"Image Acquisition Error"...what's that?

I just got my 950 and installed Nikon View 1.2. After browsing the CF in the camera, I decided to copy the entire 19 images (factory 8MB CF) to a different folder. About 25% through the copy, I get an "Image Acquisition Error" message. Then I tried a few files one at a time and that was fine. Then I ran into a file which gave me that error. I attempted a retry and it works.

Apparently, the error seems to be intermittent. Is there anything I'm not doing right? My camera came from the factory with v1.2. What does the error message mean? My computer is a Pentium 233, 64 Meg, 6.5 Gig. Is it possible 115K serial transmission is too fast and it's losing bits? My rechargeables just died so I can't throttle down the rate and try again.

HELP!

a

MK said:

I just got my 950 and installed Nikon View 1.2. After browsing the CF in
the camera, I decided to copy the entire 19 images (factory 8MB CF) to a
different folder. About 25% through the copy, I get an "Image
Acquisition Error" message. Then I tried a few files one at a time and
that was fine. Then I ran into a file which gave me that error. I
attempted a retry and it works.

Click to expand...

I read somewhere (probably on the Nikontech site) that turning down the fifo buffers in your Windows serial port will help. Sure enough I tried it on my PII 266 and it made a huge difference.
Must be a bug in the Nikonview serial i/o code.

Steve

I've had the 950 since August and I've taken nearly 2000 pictures. I'm happy with the camera, but, yes, there's some weirdness when downloading photos to the computer.

First weirdness: It usually takes me two or three tries to make it work. Generally, I hook up the camera and attempt to move the photos onto my hardrive, but I get an error message suggesting that I check connections. It's bunk. The connections are fine. I know from experience that at this point the camera will be locked up. I have to open the battery compartment for a second and then close it. And then I try it all again. Like I said, on the second or third try it usually works.

Second weirdness: I always get those Image Acquisition Error messages while I'm downloading. I simply click ok on 'em and they go away. They don't seem to have any effect on the photos. Sometimes I download photos while I'm sleeping. In the morning there'll be an Image Acquisition Error message there waiting for me. When I click ok on it, it goes away. The photos are always fine. (Well, actually, once or twice I found that the photos never made the transfer, but upon retrying the procedure they made the move just fine. Go figure.)

After a transfer, I find the camera is always locked up. Every time. I always have to do the battery thing again.

It's not as big a deal as it might sound. I mean, it's a drag that this thousand dollar thing doesn't perform like it's suppposed to, but it always works out in the long run. And I know that I can always buy a USB Cardreader for 30 some odd dollars and be through with these problems forever (maybe for Christmas?).

I'm still running firmware 1.0 because I didn't see the need to update to 1.1. Now that 1.2 is on the horizon, I plan to upgrade the firmware. It would sure be nice if that takes care of these pesky problems. Anyone have any experiences similar to mine? Any advice?

MK said:

I just got my 950 and installed Nikon View 1.2. After browsing the CF in
the camera, I decided to copy the entire 19 images (factory 8MB CF) to a
different folder. About 25% through the copy, I get an "Image
Acquisition Error" message. Then I tried a few files one at a time and
that was fine. Then I ran into a file which gave me that error. I
attempted a retry and it works.

Apparently, the error seems to be intermittent. Is there anything I'm
not doing right? My camera came from the factory with v1.2. What does
the error message mean? My computer is a Pentium 233, 64 Meg, 6.5 Gig.
Is it possible 115K serial transmission is too fast and it's losing bits?
My rechargeables just died so I can't throttle down the rate and try
again.

HELP!

Click to expand...

Jim and Steve, thanks for the reply. I will try the lowering the Receive FIFO thingy. I read on nikontechusa after posting my question that this seems to work. I will give it a shot tonight.

Jim, that kind of sucks that you have to do that with a $1,000 piece of hardware! I will try to see what happens tonight. My camera is a week old and preloaded with 1.2 from the factory.

All I can tell you now is that once I get that Image Acq. error, hitting "Retry" doesn't work and you are only left with "Cancel". Hitting that will leave things hanging. I just then reset the camera by turning it off/on and try again. It always works the second time. I can copy a handful of files at a time. I would like to copy the entire CF at once. That's when I encounter the Image Acq. error. I REALLY wanted unattended file transfer.

For what it's worth, I had similar problems when transferring files from the Nikon 950 to a Windows computer. When I plugged it into a Macintosh, everything worked fine.

