My 6d has gotten to the state of being semi-bricked, admittedly at least somewhat operator error. Assistance appreciated.
Sorry for the tl;dr ... I'm attempting to provide all hopefully relevant information, but it no doubt has extraneous info, may be incomplete, or reflect flawed memory (don't get old :o )
- Happened December 13. Was using the most recent build at the time from Nov, 2015 ... not the Dec 20, 2015 build which wasn't yet available
- I'm not sure of the exact sequence, but the following is my best recollection .... sorry, in retrospect, should have kept log.
- Canon OEM battery with "Recharge Performance 2 of 3" with 100% charge reported. I use either the Canon 5d2 or 6d OEM charger.
- Happened during lengthy star-trail testing ... time-lapse + BULB stopped by battery going flat
- Using ML BULB and Intervalometer with "unlimited 4 minute exposures". I've done this at least 50 times with no previous problems.
- IIRC, the last file was semi-intact and could up uploaded with card-reader to desktop, but some visual glitches indicating corruption ...
- Don't recall if this was the end of the star trails that night, or if I put in another LP-E6 battery to continue with making a "star trails pano"
- I always start with the 6d OEM battery, but it is possible I was using a reputable non-OEM battery that has worked very well since I've owned it .... 3 of 3 "Recharge Performance" if that means anything for a non-OEM battery.
- Recharged battery at home in Canon 6d OEM charger, and all seemed well. Re-installed battery.
- Star trail ok, since you don't really need the final capture
- At this point, everything seemed ok
- 6d seemed bricked on next usage within day or so ... no activity light when turned ON. Did I forget to charge?
- After 10 slow breathes, diagnosis was that battery was flat. Whew, but ...
- Did some swapping of other LP-E6 batteries from Canon 5d2, along with other SD card from Canon T3i with ML.
- Could get 6d to power up with no SD card, but not real reliably.
- I was running late to get to a Christmas-related event, so I was less-than fully rational on diagnosis efforts. Sorry.
- Later, 6d with formatted SD card from T3i (maybe by desktop in card-reader) seemed operational, without ML
- Re-installed ML, not sure on which SD card.
- Checked FAQ on ML "Camera Emergency Dept" sub-forum, and did the recommended steps ... maybe 2x.
- I've read about, but not used the "Diagnostic Tools" in this sub-forum. At this point, the 6d is probably unable to run them yet. Is it ok to practice using the "Diagnostic Tools" on a a5d2 or T3i with fully functioning ML while or before working on the 6d?
- Once before, I've dealt with an apparently bricked f.f. in the past that had ML installed, so at this point it didn't seem like a big deal, and no cause for panic. I don't recall if it was the 5d2 or 6d
- FWIW: Note that on the DPR forums, I am probably one of the biggest fans of ML ... perhaps the biggest ... almost a fan-boy.
- The 6d got back to working for a while ... all seemed ok (not sure whether using time-lapse, but pretty sure SD card had Nov, 2015 ML)
- At this point, everything seemed ok again.
- Next usage within a day or so ... battery dead again ... back to original semi-bricked
- Powered off 6d with ML on possibly corrupted SD card seems to be draining battery.
- When I remove the SD card and battery for 10 to 60+ seconds, 6d will power-on. May or may not work by putting in non-ML SD card with power left on.
- Batteries other than the 6d OEM card seem to work better ... almost as if the 6d OEM battery has been corrupted somehow
- IIRC, 6d is glitchy with non-ML SD card.
- IIRC, powering up 6d with ML disabled (press SET during power up?) doesn't work.
- With very busy Christmas season, I've been using my 5d2 with Nov, 2015 ML build (just noticed Dec nightly build ... will install)
- I regret and apologize that I haven't had the luxury of taking a coherent approach to diagnosis. Fortunately, I've got the 5d2, T3i, etc.
I would Greatly Appreciate help to take a rational, coherent approach to diagnosis and getting the 6d working ok again. It clearly isn't fully bricked, but not really usable, maybe even without ML.
At this point, this volunteer hobby'ist has tens of thousands of captures in my post-processing backlog from about a dozen unpaid Christmas related events. I'm hoping the fix is simple, like replace SD card, but it may not be. I will make every effort to work with anyone willing to help, and check this forum regularly for any replies.
First thing I thought of was a the initial battery drain from the timelapse shouldnt brick your camera as far as I know. Correct me if im wrong guys. Actually ML recommends when in dought, pull the battery out. If you see something fishy pull battery an never shut off the camera via power switch.
Second thing I thought of is maybe your experiencing the battery drain issue that is caused by removing the SD card before the red light blinks and tells you its okay to remove the ML card. This has been known to drain batterys even though the cam is off.
Third, is it possible to be more specific on the "glitchy" things you were experiencing other then dead batterys?
Also I would never ever use a non Canon battery with ML ever. Even if you claim its trusted, ML might not like it.
Quote from: hjfilmspeed on December 25, 2015, 02:55:42 PM
Second thing I thought of is maybe your experiencing the battery drain issue that is caused by removing the SD card before the red light blinks and tells you its okay to remove the ML card. This has been known to drain batterys even though the cam is off.
