E-10 lockup

I had a heartstopper yesterday. I was using an E-10 to shoot a friend's wedding. Just as the ceremony was completing and they were coming down the isle, my camera froze. Couldn't turn off or do anything.

Wasn't sure what to do. I took the battery pack out, changed batteries, and changed flash cards. Repowered and the camera came alive again. When I had time later, I checked the original card, but didn't lose any images. One strange effect was the numerical sequence on the second card went back to the photo number which began on the original card, resulting in about 100 pics with the same serial number as on the former card.

I saved the card contents to separate folders and wrote the photos out to CD's before erasing the originals from the cards. Everything was fine with the photos and apart from the fright, no real problem. It froze at a natural break in the proceedings.

The only change I'd made was using 1800 mah NIMH batteries, instead of the Oly 1600 mah AA's I've always used. Went back to the 1800's later and they worked fine.

I've never had any problems with this camera and its always produced flawless pictures with no technical difficulties. I won't have the same level of confidence in the future, however.

Just mentiioning this so the lockup can be collated with the others reported on the forum.
--
James

Sounds pretty much like the occasional lockups that have been reported a few times in the forum. For the most part the common thread is that you have to remove the power source to shut the camera down. I suppose chances are that if you've used the camera long enough it'll eventually lock up like nearly any microprocessor controlled device. That's not a "feature" by any stretch, but it is by no means uncommon for nearly any microprocessor controlled device. I'd say the key is how you react -and you reacted properly by pulling the power. I think this comes under the "Stuff Happens" category.

As for the card numbering resetting, that sounds like a result of a menu setting that can be either "AUTO" or 'RESET". In AUTO mode the camera remembers the number of the last image taken and increments it for each subsequent image even if you change cards. If you have it set to RESET, the camera looks at the card and assigns the next highest number to the next image or starts at 0001 if no files are on the card. If it wasn't actually set to RESET perhaps the lockup messed up the camera's storage or changed the setting to RESET? Just a guess.

Very glad you didn't miss any shots because of this! This sort of thing really makes the argument for having a second power source or another set of NiMHs loaded into a battery holder and ready to go if you take photos in critical situations. By the same token I've had the camera lock up during file transfers to the PC via USB with a good power source. In fairness, it wasn't the camera's fault, but some messed up BIOS settings I had to root out and correct related to USB.

Good luck.

.... do you know where I can buy a second battery holder for my E-10, I've searched the internet but can't see where to buy.....

......> thing really makes the argument for having a second power source or

Gerald M. Payne said:

another set of NiMHs loaded into a battery holder and ready to go
if you take photos in critical situations. By the same token I've
had the camera lock up during file transfers to the PC via USB with
a good power source. In fairness, it wasn't the camera's fault,
but some messed up BIOS settings I had to root out and correct
related to USB.

Good luck.

Click to expand...

--
OLY- E10 OLY-2100 OLY-3030 B300
http://www.pbase.com/gallery/advid/2100

James and Advid,

First of all, no need to exchange battery packs when this happens. Unfortunately, it happens with my camera quite frequently. I just release the battery holder, count to two and plug it back in. Everything works fine. Changing batteries and cards is overkill and not necessary. You lose much less time just releasing the battery and pushing it back in and locking it into place and starting again.

You can order a second battery holder from Olympus, I believe. (www.olympusamerica.com) I did this months ago and love having the extra. When batteries get low, you just do a quick switch and save LOADS of time!

Beth

advid said:

......> thing really makes the argument for having a second power
source or

advid said:

another set of NiMHs loaded into a battery holder and ready to go
if you take photos in critical situations. By the same token I've
had the camera lock up during file transfers to the PC via USB with
a good power source. In fairness, it wasn't the camera's fault,
but some messed up BIOS settings I had to root out and correct
related to USB.

Good luck.

Click to expand...

--
OLY- E10 OLY-2100 OLY-3030 B300
http://www.pbase.com/gallery/advid/2100

Click to expand...

--
Olympus E-10, TCON, MCON, WCON and Fl-40
Gallery: http://www.pbase.com/galleries/cokids

Beth makes an excellent point! It has happened that the E-XX sometimes locks up after only a short number of exposures(only happened to me about twice in 4000, or so, exposures prior to the LiPO), and in that instance just putting the holder back in, or in some cases spinning the cells in the holder and then re-installing works fine.

I really was making the point that in demanding situations like a wedding a quick power change could be essential and that having a spare holder with cells installed would speed the process considerably. It takes some number of seconds to remove the batteries and sort 4 more into the proper orientation and I can only imagine the horror of dropping one and watching it roll down the aisle to land under the groom or bride's feet as they're coming down the aisle... OUCH!