Forget all that. Go buy a USB CF card reader. I did (SanDisk) and it works swimmingly on both platforms...and my but it is fast!

Cheers,

Tyler Monson
Seattle, Washington

...About 25% through the copy, I get an "Image

Member said:

Acquisition Error" message...

Click to expand...

I have two-three points to add to this "thread":

1. I've never had this error pop up on me at home, but every other time at work.... Verifying that both PCs were set to the same speed (115200), same protocol (Hardware) and finally, same FIFO buffer settings (14/16), I could only conclude that my own PC, a P3 Oc'ed at 558MHz, is fast enough that it doesn't present a "buffer underun" scenario that perhaps my "normal" PC at work (P2 350MHz) might cause. Otherwise, I cannot explain any other diff. between the two PCs....

2. When I do get the error msg, I don't respond to it until the 950's done uploading - then I "close" it. It appears that View 2.1 automatically restarts the upload.

3. And finally, for the record, get an external reader - Serial Com sucks, period. I was elated when I finally moved from analog to ISDN, and I was also quick to pick up some form of card reader (for now, Lexars USB-capable media w/JumpShot interface, and my ultimate target - SCSI, baby, yeah!). Both my flatbed & film scanners are SCSI-based, and it only goes to figure that the card reader should be SCSI! Don't forget that, while today we are all scrapping to afford a 32-64MB CF, that in a year from now, CF Type I will have maxed out at, say, 256M (shit, it's already at 160M!), and it will sell for $150 or so: do you really want to upload 256MB via the serial COM ports - nah, don't think so ;-)
Serge

Let's say I want try adjusting the FIFO buffer settings--how do I do that? (I've never heard of FIFO buffer settings.) What should I change them to? Also, is there a chance that changing them (assuming that someone is able to tell me how to find them) will screw something else up?

Serge said:

Member said:

Acquisition Error" message...

Click to expand...

I have two-three points to add to this "thread":
1. I've never had this error pop up on me at home, but every other time
at work.... Verifying that both PCs were set to the same speed (115200),
same protocol (Hardware) and finally, same FIFO buffer settings (14/16),
I could only conclude that my own PC, a P3 Oc'ed at 558MHz, is fast
enough that it doesn't present a "buffer underun" scenario that perhaps
my "normal" PC at work (P2 350MHz) might cause. Otherwise, I cannot
explain any other diff. between the two PCs....
2. When I do get the error msg, I don't respond to it until the 950's
done uploading - then I "close" it. It appears that View 2.1
automatically restarts the upload.
3. And finally, for the record, get an external reader - Serial Com
sucks, period. I was elated when I finally moved from analog to ISDN, and
I was also quick to pick up some form of card reader (for now, Lexars
USB-capable media w/JumpShot interface, and my ultimate target - SCSI,
baby, yeah!). Both my flatbed & film scanners are SCSI-based, and it only
goes to figure that the card reader should be SCSI! Don't forget that,
while today we are all scrapping to afford a 32-64MB CF, that in a year
from now, CF Type I will have maxed out at, say, 256M (shit, it's already
at 160M!), and it will sell for $150 or so: do you really want to upload
256MB via the serial COM ports - nah, don't think so ;-)
Serge

Click to expand...

I too have taken thousands of pictures with my camera and simply purchased the sandisk card reader. It takes 2 minutes to transfer from my 64 meg card. I have never used the link from Nikon. I can tell you from having used Kodak connections that took 20 minutes to transfer 27 pictures the card readers are great. I will be taking the mine to work and purchasing a USB one for home.

Trevor

Jim said:

First weirdness: It usually takes me two or three tries to make it work.
Generally, I hook up the camera and attempt to move the photos onto my
hardrive, but I get an error message suggesting that I check connections.
It's bunk. The connections are fine. I know from experience that at this
point the camera will be locked up. I have to open the battery
compartment for a second and then close it. And then I try it all again.
Like I said, on the second or third try it usually works.

Second weirdness: I always get those Image Acquisition Error messages
while I'm downloading. I simply click ok on 'em and they go away. They
don't seem to have any effect on the photos. Sometimes I download photos
while I'm sleeping. In the morning there'll be an Image Acquisition Error
message there waiting for me. When I click ok on it, it goes away. The
photos are always fine. (Well, actually, once or twice I found that the
photos never made the transfer, but upon retrying the procedure they made
the move just fine. Go figure.)

