Canon 20D freeze

Has anyone else had this problem with a Canon 20 D ?

After functioning normally for 20 minutes, suddenly the camera will not take a picture. Then it becomes completely unresponsive. When I switch the camera OFF and the strobe off, the LCD panel on the camera remains illuminated. Switching the camera on again has no effect. I surface and open the (Ikelite) housing, which is found to be completely dry inside. After disconnection from the housing electronics, the camera still remains completely `frozen' with the LCD panel still on.

The only thing that works is to remove the battery and replace it. After that, the camera functions normally again.. (cue theme music from 'The Outer Limits')

This has happened 4 times, with two different CF cards. It's happened once on land without the housing.

I'll take the camera to Canon for servicing but it would be helpful to know if anyone else has had the same problem.

Doesn't sound like anything I've encountered. The only "freeze" I encountered was due to the fact that I switched lenses while the power switch was "on" (it was in sleep mode). The camera froze after I tried to review the first shot I took. The small LCD showed "Error -99" or something of the like. It was fixed during the surface interval by powering the camera off, removing the lens (not sure if this was necessary), replacing the lens, and powering the camera back on.

Do you have the latest firmware installed?

Do you have the latest firmware installed?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sorry I can't answer that question because the camera is now being serviced.

Are you using Lexar cards, there's been an issue with some Lexar cards and Canon DSLR's. Eric posted some information on this a few weeks ago.

Don't know if this helps but I used to have a very similar experience when I first got my 20D right after it was released by canon. A firmware update solved it.

I assume though that you have a newer camera/firmware so I would look at the lens. IS lenses can sometimes freeze the camera if switching from portrait to landscape with IS on. Also try cleaning the lens and battery contacts.

Aloha,

Ryan

It has been known to freeze if the shutter was set to as low as it can go and you take a shot, the shutter will stay open for maxinum light but has been known not to close, don't know if that helps.

I've got the same problem, after lot of tests I found the problem, It was about my sigma 15mm FE, just send back my sigma and receive a new one without problem.

Regards

I've had the dreaded "Error 99" freeze on my EOS 20D a couple of times. I'm still trying to figure out what's causing it. Both times it has happened I've had on a Canon 10-22 lens.

Make sure your firmware is up to date.

~Matt Segal

After having to deal few times with a freeze or Error 99 I called Canon.

The person that took my call was very helpful and asked many many many questions about what was recurrent at the time the freeze took place.

He ruled out a memory card problem and mentioned to me that Canon has found Error 99 was trigered most of the times by a poor conection in between camera and lens.

He was very specific about NOT USING ANY LIQUID AGENT OF ANY DAMN KIND TO CLEAN THE CONTACTS.

He mentioned that even a slight, not visible film of dirt or corosion in the contacts was enough to cause the freeze.

Canon recomendation at that time was to just wipe the contacts in both camera and lens with your fingers or a pencil eraser. Yes, he said a pencil eraser. go figure.

He added that "probably", the fact that the camera was under service in a mostly humid and corrosive environment such as ocean water, made the camera more sensitive to an already existing problem of poor conection.

Hope that this bit of information can be of help.

HUgo

Thanks a lot for all the advice!

I think the firmware is up to date.

The CF cards were not Lexar brand.

I don't have an IS lens, just the basic 18-55mm kit lens and a 100mm macro lens.

Hmmmm.... I think the freeze usually happened when I switched rapidly from portrait to landscape.

I'll stock up on pencil erasers!

send it back to canon, i'm sure its under warrenty.

PS. dont tell them you use it underwater

Canon have serviced the camera under warranty.

The service report says: "resoldered DC/DC board. Cleaned reset switch. Firmware upgraded from 1.0.5 to 2.0.0."

So it could have been the firmware. Here is a webpage which reports that version 1.0.5 had a problem - Canon Japan - Firmware update

Thanks, everyone, for your helpful suggestions.

Adrian

Sorry I'm a bit late on an old thread, but I have had the Err99 problem repeatably on my 30D in an Ike housing.

For me, it only occurs using the Canon 100mm f2.8 Macro. This occurred in cold water on three separate dives, around 12ºC/52ºF. It is completely correctable by opening the housing and removing and replacing the battery.

Main symptoms I saw, on 3 separate dives were autofocus not working, focus point selection not working, and in one instance, none of the left side buttons working (menu, playback, info, jump). None of the buttons or levers are inadvertently making contact. Cycling the camera's power on and off has no effect. The camera is usable if you can manually focus, but gives Err99 every few shots, requiring that you cycle power to resume working in this mode.

I suspect it's a cold shock issue with this lens -- it only occurs on first introduction to cold water, only with that lens. After pulling and reseating the battery, there's no problem with the system, and it works fine for multiple dives afterwards.

Hi there. I'm having a similar problem with my 40D at the moment (see thread "busy signal flashing on 40D). After looking at all the responses here, there really does not seem to be a common denominator connecting the freeze up of the camera. I hope everyone has had there problem sorted out.

Cheers

Parso

From what I've read the Error 99 is typically caused when the lens and camera contacts are dirty. The lens can't "talk" to the camera. There are lots of potential reasons for the Err 99 but that seems to be the most common. Seems especially likely if the problem is only showing up with the 100mm. You could try cleaning the contacts as Hugo notes above.

Good luck,

Steve

From what I've read the Error 99 is typically caused when the lens and camera contacts are dirty. The lens can't "talk" to the camera. There are lots of potential reasons for the Err 99 but that seems to be the most common. Seems especially likely if the problem is only showing up with the 100mm. You could try cleaning the contacts as Hugo notes above.

 

Good luck,

Steve

Thanks Steve (Ah, another desert dweller into UW photography, are we BOTH insane?)

I'll try cleaning the contacts, but I'm a bit skeptical as I have the contacts uncovered for maybe 5 sec per lens change, and it's never touched anything (in my possession) but the camera contacts. I've had them both for about 7 months. Is there really opportunity for dirt here?

Thanks Steve (Ah, another desert dweller into UW photography, are we BOTH insane?)

"The insane on occasion are not without their charms"

Steve

I've seen the Error 99 message a few times but it's been a while. If I remember correctly when I last researched it, this can be caused by taking several shots quickly. I mean bam, bam, bam, bam. I stopped doing that and haven't had the problem since. I now wait a couple seconds between shots. As I said, I haven't researched this problem in a couple years but that seemed to "fix" the problem for me. I didn't do anything else as far as cleaning contacts, switching lenses, etc. Pulling the battery does fix the problem.

Had this error a lot with Ikelite TTL system.  Have found that the error can be prevented by not switching the strobes off during a dive and also not allowing the camera to auto switch off - I assume it's caused by a Canon / Ikelite comms problem when one of them switches off (or wakes up)