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A1 USA firmware update problem with batteries

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Joel Dabrowski

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Hi Everyone,

I'm not quite in panic mode yet, but I just updated my A1's firmware from 1.01u to 1.02u (I was sure to check the version including the "u") and now the camera will not power up again. I uploaded the uncompressed application to my CF card fine, seemed to update the firmware fine as per Minolta's instructions, got confirmation it was done and to power off. I turned off the camera, and plugged the camera into my computer, in what I now gather was a premature move, and tried to turn it on to no avail.

It flashes the low battery indicator, however, I have tried switching out to a fully charged battery without success. I tested the battery's power in the A1 charger unit, and the charging status indicator turns off as soon as I plug it in, indicating to me that it's already charged. I've also tried partly charging the original battery but the camera will not start up and only flashes the low battery symbol. I've also taken out the CF card, tried the camera with another card, and without any CF card, but nothing doing.

The camera makes no noise and shows nothing when I push the power button. If I hold it down instead, it gives me the low battery light. If I press it again, it makes the usual shutdown sounds.

I'm thinking that plugging in the camera too early really borked it. I was going to delete the firmware file, but I guess I got ahead of myself.

Obviously, I'll be making a call to Minolta, but I guess if anyone has any knowledge to confirm or deny my suspicions, it would be helpful. Thanks,

Joel
http://homepage.mac.com/jdabrowski
 
Joel Dabrowski said:
Hi Everyone,

I'm not quite in panic mode yet, but I just updated my A1's
firmware from 1.01u to 1.02u
Click to expand...
Hi Joel, sorry to hear of your problems.

Out of interest, was there any specific fix you were looking for the new firmware to solve?

The most recent firmware I've been able to find on the UK Minolta site is 102e. This only seems to have a minor item in it. Your patch seems several letters later on (e-u, that's a big jump).

Colin Malsingh
-------------------
http://www.pbase.com/cmalsingh
 
They can't be mixed - it's the number sequence within the countries that are the update paths
CMalsingh said:
Joel Dabrowski said:
Hi Everyone,

I'm not quite in panic mode yet, but I just updated my A1's
firmware from 1.01u to 1.02u
Click to expand...
Hi Joel, sorry to hear of your problems.

Out of interest, was there any specific fix you were looking for
the new firmware to solve?

The most recent firmware I've been able to find on the UK Minolta
site is 102e. This only seems to have a minor item in it. Your
patch seems several letters later on (e-u, that's a big jump).

Colin Malsingh
-------------------
http://www.pbase.com/cmalsingh
Click to expand...
--
I'm adding stuff to http://cd.fotopic.net

There's various image trails at http://cd.home.infionline.net/ - not all digital..
 
If you 'got confirmation it was done ' - it should have been done.. I believe the message is 'sucessfully blah blah 1.01.1'

Then when you check the version it should be 1.02u...
Joel Dabrowski said:
Hi Everyone,

I'm not quite in panic mode yet, but I just updated my A1's
firmware from 1.01u to 1.02u (I was sure to check the version
including the "u") and now the camera will not power up again. I
uploaded the uncompressed application to my CF card fine, seemed to
update the firmware fine as per Minolta's instructions, got
confirmation it was done and to power off. I turned off the
camera, and plugged the camera into my computer, in what I now
gather was a premature move, and tried to turn it on to no avail.

It flashes the low battery indicator, however, I have tried
switching out to a fully charged battery without success. I tested
the battery's power in the A1 charger unit, and the charging status
indicator turns off as soon as I plug it in, indicating to me that
it's already charged. I've also tried partly charging the
original battery but the camera will not start up and only flashes
the low battery symbol. I've also taken out the CF card, tried the
camera with another card, and without any CF card, but nothing
doing.

The camera makes no noise and shows nothing when I push the power
button. If I hold it down instead, it gives me the low battery
light. If I press it again, it makes the usual shutdown sounds.

I'm thinking that plugging in the camera too early really borked
it. I was going to delete the firmware file, but I guess I got
ahead of myself.

