Nikon D70 failed and continuous blinking of CF light

Does your D70 failed and CF light keeps on blinking, MENU wont display, etc...


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Hi Pinoy,
Send in to Nikon this morning, told them I'll be flying off on 28May. They promise to return me on 27May. Job sheet state that they will repair the camera(blinking green light), clean ccd and upgrade firmware. It's FOC, at least that buy bring down my heat. Will miss the 22May, anyone want to go I'll give them my pass and Tshirt.
 

Brought Mar 2004 and having a problem now :(

After updating to V2.0 and took acouple of shots, next day not working anymore. :cry:
Dont know if something to do to updating the firmware. :confused:
Anyway now at Nikon Service Center for repair and sensor cleaning as well. Dont know how much since warranty expired already. :cry:
Hopefully they can fix it fast to resume taking photo. :(
 

Wah lau ... so coincidental.... camera expires almost immediately after warranty expired. I think this kinda confirms my time bomb theory about Nikon D70 Cameras. Btw, have you heard the same about IBM (Hitachi) HDDs? :think:
 

stingrey said:
Brought Mar 2004 and having a problem now

After updating to V2.0 and took acouple of shots, next day not working anymore.
Dont know if something to do to updating the firmware. :confused:
Anyway now at Nikon Service Center for repair and sensor cleaning as well. Dont know how much since warranty expired already. :cry:
Hopefully they can fix it fast to resume taking photo. :(


My D70 also failed a few days ago without updating the latest firmware 2.0. :cry:

Nikon Singapore will repair it FOC even though the warranty has expired. This is what we call Customer Service. :thumbsup:
 

Pinoy_SAP said:
Summary: :thumbsup:

As the creator of this "useful" thread (ehem), let me take the privilege of summarizing the important points to help the D70 owners on how to deal with the most talked about "Nikon D70 failed and continuous blinking of CF light” (also known as FCB light metering failure).

Symptoms:
1) D70 CF light indicator continuously blinks and drains your battery flat overnight.
2) Press the MENU button and the screen will just display in half a second and then disappear.
3) Camera is totally “out-of-order” and can no longer function (time to bring out your spare body)
4) Metering is totally off and produced unpredictable result which is sometimes an early symptom just before you encounter items 1 to 3.

What To Do:
1) Don’t panic! If your D70 suddenly goes offline, bro check the battery first. If you replaced the battery and the same thing happen, check the above symptoms esp. items 1-3.
2) If you are in a photo shoot/session, time to bring out your spare body and resume shooting (don’t despair, worry about it later)
3) If the above symptoms appear, NO other option but to bring it to Nikon Service center for repair.
4) Don’t feel bad, it can be repaired

Outlook:
1) This is a known problem (meaning, the problem was identified and a solution was also formulated/implemented) and the replaced component is free of charge (during warranty period).
2) The time to repair should take as little as 2-3 days to 3-4 weeks, based on the availability of the replacement spare part(s) and queue.
3) So far, there was no re-occurrence of the same problem after the repair (not that I know of, and also speaking for my own D70)
4) And lastly, a few cases with expired warranty (e.g. between 1-2 months) was able get their D70 repaired “Free of charge” – kudos to Nikon Service Center (for how long, nobody knows. just try lah).
5) For those who are engaging in “profit-related-photo-activities”, always remember to bring a back-up camera body (better prepared than sorry).

Conclusion:
1) For those who felt bad about the experience (that includes me initially), just remember that the problem can be fixed and you're back in action. An "unconfirmed" post also pointed that batches after Sept 2004 “might” be safe from this problem. No specific batches or serial number can be identified and there are no confirmed statistics for this problem. Not sure about D70s though.
2) C’mon guys, as if there is a close competitor for D70 (except for D70s, obviously) in terms of value for money and performance. So for better or worst… we will be using this camera together with your lens and flashgun (hoaah, i-TTL wireless – CLS wow!) for at least a few more months/years and who knows!
3) Anybody updated their firmware to 2.0, if not… what are you waiting for! The new firmware literally changes the look and feel of the MENU (for better I may say) and few other improvements here and there.

Ps: If this does not warrant a sticky vote, well pls make it. Thanks. ;)


This thread was v.useful to me, it wud be a good idea to make it sticky for others who may face the same problem.
 

actually, no real need to make it a sticky. as long as someone comes in to post a message once a while, it'll be brought up.
 

