My New M8 has got a problem...

[fiddyyy]

Hi all! Merry Christmas!!
I just bought my 1st Leica M8 3 days ago, also bought a LHSA 25th Anniversary 50mm f2 Summicron with it. Been having lots of fun learning, but this morning, the camera suddenly ceased to take pics, error message was to reset folder number.
Don't quite know what that means...so I pull out SD card and insert back in again, it says SD card full. It is a 8GB card and I have only about 80 over pics on it with normal Jpeg settings. I then put in another 2GB SD card (with plently space in it!) from my E-P1 into the M8, it also shows SD card full. When I take out both cards from the M8 back into E-P1, it shows SD cards full too! I reformatted both cards in the E-P1 (I did transferred all pics from both cards last night!), both cards were then all free up. I could take pics on my E-P1 as per normal, but the moment I try both cards again in the M8, same thing happened again!
Firmware on my M8 is 2.004, I presume that's the latest available.
Anyone experience this problem before? Any help is greatly appreciated!!

Best regards,
Yu-Ying

 

[Pickett Wilson]

Did you format the cards in the M8? They need to be formatted in the camera they are used in.

 

[D&A]

Hi Yu-Ying,

On a friends M8 which once in a while exhibited such symptoms as you described) and also an M9 I got to put through it's paces..I have found one thing more than anything else that cures such issues (although there is no guarentees). Take whatever card SDHC you want to use in your M8, stick it into a card reader attached to a computer, and then drag (or delete) ever single folder on that card...so the card when inserted a second time into the card reader, shows abolutelu nothing...just a black card. Then take that card, insert it into your M8 and the very first thing you do, is format the card in the camera.

This has prevented any issue with probablematic cards in my friends M8 and also allowed me to shoot a variety of cards when putting an M9 through its paces.

As a precauctionary mesaure, it wouldn't hurt to remove and re-insert your M8 battery one or twice from your M8, before inserting that completely black SDHC card.

One think I never do during the proceeduce I described above for the SDHC card, is reformat it on the computer. Others have done with with some success...but the proceeduce I outlined above has worked every single time. Let us know if this helps.

Dave (D&A)

 

[fiddyyy]

Thanks all for your help! I got it sorted out and I'm a happy snapper again!

Thanks all for your help! I got it sorted out and I'm a happy snapper again!

Wishing everyone a wonderful New Year!!

Best regards,
Yu-Ying

 

[D&A]

Hi Yu-Ying,

Glad to hear it. For future reference, could you share what you did to short things out. This way the info can be apssed on to those down the road who might encounter similar issues. Thanks!

Dave (D&A)

 

[fiddyyy]

This is how I sorted my problem...

This is how I sorted my problem...

Hi Yu-Ying,

Glad to hear it. For future reference, could you share what you did to short things out. This way the info can be apssed on to those down the road who might encounter similar issues. Thanks!

Dave (D&A)

Hi Dave,

I managed to get it sorted last night after following what Pete from another forum gave me a step to step solution. I don't think he would mind me sharing with all of you or anyone that might enecounter the same problem in the future.
Here goes,

Yu-ying,

Welcome to the forum!

This sounds like the glitch that happened when firmware version 2.001(?) was released and when the M8's software was updated it automatically reset the file number to L9999001 (or thereabouts) and pretty soon the camera reached L9999999 and the error message you've posted popped up

If it is this problem (and you can confirm by checking the last file number) then it's easily fixed by resetting the file number using the following procedure:

1. Set the Picture Number in the menu to "Standard".
2. Format the SD card in camera.
3. Reset the File Number in the menu. It actually says “Reset fold. No”, that is the one you want.
4. Set Picture Number back to "Continuous"
5. Take one image
6. Shut off camera, remove SD card and place in card reader attached to a computer.
7. Access the image in your Finder or Explorer (Mac or PC); rename the image number to whatever file number/image number you want. I would suggest Lyyyxxxx, with "y" being your preferred folder number (See Note Below) and "x" being the frame number you want to start with. (You are making these changes to the file name on the card in the card reader.)

NOTE

If you want to change the first or second digit of the L100 (Lyyy above) in the file name, like to L200 or 120 or 220, then you have to change the folder name also.
The directory/folder structure on the card when in a card reader is [Drive Letter]:\DCIM\100LEICA\. You need to change the 100LEICA to whatever you want the file number to start with. Like if you want it to be L200xxxx then you need to rename that folder to 200LEICA. If you want L120 then you need to change that folder name to 120LEICA. It would look like this [Drive Letter]:\DCIM\120 or 200LEICA.

8. Properly remove card from card reader and return to camera.
9. Turn the camera on and press "Play". The file will now display with newly renamed folder and file number. (Use "Info" to see this data.)
10. Expose another image to confirm and check file numbers.
11. Format SD card, and you are good to go from that point on.

(Thanks go to Shootist for this invaluable information.)

Pete.
__________________
Eur. Ing. Pete F@rnsworth
Live and let live.

Have a great weekend and happy shooting! So happy I'm back in the game 😀

Best regards,
Yu-Ying

 

[Fujitsu]

Anyone experience this problem before? Any help is greatly appreciated!!

Yes, my M8 was very picky with SD cards. Some cards needed to be formatted on my PC (or on my EOS digital... !) before they would work on the M8. Formatting on the M8 sometimes had no effect whatsoever.

Then I went back to film anyway and stopped worrying... 🙂

 

[D&A]

Hi Yu-Ying,

Again great that you got this all sorted out. There are a few glitches that can happen with both the Camera and/or SDHC cards with the M8/M8.2 and even M9...and depending on the issue, there are various fixes. When you first described your probelm, it wasn't quite clear is was the specific issue you were dealing with, in regards to what firmware you were using and the image # that was assigned to the very last image taken by the camera.

In any case lost of valuable fixes and suggestions that often work and truly appreciate your posting "your fix"..and the more info out there to help, the better for everyone to :get back in the game"...as you say. Great news all around. HAve lots of fun with the camera..its a great one!

Dave (D&A)