70D frozen on "Firmware update program" Update file cannot be found . . .

[clicker]

My 70D is frozen on the screen that says "Firmware update program  Update file cannot be found.  Please check the memory card and reload the battery and try again".  This message still appears when the camera power is turned off - I have to remove the battery, or it just burns up the battery.   There are no updates available for the camera, yet the message persists, even when battery and memory card are removed and reloaded. 

[Waddizzle]

"However this is sort of a work-around. Canon needs to provide a solution to stop the firmware update getting triggered automatically without any reason. Each time it happened I was either in the middle of a shoot or the camera was ON but idle for a minute or so."

Have you tried to install Magic Lantern on this camera body? 

Have you tried to perform the firmware update when connected via USB, instead of putting a file on the memory card?

[RobertTheFat]

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kcalpesh wrote:

Hi I am sorry, due to some changes to the website, the URL got changed.

http://www.pixellicious.com/canon-firmware-update-program-error/

Canon service center technicians haven't been able to provide a proper solution. So I have copied the UPDATE file to them memory card. 

Now, every time the Firmware update program error gets triggered, the camera finds the file on the memory card and runs the installation. This ensures that your camera no longer remains stuck on the screen.

However this is sort of a work-around. Canon needs to provide a solution to stop the firmware update getting triggered automatically without any reason. Each time it happened I was either in the middle of a shoot or the camera was ON but idle for a minute or so.

I hope the information on the URL helps you. I have had too many troubled days due to that error.

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I assume that you've tried changing cards (or at least done a low-level format) and that it didn't help? You almost have to think that either the card is corrupted in some strange way or there's a bug in the 70D's firmware. In the latter case, I'd expect to see a lot more people reporting the issue.

[kcalpesh]

Hi Bob, I tried 3 different cards. One fresh, brand new and 2 of them low level formatted. That didn't resolve the issue. I don't feel like the issue was with the cards. My best guess is that the issue is with the firmware. Something is triggering the firmware update automatically.

Like I mentioned the last time it happened was just 4 days back and in the middle of the shoot I got the firmware update screen.  However, the camera didn't freeze this time becuase it found the firmware update file in the memory card.

I have placed this firmware update file on all the memory cards that I use now. Saves me from letting the camera freeze. 

[RobertTheFat]

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kcalpesh wrote:

Hi Bob, I tried 3 different cards. One fresh, brand new and 2 of them low level formatted. That didn't resolve the issue. I don't feel like the issue was with the cards. My best guess is that the issue is with the firmware. Something is triggering the firmware update automatically.

Like I mentioned the last time it happened was just 4 days back and in the middle of the shoot I got the firmware update screen.  However, the camera didn't freeze this time becuase it found the firmware update file in the memory card.

I have placed this firmware update file on all the memory cards that I use now. Saves me from letting the camera freeze. 

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A firmware update can take two or three minutes. It's gotta be embarrassing to have it happen in the middle of a shoot. ("Wait, folks; don't cut the cake yet ...")

[kcalpesh]

Just to mention, this has now happened twice since Jan 03 2017. Once I missed some really important photos during my kid's sports day at his school. How do I get to know if Canon is sort of looking into this kind of an issue?

[clicker]

As a followup to my original post, I ended up taking my 70D to Canon, and they reinstalled the firmware while I waited (many thanks to Canon in Costa Mesa, CA).  This was the second time that it happened to me, and there were no upgrades yet for the camera.  So it remains a mystery as to why it happens. Glad to hear about the work around with "update" software on a memory card. Would like to know if there is a link to the software, as I was unable to find one.  

[Tim · Accepted solution]

Hello Clicker, 

You can download firmware version 1.1.2 for your EOS 70D from Canon's web site, here. 

https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/support/details/cameras/dslr/eos-70d?tab=drivers

[mhuang]

What really infuraites me isn't that a firmware update is needed -- but that a noitification appeared with no warning, and I could not use the camera at all, either by power cycling it, removing/replacing the battery, etc. The worst part was that I was at a family event held at work, so it was not at a location where I could just apply the new update! I know there were shots I missed because my camera effectively became a brick on me at a horrible time!

The camera is working fine now, but I have no idea if/when this will happen again. We had similar confidence issues with a "Lens Error" that we had fixed on a 7D. My wife and I thought those issues were behind us after switching to a 70D. Now we're lacking confidence once again. (And every non-phone camera in our house is a Canon product.)

Occurences like this seriously erodes our trust in the product. When I do not have confidence that the product will work when I need it to -- not knowing if it will suddenly "lock up" at an inopportune time -- I use it less and less. Up until now, I was considering getting another lens and building on to my kit. Now, I'm consdiering a NIkon. 😞

[RobertTheFat]

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mhuang wrote:

What really infuraites me isn't that a firmware update is needed -- but that a noitification appeared with no warning, and I could not use the camera at all, either by power cycling it, removing/replacing the battery, etc. The worst part was that I was at a family event held at work, so it was not at a location where I could just apply the new update! I know there were shots I missed because my camera effectively became a brick on me at a horrible time!

The camera is working fine now, but I have no idea if/when this will happen again. We had similar confidence issues with a "Lens Error" that we had fixed on a 7D. My wife and I thought those issues were behind us after switching to a 70D. Now we're lacking confidence once again. (And every non-phone camera in our house is a Canon product.)

Occurences like this seriously erodes our trust in the product. When I do not have confidence that the product will work when I need it to -- not knowing if it will suddenly "lock up" at an inopportune time -- I use it less and less. Up until now, I was considering getting another lens and building on to my kit. Now, I'm consdiering a NIkon. 😞

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Forgive me for pointing this out, but the instructions that accompany any firmware update are replete with warnings that the instructions must be followed precisely and that the camera must not be power-cycled during the update. And what could you have been thinking, to apply a firmware update right before an important photo shoot?

That said ...

Ten years ago I bricked my wife's XTi by making a similar mistake in a firmware upgrade a few days before an important family wedding. (In my defense, the instructions were absurdly abstruse, and the consequences dire of the slightest mistake.) I threw myself at Canon's mercy; and not only did they fix the camera under warranty, they held it for me at the Jamesburg shop, so that I could pick it up on the way to Philadelphia for the wedding.

But the important takeaway is that the right way to accomplish such an update is to copy the firmware file to a card, using a card reader (which, at the time, I had neglected to procure), and then adopt the much simpler procedure of updating the firmware from the card. This, too, is described in the instructions. Do it that way, and you should have no trouble next time.

[Waddizzle]

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@kcalpesh wrote:

Hi Bob, I tried 3 different cards. One fresh, brand new and 2 of them low level formatted. That didn't resolve the issue. I don't feel like the issue was with the cards. My best guess is that the issue is with the firmware. Something is triggering the firmware update automatically.

Like I mentioned the last time it happened was just 4 days back and in the middle of the shoot I got the firmware update screen.  However, the camera didn't freeze this time becuase it found the firmware update file in the memory card.

I have placed this firmware update file on all the memory cards that I use now. Saves me from letting the camera freeze. 

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Canon advises erasing the firmware file from the card by performing a low level format.  It doesn't hurt to have a spare card with the firmware file for an emergency.  But, I am pretty sure that you do not want it on the card that you are shooting with.  
You could have a bad circuit board in your camera, causing it to reboot.  Bad batteries could cause a false power cycle, too.

The only time the camera is supposed to look for the firmware file, is when the camera "powers up" and interrogates the memory card.  If it finds a firmware file, then the camera dutifully wants to load it.  But, even then, you are given the option to cancel or continue with installing the firmware file it found.