Dimage 7 - CF problem and firmware upgrade problem

[minoltaa1]

I realize this camera is ancient but appreciate any help. I just got a Dimage 7 (not 7i or 7Hi). I first tried a 128MB CF but got an error "unable to use card". Tried another 256MB, same error. Also could not use the camera to format cards. Both cards were fine with A2, A200, D5. I read online this maybe a format issue, so I formatted both CF cards as FAT with a computer, but still got the error. I tried a 16MB CF and it worked fine.

I assumed it may be Dimage 7 having an older firmware (version A1v121u.A201), so larger CF cards would not work without firmware upgrade. Unfortunately the KM USA support site is gone. KM Europe site has a newer firmware ( version A1v122e, v123e). I followed the upgrade instruction and tried multiple times, but the firmware would not upgrade.

Any idea where I can find the newer US version firmware or get the 128/256MB CF cards to work? Thanks

 

[neilt3]

You've formatted the card on a PC , which can sometimes cause issues .

But with this card , now put it in one of your other Minolta cameras and format it again . Take a few pictures on it to test .

Now put it in your Dimage 7 and format it again and see what happens .

If it still doesn't work then it's a compatibility issue , or a fault with the camera .

I've all the Dimage 7 and A range of cameras and they all work fine ( apart from the A1 who have faulty sensors ) regardless of card in them .

As noted , the older ones can't use bigger cards .

--
https://www.flickr.com/photos/neilt3/sets

 

[steven5000]

I realize this camera is ancient but appreciate any help. I just got a Dimage 7 (not 7i or 7Hi). I first tried a 128MB CF but got an error "unable to use card". Tried another 256MB, same error. Also could not use the camera to format cards. Both cards were fine with A2, A200, D5. I read online this maybe a format issue, so I formatted both CF cards as FAT with a computer, but still got the error. I tried a 16MB CF and it worked fine.

I assumed it may be Dimage 7 having an older firmware (version A1v121u.A201), so larger CF cards would not work without firmware upgrade. Unfortunately the KM USA support site is gone. KM Europe site has a newer firmware ( version A1v122e, v123e). I followed the upgrade instruction and tried multiple times, but the firmware would not upgrade.

Any idea where I can find the newer US version firmware or get the 128/256MB CF cards to work? Thanks

You can download firmware from this website.

Minolta DiMAGE 7 Camera Firmwares : Minolta : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

This is a collection of different firmwares for the Minolta DiMAGE 7 digital camera.Versions:0.21j1.02e1.12e1.23e/j/u2.00e/u2.01e/j(e - Europe / j - Japan / u...

archive.org

Last month I bought the transcend-133x's 2GB CF card for my old D7i. It works very well now. D7i requires the cf with an mbr partition. Therefore you need diskgenius or other tools to convert the cf to mbr and format it to the FAT file system. D7 and D7i are very similar, I think my old D7i can be used with 2gb cards, maybe d7 can do the same. good luck.

 

[SQLGuy]

Have you taken a close look at the CF slot, in case there are any damaged pins?

I would expect even the older cameras to be able to use up to 2GB CF... and probably just ignore any larger storage space that's available.

 

[minoltaa1]

Thank you to @neit3, steven5000 and SQLGuy for responding. The Internet Archive link steven500 provided was great. I was able to download the 2.0v firmware and upgraded Dimage7. The EVF seems much better after firmware upgrade now. However the firmware upgrade did not solve the error.

I was finally able to solve the "unable to use card" error, but not with another Minolta camera, but with a Nikon. Hope the following will help others. The problems were with a 128 PNY CF and 256 Sandisk CF. I had originally formatted the 2 CFs with a Windows 11 computer but did not solve the error. I then tried reformatting with an old Windows XP...the 256 Sandisk then worked with Dimage 7, but 128 PNY still not. Not sure if Windows XP vs 11 was the difference, or just a coincidence.

Then tried the 128 PNY with Minolta A1, A2, A200. All had the same error. Just when I was about to give up, I saw my old Nikon E8700 lying around, so I popped the 128 PNY in and the E8700 was able to read it. I was able reformat the CF with the E8700. Once reformatted, the 128 PNY then worked fine with Dimage 7.

Again thank you everyone.

 

[Hike Pics]

Glad you were able to get all that sorted out, albeit having to through hoops to get there. Those older cameras and CF cards could get fussy sometimes.

This past week I put a 256mb SD card in an old camera I recently picked up. I formatted the card in the camera and took several shots. All seemed well enough. I took the card out and tried to read it in my Linux machine. Nothing. I tried my Win 10 laptop, nothing. I remembered there was a USB cable in with the camera so I tried using it. It worked perfectly! I have no idea why the camera could see the card but nothing else could. I put a different card in the camera, formatted it, and the camera and computers can all see it. Just weird!!