Thanks for the reply ... with reassuring tone.
Nothing has changed, except my memory of just what happened is that much more fuzzy. I haven't had time to do any more wrestling or do diagnostics. Sorry.
QuoteThird, is it possible to be more specific on the "glitchy" things you were experiencing other then dead batterys?
Not really ... sorry.
I'd have thought that putting in a formatted, blank SD card with fresh battery would have the 6d back to working in non-ML mode ok, but that is unreliable. I probably should buy a new SD card that has never had ML on it. I've tried a formatted SD card from a Nikon One, but there seems to be some "residue" from being formatted by the Nikon. I think I did a "quick desktop format" with card-reader on it.
Same for SD card my Rebel T3i (600d) that has had ML on it. I used "deep format" with the SD card in the 600d. I've done quick-formats on my desktop with card-reader, but there seems to be remnants that confuse the 6d. I haven't yet tried "non-quick deep format" on the desktop with card-reader.
The 6d will boot with fresh installed battery other than the original 6d LP-E6 and no SD card. Then maybe boot with formatted SD card ... once or twice. Then semi-bricked again.
IIRC, it won't boot with the freshly charged 6d LP-E6 that shows "Green" from the charger, but no SD card installed, but I could be mistaken.
I don't think I've been able to get the 6d to format an SD card, deep or non-deep. I do recall seeing a .log file indicating problems, but I don't recall the specifics. I don't think the 6d has gotten to the state of actually being able to do a shutter activation. Even if it did, I don't think the capture was saved to the SD card.
It has been really hectic here, and will be for at least another week or more. Being methodical hasn't been an option yet. Sorry.
QuoteAlso I would never ever use a non Canon battery with ML ever. Even if you claim its trusted, ML might not like it.
Good point.
I've noticed the LP-E6 from my 5d2 and 6d aren't truly interchangeable. The chargers are also a bit different. The 6d charger doesn't like to charge the 5d2 LP-E6 battery ... will sometimes go into "never finish" with 4 blinks. The older 5d2 Canon charger seems to charge the 6d battery fine.
Very oddly, the 6d's LP-E6 is just a bit too large to fit in the 5d2 ... it binds up and is tough to extract. I suspected it may be a knock-off / counterfeit, and checked with Canon support. The battery came with the 6d from B&H or Adorama in sealed box. The original 5d2 LP-E6 works ok in both cameras, but it is down to "1 of 3 stars" Recharge Performance. Until this incident, I didn't use the 5d2 that much.
I'm really suspecting the 6d LP-E6 with "2013" marking may be "worn out" somehow, or started off not-perfect and barely within spec, or (unlikely) it was a counterfeit / knock-off. I'm hesitant to purchase a pricey OEM LP-E6 unless nothing else un-bricks the 6d.
Again, THANKS! Hope you and yours had a Merry Christmas. "God bless us, everyone." (Tiny Tim)
Hmmm. So I guess what would be a good road to recovery is to make sure you have the correct battery a good ML card and a good non ML card and report exactly what the camera does. Semi bricked camera can mean a lot of things.
So of you turn on the camera right now with a good 6d oem battery and a good bootable ML card, what would happen right now?
Good points. However, at this point I don't actually have an SD card that is known to be "a good bootable ML card".
The closest is an SD card that had a working ML on my Rebel T3i/600d. IIRC, the 6d wouldn't boot with that card directly out of the 600d (non unexpected). Note: the latest/greatest ML for the 600d was from back in April, 2015.
However, when I did a "deep format" of that card using the 600d, the 6d would boot normally to the Canon O/S (whew). At that time I didn't try a shutter activation.
My recollection is that I then used a card-reader to put the latest/greatest 6d ML (Nov, 2015 at the time) on that SD card from the 600d, including the .fir file. I'm pretty sure it not only wouldn't boot, but acted like it was bricked ... not even the red power-on would blink. (not whew :-X )
I'm actually overdue on something so I can't continue. Sorry (and it has been a very long week).
Do you think it would be a good idea to try to get that card from the 600d working again? Perhaps first with "deep format" by the 600d? I don't remember checking if the 600d worked with that card after it had been in the 6d.
Again, THANKS! I'm looking forward to your further thoughts.
You cannot use nightly builds for 600D to make card bootable.
Format card in cardreader. Format card in cam. Use EOScard/MacBoot with card inserted into cardreader. Wipe card's content after. Copy nightly build contents to card. Insert card into cam and startup.
Ahhhhhh ha! what Walter said. That's the problem. If you were using ML files ment for another camera on you 6D that could definitely cause trouble. Yeah..... Never do that.
At this point it sounds like you need to follow the instructions above very carefully.
Sorry if I was unclear.
- I took the SD card from the 600d (aka SD-600d) with working ML, and put it in the 6d. I was hoping the 6d might power up to Canon OS, or give a ML error message. Not un-expectedly, on power-up, the 6d remained in a state of "semi-bricked". In retrospect, I probably wouldn't do that again. I can see where the misunderstanding comes from.
