Cards stop working

[Christoffer Glans]

So due to the pandemic there has been much slower work with actual productions shooting for me. Because of that most of my productions have been digital or featured a lot of animation and stuff so the camera hasn't been used for around three months now.

But now I'm gonna shoot a few things and started prepping to check that the camera is black shaded and stuff. But all the cards I have, which are Red's own cards, all cannot be recognized by the camera and they don't show up when mounted to my PC or my Macbook Pro.

When I put them in the camera it asks for me to scan the card and when I do, nothing shows up, but one of the cards did get "fixed". It's still not recognized by my Macbook, but the PC opens it, though it's extremely slow, it's almost not even loading the clips that's on it and some clips doesn't load at all.

Other cards don't get fixed in the camera and one don't show up at all.

Why is this happening? How can the cards be like this for just sitting on a shelf for around just three months? I've never had any problems with my super old CF cards for my still cameras, I can dust them off and still fire them up to find old images on it, but these cards barely hold on for three months?

 

[Phil Holland]

Details needed in any attempt to help.

- Which specific cards?
- What OS and reader are you using to read the cards?
- What is the card reader connected to, port/speed?
- You have only formatted the cards in camera right?
- Have the cards been exposed to anything "weird"?
- What Komodo firmware are you on?

Newer OS issues and even CPU hardware issues seem to have been reported, but I haven't experienced any of this with the 1TB cards. They do take a moment to detect, but I wouldn't call them slow by any stretch. PC-side I'm on USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports for that particular reader.

PC reading them is a good sign, it being weirdly slow is not great. Windows and even mobos can lead to some driver conflicts that might make a card read or write slower. Plugging it back in often clears that up or after a reboot. Less of an issue on most recent Windows updates. But can still happen.

I haven't needed to update any firmware on the CFast cards, unsure if there's anything to look at there.

 

[Christoffer Glans]

So, many of the clips on the card that was "fixed" just shows errors all over the image. It's just a big mess. Seriously, over the course of months with Komodo it's stunning to me that consumer cameras possess more robustness than this. A 15 year old DSLR still functions for me, but a professional system that's supposed to be built with robustness in mind can't even handle a three months hiatus.

If Komodo 2 shows similar behaviors, I'm done with Red. This is seriously bad.

 

[Christoffer Glans]

Details needed in any attempt to help.

- Which specific cards?
- What OS and reader are you using to read the cards?
- What is the card reader connected to, port/speed?
- You have only formatted the cards in camera right?
- Have the cards been exposed to anything "weird"?
- What Komodo firmware are you on?

Newer OS issues and even CPU hardware issues seem to have been reported, but I haven't experienced any of this with the 1TB cards. They do take a moment to detect, but I wouldn't call them slow by any stretch. PC-side I'm on USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports for that particular reader.

PC reading them is a good sign, it being weirdly slow is not great. Windows and even mobos can lead to some driver conflicts that might make a card read or write slower. Plugging it back in often clears that up or after a reboot. Less of an issue on most recent Windows updates. But can still happen.

I haven't needed to update any firmware on the CFast cards, unsure if there's anything to look at there.

Nothing of what you write is the behavior of these cards.

It's Red's own cards, I'm using the latest Macbook Pro's, maxed out. But this behavior is the same on my PC, nothing have changed on either system since last time I used these cards and Komodo. Card reader is Red's own card reader, they have all been formatted in camera and have files on them from before. The cards have been in a drawer, in their cases in the dark.. Komodo is 1.5.3, same as when I shot with the cards and nothing have changed since then.

I've handled Red files and cards for over 14 years now, this is not normal.

 

[Phil Holland]

Again. In an effort to help, what are these cards connected to on your PC? USB hub, direct to port? What type of port USB 2, 3, or? Windows OS version?

Are you saying these cards will not roll or format on Komodo? If you are capturing footage in your camera, does it playback without errors in the camera? How are you offloading footage to the computer?

If the footage is captured and playing back in camera fine, the systems you are connecting to are the next thing to lookout. I highly suspect that there's something on the latter that needs investigating.

Latest MBP have had issues reading cards which has been discussed before. Unsure if an OS update fixed that. I will double check later.

 

[Christoffer Glans]

And yeah, I thought to myself, ok, I can ditch the material on one of the cards, so I though I could format it but... no, since it doesn't show up on any system including the camera, I can't format it, I can't erase, I can't do anything. Since the camera won't recognize the card I cannot format the cards.

I basically can't use my camera now because of this. Four cards not working. What the actual fuck Red? I'm getting really tired of all these issues with Komodo.

 

[Christoffer Glans]

Again. In an effort to help, what are these cards connected to on your PC? USB hub, direct to port? What type of port USB 2, 3, or? Windows OS version?

Are you saying these cards will not roll or format on Komodo? If you are capturing footage in your camera, does it playback without errors in the camera? How are you offloading footage to the computer?

If the footage is captured and playing back in camera fine, the systems you are connecting to are the next thing to lookout. I highly suspect that there's something on the latter that needs investigating.

Latest MBP have had issues reading cards which has been discussed before. Unsure if an OS update fixed that. I will double check later.

All tested, none worked. It's NOT playing in camera, it's not even showing a card in the camera.

Just, imagine that nothing works, on either system and in camera, nothing, and you cannot format. I cannot use the camera anymore, that's it. I literally can't do anything with these cards.

 

[Christoffer Glans]

I managed to get one card recognized in the camera... initiated a secure format and format failed, now the card doesn't show and can't be formatted again. So, probably lost the material AND it now doesn't work at all.

