica M8"

GO GO GO!

 

I mentioned you were likely to do that when you sent me reminders that M7 opened differently from M4.

 

I knew it was coming when you analyzed firmware update 1.09 download.

 

And now I bet you can get a camera cheap from Steve!

 

GIVE IN TO IT, MAN!

[marknorton]

Perhaps I should take the camera apart and send the bits back in a box with a note to the effect that I've tried to be helpful by saving them some time...

 

I'd like to do it, but it's less likely the camera would get back to proper performance, it's much more complex than the D2.

[Stevez4]

Hi Mark<

 

Do you have any suggestions for dealing with an M8 that has a persitantly flashing rear display panel? It also appears to have two detents for the off position. I do B/W with it and the quality is great but the flashing drives me nuts. It doesnt add to battery life either.

Afraid to send it back to Solms.

 

Cheers

 

Stevez

[marknorton]

Steve, I think you need to send the camera back to Solms. A flashing LCD display might indicate a power supply overload, it's definitely not right. I wouldn't be worried about sending it back to Solms, they provide excellent service.

[SteveF]

Well, I thought I might have been onto something earlier today:

 

When I tried to re-up the firmware to 1.09, I got an error message saying the battery has insufficient charge for the update.

 

So I drove 45 minutes one way to pick up a new battery, charged it and tried it again.

 

And the camera gave me the same message, with all the same problems.

 

Unless I have a faulty battery charger, this M8 is DOA.

 

 

I did notice an occasional banding on the rear display LCD when I powered it up but that could be the circuit board rather than the streaking that's been reported in the photos taken.

 

I'll call NJ Tuesday morning. Will spend time with the dog and kids.

[spersky]

Although the Leica M8 launch has been a huge debacle. Do not despair. It is likely you got a DOA. That can happen with any product at any time. Unfortunatly, It will take you 2-3 month to get a working camera since demand is so high and the factory is backlogged repairing the cameras they never should have sold in the first place with the old firmware.

 

Good Luck,

Steve