- I did a "deep format" (with trash-can) of that SD-600d card in the 600d. Format seemed to work fine. The 6d was not able to do that format, as it was semi-bricked.
- I put deep-formated SD-600d in the 6d. I tried several times to power-up the 6d, and each time, it booted to the Canon O/S. Whew.
- I used a card-reader to put the latest/greatest (at the time) nightly build for the 6d on SD-600d, including the ML-SETUP.FIR file.
- I put the deep-formatted SD-600d with 6d-ML in the 6d and attempted to power-up. It was back to being "semi-bricked". (not whew :-X )
1) Format card using a cardreader.
2) Format card using cam
-> Both cams should be able to start with SD card inserted but only plain Canon firmware will show up. Report back if it does not work.
Now decide which cam you want to use with this card. Using ML with this card on both cams will not work and it is not intended to do that. If you want to do this you have to change card's content manually each time you are changing cams.
Correct me if I'm wrong but you shouldnt have to do a deep format on the computer to get rid of Bootable part of the SD card. Try what's mentioned above.
1. Format in card reader on computer normal or deep
2. Then try to power on 6d and Format SD on 6d normal or deep.
The 6d should boot fine.
DONT format in a different camera and then put back in the 6d. It might not be getting rid of the bootable part of the card.
If you insert a card that is bootable with no ML files on in into and camera with the booflag set, it will not turn on.
So if the camera doesn't boot after using a freshly formated from your computer SD card with a genuine 6D Canon battery then there is an issue.
I would buy a new card or battery too but that's me.
Summary of status: 6d un-bricked. Seems to be back to fully operational in Canon o/s firmware mode. ML not yet re-installed.
Quote from: hjfilmspeed on December 28, 2015, 02:43:46 PM
Correct me if I'm wrong but you shouldnt have to do a deep format on the computer to get rid of Bootable part of the SD card. Try what's mentioned above.
1. Format in card reader on computer normal or deep
2. Then try to power on 6d and Format SD on 6d normal or deep.
The 6d should boot fine.
WS: Using ML with this card on both cams will not work and it is not intended to do that.
Sorry, we are still having something of a "failure to communicate" ... :o
And thanks for your (and Walter Schultz) continued patience to resolve this.
Quote
DONT format in a different camera and then put back in the 6d. It might not be getting rid of the bootable part of the card.
OK and correct. Even after a "low level" format (trash-can) on the 600d, there was still some residue of 600d-ML, to my surprise.
Quote
If you insert a card that is bootable with no ML files on in into and camera with the booflag set, it will not turn on.
The 6d actually partly powered up, but there was an error message:
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
Magic Lantern
Nightly.2015Apr19.600D102
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^The 6d wouldn't power off. I had to remove the battery to power off.
- Did a Quick-Format on the SD-600d in a USB-2 card-reader known to be good. That succeeded.
- Installed SD-600d in 6d.
- Powered-up.
- "IT's ALIVE !!!! "
- Did low-level format (trash-can) with 6d.
- Powered on and off five times, each time successfully.
QuoteSo if the camera doesn't boot after using a freshly formated from your computer SD card with a genuine 6D Canon battery then there is an issue.
I would buy a new card or battery too but that's me.
OK. Seems un-bricked. THANKS!
For now, I'm going to leave ML off what was the SD-600d card.
Also, the older USB-3 card-reader may not be working correctly. I got it when USB-3 first emerged, so it is fairly ancient. The USB-2 card-reader is even older, but has been very reliable. One of the USB connectors on the desktop is about worn-out. (Sometimes, it's amazing that it works at all?)
The former SD-6d card appears to be corrupted and unusable. I did a Quck-Format on it with the same USB-2 card reader (succeeded), but the 6d returned to "semi-bricked" state. I've put white electrical tape on it, marked it with a big Question-Mark ("?"), and put in in a "junk" area for now. I'll be on the look-out for a good price on another 32 GB SanDisk SD card. I'll also plan to get a modern, name-brand card-reader.
For now, the 600d doesn't have an SD card, so in not operational. The 6d has a "vanilla" SD card with no ML installed. That's ok for now.
In a week or three when "the dust settles" and I have fresh SD cards, I may go about getting ML back on the 6d and 600d. I may start with the "Stable" 2.3 version, and go from there.
WS: I realize that each camera has to have the correct version of ML on it. I would never expect a card with ML-6d to work in a 600d, or a card with ML-600d to work in a 6d. But, I do appreciate your thorough and patient guidance.
Yay! Im glad its okay! Walter saved the day! I had a feeling it had something to do with the SD card.
Quote from: hjfilmspeed on December 28, 2015, 05:14:30 PM
Yay! Im glad its okay! Walter saved the day! I had a feeling it had something to do with the SD card.
I'm very relieved and happy. AND APPRECIATIVE !!!
I remain an ML FanBoy :D And I will be Extra Careful when I get around to re-installing the latest/greatest Nightly Build of the 6d ML. Plus, refresh the 600d-ML.
Without diminishing Walter's role, I think it was a team effort from both of you.
You two can decide how to split up your fee. :-\