60D Won’t Turn On: Memory Cards and Magic Lantern

[JohnnyMain]

I found a fix to my problem and I’d like to share it.

Problem: After a couple of apparent failed Magic Lantern firmware loading attempts, my 60D would only turn on if I followed this specific procedure.

1. Power off unit.
2. Remove memory card and shut card door.
3. Remove battery and then reinstall charged battery. Close battery door.
4. Power on unit. Unit will only power on if no memory card is present!!!!! I was freaking out. My awesome camera was now effectively useless!!!!!

Backstory

I wanted to load Magic Lantern onto my 60D. The install failed twice. That is, I saw Install Successful dialogs after each install but when I repowered the 60D, Magic Lantern would never fire up. On my 3rd attempt I noticed the 60D stopped powering on at all. I began to panic because it felt like my awesome camera had become a paper weight.

After struggling with the unit I discovered I could power it on but only by following the exact steps above and in that order. I tried connecting the EOS utility and that did connect but there was no way to reload firmware from that program. As soon as I would open the memory card door to insert a memory card, the unit would shut off and would not power back on after the card was inserted.

I pulled the battery from the camera, and frustrated I went to bed for the night.

The following morning I had an idea: try a different memory card. And that seemed to work.

The alternate memory card had nothing but the latest firmware version 1.1.2 on it and I installed it as quick as I could. The camera seems to be working well now.

I have given up on installing Magic Lantern.

I hope the above helps.

[JohnnyMain]

Hi TCampbell,

ML wouldn't install until I reverted back from 1.1.2 to 1.1.1. They also provided a version of 1.1.1 and I installed it.

My 60D is back to having 1.1.2 installed on it and is working well. I'm happy this is over.

[Peter]

If you want support when you have a failure with Magic Lantern, I recommend the Magic Lantern forum instead.

The times I have had a failure has been when I have opened the memory card slot before the camera finished writing data to the card. Then I will need to unmount the battery.

I wish Canon add some of the things ML has, for example raw histogram.

[JohnnyMain]

Hi Peter,

I didn't start this tread wanting or asking for support. I wanted to pass on to the Canon community an issue I encountered and a solution that worked for me. 

Thanks for the tip on waiting for the data to be written before pulling the card. I also like to turn off the unit before I remove the card.

Pulling the battery and reinserting it was a required step for me to get my camera to turn on prior to switching memory cards. It was driving me crazy.