A1- Err on display

Hello All,

When I take some pictures, I suddenly get "Err" and the camera does not respond until I hold the power button down and power back up. The picture is captured.

There was one instance when even the power button did not help. I had to remove the battery and plug it back for the camera to come back.

Any one has seen this?

Thanks,
A1newbie

According to the A1's manual (page 158), if you see "Err" on the display and the camera stops working, it means it has got too hot. The manual says that the camera should be left to cool down and if that fails to fix the problem then the battery should be re-seated (ie taken out and put back in again).

I wonder what could be causing your camera to get too hot? Do you use it in a warm environment or leave it in a hot place (eg in a car on a warm day) before taking it out and using it? The manual will also give you info on the temperatures within which the camera will operate.

If there is no obvious reason for the camera to overheat, then I would be tempted to check with Minolta Tech Support as the A1 could be faulty.

Hope that helps, good luck with solving the problem.
niamh.

A1newbie said:

Hello All,

When I take some pictures, I suddenly get "Err" and the camera does
not respond until I hold the power button down and power back up.
The picture is captured.

There was one instance when even the power button did not help. I
had to remove the battery and plug it back for the camera to come
back.

Any one has seen this?

Thanks,
A1newbie

Click to expand...

A1newbie's title is more descriptive, and the problem may not just be firmware version 1.02u, so let's agree to continue the discussion in this thread, and here's the link to the thread I started, which we can now close.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1024&message=7220392

A1newbie said:

Hello All,

When I take some pictures, I suddenly get "Err" and the camera does
not respond until I hold the power button down and power back up.
The picture is captured.

There was one instance when even the power button did not help. I
had to remove the battery and plug it back for the camera to come
back.

Any one has seen this?

Thanks,
A1newbie

Click to expand...

Thanks. I forgot to even check the manual! Well, my camera did it on the first shot from a cold start, and on another occasion, while I was shooting outside at -16C, so I'm thinking if temperature is the only thing that causes "err" to be displayed, then I've got a bad thermistor in mine.

niamh said:

I wonder what could be causing your camera to get too hot? Do you
use it in a warm environment or leave it in a hot place (eg in a
car on a warm day) before taking it out and using it? The manual
will also give you info on the temperatures within which the camera
will operate.

If there is no obvious reason for the camera to overheat, then I
would be tempted to check with Minolta Tech Support as the A1 could
be faulty.

Hope that helps, good luck with solving the problem.
niamh.

A1newbie said:

Hello All,

When I take some pictures, I suddenly get "Err" and the camera does
not respond until I hold the power button down and power back up.
The picture is captured.

There was one instance when even the power button did not help. I
had to remove the battery and plug it back for the camera to come
back.

Any one has seen this?

Thanks,
A1newbie

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

It doesn't specifically say so in the manual, but I wonder if excessively cold temperatures would cause the same error message?

Reason being, the manual (p163) advises camera has been designed for use in temperatures ranging from 0 - 40 degrees C, 32 - 104 degrees F.
Perhaps shooting at -16C adversely affected the battery.

Have either of you had this problem when shooting at room temperature (assuming you have not just gone in to the room very shortly before from a very hot/cold place)?

howard1 said:

niamh said:

I wonder what could be causing your camera to get too hot? Do you
use it in a warm environment or leave it in a hot place (eg in a
car on a warm day) before taking it out and using it? The manual
will also give you info on the temperatures within which the camera
will operate.

If there is no obvious reason for the camera to overheat, then I
would be tempted to check with Minolta Tech Support as the A1 could
be faulty.

Hope that helps, good luck with solving the problem.
niamh.

A1newbie said:

Hello All,

When I take some pictures, I suddenly get "Err" and the camera does
not respond until I hold the power button down and power back up.
The picture is captured.

There was one instance when even the power button did not help. I
had to remove the battery and plug it back for the camera to come
back.

Any one has seen this?

Thanks,
A1newbie

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I exchanged the camera last night for another one; no hassle. The new one has a more recent serial number, which some folklore suggests is better to have. It already had firmware 1.02u loaded. No problems so far.

howard1 said:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1024&message=7220392

A1newbie said:

Hello All,

When I take some pictures, I suddenly get "Err" and the camera does
not respond until I hold the power button down and power back up.
The picture is captured.

There was one instance when even the power button did not help. I
had to remove the battery and plug it back for the camera to come
back.

Any one has seen this?

Thanks,
A1newbie

Click to expand...

Click to expand...