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Using Magic Lantern => General Help Q&A => Camera Emergency Department => Topic started by: Ernani on November 27, 2015, 01:49:08 AM

Title: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on November 27, 2015, 01:49:08 AM
Hi all. for a week I haven't been able to properly boot my EOS M.
I have a feeling that I screwed it up by removing the card too soon a few times (should have paid more attention to the warnings before. oops)
so, when I try to turn it on with an ML card the LED starts blinking rapidly in red indefinitely. the only thing that can be done is either press off (which makes the LED turn solid red indefinitely) or remove the battery.

When I try to turn the camera on without the ML card the LED again rapidly blinks indefinitely, only this time in green.

Funny enough, I still manage to boot the camera up after some 5 or 10 minutes of retries, but it will give me a hard time again next boot.

question: has anyone come across this before? can this camera be saved?

If it helps I have had the camera for over a year and have been using ML from day one. May be unrelated but never had a glitch until a week ago when I started fiddling with the DualISO (photo) feature. removed the card without wait a few times (dumbass, I know).

Thanks everyone involved in ML. I film live events and without ML this camera is of no use to my work.
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on November 27, 2015, 04:37:40 AM
an update:

lately it's taking a lot longer than 10 minutes to boot the camera (around 40 min).

thanks already
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: dfort on November 27, 2015, 05:23:43 AM
It seems that maybe it is hanging when reading the card. Have you tried other cards? You might also try this:

Remove card, remove battery, reinsert battery and start camera without card--that usually works for me. Next step is in the Canon menus reset to default settings. If that helps you should probably also delete the ML settings file on the card to go back to the ML default settings. If you're still having problems turn off the camera boot flag by running the ML installer and waiting a minute for it to turn off the boot flag. Worse case scenario reinstall the Canon 2.0.2 firmware and hope for the best.
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on November 27, 2015, 01:02:22 PM
hi Daniel, thanks for your work with ML and eos M.
So, with no card the camera behaves in the same way (blinking green light). already tried resetting canon's and ML's to default; no cake.
I am now in the process running ML installer to turn off camera boot flag, if I manage to turn the camera on that is.

one thing I didn't mention: When the camera boots from the ML card it works just fine. When it boots from non ML cards it goes haywire, freezing whenever I take a picture, turning off unexpectedly and other bugs . what gives?

I have a baaad feeling...
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: a1ex on November 27, 2015, 02:56:15 PM
A little warning: if you turn off the boot flag, and you can no longer turn it back on, we will have no possibility to investigate the issue.

Can you try the display test from here? http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=14732

Can you run it a couple of times without issues? (to rule out a hardware problem)

Do you have access to a second Canon camera that runs ML? That would make it easier to get Canon's diagnostic messages from the startup process.

Also, if you still have a ML card with ROM0.BIN and ROM1.BIN under ML/LOGS, make a backup of those files. I hope we won't need those, but just in case.
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: dfort on November 27, 2015, 05:12:20 PM
Quote from: a1ex on November 27, 2015, 02:56:15 PM
A little warning: if you turn off the boot flag, and you can no longer turn it back on, we will have no possibility to investigate the issue.

Yikes! Good to know.
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on November 27, 2015, 05:48:40 PM
I do have access to a second ML ready eosM to run tests. already backed up roms, also saved a file named log000.log which was sitting in the sd's root.
for the display test all I need is copy the autoexec_2.bin to the sd?

thanks for the hand.
Title: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: DeafEyeJedi on November 27, 2015, 05:59:31 PM
Quote from: dfort on November 27, 2015, 05:12:20 PM
Yikes! Good to know.

That's the scary feeling that we all thrive on, right?

Love living on the edge...

Btw, I hope you get your M back in working order soon @Ernanie
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: a1ex on November 27, 2015, 06:18:17 PM
Quote from: Ernani on November 27, 2015, 05:48:40 PM
for the display test all I need is copy the autoexec_2.bin to the sd?

Yes, but make sure the filename remains autoexec.bin (overwrite the old one).
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on November 27, 2015, 06:22:22 PM
QuoteBtw, I hope you get your M back in working order soon @Ernanie
thanks mate. :)

update: I replaced the autoexec.bin from an ML card with the display test autoexec. after closing the card door the display backlight turned on but no image appeared. pressing the on/off button brought me back to the "forever blinking green LED".

today I had no luck in turning on the camera like I did before. it just stays there blinking its LED like there's no tomorrow.

if I ever manage to boot it again I might as well try Daniel's idea to turn off the boot flag as kind of a last resort. may be worth a try.

grateful u guys.
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on November 27, 2015, 06:30:24 PM
by the way, same card with replaced autoexec works perfectly on the second M1.
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: a1ex on November 27, 2015, 07:00:13 PM
That means, our test code is running. However, the display not showing anything is a big warning - it might be a hardware issue. If you start the camera a couple of times, it might work at some point, I guess.

