7D frozen when turned on

[rocket_scientist]

I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this before:

Last night my 7D froze on me and after some quick google searches, I found that the camera sometimes freezes after the firmware has been updated and the quickest remedy is to remove the battery and then replace it.  I removed the battery and this fixed the problem but I have not updated the firmware in quite some time; in fact, it is still on firmware 1.xx.

The camera would turn on and off, the sensor cleaning would perform but the camera would not take any pictures.  At first, the lens did not autofocus and after checking the lens, and putting a different one on there, the camera was still not working.  I then tried to change the aperture and this did not work along with the shutter speed (I could change the iso setting).  I tried changing to aperture priority and still no luck.  When I changed back to manual, the set aperture changed from 4.5 to 15.  After some more attempts at shooting, I noticed the aperture and shutter speed would change automatically, almost as if it were in full auto.  The camera gave no error codes.  I then did a reset of all of the cameras settings which still did not fix the problem.  As stated earlier, once I removed the battery, it worked fine.  I have had this camera for 3 years and have done two seasons of weddings with the camera (approximately 75,000 shots) and have had no issues like this.  My wife, the photographer that makes money at weddings in the family, has a wedding this weekend and she about had a meltdown while we were trying to figure this out.

I am just curious if anyone else has had a similar experience with this...

[neuroanatomist]

I found that the camera sometimes freezes after the firmware has been updated and the quickest remedy is to remove the battery and then replace it. 

Hmmmm...interesting.  I suppose that just might be why Canon's instructions for updating the firmware indicate that after the installation, you should remove the battery, let the camera sit for a few seconds, then replace the battery.  Naaah, probably just a coincidence.   

Removing the battery is basically like a hard reboot of the camera.  It's a good first try as a fix for a variety of issues.

[rocket_scientist]

Removing the battery is basically like a hard reboot of the camera.  It's a good first try as a fix for a variety of issues.

I concur.  That was not really the intent of my post.  It was really to see if anyone else had experienced this problem.  The camera had not shown any other signs of malfunction before this incident.  Like I said, it was a quick google search because my wife was about to have a heart attack and I needed a quick remedy.  Thanks for your reply.

[bseitz234]

I've never experienced this, so I'm sure this post will be of marginal usefulness at best, but I'm posting anyway.

It sounds like something to be wary of, but not overly concerned with. Sure, it would suck if it happened again in the middle of a wedding, but you know a fix, which can easily be applied in a pressure situation if need be. And if it happens again, then I'd say it might be worth sending to Canon for a checkup.

But these things happen- they happen to my computer, they happen to my phone, and they happen to the microscope in my lab. Every so often, random chance will cause a kernel panic, and once you do a hard reboot, and everything gets a fresh start, the problem is resolved. It's totally software based (well, probably a bit quantum, really, I've always suspected it was a matter of a totally normal logical process getting disrupted by current fluctuations or something), and nothing's wrong with your hardware. If it's been 3 years, then your camera will probably be due to misbehave again in another 3 years... or maybe 8 years, or maybe 6 months.

And, maybe you know all this anyway, and this post was totally useless because I couldn't corroborate this behavior. But I said that up top, so you didn't have to read it all. ;-)

[rocket_scientist]

And, maybe you know all this anyway, and this post was totally useless because I couldn't corroborate this behavior. But I said that up top, so you didn't have to read it all. ;-)

Hey, the whole point of a forum is for discussion.  I too get to play with expensive electronic equipment (my desktop at work has 12 cores and 96 GB of RAM) and know that these things do happen.  I guess what I really wanted to know was whether anyone had this problem and had figured out a cause, i.e. a brand of memory card or some way they changed lenses, etc.  My quick google search returned only problems with firmware upgrades so this was just an attempt to see if it had happened before and could be prevented.

[knkedlaya]

Facing this issue very regularly after the FW upgrade. The camera just hangs, only way to make it work is take out the battery and insert it again. It happens very randomly in the sense some times after couple of bursts, some times with one shot as well. Showed it to guys in canon service center, they couldnt "reproduce" it and asked me to bring it when it hangs next time... Its bit odd, when I am in field, I have to leave everything behind and rush to canon service center? Living with the problem for now...

[awinphoto]

My aging 7d is doing the same thing....  After I updated the firmware, i'm getting an occasional err 30 now... Goodie... Error 30, from what I can tell, means my shutter is on it's way out... but the freezing, from what I can tell, is the weathersealing is on it's way out...  In my situation, it would only "freeze" when it was outside and the camera would be exposed to cold/wind/etc...  If i was indoors in studio it would run like a champ.  When it would freeze, the upper LCD would show as if it was on, it would appear if it was on, BUT, it was a brick... no auto focus, no shutter, no menu, nothing until I took the battery out.  I've read sometimes replacing the clock battery could stop the freezing and error 30, but i'm not so sure... Anyways I will be liquidating the 7d soon as it is my backup camera... 70D or 7d2 or 6D here i come...

[Mt Spokane Photography]

It seems to happen to all cameras at rare instances.  Perhaps something gets corrupted in the memory.  I've had it happen when changing lenses while the camera was on.
 
Removing the battery resets things so that it does a clean boot the next time.  Its like rebooting a computer when it is acting up.

[awinphoto]

It seems to happen to all cameras at rare instances.  Perhaps something gets corrupted in the memory.  I've had it happen when changing lenses while the camera was on.
 
Removing the battery resets things so that it does a clean boot the next time.  Its like rebooting a computer when it is acting up.

I dont know... I think it's a slightly bigger problem... One time for instance, I was shooting a retail center for a large national bank and I had my 7d and it was breezy... the damn camera froze on me at least a dozen times during the shoot.  I got so used to removing the battery it became second nature.  Afterwards i went back and forth with Canon CPS who thought it could be my lens, my settings, etc...  It all came down to the camera and sealing... Then the realization came in that I could pay to replace sealing in the 3 now 4 year old camera or just sell it/retire it and get a new camera that will service me for another 3-4 years...  It sucks but it happens