ERR Message on D90.....

[Hawkintx]

I can be added to the list of people getting the ERR message on their D90. Has there been anything more published on this? I've read all the messages talking about lens contacts and memory cards. After the first ERR and reading some forums I tried to create the ERR by gently jiggling the lens but nothing happens. It seems to be completely random.

My first ERR message didn't show up until after 1000 clicks on the shutter, but has now shown up 3 times. I called Nikon and they suggested the reset via holding down the two buttons with green dots next to them. I haven't received the ERR since then (this was only yesterday), but I have had the camera suddenly jump out of video mode twice today for no reason (I don't use video often, but still seemed weird). I also experienced the crazy F readings like F90 prior to the ERR.

Should I just send this unit back for an exchange or are they all like this? The Nikon rep said it is just like a computer getting an error message and not to worry about it. I used the D50 for three years and never got an ERR message so I'm a little concerned. Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks,

JB

 

[Hawkintx]

Just checking to see if anyone else is struggling with this.

Thanks and Merry Christmas.

I can be added to the list of people getting the ERR message on their
D90. Has there been anything more published on this? I've read all
the messages talking about lens contacts and memory cards. After the
first ERR and reading some forums I tried to create the ERR by gently
jiggling the lens but nothing happens. It seems to be completely
random.

My first ERR message didn't show up until after 1000 clicks on the
shutter, but has now shown up 3 times. I called Nikon and they
suggested the reset via holding down the two buttons with green dots
next to them. I haven't received the ERR since then (this was only
yesterday), but I have had the camera suddenly jump out of video mode
twice today for no reason (I don't use video often, but still seemed
weird). I also experienced the crazy F readings like F90 prior to
the ERR.

Should I just send this unit back for an exchange or are they all
like this? The Nikon rep said it is just like a computer getting an
error message and not to worry about it. I used the D50 for three
years and never got an ERR message so I'm a little concerned. Any
input would be appreciated.

Thanks,

JB

--
JB

 

[garyking]

Until someone with a D90 chimes in let me ask:
1) does it happen with one particular lens; and
2) Have tried other memory cards?
gk
--
'I'm not as smart today as I will be tomorrow.'

 

[Hawkintx]

So far I think it has only happened with the 18-105VR. I've not tried switching out the lens, but I did clean all the contacts on the lens and camera. I still received the error after cleaning them with that same lens.

I have not tried any other memory cards. I think I went to the 18-105VR and a new memory card about the same time, so it could be either. I'll try a different memory card and see if that resolves the problem. I may not understand memory cards enough to know why it would be an intermittant problem and not constant if it is the card.

Thanks for your input and suggestions.

JB

Until someone with a D90 chimes in let me ask:
1) does it happen with one particular lens; and
2) Have tried other memory cards?
gk
--
'I'm not as smart today as I will be tomorrow.'

--
JB

 

[RomeoD]

You should exchange it.

I've had the d90 since Sept now and have taken a little over 4500 shots but have never had an error message. I have taken pics in freezing weather and have done bursts. I have 4 different lenses including the kit and have not experienced anything like you have mentioned.

Good luck

--
RomeoD

http://www.flickr.com/rcdizon

 

[milt95033]

You don't say what kind of ERR msg you get (there are several listed in the manual). Is it the CHA msg you are getting? If it is this msg, did you see this thread:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1034&message=30189860

--Milt--
--
My site: http://milton.barber.name

 

[Will S.]

I think that Nikon rep was ill-advised. Why would it be a "normal" thing to get that ERR message? Something is wrong. That's what error messages are telling us.

I have had the CHA error message show up, and from what I am reading on these forums, lots of others are getting that error too. That one seems to be something to do with the camera not being able to write to the card, but it is not necessarily a "card problem". Could be internal problem in the camera body, as I understand.

I would probably exchange the camera/lens pair for another one, since neither you or Nikon can determine the cause.

--
Will
WSSA member #96
Indian River, De

 

[Hawkintx]

I appreciate the advice. The dealer I purchased from said they are willing to exchange it for me even though it has been about a month since purchase. I'm very tempted just to exchange it, but want to make sure it's not something like a card. From further reading it sounds like it may have something to do with the Sandisk brand of cards, which is what I had switched to. I'll see how my other card works out for a few days.

Thanks again,

JB

You should exchange it.