After a transfer, I find the camera is always locked up. Every time. I
always have to do the battery thing again.

It's not as big a deal as it might sound. I mean, it's a drag that this
thousand dollar thing doesn't perform like it's suppposed to, but it
always works out in the long run. And I know that I can always buy a USB
Cardreader for 30 some odd dollars and be through with these problems
forever (maybe for Christmas?).

I'm still running firmware 1.0 because I didn't see the need to update to
1.1. Now that 1.2 is on the horizon, I plan to upgrade the firmware. It
would sure be nice if that takes care of these pesky problems. Anyone
have any experiences similar to mine? Any advice?

MK said:

I just got my 950 and installed Nikon View 1.2. After browsing the CF in
the camera, I decided to copy the entire 19 images (factory 8MB CF) to a
different folder. About 25% through the copy, I get an "Image
Acquisition Error" message. Then I tried a few files one at a time and
that was fine. Then I ran into a file which gave me that error. I
attempted a retry and it works.

Apparently, the error seems to be intermittent. Is there anything I'm
not doing right? My camera came from the factory with v1.2. What does
the error message mean? My computer is a Pentium 233, 64 Meg, 6.5 Gig.
Is it possible 115K serial transmission is too fast and it's losing bits?
My rechargeables just died so I can't throttle down the rate and try
again.

HELP!

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Jim said:

Let's say I want try adjusting the FIFO buffer settings--how do I do
that? (I've never heard of FIFO buffer settings.) What should I change
them to? Also, is there a chance that changing them (assuming that
someone is able to tell me how to find them) will screw something else up?

Click to expand...

It's fairly easy to adj the buffer settings (now, I am assuming that you have either Windows 95 / 98!).

right-click on the "my computer" ICON
Select the devices tab (you get a list of all devices on your system)
Near the top, you will see a sub-dir titled something like COM / LPT Ports
Dbl-clk on that to expand the sub-dir, and you will see COM1, COM2, etc.

Now right-click on either "COM" entry (dpending which one you use - check the back of your PC for either stamped labels of stick-ons) - one of the tabs allows you to set the max speed of the com port, as well as parity, etc. On this same tab you will find something like "advanced" - click to get tis pop-up window.

Now you're there - you will see An input FIFO buffer and an Output (one set to 14, one set to 16) - for moving files from the 950 to the PC - you should adjust your input buffer speed (trial and error...)

In the event your going the other way (putting pics or firmware, etc on to the 950, then deal with the output buffer).

To answer your second question - Yes & No - nothing will crash if you adj these values - that's not a problem. However, say you have an external modem on one of the COM ports... then it would piss you off a great deal to adjust the wrong com port - you would potentially degrade the modem's communication effectivness with your PC (sorry, don't know the exact deatils - suffice it to say if it ain't broke, don't fix it

Serge

Well, I've gained some additional insight into this matter over the weekend. I've solved the problem and it wasn't even the buffer. My PC is located in a weird spot and accessing the back is quite cumbersone. Many times I have to change serial devices. What I did was get a 3' serial extention cable so now the serial port is easily accessible. Well, low and behold, the extension cable is not of the shielded variety.

So far, everything serial works fine except when I attach the 950, it wasn't. I guess the non-shieldedness of the cable is no good when transmitting 115K+ baud rate!!!! After I got rid of the extension cable and plug the Nikon cable directly to the serial port, my "I.A.E." errors disappeared!

Just wanted to pass this info on to others. I will try to get a 3' SHIELDED extension cable and try it out. Thanks for all of your help. Sometimes, it's the simple things!

MK said:

I just got my 950 and installed Nikon View 1.2. After browsing the CF in
the camera, I decided to copy the entire 19 images (factory 8MB CF) to a
different folder. About 25% through the copy, I get an "Image
Acquisition Error" message. Then I tried a few files one at a time and
that was fine. Then I ran into a file which gave me that error. I
attempted a retry and it works.

Apparently, the error seems to be intermittent. Is there anything I'm
not doing right? My camera came from the factory with v1.2. What does
the error message mean? My computer is a Pentium 233, 64 Meg, 6.5 Gig.
Is it possible 115K serial transmission is too fast and it's losing bits?
My rechargeables just died so I can't throttle down the rate and try
again.

HELP!

Click to expand...

