5D MKii Error CF

[Kayla1]

So what originally happened was I borrowed a card reader to load images that I later found out was corrupt. I didn't find out until I used the memory card back into my camera - busy, error CF, please format card. Go to format, says cannot format, change card. Ok. Change card (I have 5 Lexar's). Same thing. And again for all 5 of my cards now! Cards work on my old 40D which I had on me at my shoot this happened at. I was told to try and format the cards on my laptop.. I own a mac so I erased the partition under MS-DOS (FAT) on one of them and while the card seems fine on the computer, it's still the same error back in camera. Then I tried to format the rest of them, all but one would not read, the one that did (32gb udma7 bought this year) had an error saying the disk inserted was not readable by this computer, I clicked on Initialize and it brought me to disk utility where it said the name was Generic Compact Flash and capacity was 155gb?! Tried to erase partition, after a while it came back to say disk erase failed, unable to write to last block of device. There are no bent or missing pins in camera or my own card reader (not the corrupt one that originally started all of this) - everything was working perfectly fine before I used this card reader.. Is this an issue internally with the body? How could this be fixed? 

[ebiggs1]

I have heard of, not seen it myself, that a CF card that has a short can cause the camera or reader to also short out.  The only way to know this for sure is to contact Canon service.  It is also advisable to use just the camera to format your CF cards.  Never use a computer.

You need to purchase a good high quality CF card reader.  Not one of the cheap charlie's!

[Kayla1]

I physically cannot format the cards in the camera. That's part of the problem. Like I said I do use a good quality reader. I have never used my computer to delete files ever on my CF cards - only ever format in camera. Until the errors came - error CF please format, then when try to format in camera it says cannot format, change card. So I tried to format the partition using my disk utility but 3 of my cards won't even register as a volume on my MacBook, and one is showing as a crazy odd incorrect amount of storage on the volume. This whole thing is the most bizarre thing I've ever seen, and it seems like the camera was the one to spread the issue from one card to all of them. I'm just going to take it into Canon.

[RobertTheFat]

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Kayla1 wrote:
I physically cannot format the cards in the camera. That's part of the problem. Like I said I do use a good quality reader. I have never used my computer to delete files ever on my CF cards - only ever format in camera. Until the errors came - error CF please format, then when try to format in camera it says cannot format, change card. So I tried to format the partition using my disk utility but 3 of my cards won't even register as a volume on my MacBook, and one is showing as a crazy odd incorrect amount of storage on the volume. This whole thing is the most bizarre thing I've ever seen, and it seems like the camera was the one to spread the issue from one card to all of them. I'm just going to take it into Canon.

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I hope they're still willing to work on a 5D2.

[jrhoffman75]

Kayla1 - please report back what the problem was so the forum can learn.

[blazeracer]

Hello, I realize this is an old thread, but was this ever resovled? I have a 5D Mark ii that did this exact same thing today. I have alway loaded photos to the computer using a cable, but this morning I wanted to finally get to doing a firmware upgrade. The ONLY way to do this is to connect a CF card to the laptop via card reader. I went and got one from Walmart, and it never did read any of my cards. NOW when I put any of my cards in the camera I get the same error where it says it cannot format, change card. I have NO bent pins in the camera's card slot. 

[blazeracer]

EDIT: Ok, blew up a photo of the card slot and a pin got pushed in. It's screwed. I don't know that it's the fault of the card reader, just dumb luck. Looking at it straight on, you would be hard presed to spot it. 

[shadowsports]

@blazeracer,

The OP never responded after her last post in 2017.  To ensure a timely response, its best to start a new thread and include the information specific to your device and issue.   When you insert a comment or reply in the middle of a old thread, it might not be seen or replied to.  Its also not easily searchable by others.

Bent pins in in a SD card slot usually happen when a card is not 100 aligned and is pressed into the slot.  CF cards can have the same issues.  They need to be inserted and removed with gentle even force.  Over time media can fail and data cannot be read from or written to a storage device.  I do not believe Canon still services 5D2's.  You can try midwestcamera dot com or retire the device if the cost for repair is prohibitive.  

[blazeracer]

Ok, so took a chill pill and relaxed a little, then got to digging into this thing. I got the main board out and the cover off of the card slot, and sure as anything, a pin got pushed in. I put on my magnifying visor and was able to get the pin out all the way undamaged. Amazon sells a highly conductive silver epoxy that will be here tomorrow night. I'll attempt the repair then.

Sooo, in the process of diassembling the camera, I reset the pin and tried all three of my CF cards. One of them pushed the same pin right back out. I popped the cover off the guitly card and shined a light throught the holes. The associated hole for that pin is plugged with a broken off pin from the cheap ass Walmart card reader. Card reader and card are now in the trash. Lesson learned. 

[Kayla1]

Hi! So yes actually I did get this resolved. Basically what happened is the card picked up corrupt data off of the card reader which is rare but since data is stored in the pins it can happen. Then when it went into my camera it fried the motherboard. So it needed a new board and CF assembly. Thankfully my former workplace agreed to foot the bill for repairs, I think it was about $700 including the service through canon directly. She was good as new after that 

[blazeracer]

Not sure how that can happen, no data is stored in pins. They are just inert pieces of aluminum. But I am 100% sure that the CF assembly is part of the motherboard. It can't be separated, there is no possible way. My pic above with the damaged pin is the CF assembly on the motherboard. If someone doesn't know how to repair it, or if it's damaged beyond repair, motherboard replacement is the only option. I know how to fix it, but that by no means guarantees it will be a succesfull repair. If it fails, I'll be looking for another Mark ii with a bad shutter or something that's not motherboard related I can do a swap with.

Thanks for getting back with us!