I've had the d90 since Sept now and have taken a little over 4500
shots but have never had an error message. I have taken pics in
freezing weather and have done bursts. I have 4 different lenses
including the kit and have not experienced anything like you have
mentioned.

Good luck

--
RomeoD

http://www.flickr.com/rcdizon

--
JB

 

[Hawkintx]

Yes, it is the CHA message, at least the first time it was. I honestly don't remember if it has been teh same each time. I've tried swapping cards and will see how that works. The threads seem to point to a Sandisk card issue, I'm wondering if there are any out there using the D90 with Sandisk that aren't having issues. Also, should I assume the majority of D90 users aren't having any issues at all?

Thanks!

JB

You don't say what kind of ERR msg you get (there are several listed
in the manual). Is it the CHA msg you are getting? If it is this
msg, did you see this thread:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1034&message=30189860

--Milt--
--
My site: http://milton.barber.name

--
JB

 

[Hawkintx]

Thanks for the tip, have you exchanged your D90? I'm leaning towards exchanging, but if it's just a bad card I'd rather not go through the shipping back and forth.

I think that Nikon rep was ill-advised. Why would it be a "normal"
thing to get that ERR message? Something is wrong. That's what error
messages are telling us.

I have had the CHA error message show up, and from what I am reading
on these forums, lots of others are getting that error too. That one
seems to be something to do with the camera not being able to write
to the card, but it is not necessarily a "card problem". Could be
internal problem in the camera body, as I understand.

I would probably exchange the camera/lens pair for another one, since
neither you or Nikon can determine the cause.

--
Will
WSSA member #96
Indian River, De

--
JB

 

[spbStan]

--

I got the error pretty consistently 1 month after getting my D90, usually when first turned on. It was pretty obvious what it was, a slight rotation or the 18-105VR lens cleared it immediately. It never happened with my 50mm or 70-200VR f/2.8

I simply removed the lens and applied a very thin coating of D-5 De-Oxit deoxdizing chemical to the lens spring loaded contacts. D-5 is available at any electronics supply store or some hi-fi stores.

Exposed contacts are likely to pick up dirt or a layer of oxidation after contact with atmospheric oxygen.

DO NOT us contact "cleaner" or DW-40, common substitutes used for oxidation that will in fact make any switch or contact much worse and eventually ruin the device. The chemicals sold as contact cleaners like the Radio Shack contact cleaner are fine for cleaning oils and grease from small parts but do nothing to breakup the very thin layer of oxidation that forms anytime metals are exposed to air. Normally a few molecules of surface metals will combine with the oxygen to form an oxide of that metal which is an insulator that does not conduct electron flow. The layer of oxide is normal and in normal thickness of 2-6 molecules is easily jumped over by normal voltages used in electronic devices. The oxide layer actually is desired to prevent further, deeper oxidation that would require higher voltages to overcome the barrier. Some metals resist oxide formation, such as the gold contacts on the D90-lens contacts. But gold is not used in pure form, but an alloy that has other metals that give it hardness also makes it subject to oxidation just like other metals. Some metals depend on oxide for protection because their surface is so reactive, such as copper and aluminium that they are intentionally oxidizes when formed.

The problem with normal contact cleaners is that they are overly dry, cleaning exposes the metal to rapid and deeper oxidation. It will work sometimes but after a few minutes the problem with contacts will be worse than ever or permanent.

That is why a special deoxidizing chemical has oxide removing properties but also a wetting agent that covers and adheres to the metal surface that prevents any direct oxygen penetration and oxide build up.

It comes in a liquid or spray form. If spray is what you find, do not spray the D-5 chemical onto any part of your camera or lens. Spray a little in the plastic cap for the can and wet a Q-tip and use that to paint a very thing layer of the D-5 on the contacts of the lens and camera. It can be used immediately afterwards.

The contact problem is NOT a D90 or Nikon problem, it is normal for contacts to sometimes build up resistance to the flow of electricity after exposure to dirt or oxygen. If you ever hear a scratchy sound coming from speakers when a volume or tone control rotated on a stereo, you are hearing this same effect and a tiny amount of D-r or other deoxident will take care of the problem immediately.

