[iGlad]

I've just recently got this camera and decided to update the firmware so it can take a bigger SD card. It had fresh batteries and so i downloaded the .bin file from the Pentax website and loaded it onto the SD card, started it up and it started to update then the screen went blank and now I cannot switch it on as everything is blank.

I guess i have bricked the camera or is there anyway around it. No point in taking it to Pentax as it'd cost more to repair. If anyone knows of a solution please let me know or should I just buy another one?

Does anyone know of person or persons in the Manchester UK area who can flash this again to get it going?

I am aghast that firmware update that crashes can brick your camera.

any ideas suggestions would be appreciated.

I am a film man who's slowing moving over to digital but stuff like this makes me very apprehensive.

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Last edited by iGlad; 12-12-2016 at 07:17 PM.

[BigMackCam]

Sorry to hear this. Was the camera's battery fully charged when you did the update?

[lithedreamer]

I'm sorry to hear that. It's a bit of a trade-off: there's no '100% safe' way to update firmware on digital cameras (or phones, tablets, PC bios, etc), short of sending them to a technician, but any updates to film cameras required a tech, too.

[UncleVanya]

I've just recently got this camera and decided to update the firmware so it can take a bigger SD card. It had fresh batteries and so i downloaded the .bin file from the Pentax website and loaded it onto the SD card, started it up and it started to update then the screen went blank and now I cannot switch it on as everything is blank.

I guess i have bricked the camera or is there anyway around it. No point in taking it to Pentax as it'd cost more to repair. If anyone knows of a solution please let me know or should I just buy another one?

Does anyone know of person or persons who can flash this again to get it going?

I am aghast that firmware update that crashes can brick your camera.

any ideas suggestions would be appreciated.

I am a film man who's slowing moving over to digital but stuff like this makes me very apprehensive.

Here's what I would try.
Remove batteries and leave them out. Try operating the power button a few times with no batteries in the camera.
Fully Charge the batteries overnight.
Try putting the batteries in and powering on the camera. Doesn't work? Try a new set of batteries and then repeat. If that fails then try the same but with a week between the time you turn it off and on. Then a month. It is possible that residual electricity in the power supply has the firmware update in flux. In my experience most of these systems will validate the update before switching over just to be sure a crash doesn't leave the device dead. But that's just my experience not a guarantee.

[Midnight Rider]

i downloaded the .bin file from the Pentax website and loaded it onto the SD card, started it up and it started to update then the screen went blank

I think this procedure that you followed might be your problem.


While it's normal to load the .bin file directly onto the SD card with later model Pentax DSLRs, I believe the earlier ones (such as the K110D), required you to extract the files from within the .bin file to a folder on your computer, and then copy the extracted files onto the SD card. From that point the procedure was similar to the later cameras.


I hope this is correct, and I hope it is helpful.

[iGlad]

Sorry to hear this. Was the camera's battery fully charged when you did the update?

yes it was, the update started to load and then nothing. Luckily I didn't pay too much for it now had that been a £700 camera. I still don't get how they can allow an update to possibly brick your camera.

---------- Post added 12-13-16 at 02:21 AM ----------

I'm sorry to hear that. It's a bit of a trade-off: there's no '100% safe' way to update firmware on digital cameras (or phones, tablets, PC bios, etc), short of sending them to a technician, but any updates to film cameras required a tech, too.

I've updated lots of phones, tablets, DVD players and computers over the years and never had a problem as any stalled update can be run again. I've never come across this before with digital SLR cameras before. If i can get it back up and running I will never install another camera update. Luckily I still shoot a lot of film.

[lithedreamer]

yes it was, the update started to load and then nothing. Luckily I didn't pay too much for it now had that been a £700 camera. I still don't get how they can allow an update to possibly brick your camera.

---------- Post added 12-13-16 at 02:21 AM ----------


I've updated lots of phones, tablets, DVD players and computers over the years and never had a problem as any stalled update can be run again. I've never come across this before with digital SLR cameras before. If i can get it back up and running I will never install another camera update. Luckily I still shoot a lot of film.

Sure. I've updated tons and tons of devices and only bricked a handful of them (only updating firmware, not software can run the risk of bricking a device). I'm a sucker for new features, but if you feel like committing to never updating a camera again, go for it.

[UncleVanya]

I think this procedure that you followed might be your problem.


While it's normal to load the .bin file directly onto the SD card with later model Pentax DSLRs, I believe the earlier ones (such as the K110D), required you to extract the files from within the .bin file to a folder on your computer, and then copy the extracted files onto the SD card. From that point the procedure was similar to the later cameras.


I hope this is correct, and I hope it is helpful.

I don't think that is the problem unless Ricoh made a mistake on this page: Firmware Update Software for K110D | Software Downloads?RICOH IMAGING CANADA

[davidreilly3207]

Try a different battery. Charger can show full charge of dead batteries.

[BigMackCam]

Luckily I didn't pay too much for it now had that been a £700 camera. I still don't get how they can allow an update to possibly brick your camera.

I'm glad it wasn't too expensive.

As for allowing updates that can brick your camera... Well, it's not completely unheard of but your situation is in the tiniest, tiniest minority. The usual cause is that (one of?) the batteries either weren't fully charged, or appeared to be fully charged but, under high load, were unable to sustain the necessary voltage and current to write to the camera's EEPROM (or whatever memory device the camera's operating system is stored in). Depending on how old and how well-used the batteries are (and whether they're OEM or poor quality 3rd party items), that's the most likely cause I can think of.

