Camera locking up and i can't figure out why

[w. coyote]

in the middle of a shoot, between shots without making changes to setting, my D200 will lock up. a half minute to a few minutes later it will start working again as if nothing happened. nothing i do seems to make any difference to fix it when it's down (turning it off/on, taking out the battery...).

it doesn't seem to be something i'm doing. i've got a huge fast CF card, battery is fully charged, i'm not shooting fast, the cameras buffer definitely isn't overloaded, i'm not changing lenses, i'n not using any other accessories with it. all i'm using is the D200 & 18-200VR.

any one else had this problem???

additionally, my buddy uses a D70 and is also having lock-up problems. here's how he descibes his:

"The Nikon D-70 stalling has continued. It's a bit more frequent,
occurring at least once during a shooting session. My camera is down for
30 seconds (seems like an eternity) before it comes back to life, with
several off messages in the viewfinder and top LCD window display.
Sometimes I can get it to come back to life by turning the shooting mode
dial to Auto or to other settings (S, P, A, M) and squeezing off a shot.
Sometimes this works and sometimes it continues to be frozen up. But it
usually returns after the 20 or 30 second interval. Have you heard of a
fix for this? Seems like a software glitch. "

help!!!

 

[JeffCole]

Are you shooting at a high FPS or frames per second rate, you might be shooting fast enough to fill up the buffer and having to wait for it to clear before you continue shooting?
--
Jeff
http://www.jeffcole.smugmug.com

 

[JeffCole]

just noticed you mentioned not shooting fast........sorry. I should have looked closer.
--
Jeff
http://www.jeffcole.smugmug.com

 

[Bill Fagan]

I assume you have tried multiple memory cards. They do go bad.

 

[MarcV]

I had something similar (same?) with my D200. Turn camera on, shoot, turn camera off, turn it on again... nothing! Taking battery out doesn't change a thing. I also noticed that, when the problem occurs, the CF card LED sometimes starts flashing randomly.

There's one way I got the camera to turn on again. Set the power switch to "on" and then unlock the lens, turn it a little and then re-lock it.

I had this problem a couple of times at random moments. Sent the camera in for service but no problem was found.

I'm using a different CF card now (sandisk extreme II 2GB). I haven't had the problem anymore since (nock on wood...).

in the middle of a shoot, between shots without making changes to
setting, my D200 will lock up. a half minute to a few minutes
later it will start working again as if nothing happened. nothing i
do seems to make any difference to fix it when it's down (turning
it off/on, taking out the battery...).

it doesn't seem to be something i'm doing. i've got a huge fast CF
card, battery is fully charged, i'm not shooting fast, the cameras
buffer definitely isn't overloaded, i'm not changing lenses, i'n
not using any other accessories with it. all i'm using is the D200
& 18-200VR.

any one else had this problem???

additionally, my buddy uses a D70 and is also having lock-up
problems. here's how he descibes his:

"The Nikon D-70 stalling has continued. It's a bit more frequent,
occurring at least once during a shooting session. My camera is
down for
30 seconds (seems like an eternity) before it comes back to life, with
several off messages in the viewfinder and top LCD window display.
Sometimes I can get it to come back to life by turning the shooting
mode
dial to Auto or to other settings (S, P, A, M) and squeezing off a
shot.
Sometimes this works and sometimes it continues to be frozen up.
But it
usually returns after the 20 or 30 second interval. Have you heard
of a
fix for this? Seems like a software glitch. "

help!!!

--
Marc Vandenhende

 

[Mark53]

I assume it's not something as simple as not achieving focus in AF-S (focus piority) mode? Seems like you would have verified this.

 

[w. coyote]

thanks for these replies. they may actually help.

here's what i do know:

i have tried other focus modes and have tried taking it off Focus Priority, used Shutter-Release Priority but it still locks up.

i've even set it to manual (using the front 3-position lever to M) but it still locks up.

but

i haven't tried a different card (i only own one, a Sandisk Extreme III 2 gig that i bought new with the camera a year ago. i almost never remove it). i don't really need another card and don't know anyone to borrow one from (i live very very remotely), but do you suggest i buy another anyway?

 

[markmark]

long shot..

if you are in program mode, and the fstop ring moves from f22, the camera won't fire..

 

[Mark53]

long shot..

if you are in program mode, and the fstop ring moves from f22, the
camera won't fire..

 

[w. coyote]

good thinking, but ii'm shooting the 18-200VR that has no aperture ring so that couldn't occur.