Exchanging the camera might not take care of it if the oxide is on the lens....or simply rocking the contacts back and forth a couple times when mounting the lens or removing the lens once in a while and reinstalling it will self clean the contacts to make it go away for a month or two. It went away on mine after I bought other lenses and occasionally mounted those, although 80% of the time I have the general purpose kit lens mounted.

 

[truenoob]

I just started getting this error when taking pictures of the family for xmas eve. A real bummer cause it seems to happen in the process of writing the image to the card and I don't get the image it err's on. Sometimes I can have the people pose again, but many times you can't recreate what you are trying to take.

I 've had the D90 for almost 2 months now, but have not taken many pictures with it. I am using the SanDisk Extreme III 4GB 30MB/s card. I only have the Nikon 17-55 2.8 lens on this camera. I am going to try another card manufacturer, but I've had good luck with SanDisk cards and Nikon cameras. I've owned a D70 ever since it first came out and have never had this problem. At this time I don't have another SD card to try so I'm going to have to acquire one.

Hopefully it's as simple as the card vendor, but I don't see why the camera would not work all the time with a SanDisk. I still hope Nikon can fix this cause it is a real problem. I will be exchanging it or sending it in for repair if another card doesn't fix this.

 

[Hawkintx]

So far so good after switching out the memory cards. I took well over 100 pics today with no issues at all. The card I was using when receiving the errors was a Sandisk 4GB. Hopefully I don't get any more errors and won't have to mess around with returning the unit.

Thanks all for your advice!

JB

Yes, it is the CHA message, at least the first time it was. I
honestly don't remember if it has been teh same each time. I've
tried swapping cards and will see how that works. The threads seem
to point to a Sandisk card issue, I'm wondering if there are any out
there using the D90 with Sandisk that aren't having issues. Also,
should I assume the majority of D90 users aren't having any issues at
all?

Thanks!

JB

 

[MFitz]

I got the CHA error today on the 6th picture from a new D90 with the 18-105 kit lens attached. Brand new SanDisk Extreme II 2GB card as well. Removed the card and reinserted it and was able to snap aroung 8 more pictures without getting it again, but it doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling that it happened already. I took a few thousand pictures with my D50 with no errors whatsoever.

Before taking any pictures, I was going through the menus and hit the playback button instead of the menu button and got a message that the card was unusable, I formatted it and then started taking pictures, then got the CHA error. I noticed when I got the error that the buffer light stayed on for several seconds. I haven't tried another card yet but I have a few more laying around to try.

 

[truenoob]

My D90 is stuck on ERR and I can't get it out of from this state. It won't respond to a hard reset, battery pull, lens pull, memory card pull. ERR still shows on the display. Unfortunately I'm going to have to take it to Nikon for repair/replacement. Those of you getting this ERR, I would follow up with Nikon. I was getting it a few times, and now it's stuck on this error.

 

[MFitz]

Were you getting the CHA error, or the always an actual ERR malfunction error?

 

[Will S.]

I didn't exchange mine yet, as it only produced that CHA error one time, so far. I am doing some other comparison tests of my D90 body to another D90, with regards to possible focus issues. Depending on the outcome of that, and whether I continue to get ERRors will determine if I exchange the camera.

Good luck on your D90, and keep us posted. BTW, was your ERR messahe the same CHA that I am getting?

Thanks for the tip, have you exchanged your D90? I'm leaning towards
exchanging, but if it's just a bad card I'd rather not go through the
shipping back and forth.

 

[Will S.]

JB, I got the CHA error with an ATP ProMax 2gb card, that was included with the camera as a free bonus. So it is not necessarily associated with just SanDisk cards.
--
Will
WSSA member #96
Indian River, De

 

[dugzilla]

I've taken about 2400 shots with mine and no error yet, hopefully it will stay that way. I don't use the sandisk cards, I have Kingston and transcend cards with no issues. I change lens' a lot also.

 

[Will S.]

Did you try reformatting the card in-camera, by using the 2 simultaneous button presses? That was the only thing that would get rid of that CHA error when it happened to my D90.

My D90 is stuck on ERR and I can't get it out of from this state. It
won't respond to a hard reset, battery pull, lens pull, memory card
pull. ERR still shows on the display. Unfortunately I'm going to
have to take it to Nikon for repair/replacement. Those of you
getting this ERR, I would follow up with Nikon. I was getting it a
few times, and now it's stuck on this error.
--

--
Will
WSSA member #96
Indian River, De