If it wasn't the batteries at fault, then it possibly suggests another element of the camera may have been faulty. The reason I say this is that the process of writing a new code image to a memory device is very straightforward. There's really not much to go wrong so long as (a) the power source is constant and sufficient to complete the task, and (b) nothing fails in the read/write hardware over which the update takes place.

It's cold comfort, I know, but this is generally a very, very reliable process. I've updated the firmware on my K-5, K-3, K-3II, Q and Q7 (in some cases, numerous times) without any problem. Also bear in mind that the same tiny risk exists with firmware update of any camera - Nikon, Canon, Sony, Fuji, Olympus, Panasonic (if you search "camera bricked firmware update" on Google, you'll see this). It's not a Pentax-specific thing.

Now that the camera is unresponsive, have you tried taking the batteries out, leaving the camera for a few hours, then fitting a different set of new batteries, to see if the camera starts up? It's just possible that if you're using the same batteries, they have been depleted during the update process.

[iGlad]

I'm glad it wasn't too expensive.

As for allowing updates that can brick your camera... Well, it's not completely unheard of but your situation is in the tiniest, tiniest minority. The usual cause is that (one of?) the batteries either weren't fully charged, or appeared to be fully charged but, under high load, were unable to sustain the necessary voltage and current to write to the camera's EEPROM (or whatever memory device the camera's operating system is stored in). Depending on how old and how well-used the batteries are (and whether they're OEM or poor quality 3rd party items), that's the most likely cause I can think of.

If it wasn't the batteries at fault, then it possibly suggests another element of the camera may have been faulty. The reason I say this is that the process of writing a new code image to a memory device is very straightforward. There's really not much to go wrong so long as (a) the power source is constant and sufficient to complete the task, and (b) nothing fails in the read/write hardware over which the update takes place.

It's cold comfort, I know, but this is generally a very, very reliable process. I've updated the firmware on my K-5, K-3, K-3II, Q and Q7 (in some cases, numerous times) without any problem. Also bear in mind that the same tiny risk exists with firmware update of any camera - Nikon, Canon, Sony, Fuji, Olympus, Panasonic (if you search "camera bricked firmware update" on Google, you'll see this). It's not a Pentax-specific thing.

Now that the camera is unresponsive, have you tried taking the batteries out, leaving the camera for a few hours, then fitting a different set of new batteries, to see if the camera starts up? It's just possible that if you're using the same batteries, they have been depleted during the update process.

I have tried it with a new set of batteries this morning and still nothing, will try it with another completely different set later today.

[Not a Number]

Any device with flash upgrade-able firmware is subject to being rendered in-operable. The number one cause is interruption of the power supply during the flash process. Corruption of firmware which contains the BIOS leaves the entire system dead in the water. The instructions for upgrading firmware for any device will all warn not to interrupt the process or power off the device. Interrupting power during the flash process can sometimes physically damage the EPROM memory. The latest trend is for battery powered devices check the power level the battery and not allow the update if the level is below a certain percentage. Unfortunately the K110D is too old to have this safety check. Computer motherboard manufacturers addressed the problem by placing the bootstrap and BIOS in protected ROM or doubling the EPROM and keeping a backup copy of the firmware. Recovery requires opening the case and setting jumpers. Failing that the EPROM would have to be replaced. Hand-held devices do not have the luxury of space or cost factors for a backup system. Other consumer devices (printers, DVD players etc.) are usually not user serviceable to begin with.

Having been in the IT and Data Processing field since the late 1970's I witnessed the the evolution of firmware updates from replacing the entire mother/daughter board to replaceable ROMs to replaceable EPROMs to user flashable EPROMs. In the event of flash failure to solution usually is replacing the EPROM. With most devices this can only be done at a service center - if the firmware chip is surface mounted it is usually easier and cheaper to replace the entire circuit board.

Do a search engine query on "BRICKED NIKON/CANON" and you will see this is not confined to Pentax.

[E-man]

I feel your pain. I bricked my first Pentax, a pristine *istDL the same way a few days after I got it. Fortunately, I had bought a SquareTrade warranty when I got the camera on eBay and was able to recoup my purchase price. Still, I felt totally sick about having killed that camera and I was very gun shy about updating firmware after that and I never updated the firmware on the Samsung 1XGL I got to replace the *istDL and eventually gave it to my then-girlfriend with a couple of 2GB cards. But three years later, I got a Kx that required a firmware update and decided to take the risk. As insurance, I put in a set of Energizer Lithium cells, fresh out of the package. The update was successful and I was emboldened to update the two other bodies that I owned--a K2000 and K100D--taking similar precautions with the batteries. Thankfully, both were successful. When I got my K10D a few months ago, I had much less hesitation about updating it, although I did top off the charge on the battery before attempting it. Fortunately, that update was also successful. I wish you good luck in reviving your camera but I think your instincts are correct that you may be better off simply replacing the camera. The good news is older Pentax bodies are very affordable these days. Be patient and you'll find a good deal.

[pentasonic49]

Bad luck, I have never had the firmware update fail in K100D, K10D, K20D, K5Dand K3 II.Some of them multiple updates.

[tomwil]

Thought AC adapters were recommended when doing firmware updates?