Here's a LED blinking test for EOS M: autoexec.bin (http://a1ex.magiclantern.fm/blink/EOSM/autoexec.bin)

It should blink the card activity LED (I guess the red one). On EOS M, the green blink you are seeing is done from a different CPU. I hope at least this one works every time.

The next step would be printing Canon's debug messages and decoding them with a different camera. You may get in touch with me on IRC once you are ready.



Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on November 27, 2015, 07:17:27 PM
The led blinking autoexec is working. whenever I close the battery door I get a continuous red LED intermittent signal.
tried the display test some 20 times having the same result. backlight on/no image.
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on November 27, 2015, 07:21:13 PM
I'd appreciate a lot your help but I'm afraid I'll bug the hell out of you for the lack of computer skills. I'm not "stoopid" but seeing you guys I feel kinda dumb.
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Walter Schulz on November 27, 2015, 07:27:25 PM
Should not be a problem (most of us feel the very same at times). Trust him, he knows what he is doing.
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on November 27, 2015, 07:53:49 PM
ok. let me first learn how to use irc then I get back for the lesson.
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on November 27, 2015, 08:00:06 PM
a1ex, I got to your post about Blinking debug message (who's idea was it anyway? genius...). it took me to a page with a programming language but I don't know how to compile it.

Am I in the right track?
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: a1ex on November 27, 2015, 08:16:14 PM
The decoding module is already compiled (copy the .mo to ML/MODULES on the card).

The blinker: autoexec.bin (http://a1ex.magiclantern.fm/debug/EOSM-blinkmsg/autoexec.bin)

The messages are not saved on the card (yet), so you can just take a screenshot with the latest messages (which probably look like an error).
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on November 27, 2015, 08:27:30 PM
ok, the deblinker module is loaded to the active camera. the autoxec blinker is on the faulty camera which was turned on and now is blinking like crazy. display is pitch black.
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: a1ex on November 27, 2015, 08:30:36 PM
Forgot to add: on the active camera, select Debug -> Decode LED blinks. After that, start the faulty camera and let it blink.
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on November 27, 2015, 09:03:47 PM
the cameras seem to be talking to each other. I let them chat for some minutes but was unable to save a screenshot. will try again.

just to be sure, for how long should I let them talk: 20 seconds, 30 minutes?

I'm pointing the camera lens directly onto the faulty cam's LED even if there's no focus. seem to work best.
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: a1ex on November 27, 2015, 09:08:35 PM
When I tested it, the 60D took exactly 15 minutes, then it shut down before it finished to boot properly (probably some watchdog timer).

I hope the EOS M is a bit more patient, since I don't know how to disable this timer. If the timeout occurs without any error, we'll try a second binary, which will skip the first messages.
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on November 27, 2015, 09:10:32 PM
on it
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on November 27, 2015, 09:22:33 PM
they're doing their business at the moment. is it normal to get random characters like "__B_@_A_ _ _ ML" ?
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: a1ex on November 27, 2015, 09:36:01 PM
Nope; unfortunately, if that happens, you have to restart. It can probably be fixed by adjusting the exposure and taking care with nearby light sources.
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on November 27, 2015, 09:48:40 PM
ok, will retry. what am I supposed to see if everything goes right? a readable error message?
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: a1ex on November 27, 2015, 09:50:18 PM
Yes, readable messages.
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on November 27, 2015, 10:22:10 PM
no matter what settings I use I only get gibberish. I suspect the problem is on the way the M is blinking its LED: instead of a solid color alternating on and off (which I believe would be the proper manner) it alternates between green, red and yellow rapidly. seems we're running out of options.
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: a1ex on November 27, 2015, 10:27:22 PM
Indeed.

Let's see if we can do file i/o. Delete ML/LOGS/ROM*.BIN (since you already made backups) and try to start ML (with a regular nightly). After about 1 minute, remove the card and see if the ROM files were re-created.

No need to upload them, I only want to know if they were created or not.
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on November 27, 2015, 10:47:47 PM
no. weren't created.
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on November 27, 2015, 10:53:20 PM
however all I did was reinstate the original autoexe.bin. maybe I should try a fresh build?
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on November 27, 2015, 11:22:41 PM
fresh build didn't do the trick either.  :-\
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on November 28, 2015, 01:19:28 AM
From the install guide:

Right after opening the card door, Canon firmware accesses the card without turning on the LED (yes, with the main switch turned off). If you remove the card too early, the camera will freeze and will drain the battery, or even cause permanent damage! You will be running random code (remember you are loading executable code from the card), and we can't do anything about it without reflashing Canon firmware with our own code.

Does anyone know what that means? could it be tried as an "all or nothing" last chance?
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: a1ex on November 28, 2015, 09:51:00 AM
Since the display test didn't work, I wouldn't rush to reflash the main firmware. The display test only uses bootloader routines, so it should work even if the main firmware is corrupted.