Obviously, I'll be making a call to Minolta, but I guess if anyone
has any knowledge to confirm or deny my suspicions, it would be
helpful. Thanks,

Joel
http://homepage.mac.com/jdabrowski
Click to expand...
--
I'm adding stuff to http://cd.fotopic.net

There's various image trails at http://cd.home.infionline.net/ - not all digital..
 
I had the problem of the freeze in high speed continuous mode. I didn't use it often, but on the few occasions I did, I figured this would be a problem-free upgrade considering that pretty much everyone else has had a painless experience with the upgrade.

The "u" is short for "USA" firmware (which is where I bought it, naturally), and can't be mixed with the other international firmware versions, i.e., "e", "j", etc. I read about the update and the issues with the international versions here, so I was careful to get the right one.

Oh well, my Dad has two cameras. I'm taking his film Canon Rebel for the holiday pictures, and he'll use his digital Kodak. Minolta Support is supposed to be available again on Saturday at the earliest from what I gather at their web site. I tried calling their HQ and US service facility, but no one's home. Can't blame them really.
CMalsingh said:
Joel Dabrowski said:
Hi Everyone,

I'm not quite in panic mode yet, but I just updated my A1's
firmware from 1.01u to 1.02u
Click to expand...
Hi Joel, sorry to hear of your problems.

Out of interest, was there any specific fix you were looking for
the new firmware to solve?

The most recent firmware I've been able to find on the UK Minolta
site is 102e. This only seems to have a minor item in it. Your
patch seems several letters later on (e-u, that's a big jump).

Colin Malsingh
-------------------
http://www.pbase.com/cmalsingh
Click to expand...
 
What I did was, I ran the upgrade -- no problem, the screen said:

Updating completed.
Version 01.02u
Turn camera off.

I turned the camera off as it said, then I plugged in the USB cable between it and my iMac (the next step was for me to delete the upgrade application from the CF card). I turned the camera back on, or rather I tried, and nothing happened. I went back and looked at Minolta's instructions:

http://www.minoltausa.com/eprise/main/MinoltaUSA/MUSAContent/CPG/CPG_Attachments/DiMAGE_A1_Instructions

Their instructions say that I should have removed the CF card and then turned it back on. So really, it sounds like it's not the battery that's at fault, merely that's the consequence of my actions. It sounds like I FUBARed my A1 by leaving the CF card with the upgrade application in the camera and turning it on again. somehow the result of this is that the camera won't turn on, with or without that card inserted. So in the end, I didn't follow the directions, but I hope it's still under warranty.

I don't mean to complain. This actually helped me sort out the events leading up to the problem. Hopefully, I can get the camera repaired quickly. For anyone reading this thinking about an A1, I should point out that this is a very exceptional case, and I've been very happy with my A1 the whole time. The freezing problem this firmware fixes is

a rare circumstance too. So the chances of this problem being repeated with anyone else is very slim.
CalvinRosson said:
Then when you check the version it should be 1.02u...
Joel Dabrowski said:
Hi Everyone,

I'm not quite in panic mode yet, but I just updated my A1's
firmware from 1.01u to 1.02u (I was sure to check the version
including the "u") and now the camera will not power up again. I
uploaded the uncompressed application to my CF card fine, seemed to
update the firmware fine as per Minolta's instructions, got
confirmation it was done and to power off. I turned off the
camera, and plugged the camera into my computer, in what I now
gather was a premature move, and tried to turn it on to no avail.

It flashes the low battery indicator, however, I have tried
switching out to a fully charged battery without success. I tested
the battery's power in the A1 charger unit, and the charging status
indicator turns off as soon as I plug it in, indicating to me that
it's already charged. I've also tried partly charging the
original battery but the camera will not start up and only flashes
the low battery symbol. I've also taken out the CF card, tried the
camera with another card, and without any CF card, but nothing
doing.

The camera makes no noise and shows nothing when I push the power
button. If I hold it down instead, it gives me the low battery
light. If I press it again, it makes the usual shutdown sounds.

I'm thinking that plugging in the camera too early really borked
it. I was going to delete the firmware file, but I guess I got
ahead of myself.

