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. 

[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.

[mhuang]

Perhaps I was not specific -- I had not applied ANY firmware modifications to the camera from the time I purchased it until it froze on me.

I used it purely as a black box product as any other amateur consumer would. Why should it lock up on me during normal, unmodified use?

[RobertTheFat]

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mhuang wrote:

Perhaps I was not specific -- I had not applied ANY firmware modifications to the camera from the time I purchased it until it froze on me.

I used it purely as a black box product as any other amateur consumer would. Why should it lock up on me during normal, unmodified use?

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I think we concluded that if the card 1) has a firmware update file in its topmost folder and 2) is formatted to perform a boot sequence when power is first applied, it will try to do a firmware update when you almost certainly don't want it to. To test that hypothesis, remove any .FIR file from the card and/or do a low-level format on the card. If we're right, you should have no further trouble.

[mhuang]

Bob, while I apprecaite your feedback, I think you missed my point.

In my situation, I used a brand new SD card -- purchased with the sole purpose of being used in this camera. It has never been in another camera, and in no way did I put a firmware file on it until I was forced to. (I know this because I hadn't downloaded one for this camera until yesterday.)

That said, the card has been in there in the camera for the past year when *poof* it decided to brick me.

Placing a *.FIR firmware file triggers the camera to pick up the update, which it does. Problem rectified for now.

The root problem I am unhappy with is that the camera should not randomly lock up (such as in the middle of a photo shoot) into a firmware update mode out of the box, with a new/dedicated flash card.

It is a completely different issue if an owner knowingly updates the flash on their own, or decides to play games with the firmware/configuration, etc. For this particular camera, I had no intention of doing either. I would have been perfectly happy using the firmware that the camera came with from the factory until it forced itself upon me at an inopportune time.