arkive Posted October 2, 2023 Share #1 Posted October 2, 2023 (edited) Advertisement (gone after registration) Hi there, I have had my Leica Q3 for about a month. No issues, and I am enjoying the camera. Today I downloaded the firmware update after connecting the camera to the Fotos app. It was mid-download when the camera froze. I waited and waited but it was frozen and then turned off. I tried turning it off/on after it turned off, the camera is completely bricked. Doesn't make a noise, doesn't turn on. I've tried connecting it to the charger and nothing will turn it on. Any ideas what I can do? Is there a way to manually reset or am I just SOL? Edited October 2, 2023 by arkive more context Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted October 2, 2023 Posted October 2, 2023 Hi arkive, Take a look here Leica Q3 Bricked During Firmware Update. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
Guest Posted October 2, 2023 Share #2 Posted October 2, 2023 I'm pretty sure you'll have tried this, but have you removed and replaced the battery? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen_C Posted October 2, 2023 Share #3 Posted October 2, 2023 Try taking out the battery, leaving it for a few minutes then putting the battery back in and trying again to turn on the camera. Stephen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
arkive Posted October 2, 2023 Author Share #4 Posted October 2, 2023 (edited) Just tried, doesn't turn on. Edited October 2, 2023 by arkive Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 2, 2023 Share #5 Posted October 2, 2023 7 minutes ago, arkive said: Do you recommend that I keep the camera "on" or off while the battery is out? I don't think it matters as I think the on/off switch is not physical, but is monitored by the FW. Hence, when the Q3 freezes, the switch doesn't do anything. In any case I would try to remove/replace the battery with the switch off. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobsFirstLeica Posted October 2, 2023 Share #6 Posted October 2, 2023 (edited) 2 hours ago, arkive said: Just tried, doesn't turn on. How terribly frustrating! I thought I had bricked the cam updating with the FOTOS app to 1.2. Sat there for 15 minutes... just turned the cam off and luckily it came back to life. Vowed never to update with the App again.... only with the SD card. I would also try taking the memory card out along with the battery. Then leave it for awhile. Then put in another memory card or reformat the existing one in your computer. Other than what has been suggested, if you are still unsuccessful then it is off to the service center. I've never called Leica service because I've never needed it. Good luck. Bob Edited October 2, 2023 by BobsFirstLeica 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
idusidusi Posted October 2, 2023 Share #7 Posted October 2, 2023 Advertisement (gone after registration) 3 minutes ago, BobsFirstLeica said: Vowed never to update with the App again.... only with the SD card. I have deinstalled Fotos no use for it. As long as they provide a card slot, I will always use that for updates as long as Leica allow the download as they do. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
clasami Posted October 2, 2023 Share #8 Posted October 2, 2023 Have you tried copying the new firmware onto an SD card, put that in and see what happens? When you interrupted the download, the firmware was notr copied to the card in full and the firmware updater may still try to find the full version. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobsFirstLeica Posted October 2, 2023 Share #9 Posted October 2, 2023 3 minutes ago, clasami said: Have you tried copying the new firmware onto an SD card, put that in and see what happens? When you interrupted the download, the firmware was notr copied to the card in full and the firmware updater may still try to find the full version. Do you think that would have a benefit since the cam won't even turn on? If the cam can come to life with the on button, then an update could be started. Bob Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
clasami Posted October 2, 2023 Share #10 Posted October 2, 2023 Worth a try. If it was interupted during the download process. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
arkive Posted October 2, 2023 Author Share #11 Posted October 2, 2023 52 minutes ago, clasami said: Have you tried copying the new firmware onto an SD card, put that in and see what happens? When you interrupted the download, the firmware was notr copied to the card in full and the firmware updater may still try to find the full version. Going to try this tomorrow, thanks! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD70 Posted October 2, 2023 Share #12 Posted October 2, 2023 I know you hate to hear this, but EVERY camera brand out there that uses updatable firmware always cautions about the "full battery, and the never touch any buttons, as the camera will "brick" if it is interrupted. I'm betting that the only fix is a trip back to Leica, and a hard connection to their firmware system. Not saying it was anything you did, but something in that process hit a snag and shut itself down. It should be a simple turn-around for Leica to have you back and running. Good luck! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarsOtium Posted October 3, 2023 Share #13 Posted October 3, 2023 3 hours ago, MikeD70 said: I know you hate to hear this, but EVERY camera brand out there that uses updatable firmware always cautions about the "full battery, and the never touch any buttons, as the camera will "brick" if it is interrupted. Good advice. Thanks for posting, especially the full battery reminder. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 3, 2023 Share #14 Posted October 3, 2023 8 hours ago, MikeD70 said: I know you hate to hear this, but EVERY camera brand out there that uses updatable firmware always cautions about the "full battery, and the never touch any buttons, as the camera will "brick" if it is interrupted. I'm betting that the only fix is a trip back to Leica, and a hard connection to their firmware system. Not saying it was anything you did, but something in that process hit a snag and shut itself down. It should be a simple turn-around for Leica to have you back and running. Good luck! To be honest, if this is the case, then it is an example of very poor programming. The camera "knows" what the battery level is, and it is totally in control of whether or not it will accept button presses so there is no reason that this should cause a crash. The iPhone, for example, will not let you update FW if the battery level is low when you start. In the general case, any resilient system should preserve the current FW and have a failsafe way to restore it should the upgrade process fail at any point. However, this is just speculation and we don't really know why these crashes are happening. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miltz Posted October 3, 2023 Share #15 Posted October 3, 2023 I’m very sad to hear this. I was nervous myself about doing the update via the app, fortunately it worked beautifully. How long did you wait before turning off the camera? Mine felt like it took forever. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD70 Posted October 3, 2023 Share #16 Posted October 3, 2023 (edited) 8 hours ago, Corius said: To be honest, if this is the case, then it is an example of very poor programming. The camera "knows" what the battery level is, and it is totally in control of whether or not it will accept button presses so there is no reason that this should cause a crash. The iPhone, for example, will not let you update FW if the battery level is low when you start. In the general case, any resilient system should preserve the current FW and have a failsafe way to restore it should the upgrade process fail at any point. However, this is just speculation and we don't really know why these crashes are happening. All true, I was just pointing out a few of the obvious possibilities. Remembering back in the day when Canon started putting out user installed updates. Fuji also had the same precautions listed. Like you say, we don't know what the cause may be, if we did, we could avoid it. The more I think about it, I wonder if just maybe the problem could have come about due to a glitch in the camera/iPhone connection path. Love to hear what Leica says about it after he gets the camera back. Edited October 3, 2023 by MikeD70 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simone_DF Posted October 3, 2023 Share #17 Posted October 3, 2023 3 hours ago, MikeD70 said: the problem could have come about due to a glitch in the camera/iPhone connection path. In general, once the firmware is fully downloaded onto the camera, the system should perform a hash / integrity check before proceeding with the installation. That’s how it works on other devices (smartphones etc) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbieLeicaO Posted October 5, 2023 Share #18 Posted October 5, 2023 Hey, have you tried charging it directly? Connecting it to a computer/phone via cable? Honestly not sure why leica doesn't have a small application that can flash the onboard SSD and reload a fresh install of whatever OS you want. Would at least give a quick resolution to these problems. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted October 5, 2023 Share #19 Posted October 5, 2023 On 10/3/2023 at 9:52 AM, Miltz said: I’m very sad to hear this. I was nervous myself about doing the update via the app, fortunately it worked beautifully. How long did you wait before turning off the camera? Mine felt like it took forever. So if you were nervous updating through the app ( I never would do so, why add another level of potential errors when there is a tested and proven way of updating ?) why did you do so? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miltz Posted October 6, 2023 Share #20 Posted October 6, 2023 8 hours ago, jaapv said: So if you were nervous updating through the app ( I never would do so, why add another level of potential errors when there is a tested and proven way of updating ?) why did you do so? Because I don’t like living in fear. I made sure everything was fully charged and read of several successful firmware updates so I gave it a go. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now