When there is a problem with the camera, be it blinking of CF light, back focus, sesnor problem etc. the only place to get it fixed is Nikon Service Center, that is why they are there for. The same understanding applies to other electronic goods too, whether it is DVD player, TV, MP3 player etc.. the sevice center are there to assist you or listen to your complains. ;) ;)

IMHO, don't see the need to make this thread sticky.
 

Did the Nikon engineers programmed the Firmware 2.0 to accelerate the "continuous blinking death"? Mine just died too few days after the firmware upgrade. Hopefully Nikon Service Centre will not take too long to repair it ...
 

LOL happen to me also :bigeyes:
Already sent mine down to Nikon service ctr, they said it happen to a few other ppl also. Going to take abt 10 days to repair :(
 

Mine just died on me yesterday as I was getting ready to leave for a shoot. Bought in March 2004 and had about 5300 shutter releases when it failed.

Will be talking to Nikon service tomorrow.

Glad I found this thread, so I know I'm not the only one that has suffered this fate.
 

Hmmm... I'm another one whose camera failed not long after upgrading to Firmware 2.0. Lasted about 50-something shots after the firmware upgrade. Died for good just before the Big Walk began.

This failure almost immediately after upgrading firmware is perhaps coincidence, but something Nikon should be taking note of...

Going to Nikon tomorrow to get my camera serviced.
 

Sob sob, i was trying to update my firmware late last night when the curse happened on me. The camera was fine and showed the word "done" after upgraded to A2.0, but immediately after that the camera went dead, no blinking CF light or any kind of response as if there was no battery inside. Sigh, got to make a trip to Nikon SC liao. Luckily it failed after i came back from my China trip 2 days ago. My cam is only 1 mth+. This really makes me feel insecured to bring it for long oversea trip without backup :(
 

CF blinking light, camera refused to switch on. Sent the camera to Nikon Service Center of Tuesday 24/05.

Got it back today 27/05. Service report say they changed the Light Metering FCB and upgraded firmware to 2.0.

Thanks to the kind people at Nikon, it was FOC although warranty expired.

Did test shots, everything seem fine. Will have to shoot more to see if anything happens and update in this thread.

Kudos to Nikon Service Center :thumbsup:
 

Hey Guys .....you should be telling this kind of horror stories at this hour .....
just when I got my firmware upgraded ...... :eek: :eek: :eek:
 

Zenten said:
Hey Guys .....you should be telling this kind of horror stories at this hour .....
just when I got my firmware upgraded ...... :eek: :eek: :eek:

I also just upgraded my firmware myself. Haven't tried photoshoot yet.... :sweat:
 

teerex - what time u send on 24/5? I sent mine on 24/5 too, abt 1pm. havnt heard frm them yet.
 

Paul_Yeo said:
I also just upgraded my firmware myself. Haven't tried photoshoot yet.... :sweat:

so far have shot 200+ frames with firmware 2.0 and didn't encounter any problem :sweat: :sweat: .
 

teerex said:
CF blinking light, camera refused to switch on. Sent the camera to Nikon Service Center of Tuesday 24/05.

Got it back today 27/05. Service report say they changed the Light Metering FCB and upgraded firmware to 2.0.

Thanks to the kind people at Nikon, it was FOC although warranty expired.

Did test shots, everything seem fine. Will have to shoot more to see if anything happens and update in this thread.

Kudos to Nikon Service Center :thumbsup:

Hi... Did nikon service center say they will esitmate the repair cost when you send in...but somehow you get it FOC?
 

HOCL said:
teerex - what time u send on 24/5? I sent mine on 24/5 too, abt 1pm. havnt heard frm them yet.

I sent in mine at about 11am. They called me at about 10am on the 27/05 to tell me that it's ready for collection.

Good Job, the guys at NSC.

BTW, made more than 150 test shots since I got the camera back. No problems, I guess the new firmware is quite stable.
 

Ender said:
Hi... Did nikon service center say they will esitmate the repair cost when you send in...but somehow you get it FOC?

They did not give me any estimate repair cost. Took my guarantee card (it's, undated) asked me when I bought the camera, told them slightly more than a year ago. The reception then chopped it end May 2004 as date of purchase. So it's still under warranty at point of sending in for repair.

As long as they do not mention anything about cost for repair, you can take it as FOC. But it's good to ask to make sure.
 

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