5DMkII not working after connecting to EOS Utility

[dovecom]

I've had a stable 5DMkII with ML 2.3 on canon firmware 2.1.2 for over a year. Tonight I tried controlling the camera from EOS Utility for the first time since I installed ML. Now the camera is fried. It will turn on in auto mode, and take a still pic. I can access the Canon Menu, but not the ML menu only in auto mode. In manual mode, I can't do anything. Of course I have a shoot at 8am.

[barepixels]

wow   

[jimmyD30]

Try reinstalling Canon firmware by doing firmware update with newly formatted card (formatting in camera preferred) WITHOUT magic lantern on the card.

If that gets you back to normal, then install ML at your own discretion.

[dovecom]

Can't re-install firmware because the camera won't display menus in manual mode, and you can't do it in auto. I've done the whole try another card, remove lens, battery, turn around and spit thing. It does power up and will take pics even in auto but even there I have to switch it off, put in manual, switch on, then off, auto, on to switch between viewing and shooting. I'm hoping someone who knows what's what can step me through trying to get some data off the ROM so it can be assessed.

It's an eye-opener. I know there are warnings all over the place when you install, but I think it might be a good idea if there were prominent links to a list of actual problems caused with various cameras right there on the download page. When the idea is abstract, it seems less real. Seeing lots of actual people who have had their camera ruined might make the decision a little more delicate. I won't put it on any camera I ever get to own again.

[Stedda]

Seeing lots of actual people who have had their camera ruined might make the decision a little more delicate. I won't put it on any camera I ever get to own again.

Where are these lots of people? You're not going to find them here... we'd have to make links up with fake stories.

Isolated case is now a global pandemic!

Please link to relevant horror stories, I'd like to read them.

[walter_schulz]

Connect a1ex and ask for assistance.
He unbricked a cam which was locked by an app sending garbage data to the cam.
[soft tissue wording mode]Canon's SDK is not the world most robust piece of software. [/soft tissue wording mode] And reverse engineered software like ML has it's culprits. Common ground here and devs agree. As stated in F.A.Q. and elsewhere.

[jimmyD30]

One last thing you might try is in addition to removing the main camera battery, try removing the main battery AND the micro battery, it's usually located at the bottom of the side with all the ports, it's just one (little) screw, or search youtube for same, leave the batteries out for at least 5 mins, then reinstall.

[dovecom]

Where are these lots of people? You're not going to find them here... we'd have to make links up with fake stories.

you mean other than right here in this forum for people who have had their camera fail? I'm not interested in blame at all. I'm merely saying that a little dose of possibility is valuable when considering modifying an expensive piece of equipment. There are probably specific operations that result in errors. knowing for instance, that my problem was caused while I had some custom picture styles loaded and while trying to use EOS Utility tethering might help someone else avoid. I could/should have uninstalled to shoot stills cause ML doesn't really help there but I was so confident in it's stability I didn't even hesitate. I would tell someone who wants to use it not to use auto-boot. The extra hassle is probably worth a little more security.

[jimmyD30]

I loaded some custom picture styles on my 5DM2 and 5DM3 while ML was installed using EOS Utility and didn't encounter any problems.

[Stedda]

you mean other than right here in this forum for people who have had their camera fail?

Had you read them you'd have found 99% of them have nothing to do with ML but ML was on the card so of course it gets blamed.

[dmilligan]

http://wiki.magiclantern.fm/unbricking

Your problem has nothing to do with ML. There is no evidence that any camera has ever been damaged or bricked by ML. All issues were either resolved or the issue was clearly something else (hardware or card failure, etc). Canon's tethering API has been known to brick cameras (even without ML on them) some cameras bricked like this were even managed to be unbricked by ML. Using tethering is far more dangerous than using ML. I am certain that your issues is 100% the result of tethering and 0% ML.

If you can get to Canon menu then reset all camera settings and your problem will likely be fixed. Most of the issues like this a related to invalid settings in nvram (non-volatile memory). If not you need a1ex to help you with a custom autoexec that will help you reset the camera settings.

[jimmyD30]

I wouldn't doubt that EOS Utility/tethering is the cause. I never liked all those gyrations my camera would go through when using it that way, kinda always had my fingers crossed. Quite frankly, I'm totally going to extremely limit my use of EOS Utility/tethering going forward, although I do like to use it to add additional lens profiles to the camera.

[dovecom]

I loaded some custom picture styles on my 5DM2 and 5DM3 while ML was installed using EOS Utility and didn't encounter any problems.

did you try live view tethering with that setup?

[dovecom]

if i could return it to its original state and send it to Canon I would accept that the problem was there's. problem is, ML is specifically interring in that action so I can't say ML hasn't bricked my camera. And this list of lost cameras is pretty long just a forum above us. We can stick our heads in the sand, or find a cure.

[Walter Schulz]

And this list of lost cameras is pretty long just a forum above us.

Sorry? What are you talking about? Link, please.

[jimmyD30]

did you try live view tethering with that setup?

I didn't try LiveView while tethered, just been using EOS Utlity for loading picture styles and lens profiles.

[Africashot]

We can stick our heads in the sand, or find a cure.

You can also point your fingers around instead of focusing on getting it fixed... I have used the 5D2 with ML and the EOS utility for years now and never encountered a problem, also tethered to android and laptops for live view  and can confirm it is absolutely stable.
How about you tell us more about your problem and see if we can fix this, or at least explain what you mean when you say 'the list of lost cameras is pretty long'... I am reading this forum a lot, camera emergencies usually catch my eye as I have to rely on my equipment for my income, I have yet to see a case I would truly be able to blame ML for, not only that but this has turned into the support forum Canon doesn't have since here you'll find people who'll actually want to help you.

[Stedda]

Sorry? What are you talking about? Link, please.

I've asked for links twice now... still nothing. I've actually read most of these so called bricked camera threads and most all have nothing to do with ML and the few that are legit are Tragic Lanterns unsafe code. (Which for the reading impaired are not supported by Magic Lantern)

His general tone probably has something to do with not getting any help, I know if it was up to me I wouldn't but good luck with it bud. Ill just be waiting for those links...

[jimmyD30]

I also suggested he pull the 'clock' battery as well as the main battery and see what happens, but have not heard back about that yet.

[dovecom]

OK, so I have the camera back again. Long story, let's just say I haven't had access to it since shortly after it bricked. Now I do and want to move forward. The camera works in auto mode but you can't view anything you shoot unless you upload to computer. I can only access Canon menus in auto mode, which means I can't get to the firmware update menus. So is there a piece of software that I can use to get data from the camera to help diagnose the problem? I have removed and reinstalled batteries.

How do I contact this Alex person people talk about?

[Walter Schulz]

His nick here is a1ex and not alex. You should have no problem contacting him: First in member list (registration date) and number of posts, administrator of this very forum, busy member of developer team, "Dr. Unbrick" ... tbc

BTW: Can you access the camera via USB and EOS Utility?