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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Hang, hang, hang....

D

docunion

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I've had this problem before, but it was minimal and I only had to reboot to get things going. Since then, I installed build 16 I've had more boot issues.

Last weekend, while on set, I was having major problems with the camera hanging on the boot. I would reboot, wait, reboot again, wait, reboot...
Everyone waiting around for 15 minutes! In my mind, I'm thinking, "will it ever reboot?"... "Is it my camera?"... "Is it build 16?"... "Will it do this often?"... "What if it finally works this time but never boots next time?"

I know just about everyone has had boot issues, but anyone else have this problem as bad as me?
 
It happens ever so often to me as well... If you only see "booting..." on the camera's rear lcd screen and it doesn't progress from there within 10 seconds, then it's hung... waiting longer to try again will only make your wait that much longer.

I simply turn it off, wait a few seconds and try again. Sometimes it will do it twice, but on a third try I'll see that the boot is progressing and moving along. Total time wasted for me is only about 2 minutes max.

Just one of the little quirks that isn't a big deal if you catch it quickly.
 
Russell Fogle said:
It happens ever so often to me as well... If you only see "booting..." on the camera's rear lcd screen and it doesn't progress from there within 10 seconds, then it's hung... waiting longer to try again will only make your wait that much longer.

I simply turn it off, wait a few seconds and try again. Sometimes it will do it twice, but on a third try I'll see that the boot is progressing and moving along. Total time wasted for me is only about 2 minutes max.

Just one of the little quirks that isn't a big deal if you catch it quickly.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm saying. Rebooting once or twice. No big deal...
On this particular occasion and once again yesterday, I had to boot at least 10 times. I always waited at least 5 seconds before rebooting after shut down.
 
I never wait; when it hangs, I just power down and back up again. Always fires up the second time.

Good shooting!

Leo
 
Russell Fogle said:
It happens ever so often to me as well... If you only see "booting..." on the camera's rear lcd screen and it doesn't progress from there within 10 seconds, then it's hung... waiting longer to try again will only make your wait that much longer.

I simply turn it off, wait a few seconds and try again. Sometimes it will do it twice, but on a third try I'll see that the boot is progressing and moving along. Total time wasted for me is only about 2 minutes max.

Just one of the little quirks that isn't a big deal if you catch it quickly.
Click to expand...

i have different experience. speaking of my camera, sometime "booting" appears and stay. you can think it hangs, but i wait. then i hear the fan, and it boots up. so sometimes i just wait and it works. lcd is always plugged in. in every case, even when "booting" appears about 20 seconds, the system comes up. it´s like the whole delivery process - patience, but it´s worth to wait :blush:
 
Just an FYI for new owners

Just an FYI for new owners

I know this isn't your issue, but because I didn't pay attention one of the first days started messing with the camera, I spent a while trying to boot it.

If the battery is weak, the camera will hang on boot up. It has just enough juice to get going but won't complete the task.
 
I personally believe this is a power issue with the camera on bootup.

If you have things plugged into it sometimes it's not very happy. We were powering a downconvertor the other day from the rear of the camera. It wouldn't boot for me and hung on the first part of startup. Unplugging the device and trying again fixed it.

For some people it seems their cameras are tempramental to the point that the LCD is drawing too much from the camera and causes the issue.

It's likely a firmware fix but I dare say it could be something within the camera that is different from unit to unit.

Simple rule, if it hangs unplug everything. you can and plug back in after it goes to the second screen on the rear.

Paul
 
If it was a battery problem it would be super simple (for Red) to diagnose. Just monitor the supply voltage (with a scope, because there might be fast spikes when various subsystems switch on) when booting up with whatever accessories you have connected when the problem happens. Then boot up with an external power supply, and crank down the voltage until it doesn't boot up. Then compare the voltages.

I assume they've already done this... (?)
 
Some witchcraft for all to try. (don't laugh it might work)

Some witchcraft for all to try. (don't laugh it might work)

docunion said:
I've had this problem before, but it was minimal and I only had to reboot to get things going. Since then, I installed build 16 I've had more boot issues.

Last weekend, while on set, I was having major problems with the camera hanging on the boot. I would reboot, wait, reboot again, wait, reboot...
Everyone waiting around for 15 minutes! In my mind, I'm thinking, "will it ever reboot?"... "Is it my camera?"... "Is it build 16?"... "Will it do this often?"... "What if it finally works this time but never boots next time?"

I know just about everyone has had boot issues, but anyone else have this problem as bad as me?
Click to expand...

For All

I read some where that if you close the aperture on the lens while booting the camera will not hang. Also if the port cover is still attached the camera will not hang.

I have had a few instances when the camera hung while booting and as soon as I placed the lens cap over the lens, moments later the boot cycle continued.

Coincidence? maybe, but try it you might be surprised.

Seriously

Method
 
For the past three days out camera required at least twenty or more attempts to boot up at the beginning of the day - no temperature issues or environmental issues. After having been embarrassed in front of our client on day one, we arrive a half hour early now to ensure the camera is up and running when we need it. I hope this will be worked out.

Nick.
 
I just rub the camera nicely and it powers up perfectly every time. You guys are probably not being nice to your camera.

I also unplug the power and push the power button a few times before trying again. That works every time too.
 
Every once in a while if the camera doesn't boot within ten seconds the very first time I power down and wait twenty seconds. It always boots the second time.

I showed this to someone who had the patience of a nat and wouldn't wait at all but would just keep hitting the power up button and curse and swear and get mad at the world etc. etc. Sure enough, after I got them to power down, shut the @$%& up and wait for twenty seconds, then power up the camera booted up no problem.

No unplugging of cables or anything else has ever been required.
 
What's so funny about this thread is that, with the best of intensions, everyone is supplying their own solution for what is an obvious and overwhelming flaw the the camera. Thanks for your advice. Almost everyone who posts on this site and that owns/rents a camera has had a boot up issue. Don't you think Red should do something... aside from saying that 16 is the build of all builds... you besides that fact that your camera may or may not boot up.

Nick.
 
For what it's worth: I have 2 Reds; one has the boot problem from time to time, but usually starts the second try. (I don't wait more than about 2 seconds after power off.) I always have the lens cap on during power up as I am not ready to shoot yet. I never use battery power, it's always AC adapter on a dual conversion UPS so it is perfectly clean power. (At exactly 120 VAC)
Both cameras have a Red Raid Drive, but only the one that sometimes fails to boot has the LCD display. So far, the other one has never failed to boot the first time. Both cameras have a 23" widescreen LCD attached to the HDMI port.
So, that eliminates some of the guesses as to the cause or cure. As for waiting, I have sometimes gone to do something else and come back much later to see #340 (the one that often does not boot the first try), still sitting there saying "Booting..."
So, in my case at least, it doesn't matter how long you wait.

Dave
 
I don`t know much about electrics, and I haven`t had a boot issue yet, but I know my sine-wave inverter (125w) is designed to tolerate power draws 10x that for short amounts of time, because many devices, apparently, need much more power when initially switched on, which would make me think the initial power draw of the red could be a cause of a boot stall, with a HD monitor and power hungry processors? If a battery was "low"? If I ever get a boot issue I`ll try unplug everything and hope its not the start of something..
 
I think you all are right. There could be many reasons why the camera hangs on boot and it could be a different reason from one camera to another.
Personally, my problem seemed to arise more prominently with build 16.
That said, I really think RED needs to at the very least tell us why they can't fix it.
 
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