Frank Sprow Posted March 3, 2007 Share #1 Posted March 3, 2007 Advertisement (gone after registration) My trusty (to date) M8 (1.09) today failed to give me info on the LCD screen, other than "Bottom Cover Removed" when it is, and the frame indicator reads correctly. Also the viewfinder display and the shutter work fine. Get nothing from any of the rear buttons -- Set, Play etc. I have recently done the full discharge/recharge routine and this problem exists with all three batteries and several SD cards. Help! I leave for Morocco tomorrow. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted March 3, 2007 Posted March 3, 2007 Hi Frank Sprow, Take a look here Need help --- no M8 info on screen. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
Jamie Roberts Posted March 3, 2007 Share #2 Posted March 3, 2007 Frank, Two questions. 1) How long did you leave it without a battery in it? 2) does it still take pictures--does it record to the card at all? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
barjohn Posted March 3, 2007 Share #3 Posted March 3, 2007 Do you have the 1.091 firmware? If so, you might want to try it and see if it resolves the problem. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Sprow Posted March 3, 2007 Author Share #4 Posted March 3, 2007 Jamie --- thanks for the instant reply. (1) No more than 30 minutes without battery (2) Yes, I just checked and images are going to the SD CARD. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
barjohn Posted March 3, 2007 Share #5 Posted March 3, 2007 Frank, Since this is a known bug that we have all seen in prior posts, I would really try the beta firmware and see if it fixed this particular problem. It is easy to do and you can always revert back if it doesn't. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Sprow Posted March 3, 2007 Author Share #6 Posted March 3, 2007 Thanks -- I looked up the link that had been posted, but it now says 1.09 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
barjohn Posted March 3, 2007 Share #7 Posted March 3, 2007 Advertisement (gone after registration) PM me with your email address and I will send it to you. It is 4.4MB so it should get to you ok unless you have one of those third party emails like gmail or AOL. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Sprow Posted March 3, 2007 Author Share #8 Posted March 3, 2007 I'm not sure how to PM, but it's fsprow@aol.com (don't know if it will fit). Frank Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans Roggen Posted March 3, 2007 Share #9 Posted March 3, 2007 It's not going to be easy to install the new firmware if none of the buttons on the back work or if the screen stays black. Hans Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
barjohn Posted March 3, 2007 Share #10 Posted March 3, 2007 Frank, I sent you a PM with a link to download it. Since it boots into the card when it detects the frimware the screen may display the "yes or No" question. If not it would be tricky but possible. I have also emailed you the info. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Sprow Posted March 3, 2007 Author Share #11 Posted March 3, 2007 Thanks very much --- I'm so sleepy (up 32 hours, back from Afghanistan) that I'll try it in the morning (in Paris now). Frank Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
blakley Posted March 3, 2007 Share #12 Posted March 3, 2007 I don't think it's that tricky to install new firmware with no back LCD display. On my M8 the following procedure would have worked: Install a fully charged battery. Install the card with the firmware on it. Turn the camera on (to "S"). Wait 30 seconds. Press the right arrow key ONCE. Press the "set" button. Wait 5 minutes. Turn the camera off and back on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie Roberts Posted March 4, 2007 Share #13 Posted March 4, 2007 The other thing I'd try (and I repeat, try) is to leave the camera without a battery for 24 hours (I know there's a trip pending, but still, this might reset the camera. I don't know how the internal battery or charge works). The weird thing here is that the camera still takes pictures. Is that what has been seen before? IOW, this isn't a lockup, it's an LCD lock out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertwright Posted March 4, 2007 Share #14 Posted March 4, 2007 well when my camera bricked I could "get" the camera to fire by taking out the battery and replacing it, leaving the bottom cover off, and firing the shutter all with the camera on, then the screen would show "bottom cover removed" and then i could replace it, and fire the camera. Still no menu buttons, but the camera woudl record images. If I turned the camera off, it would brick again. In otherwords, all the camera functions worked, just not in concert, and with no menus. Leica thought it was the shutter switch, but I never found out as i exchanged it. I have a feeling this is similar, and no amount of fiddling will get it to work properly again. But nice trick about the firmware install minus the menus, that might actually work to install the firmware, however, I was also able to reinstall firmware, again by playing with the bottom cover and leaving the camera on while removing it and the battery, eventually I could get it to upload the firmware, but this did not restore the camera to normal operation. So I doubt that that is going to work either. I think it is repair or exchange time. My opinion is that all the second gen cameras have this potential to die, a weakness somewhere, or perhaps problems with assembly leading to large differences is production runs. The one I have now is running fine, about 600 shots in, and is from a batch about 2500 or so further down the line than my last one if you can go by the serial nos. But so many on this list have experiened this issue in one form or another, and I do believe it is hardware based, and not software based. If it was software, I do believe that reinstalling the firmware would help, but since it never does, and also since my camera experiened strange heating problems with the battery installed, I do believe it was hardware based. There was a short somehwhere leaking current, accounting for the battery draining steadily over a three hour period, and the body heating significantly compared to the ambient temperature. I have no way to measure, but in my apt, the ambient temp was about 76F/20C, and the camera was at least 15 to 20degF higher than that, just sitting. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Sprow Posted March 4, 2007 Author Share #15 Posted March 4, 2007 Thanks to all that have offered advice and concern. I did download 1.91 and it worked just fine - I even got the display, tracking progress of the download and that it was complete. But then even though the camera functions and the viewfinder display works, there is no LCD display unless I remove the bottom cover. Oh well, soon I'll be on my way up to the far northern area of Morocco and will have my trusty M7 and Velvia in hand. I'm sure glad I brought it along! Then when I get back to the U.S. I'll see what I can do to send for repair or whatever. I love the M8 but this is losing me sleep! Frank Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
barjohn Posted March 4, 2007 Share #16 Posted March 4, 2007 Thanks for the try and feedback. I have to agree with Robert that you have now narrowed it to a hardware problem/failure. If there is a component in the camera with a high failure rate, I hope that Leica will recall all cameras that thave this component and upgrade them to a more reliable component. It certainly would not enhance their reputation to have their top end camera be prone to sudden and unexpected failure. Not only would it diminish that value of those cameras sold but it would make it very difficult to get new buyers/customers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Sprow Posted March 4, 2007 Author Share #17 Posted March 4, 2007 Thanks -- this by laptop and Inmarsat phone from the Moroccan desert. When I get it fixed I will post what the cause was reported to be .................. Frank Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest magyarman Posted March 4, 2007 Share #18 Posted March 4, 2007 Thanks for the try and feedback. I have to agree with Robert that you have now narrowed it to a hardware problem/failure. If there is a component in the camera with a high failure rate, I hope that Leica will recall all cameras that thave this component and upgrade them to a more reliable component. It certainly would not enhance their reputation to have their top end camera be prone to sudden and unexpected failure. Not only would it diminish that value of those cameras sold but it would make it very difficult to get new buyers/customers. I thing this proof <<new>> firmware does not to fix up electronical prablems what are becausing M8 to broke. Mabe when was write 1,091 by Jenoptik before some monathes was not now even this prablems. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guy_mancuso Posted March 4, 2007 Share #19 Posted March 4, 2007 Hard to say it was broke before he tried the beta firmware. It may very well be a switch , but hard to say. BTW i did send this thread to leica engineers and the manager of the M division Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Sprow Posted March 4, 2007 Author Share #20 Posted March 4, 2007 Hello from the desert. It's so dusty and windy here I'm glad I don't have to clean the CCD! Just to be clear, the same situation (no display) was found with 1.09 and 1.091 and on changing back to 1.09. Frank Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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