 

[mikygee]

are you using cable release? if you are it is probably that, i had similar problem and now its time for a new release

 

[w. coyote]

nope, no cable release.

just hand-holding the D200 with 18-200VR and Extreme III CF card.
that's everything.

the more i research this (forums, ken rockwell's site, etc) the more it appears that it may be the electronic contacts between lens and body.

seems some folks have had problems with locking-up when it gets dirty, aren't aligned perfectly, using an off-brand lens, even some problems have occurred using nikon lens...

anyone have any thoughts about this???

 

[MarcV]

The problem I had (described above) could also happen WITHOUT a lens installed...

nope, no cable release.

just hand-holding the D200 with 18-200VR and Extreme III CF card.
that's everything.

the more i research this (forums, ken rockwell's site, etc) the
more it appears that it may be the electronic contacts between lens
and body.

seems some folks have had problems with locking-up when it gets
dirty, aren't aligned perfectly, using an off-brand lens, even some
problems have occurred using nikon lens...

anyone have any thoughts about this???

--
Marc Vandenhende

 

[w. coyote]

hey marc, in the last post you said it would happen even without the lens which makes my problem all that much harder to figure out.

in your previous post you also stated:

"There's one way I got the camera to turn on again. Set the power switch to "on" and then unlock the lens, turn it a little and then re-lock it."

this would seem to indicate you could have had a contact problem, yet it was the card that corrected the issue.

go figure...

 

[MarcV]

hey marc, in the last post you said it would happen even without
the lens which makes my problem all that much harder to figure out.

in your previous post you also stated:
"There's one way I got the camera to turn on again. Set the power
switch to "on" and then unlock the lens, turn it a little and then
re-lock it."
this would seem to indicate you could have had a contact problem,
yet it was the card that corrected the issue.

go figure...

True, but you don't know what the camera actually does when you unlock the lens when the power switch is on. Maybe it is reset somehow, making it come back to life. I'm just telling you my experiences.

It hasn't happened again after I started using the new card and I definitely hope it stays that way because a camera that dies without reason is very frustrating.

--
Marc Vandenhende

 

[w. coyote]

i know exactly how you felt.

i'll keep checking this thread, reading other sites and wait for it to happen again. then i'll try some of the suggestions offered.

meanwhile, i'll start saving up for another CF card.

 

[Dao Dang]

I don't know if it will help but I was shooting with 2 friends last week. They have D200 with Extreme III cards and twice during the shoot, their cameras hanged up with the green light blinking. After examining all possible causes, we concluded that it's a card problem. So we went to the camera store where they purchase the cards and the owner (who seems to be very knowledgeable) agreed that's a card's problem and exchanged them with new ones. He also told us that it's not the first time he encountered such a problem, especially with the batch of Extreme III cards he had received.
--
Dao Dang
Learning, still learning!!
http://www.pbase.com/daliakin

 

[chris3010]

My first thought in reading your post was: it's probably the CF card. Another post today by Dao said he's experienced the same problem with the Extreme III cards.

Yes, borrow another card and see if that's the problem.

Chris

thanks for these replies. they may actually help.

here's what i do know:

i have tried other focus modes and have tried taking it off Focus
Priority, used Shutter-Release Priority but it still locks up.
i've even set it to manual (using the front 3-position lever to M)
but it still locks up.

but

i haven't tried a different card (i only own one, a Sandisk Extreme
III 2 gig that i bought new with the camera a year ago. i almost
never remove it). i don't really need another card and don't know
anyone to borrow one from (i live very very remotely), but do you
suggest i buy another anyway?

 

[MarcV]

Hmmm... seems like it might become a known issue then...
...time for a firmware update!

I don't know if it will help but I was shooting with 2 friends last
week. They have D200 with Extreme III cards and twice during the
shoot, their cameras hanged up with the green light blinking. After
examining all possible causes, we concluded that it's a card
problem. So we went to the camera store where they purchase the
cards and the owner (who seems to be very knowledgeable) agreed
that's a card's problem and exchanged them with new ones. He also
told us that it's not the first time he encountered such a problem,
especially with the batch of Extreme III cards he had received.
--
Dao Dang
Learning, still learning!!
http://www.pbase.com/daliakin

--
Marc Vandenhende

 

[w. coyote]

wow!!!! this info/description may be exactly what's occurring with me.

thank you!

i will do a net search for more info and probably contact Sandisk.