Obviously, I'll be making a call to Minolta, but I guess if anyone
has any knowledge to confirm or deny my suspicions, it would be
helpful. Thanks,

Joel
http://homepage.mac.com/jdabrowski
Click to expand...
--
I'm adding stuff to http://cd.fotopic.net
There's various image trails at http://cd.home.infionline.net/ -
not all digital..
Click to expand...
 
Did you take it out of 'play' mode before turning it back on?

I really don't know what you did wrong - I deleted the update file right out of the camera mounted CF card - like you tried to do

Calvin
Joel Dabrowski said:
Updating completed.
Version 01.02u
Turn camera off.

I turned the camera off as it said, then I plugged in the USB cable
between it and my iMac (the next step was for me to delete the
upgrade application from the CF card). I turned the camera back
on, or rather I tried, and nothing happened. I went back and
looked at Minolta's instructions:

http://www.minoltausa.com/eprise/main/MinoltaUSA/MUSAContent/CPG/CPG_Attachments/DiMAGE_A1_Instructions

Their instructions say that I should have removed the CF card and
then turned it back on. So really, it sounds like it's not the
battery that's at fault, merely that's the consequence of my
actions. It sounds like I FUBARed my A1 by leaving the CF card
with the upgrade application in the camera and turning it on again.
somehow the result of this is that the camera won't turn on, with
or without that card inserted. So in the end, I didn't follow the
directions, but I hope it's still under warranty.

I don't mean to complain. This actually helped me sort out the
events leading up to the problem. Hopefully, I can get the camera
repaired quickly. For anyone reading this thinking about an A1, I
should point out that this is a very exceptional case, and I've
been very happy with my A1 the whole time. The freezing problem
this firmware fixes is
a rare circumstance too. So the chances of this problem being
repeated with anyone else is very slim.
CalvinRosson said:
Then when you check the version it should be 1.02u...
Joel Dabrowski said:
Hi Everyone,

I'm not quite in panic mode yet, but I just updated my A1's
firmware from 1.01u to 1.02u (I was sure to check the version
including the "u") and now the camera will not power up again. I
uploaded the uncompressed application to my CF card fine, seemed to
update the firmware fine as per Minolta's instructions, got
confirmation it was done and to power off. I turned off the
camera, and plugged the camera into my computer, in what I now
gather was a premature move, and tried to turn it on to no avail.

It flashes the low battery indicator, however, I have tried
switching out to a fully charged battery without success. I tested
the battery's power in the A1 charger unit, and the charging status
indicator turns off as soon as I plug it in, indicating to me that
it's already charged. I've also tried partly charging the
original battery but the camera will not start up and only flashes
the low battery symbol. I've also taken out the CF card, tried the
camera with another card, and without any CF card, but nothing
doing.

The camera makes no noise and shows nothing when I push the power
button. If I hold it down instead, it gives me the low battery
light. If I press it again, it makes the usual shutdown sounds.

I'm thinking that plugging in the camera too early really borked
it. I was going to delete the firmware file, but I guess I got
ahead of myself.

Obviously, I'll be making a call to Minolta, but I guess if anyone
has any knowledge to confirm or deny my suspicions, it would be
helpful. Thanks,

Joel
http://homepage.mac.com/jdabrowski
Click to expand...
--
I'm adding stuff to http://cd.fotopic.net
There's various image trails at http://cd.home.infionline.net/ -
not all digital..
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
I'm adding stuff to http://cd.fotopic.net

There's various image trails at http://cd.home.infionline.net/ - not all digital..
 
To All You Guys,

Seems very weird that the sequence I took resulted in this problem. I didn't change from playback mode before I turned it off, I'm sure of that. I believe that I did to turn it back on, but now I'm not so sure. Once it didn't turn on, I fiddled any number of different things, including changing the mode to record, both movie and still pics. I can't remember the exact order at this point (several hours later).

I thought about reinstalling the firmware on the camera but since I can't power up (no AC adapter either), I don't think I can even begin the process. I'm deleting the file from the CF card from my (new as of this afternoon :-) ) CF reader, trying it without the app, then reloading it onto the card again and seeing if it will help anyway.