We can still try to ignore the green LED - just tell me the RGB spotmeter values for the 3 colors.
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on November 28, 2015, 01:27:19 PM
ok, will try to read the blinks anyway and post a screenshot of it.
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on November 28, 2015, 01:29:30 PM
Quotetell me the RGB spotmeter values for the 3 colors.
if that is what u meant.
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on November 28, 2015, 01:52:31 PM
wait, what if I place a colour filter in front of the lens? long shot but maybe...
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on November 28, 2015, 02:15:03 PM
here is a short clip of how the M uses its LED. http://we.tl/ZeO47hXPwy

side note: I was using the dualiso module in conjunction with the full res silent picture build when it started to bug. might be related.
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on November 28, 2015, 07:55:07 PM
tried with blue and red filter. no message.
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: a1ex on November 28, 2015, 10:09:06 PM
If you use a red filter, I suggest fine-tuning it like this:
- first make only the green LED blink, and bring down the exposure until the other camera detects no pulses
- then, let the diagnostic blinker run, and hope it syncs

Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on November 29, 2015, 04:30:51 AM
 :o :o :o It worked!!
I'll try and save a snapshot every time the screen is full. good news is that the M doesn't seem to get tired and goes beyond the 15 minutes merrily blinking away.

I must confess it is quite exhilarating to watch this dead camera using its secondary processor to talk about "the other side" via a blinking LED while I hold 3d glasses in front of it to filter the green signals... kudos to you a1ex!
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on November 30, 2015, 09:53:44 PM
http://www.mediafire.com/download/8blueag7jxvah6l/New+folder.rar

these are the screens I captured.  after that first lucky time (VRAM5.PPM) I couldn't again make it work even if I used the same exposure (f2.0 - iso 6400 - shutter 640).

in the meantime the camera somehow turned on a couple of times and I could use it normally. if it happens again is there anything I can do that would help?
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on December 01, 2015, 02:17:45 PM
today I am having better luck  with the blinker. will be posting screenshots soon. (is it ok to send them via mediafire? I don't know how to post pictures here in the forum)

ernani
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: dfort on December 01, 2015, 10:53:37 PM
There are probably several of us watching on the sidelines and we'd love to see some photos and screenshots. This post helped me:

http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=10760.0

Basically what I do is copy the BBcode URL that Flickr generates and only keep what is in the "img" tags in the post. (Including the opening and closing "img" tags in the brackets of course.)
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on December 03, 2015, 02:13:19 PM
My internet connection was down for a couple of days so I went on troubleshooting the eos m and made a PDF with snapshots and the progress I made.
http://www.mediafire.com/view/4el1ssn7ktn7smc/magic_lantern_fix.pdf
will also post some screenshots here soon.

later
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: a1ex on December 03, 2015, 02:44:47 PM
Since the camera is working now, I'd say just use it. As long as you have a ROM backup, it should be fine.

Regarding the errors:

- 206000a: this was fixed recently (110efb0 (https://bitbucket.org/hudson/magic-lantern/commits/110efb0)). I thought the error affected only 650D and 700D, but at a closer look, the EOS M was affected as well.

- mlv_snd depends on mlv_rec (the error message could be a little more clear).
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on December 04, 2015, 06:58:51 PM
As I feared I'm back at point zero. i.e.: camera with ML card - red LED blink and nothing else.   camera without ML card - green LED blink and nothing else.
During the 2 days it worked I would occasionally get errors like it suddenly turning off or the display going dark while the camera kept working (I could still take pictures or shoot videos even if nothing showed up on the screen).
now I'm re-running the deblink to check if anything changed.

say, that loop at the end of the deblink I posted (disable power save / enable power save); isn't that strange? the errors I was getting (dark display, turning off) seemed as if the camera was mistakenly going into power save mode.

Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: a1ex on December 04, 2015, 09:57:00 PM
Quote from: Ernani on December 04, 2015, 06:58:51 PM
display going dark while the camera kept working

To me, this suggests a hardware issue on the display side (most likely weak electric contact). At startup, Canon code probably expects the display hardware to reply something back - if it doesn't, camera doesn't boot.

I assume the display test doesn't work either (that is, only the backlight is active).

The powersave messages are harmless - they appear every time there is a communication from the MPU to the main CPU.
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: Ernani on December 05, 2015, 05:02:32 AM
I was afraid that might be the case  :'(
well, if it is of interest to anyone I'll keep posting here for any further development (display replacement, unexpected fix...)

thanks a1ex and all ML developers for turning these otherwise rather lame cameras into little powerhouses!
Title: Re: EOS M srewed up (doesn't seem bricked however)
Post by: LSeww on July 28, 2021, 09:06:52 PM
Quote from: dfort on November 27, 2015, 05:23:43 AM
It seems that maybe it is hanging when reading the card. Have you tried other cards? You might also try this:

Remove card, remove battery, reinsert battery and start camera without card--that usually works for me. Next step is in the Canon menus reset to default settings. If that helps you should probably also delete the ML settings file on the card to go back to the ML default settings. If you're still having problems turn off the camera boot flag by running the ML installer and waiting a minute for it to turn off the boot flag. Worse case scenario reinstall the Canon 2.0.2 firmware and hope for the best.
Resetting settings worked for me, thank you!