Pc Connection and others offer them for around $20-25:

http://www.pcconnection.com/scripts/showcase/productdetail.asp?product_id=215197&vendor=Olympus

The part is B-HLD1 or B-HLD-1 depending on who you believe... Just do a google search or try http://www.shopper.com or something like that. Maybe http://www.pricematch.com would also yield something.

Hi,

I'm new here; first post.

I've had my E-10 lock up on me twice in the 6 months that I've had it.

The first time occurred when I flipped up the flash while the camera was powering up. The second occurred when I flipped up the flash while the camera was waking up. In both cases closing the flash, switching the camera off and removing, then reinserting the battery cartridge fixed things with no adverse affects (other than time lost).

I now make sure the camera is fully "awake" before opening the flash.

-- Eric Nicholson

James A. Beaman said:

I had a heartstopper yesterday. I was using an E-10 to shoot a
friend's wedding. Just as the ceremony was completing and they were
coming down the isle, my camera froze. Couldn't turn off or do
anything.

Click to expand...

Eric Nicholson said:

The first time occurred when I flipped up the flash while the
camera was powering up. The second occurred when I flipped up the
flash while the camera was waking up. In both cases closing the
flash, switching the camera off and removing, then reinserting the
battery cartridge fixed things with no adverse affects (other than
time lost).

Click to expand...

I read your post and just had to try it to see what effect I might note. (the pitiful things you'll do on a Saturday night without a date...) Well, my E-10 didn't lock up, but the first time I tried it during bootup the LiPO only reported a 10% charge! The second time 50% as expected, and in agreement with a third run where I didn't flip the flash up during bootup... What I think this points out is that the microcontroller that runs the E-10 likely devotes single bits of larger ports(probably 8 bits each) to separate items or tasks, if you like, and that changing the data on a particular input line while the port is being read for another function could lead to some strange data being relayed back to the processor -possibly causing a boot lockup? Chances are this is a result of improper coding which doesn't actually mask out the other bits in the port. Simpler and quicker sometimes beats well-thought-out, especially when coding in the wee hours of the morning... If you look hard enough at anything of sufficient complexity you can usually find some sort of bug, or bugs. That's no excuse, but a fact of life? Perhaps...

Hmmm....some of my lock-ups have occurred in conjunction with use of the flash too. Seems to be a pattern. Guess it means we just need to be careful of the camera and not ask too much of it when the flash in onboard.

Beth

Gerald M. Payne said:

Eric Nicholson said:

The first time occurred when I flipped up the flash while the
camera was powering up. The second occurred when I flipped up the
flash while the camera was waking up. In both cases closing the
flash, switching the camera off and removing, then reinserting the
battery cartridge fixed things with no adverse affects (other than
time lost).

Click to expand...

I read your post and just had to try it to see what effect I might
note. (the pitiful things you'll do on a Saturday night without a
date...) Well, my E-10 didn't lock up, but the first time I tried
it during bootup the LiPO only reported a 10% charge! The second
time 50% as expected, and in agreement with a third run where I
didn't flip the flash up during bootup... What I think this points
out is that the microcontroller that runs the E-10 likely devotes
single bits of larger ports(probably 8 bits each) to separate items
or tasks, if you like, and that changing the data on a particular
input line while the port is being read for another function could
lead to some strange data being relayed back to the processor
-possibly causing a boot lockup? Chances are this is a result of
improper coding which doesn't actually mask out the other bits in
the port. Simpler and quicker sometimes beats well-thought-out,
especially when coding in the wee hours of the morning... If you
look hard enough at anything of sufficient complexity you can
usually find some sort of bug, or bugs. That's no excuse, but a
fact of life? Perhaps...

Click to expand...

--
Olympus E-10, TCON, MCON, WCON and Fl-40
Gallery: http://www.pbase.com/galleries/cokids

Beth said:

Beth

Gerald M. Payne said:

Eric Nicholson said:

The first time occurred when I flipped up the flash while the
camera was powering up. The second occurred when I flipped up the
flash while the camera was waking up. In both cases closing the
flash, switching the camera off and removing, then reinserting the
battery cartridge fixed things with no adverse affects (other than
time lost).

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I tried this with my E20 and no problem. Maybe they fixed this feature in the E20 software?

--
J.C.
C510Z
E-20

JCII said:

I tried this with my E20 and no problem. Maybe they fixed this
feature in the E20 software?

Click to expand...

Maybe. Maybe it's a function of just when you trigger it during the boot up? Maybe it's a matter of different things connected to different ports between the two. Don't have an E-20 so can't say.

Apparently, not a big deal anyhow if it only happens if you trigger the flash during bootup/wakeup... Certainly not a necessity?