OK, the reset button.

I just assume this thing has one like any other piece of equipment, but where the heck is it? The only references to "reset" in the instruction manual are for menu options, and I've scoured the A1 for a pinhole or a button, even behind the doors and covers. Is there a button combo, a pinhole somewhere that I'm missing?

Again, thank you all for your help. Even if we don't solve the problem here, it will help if I have to go to Minolta and explain the situation.

Sincerely,

Joel
tlinn said:
Brice Glende said:
Maybe if you reinstalled the firmware it would fix itself..

--
Brice
http://www.photo.net/shared/community-member?user_id=442427
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
What you did on upgrade was right but after that pluging the USB to Mac with the CF still inside and A1 in playback mode caused the problem. The camera did not know what to do, read from CF or acknowledge to USB. Send your camera back to Minolta.
Joel Dabrowski said:
Seems very weird that the sequence I took resulted in this problem.
I didn't change from playback mode before I turned it off, I'm sure
of that. I believe that I did to turn it back on, but now I'm not
so sure. Once it didn't turn on, I fiddled any number of
different things, including changing the mode to record, both movie
and still pics. I can't remember the exact order at this point
(several hours later).

I thought about reinstalling the firmware on the camera but since I
can't power up (no AC adapter either), I don't think I can even
begin the process. I'm deleting the file from the CF card from my
(new as of this afternoon :-) ) CF reader, trying it without the
app, then reloading it onto the card again and seeing if it will
help anyway.

OK, the reset button.

I just assume this thing has one like any other piece of equipment,
but where the heck is it? The only references to "reset" in the
instruction manual are for menu options, and I've scoured the A1
for a pinhole or a button, even behind the doors and covers. Is
there a button combo, a pinhole somewhere that I'm missing?

Again, thank you all for your help. Even if we don't solve the
problem here, it will help if I have to go to Minolta and explain
the situation.

Sincerely,

Joel
tlinn said:
Brice Glende said:
Maybe if you reinstalled the firmware it would fix itself..

--
Brice
http://www.photo.net/shared/community-member?user_id=442427
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Looka said:
Joel Dabrowski said:
Seems very weird that the sequence I took resulted in this problem.
I didn't change from playback mode before I turned it off, I'm sure
of that. I believe that I did to turn it back on, but now I'm not
so sure. Once it didn't turn on, I fiddled any number of
different things, including changing the mode to record, both movie
and still pics. I can't remember the exact order at this point
(several hours later).

I thought about reinstalling the firmware on the camera but since I
can't power up (no AC adapter either), I don't think I can even
begin the process. I'm deleting the file from the CF card from my
(new as of this afternoon :-) ) CF reader, trying it without the
app, then reloading it onto the card again and seeing if it will
help anyway.

OK, the reset button.

I just assume this thing has one like any other piece of equipment,
but where the heck is it? The only references to "reset" in the
instruction manual are for menu options, and I've scoured the A1
for a pinhole or a button, even behind the doors and covers. Is
there a button combo, a pinhole somewhere that I'm missing?

Again, thank you all for your help. Even if we don't solve the
problem here, it will help if I have to go to Minolta and explain
the situation.

Sincerely,

Joel
tlinn said:
Brice Glende said:
Maybe if you reinstalled the firmware it would fix itself..

--
Brice
http://www.photo.net/shared/community-member?user_id=442427
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Joel,

it sounds to me like you did nothing wrong. So it's probably something wrong with the internal flash memory (where new firmware has been loaded).

The only idea I have is: try to clean the battery contacts and power contacts inside minolta.

--
Vlad
 
Joel, Not sure this is pertinent as you cannot power up the camera, but to reset the camera push the Function and QV button together. Regards, Jim
Joel Dabrowski said:
Seems very weird that the sequence I took resulted in this problem.
I didn't change from playback mode before I turned it off, I'm sure
of that. I believe that I did to turn it back on, but now I'm not
so sure. Once it didn't turn on, I fiddled any number of
different things, including changing the mode to record, both movie
and still pics. I can't remember the exact order at this point
(several hours later).