I wish I could say it was the same problem for me, but it's not. I plug my 950 directly into the serial cable that came with the camera. As I outlined in my earlier post, it can be a pain in the neck. In fact, just yesterday I had to try launching the download from my 950 to my Gateway PII 450 computer about 8 or 9 times before it finally worked. Someone mentioned messing with the buffers, but I don't know. I've got a cable modem (wonderful device) and I don't want to screw that up. If my wife is reading this she should get me a sandisk USB card reader for Christmas so I can avoid this serial nonsense.

MK said:

So far, everything serial works fine except when I attach the 950, it
wasn't. I guess the non-shieldedness of the cable is no good when
transmitting 115K+ baud rate!!!! After I got rid of the extension cable
and plug the Nikon cable directly to the serial port, my "I.A.E." errors
disappeared!

Just wanted to pass this info on to others. I will try to get a 3'
SHIELDED extension cable and try it out. Thanks for all of your help.
Sometimes, it's the simple things!

MK said:

I just got my 950 and installed Nikon View 1.2. After browsing the CF in
the camera, I decided to copy the entire 19 images (factory 8MB CF) to a
different folder. About 25% through the copy, I get an "Image
Acquisition Error" message. Then I tried a few files one at a time and
that was fine. Then I ran into a file which gave me that error. I
attempted a retry and it works.

Apparently, the error seems to be intermittent. Is there anything I'm
not doing right? My camera came from the factory with v1.2. What does
the error message mean? My computer is a Pentium 233, 64 Meg, 6.5 Gig.
Is it possible 115K serial transmission is too fast and it's losing bits?
My rechargeables just died so I can't throttle down the rate and try
again.

HELP!

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Hmmm...Jim. That's puzzling. I did slow down the FIFO but that didn't work until I plug the Nikon cable directly w/o an extension. Even though that it is working now, it is a pain to download more than a handful of pictures due to the limit of the serial port speed. If you want to move files back to the CF card for a slide show you DEFINITELY need a card reader as Nikon View does not allow you to go the other way. A card reader is definitely a must! I plan to get one soon.

You could create an anonymous e-mail account (hotmail, etc.) and send an e-mail to your wife dropping the hint! (hehehehehe)

Jim said:

MK said:

So far, everything serial works fine except when I attach the 950, it
wasn't. I guess the non-shieldedness of the cable is no good when
transmitting 115K+ baud rate!!!! After I got rid of the extension cable
and plug the Nikon cable directly to the serial port, my "I.A.E." errors
disappeared!

Just wanted to pass this info on to others. I will try to get a 3'
SHIELDED extension cable and try it out. Thanks for all of your help.
Sometimes, it's the simple things!

MK said:

I just got my 950 and installed Nikon View 1.2. After browsing the CF in
the camera, I decided to copy the entire 19 images (factory 8MB CF) to a
different folder. About 25% through the copy, I get an "Image
Acquisition Error" message. Then I tried a few files one at a time and
that was fine. Then I ran into a file which gave me that error. I
attempted a retry and it works.

Apparently, the error seems to be intermittent. Is there anything I'm
not doing right? My camera came from the factory with v1.2. What does
the error message mean? My computer is a Pentium 233, 64 Meg, 6.5 Gig.
Is it possible 115K serial transmission is too fast and it's losing bits?
My rechargeables just died so I can't throttle down the rate and try
again.

HELP!

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

MK said:

I just got my 950 and installed Nikon View 1.2. After browsing the CF in
the camera, I decided to copy the entire 19 images (factory 8MB CF) to a
different folder. About 25% through the copy, I get an "Image
Acquisition Error" message. Then I tried a few files one at a time and
that was fine. Then I ran into a file which gave me that error. I
attempted a retry and it works.

Apparently, the error seems to be intermittent. Is there anything I'm
not doing right

Click to expand...

I too have had this problem several times with my newly aquired Nikon 950E with the same program and also using the Nikon 8Mb CF card.

When copying my images into a folder on my HDD, the message would appear approximately a third to half way through the transfer !

I recently came back from a short ... drinking ) ... trip to Ostende and was 'dreading' the transfer of images, BUT ... all was well this time ! ... 29 images and NO error message !

Found out I had used a new 16Mb Lexar media CF card instead of the Nikon card ... Maybe NOT the answer but I just thought I'd pass this on !

Cheers ...

Dave Jones
Sec-RAT-ary
Real Ale Tasting Society - [R.A.T.S.]
Llantrisant - Mid Glamorgan - S. Wales - UK