FX9 asks for reset info on start-up then APR gets stuck

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LennyLevy

Veteran
Had bizzarre experience this morning with my FX9. I hadn't used it in over a month and when it turned on it asked for all the basic set up info: time, date, etc. This was scary but I filled it out and Then it asked for me to do an APR and it got stuck running the APR . I had to pull the battery to turn it off.

Then I put a different battery in and it turned on normally but my typical settings were gone and I had to run an old All File. That loaded fine though so all seems normal. It is possible that the settings being gone was due to it being used on a multicam a month ago and i hadn't reset it yet so that was scary but makes more sense. However asking for reset info and the APR thing don't.

The only thing I can think of is its possible that the camera was turned to the "ON" position and I shocked it by pitting the battery on . That's not how I usually operate the camerqa but I don't recall if that might have happened by accident . The only other thing is I'm wondering if there's an internal battery that is dying . Any ideas out there?
 
All electronics since I can remember always tell you not to shut them down when they are running certain processes.

APR or anything with some type of sensor calibration is going to fall under this category, and in your case APR was taking longer than usual but maybe not stuck and you interrupted it by pulling the battery which produced a software malfunction that resulted in the lost settings.

Now if it was really stuck and still going after an hour then you had no other choice, but that's most likely the reason.

An internal battery could also be dying but I think more unlikely.

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As far as asking for that basic info, maybe it's SOP and a software prompt that occurs when the camera detects it hasn't been turned on for a long time.

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None of this is definitive, just some info.
 
I let the APR go for about 15 minutes or more and the cancel button wouldn't work. I suspect the lost settings actually were due to the multicam where they typically put in their own files.
 
You wouldn't know which settings they put on your camera? (maybe you rented it out)
 
Well I used it after the multicam (where they reset all the cameras to their settings) for a quick job and it had those settings in it ( which were unusual for Australia), but all the menus were changed and my guess is I just changed a few parameters but didn't bother to reset the All File after the multicam. My SD card was not in the camera so I'm sure I didn't do the reset. I'm not concerned about the menus - that all makes sense. The Fact the camera started out asking me to reset the time , and date and then bricked on the APR was bizarre though. I've been very slow and when working it hasn't been with my FX9 so its been since 8/2 since I turned it on.
 
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I also posted on the facebook FX9 forum and Alister Chapman monitors that . His reply was quick : "
The FX9 has a small rechargeable internal battery that runs the internal clock and allows your settings to be saved. This charges while the camera is off and a battery is attached (its why the attached battery will go flat after a couple of weeks). So, if no battery was attached to the camera and it hasn't been used for a while it is likely the backup battery went flat and as a result the camera lost the clock and other settings. APR is requested every week, so it would be normal for it to want the APR to be done, but I don't know why it got stuck doing it unless perhaps the APR map was perhaps also lost in which case it could take much longer to find every out of spec pixel compared to a normal APR routine where there may only be a couple of pixels to map out.”
 
That's how most electronics with internal batteries worked since like the 80s but usually those internal batteries wouldn't die that quickly (like I powered on old tape cameras after years of not using them) but who knows though, & I think you're good either way.
 
Alister : it's a good idea to put a battery on the camera for a couple of days each month.
 
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LennyLevy said:
Thanks Norbro, one more piece of the puzzle . I was only 2 months though so keep that in mind.
Lenny
Click to expand...

Three months is best-case scenario when the camera is band new. Like all batteries, the performance of the internal battery degrades over time and eventually will not hold a charge as it did when new. I had to replace the internal on my Odyssey earlier this year because every time I powered it up I had to reset everything. And my Sony Z280 wil lose the date and time now after only a few days of being stored on the shelf. I've started leaving leaving a battery connected to the camera as a stop-gap measure, but the day is coming when I'm going to have to crack the camera open and replace that battery. I'll bet the battery on your FX9 is ready for replacement if it has started asking you to set the date and time. In the mean time, you might want to store the camera with a battery attached.

I have no idea if the battery is related to the APR issue or not.
 
I bought my camera right away when they first came out so its definitely one fo the older ones out there. I'm wondering whether I hurt that battery by lettting it die - i.e not having a job for it for 2 months, and also if I can change the internal myself if it does go bad. Hate to have to send it in for that.
 
Damn , Its only been 2 weeks since I put a battery on the camera for 1 or 2 days to recharge the internal. I have a couple of jobs coming up starting friday so I decided to check it and it was dead again . It only takes a few minutes to reset the timne & date and then reenter a User file, but its a PITA and its scary. i don't know how long it will last at all now. I'll have to start watching it everyday . Hopefully it won't fail right in the middle of a shoot .
Do i need to send it in to Sony ? What will that cost ? Why can't they make it user fixable?

Lenny
 
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