I thought about reinstalling the firmware on the camera but since I
can't power up (no AC adapter either), I don't think I can even
begin the process. I'm deleting the file from the CF card from my
(new as of this afternoon :-) ) CF reader, trying it without the
app, then reloading it onto the card again and seeing if it will
help anyway.

OK, the reset button.

I just assume this thing has one like any other piece of equipment,
but where the heck is it? The only references to "reset" in the
instruction manual are for menu options, and I've scoured the A1
for a pinhole or a button, even behind the doors and covers. Is
there a button combo, a pinhole somewhere that I'm missing?

Again, thank you all for your help. Even if we don't solve the
problem here, it will help if I have to go to Minolta and explain
the situation.

Sincerely,

Joel
tlinn said:
Brice Glende said:
Maybe if you reinstalled the firmware it would fix itself..

--
Brice
http://www.photo.net/shared/community-member?user_id=442427
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
Jim N'AZ
 
Jim N'AZ said:
Joel Dabrowski said:
Seems very weird that the sequence I took resulted in this problem.
I didn't change from playback mode before I turned it off, I'm sure
of that. I believe that I did to turn it back on, but now I'm not
so sure. Once it didn't turn on, I fiddled any number of
different things, including changing the mode to record, both movie
and still pics. I can't remember the exact order at this point
(several hours later).

I thought about reinstalling the firmware on the camera but since I
can't power up (no AC adapter either), I don't think I can even
begin the process. I'm deleting the file from the CF card from my
(new as of this afternoon :-) ) CF reader, trying it without the
app, then reloading it onto the card again and seeing if it will
help anyway.

OK, the reset button.

I just assume this thing has one like any other piece of equipment,
but where the heck is it? The only references to "reset" in the
instruction manual are for menu options, and I've scoured the A1
for a pinhole or a button, even behind the doors and covers. Is
there a button combo, a pinhole somewhere that I'm missing?

Again, thank you all for your help. Even if we don't solve the
problem here, it will help if I have to go to Minolta and explain
the situation.

Sincerely,

Joel
tlinn said:
Brice Glende said:
Maybe if you reinstalled the firmware it would fix itself..

--
Brice
http://www.photo.net/shared/community-member?user_id=442427
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
Jim N'AZ
Click to expand...
 
The poster "Looka" above made a good observation. While I'm used to reading from the CF card to the computer via USB, in this scenario, it was probably trying to read from the computer via USB as well as from the CF card at the same time. Sounds like a good theory at the very least and is probably correct.

But I did try to clean the contacts on the batteries and in the A1 with Q-tips and checked all my connections, including for the CF card, the USB cable, my computer's ports and the A1's USB port. Now that I have a card reader as of this afternoon, I also checked the integrity of the cards. I did not attempt to use another AC adapter on the A1 since the chance of really borking the thing in a serious fire hazard sort of way was to great a risk.

The only other possible scenario that I can figure is that something really is wrong with the batteries; they really don't have a charge, and it just happened to coincide with this upgrade, as small a coincidence as it would seem.

Thanks for the help!
vladm said:
Joel,

it sounds to me like you did nothing wrong. So it's probably
something wrong with the internal flash memory (where new firmware
has been loaded).

The only idea I have is: try to clean the battery contacts and
power contacts inside minolta.

--
Vlad
Click to expand...
 
always a bummer when things go wrong. Minolta should bear this under warranty; after all, its thier latent faults that are being corrected - keep us updated, joel
Joel Dabrowski said:
But I did try to clean the contacts on the batteries and in the A1
with Q-tips and checked all my connections, including for the CF
card, the USB cable, my computer's ports and the A1's USB port.
Now that I have a card reader as of this afternoon, I also checked
the integrity of the cards. I did not attempt to use another AC
adapter on the A1 since the chance of really borking the thing in a
serious fire hazard sort of way was to great a risk.

The only other possible scenario that I can figure is that
something really is wrong with the batteries; they really don't
have a charge, and it just happened to coincide with this upgrade,
as small a coincidence as it would seem.

