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dead M8 !?


jackal

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oh dear

 

took a shot today walking to work

first shot of the day

 

after the shutter went the M8 turned itself off and now won't ocme back on again

battery was of course full & i have tried taking it out and putting it back in again

 

presumably this means a 6 week visit back to Germany... i cant do without the camer that long esp. with holidays and parties and stuff coming up

 

anyone know what causes this sudden death ?

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Richard,

do you have another battery? Alternatively, remove the battery and let it discharge, recharge, reinsert and see what hapens. This is latter option is not a speedy fix, but it might be worth a try.

Huw

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Just how long must you wait to let the battery discharge without load?

There are LiIon batteries and that would be a very long time indeed.

Perhaps you mean to let the internal state storage battery to discharge?

Richard,

For curiosity is this an early camera subject to the first call home to Solms?

Is it current firmware (1.102)?

thanks

-bob

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hiya

 

yes its current firmware and a recent unit: 3109XXX

 

apart from occasionally skipping RAW pics when scrolling through them on the screen, it has never given me any problems at all and ive been extremely happy

 

im seriously tempted to buy a second backup

i dont think i can go 6 weeks without a camera

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Are you not even seeing the red LED flash when you power on the camera? How about if you power on with the SD card and the camera base removed?

 

I think you should try another battery; the batteries do have non-replaceable fuse which will make it look completely dead.

 

If you have access to a voltmeter and some kitchen foil to make some "blade" contacts, it's easy enough the check the battery output.

 

See here: http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/digital-forum/14230-checking-your-m8-battery.html?

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mark

 

i DO get the red light when i turn it on

the red light will also come on again everytime i press the shutter

 

with the bottom cover off, i also get a beep (presumably, bottom plate removed warning beep ?)

 

i have tried removing the battery and re-inserting several times and also removing the SD card. Same symptoms.

 

 

 

My feeling is that its nothing to do with the battery. It was well charged this morning and it is clearly making the cameras red light come on and making it beep. The symptoms appear to match other reports on here of dead M8's. I will try the discharge for 4 days method to get a full reset and I will then fully charge the battery up again but my prognosis is that its some fault internal to teh M8 which is preventing operation of the main electrical processes. Myabe the red light and the beep are on a separate electrical circuit from the shutter/lcd/metering etc..

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Do you have a second battery? I have had similar symptoms, always when the battery was dead or almost dead. I have sometimes run down the battery without knowing it, usually by leaving the camera on, putting the camera in the bag, and having the shutter be pressed down by the bag.

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Guest guy_mancuso

Richard since it was a very early unit it maybe a case of SDS , i would call N J customer support ask for Robert Fisk. Lately it seems if this happens leica has been replacing the body. It is somewhat rare lately but in the beginning there were quite a few of us , myself included that ran into this problem. Is the LCD dead but the camera will fire.

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Guest tummydoc
Richard since it was a very early unit

 

3109xxx is a very early unit?? What are they up to now? My latest one is in that range, I got it new in late April or early May.

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Guest guy_mancuso
3109xxx is a very early unit?? What are they up to now? My latest one is in that range, I got it new in late April or early May.

 

 

I'm still trying to figure out the serial number thing. It does not make a lot of sense to me and i keep forgetting to ask about it.

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Leica reserves ranges of serial numbers for a specific product. For the M8, the first batch was roughly 3100000-3102500. Not all those reached the customers before the recall, so some were fixed and sold later, while at the same time, the second batch hit the market, some earlier than the fixed first batchers. I am not sure what the second batch was. Perhaps around 3105000? The serial numbers in between were presumably reserved for some other product, such as perhaps the Digilux-3 or even Leica M7/MP, who knows. There have been at least a couple of batches since then, some leaving the 310 initial digits.

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Leica reserves ranges of serial numbers for a specific product. For the M8, the first batch was roughly 3100000-3102500. Not all those reached the customers before the recall, so some were fixed and sold later, while at the same time, the second batch hit the market, some earlier than the fixed first batchers. I am not sure what the second batch was. Perhaps around 3105000? The serial numbers in between were presumably reserved for some other product, such as perhaps the Digilux-3 or even Leica M7/MP, who knows. There have been at least a couple of batches since then, some leaving the 310 initial digits.

 

my copy is one of the first of the second batch, and # 31027xx

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Richard,

 

I had a similar episode in Barcelona in April. I did have a spare battery but before I put it in, I changed the SD card to the 16MB one I always carry around with me, with the firmware on it (locked so that the firmware does not get wiped, which it does if not locked). When the camera initialized with the fresh battery, it immediately reloaded the firmware. I have not had a problem since, other than a spate of batteries running themselves down, traced to the switch getting knocked on in my Billingham plus a softie keeping the camera awake. I did a fully discharge and recharge cycle of the suspect battery and it seems fine now. Of course, your fault may be completely different to mine but if you can source a spare battery - worth a go.

 

Wilson

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Leica reserves ranges of serial numbers for a specific product. For the M8, the first batch was roughly 3100000-3102500. Not all those reached the customers before the recall, so some were fixed and sold later, while at the same time, the second batch hit the market, some earlier than the fixed first batchers. I am not sure what the second batch was. Perhaps around 3105000? The serial numbers in between were presumably reserved for some other product, such as perhaps the Digilux-3 or even Leica M7/MP, who knows. There have been at least a couple of batches since then, some leaving the 310 initial digits.

 

Just got a new one with a SN in the 3195xxx

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