5D MkII will not turn on

[Kevin O'Connor]

I was trying to remove Magic Lantern from my 5D mkII and now the camera will not turn on.

According to the ML website all I need to do is hold the “SET” button while turning on the camera and the ML firmware will be by-passed, using only the Canon firmware to boot up. This process did not work.

Any suggestions on how to re-start my 5D?

Thanks

[Donald McPherson]

Make sure card door is closed properly. Try without cards.

[Kevin O'Connor]

I'll try with out the CF card installed.

I wonder if there is an issue with the mirco switches on the doors. I did hold down the switch on the battery door and it started to boot up but I had to let go to install the CF card. After that I can't get it to start at all.

Thanks

[Bryan Wilkat]

I had something like this once with the mkiii, I had to temporarily remove the internal clock battery and that did the trick.

[Kevin O'Connor]

I was able to start up my 5D mkII by not installing the CF card and holding down the “SET” button. Apparently something is wrong with the CF card I deleted the Magic Lantern firmware from.

So the micro switches for the doors was not the issue and I got the camera to start up with a different CF card (but by holding the “SET” button)

I also did the basic re-set / clear function process by removing both the battery and CF card then turn the power switch on for a second then off. This process seemed to re-set a past no-start condition I had.

I still need to re-load the latest Canon firmware, which should delete all the ML fimeware in the process.

Thanks for the help,

[Donald McPherson]

Ahh. There's you're answer. You deleted magic lantern. You need to format the card otherwise you leave the hidden boot folder that Canon looks and looks and looks.....for.

[Jon Fairhurst]

Good to hear that your camera turned back on. A number of months ago, my camera froze in the middle of a take and wouldn't turn back on. We did all the tricks, including removing the auxiliary battery, but it was dead-dead. Sent it to Canon. They replaced the main board. Not cheap but worth it.

Did ML cause the fault? I don't know. Never will. The camera was 4-1/2 years old. (Five years this month.) It was indoors and didn't seem to have overheated at the time.

Your repair was less expensive. :)

[Kevin O'Connor]

Well I spoke too soon, apparently the deletion of Magic Lantern is still causing problems. After correcting the camera no-start issue I never tried to take a few normal pics. I only tried to re-load the latest Canon firmware, which I thought loaded completely.

The problem now is that whatever setting (other than full Auto) I select on the camera (M, Tv, Av) the shutter release button requires two presses to complete the shot. The first push of the shutter release button only lifts the mirror like when in 10sec timer mode but you need to press it again to release the shutter and complete the shot. It’s not going into Bulb mode because the shutter is not held open for the duration.

I can only think this is another issue created by my effort to remove Magic Lantern firmware.

Now the last time I tried to re-load the Canon firmware (2.1.2), after getting the camera to start again, I noticed that all my pre-sets and custom adjustments were still active. I thought the Canon firmware load process, which said successful at the end, actually clears all custom settings?

I then selected “Clear all Settings”, pulled battery and CF card to re-set, but the problem is still there.

Am I going to need to send this in for a service call now?
Thanks, KO.

[Michael Kraus]

I had this problem in my 6D the other day. I think it has something to do with the "bootflag" that magic lantern puts on the card.

I think that's what it's called anyway.

I tried formatting my card with Disk Utility since I couldn't do it with my 6D. I think I eventually ended up having to put it in my T2i to format it and then I was able to put in in my 6D to format it.

Forgive me for how often I just said the word "think".

[Kevin O'Connor]

I think I got past the boot flag issue because I have been able to format my CF card in the camera. My 5D now seems to be stuck in a mode, which I described above.

I just noticed that there is a feature/mode highlighted in the bottom LH corner of the info screen. I can't tell what the icon is supposed to represent, I don’t know how to select it but I’ve never noticed it highlighted before.

Anyone know what I’m referring to? If so, can this highlighted feature be turned off or de-selected?

Thanks

[Donald McPherson]

Try starting the camera with the set button pressed that should boot the native Canon then format the card within Canon tools.

[Kevin O'Connor]

I think I found the issue. I just reviewed the 5D manual and discovered the icon in the lower LH corner of the INFO screen is just to signify the Quick Change screen is active. But I did discover that there is a setting for Mirror Lock in the C.Fn III-6 custom settings. The Mirror Lock feature is doing exactly what I thought had to be a damaged camera from the ML firmware removal.

I apparently enabled this feature not knowing what it does. I use my 5D mostly for video projects, which the mirror is locked in the up position for the rear view mode anyway. Well I’ll change the Mirror Lock to disable and hope all is back to normal. Strange though I did press the settings re-set and nothing happened then. This must be the issue.

Thanks

[Kevin O'Connor]

That was it. I disabled the Mirror Lock and everything is back to normal now. So it was my fault, the ML firmware removal had nothing to do with it.

Thanks,