Thanks for the help!
vladm said:
Joel,

it sounds to me like you did nothing wrong. So it's probably
something wrong with the internal flash memory (where new firmware
has been loaded).

The only idea I have is: try to clean the battery contacts and
power contacts inside minolta.

--
Vlad
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Joel Dabrowski said:
Hi Everyone,

I'm not quite in panic mode yet, but I just updated my A1's
firmware from 1.01u to 1.02u (I was sure to check the version
including the "u") and now the camera will not power up again. I
uploaded the uncompressed application to my CF card fine, seemed to
update the firmware fine as per Minolta's instructions, got
confirmation it was done and to power off. I turned off the
camera, and plugged the camera into my computer, in what I now
gather was a premature move, and tried to turn it on to no avail.

It flashes the low battery indicator, however, I have tried
switching out to a fully charged battery without success. I tested
the battery's power in the A1 charger unit, and the charging status
indicator turns off as soon as I plug it in, indicating to me that
it's already charged. I've also tried partly charging the
original battery but the camera will not start up and only flashes
the low battery symbol. I've also taken out the CF card, tried the
camera with another card, and without any CF card, but nothing
doing.

The camera makes no noise and shows nothing when I push the power
button. If I hold it down instead, it gives me the low battery
light. If I press it again, it makes the usual shutdown sounds.

I'm thinking that plugging in the camera too early really borked
it. I was going to delete the firmware file, but I guess I got
ahead of myself.

Obviously, I'll be making a call to Minolta, but I guess if anyone
has any knowledge to confirm or deny my suspicions, it would be
helpful. Thanks,

Joel
http://homepage.mac.com/jdabrowski
Click to expand...
I had a similar problem after upgrading my D7's firmware.

I left the CF with the upgrade in the camera. The camera went into sleep mode, and when I tapped the shutter release to wake the camera up, it went into a firmware update mode and locked up.

After the initial moment of panic, I reinstalled the firmware, and everything was fine.
Good luck,

Jeff
 
Hi

great :( I have the exactly same problem here. And it looks like I did the same thing wrong as Joel. The "update successfull" screen appeared as well, but now, the camera doesn't "boot" again. Just the flashing battery indicator.

Will call Minolta tomorrow...

chregu
Joel Dabrowski said:
Hi Everyone,

I'm not quite in panic mode yet, but I just updated my A1's
firmware from 1.01u to 1.02u (I was sure to check the version
including the "u") and now the camera will not power up again. I
uploaded the uncompressed application to my CF card fine, seemed to
update the firmware fine as per Minolta's instructions, got
confirmation it was done and to power off. I turned off the
camera, and plugged the camera into my computer, in what I now
gather was a premature move, and tried to turn it on to no avail.

It flashes the low battery indicator, however, I have tried
switching out to a fully charged battery without success. I tested
the battery's power in the A1 charger unit, and the charging status
indicator turns off as soon as I plug it in, indicating to me that
it's already charged. I've also tried partly charging the
original battery but the camera will not start up and only flashes
the low battery symbol. I've also taken out the CF card, tried the
camera with another card, and without any CF card, but nothing
doing.

The camera makes no noise and shows nothing when I push the power
button. If I hold it down instead, it gives me the low battery
light. If I press it again, it makes the usual shutdown sounds.

I'm thinking that plugging in the camera too early really borked
it. I was going to delete the firmware file, but I guess I got
ahead of myself.

Obviously, I'll be making a call to Minolta, but I guess if anyone
has any knowledge to confirm or deny my suspicions, it would be
helpful. Thanks,

Joel
http://homepage.mac.com/jdabrowski
Click to expand...
 
Joel, Christian...

maybe it'll make you feel better to know that you're not alone. Sign me up for the club of frustrated firmware-update-FUBAR-victims.

I have exactly the same problem. Successful update confirmation and dead camera exept for the lens doing a half second focussing noise and the battery indicator blinking in an evil, mocking way. I, too, have ruined my eyesight searching for a non existing reset pinhole.

Please ... whoever gets any response or pointers first, let the rest of us know as soon as possible. Good luck in the meantime.
 
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