This is a fucking joke....

 

[Christoffer Glans]

The card that "showed up" and can't be formatted can't even be formatted on the computer. It fails erasing the card so there's no way out of this it seems. The only card that shows up in camera (can't be used, can't be played, but mounts) can initiate a format that then fails and when pulling out the card the camera restarts because it couldn't format. Four cards seems to be dead... for being in a drawer for three months.

 

[Phil Holland]

I'm trying to digest what's going on here. And just to cross off all the check boxes, you do not have the write safety switch toggled correct?

I'm not RED support, but the goal is to find out why you are having an issue that thousands of others are not. I understand that your media has been sitting on a shelf and not in use. I don't think that should play into a factor here. I don't think your media is dead.

I would suggest you submit a log to RED via the the official channels so somebody can actually help you who can see what's going on in the under workings of the camera. Open a ticket and submit a log.

 

[Christoffer Glans]

Nothing have been touched since when I used the cards to shoot before and now they don't work anymore. No safety switches on, no tampering with anything, no Macbook has problems reading the cards because PC has the same problems as well as the camera itself.

I'll file a support ticket, but it won't matter for the upcoming shoot. Red will go through the same questions you are asking and after two days of answering all those questions, they will ask me to either send in the cards or that they can't help.

 

[Phil Holland]

The critical thing is they can look at the logs and see if there's actually something wrong with your camera, cards, or whatever. I use my RED/Angelbird CFast cards regularly and just tried a couple smaller capacity cards I haven't rolled on in many months. All fine. I can't fathom a situation where several stop working short of some catastrophic moisture or electrical issue, but you say they have been in locked in a drawer so that's not likely. I suspect highly it's camera firmware related or hardware related. Hoping honestly it's a firmware thing as it's the fastest path to being up and running.

If you have a moment I would also advise checking your PC with some sort of anit-virus software. ESET is worth downloading. Just a hunch if it is anything like that, doubt it as well. But there's all sorts of bad things out there now. One thing you are describing reminds me of a very specific virus. Truly hoping that's not the case.

I understand you're pissed, but what you are experiencing is nowhere near the norm even for cards sitting in a drawer. RED Support will do what they can to help you whatever the issue is.

 

[Christoffer Glans]

Problem with the idea that it's the camera that's not working is that the cards don't work on any computer. And it behaves the same on both PC and Mac, tested it on an older Intel Macbook as well without any difference.

So there are too many points of failure to point the issue towards it being PC related or camera related or Mac related, there's definitely something with the actual cards that's a problem here.

 

[Björn Benckert]

Problem with the idea that it's the camera that's not working is that the cards don't work on any computer. And it behaves the same on both PC and Mac, tested it on an older Intel Macbook as well without any difference.

So there are too many points of failure to point the issue towards it being PC related or camera related or Mac related, there's definitely something with the actual cards that's a problem here.

Never heard of such problem on more than one card at the time. Bent pin in camera that has wacked the connectors of the cards?

What if you go into disk utility on your osx machine, any trace of the the mag there?

 

[Christoffer Glans]

Never heard of such problem on more than one card at the time. Bent pin in camera that has wacked the connectors of the cards?

What if you go into disk utility on your osx machine, any trace of the the mag there?

Disk utility on Mac (and PC) shows except for the one and occasionally second card that mounts. But trying to format them there to anything fails as well. Tried that in order to see if it was possible to even get the card to a storage state, but it just won't do it.

Worst part is that all of these are the Red Angelbird cards that were sold at the release and they have not gone through any kind of rough production or rough handling. Over the course of the pandemic I haven't had much more time to shoot anything but some test footage or studio work. So I can guarantee that these cards have been handled with silk gloves and have been stored properly and there have been no dust/dirt even close to the camera or any gear.

The only thing that these card has been going through is time in the drawer. Humidity has been normal and no dust.

 

[Björn Benckert]

Disk utility on Mac (and PC) shows except for the one and occasionally second card that mounts. But trying to format them there to anything fails as well. Tried that in order to see if it was possible to even get the card to a storage state, but it just won't do it.

Worst part is that all of these are the Red Angelbird cards that were sold at the release and they have not gone through any kind of rough production or rough handling. Over the course of the pandemic I haven't had much more time to shoot anything but some test footage or studio work. So I can guarantee that these cards have been handled with silk gloves and have been stored properly and there have been no dust/dirt even close to the camera or any gear.

The only thing that these card has been going through is time in the drawer. Humidity has been normal and no dust.

So if I understand correctly, you see the cards as a "device" in disc utility is that correct? Then left click on it, in the column to the left, can you erase it? Run first aid or any of the other options? If the card shows up there but not on the desktop and camera, likely it seams like your camera has formated them in a strange way. I seen this on M2 drives. Forgot what the tricky was to get them back except that I remember it was a lot of fiddling before getting them to format.

 

[Christoffer Glans]

Then left click on it, in the column to the left, can you erase it? Run first aid or any of the other options? If the card shows up there but not on the desktop and camera, likely it seams like your camera has formated them in a strange way. I seen this on M2 drives. Forgot what the tricky was to get them back except that I remember it was a lot of fiddling before getting them to format.

No, they can't be erased and they can't be fixed through disk utility. These cards have not been formatted. They had material on them since the last shoot. They haven't been formatted or changed in any way and I have not upgraded any firmware on the camera.

It's as I've been saying before... the ONLY thing that has happened between now and when I previously used the cards and camera and card reader is time. Nothing else has changed. The cards have been lying in the drawer with material on them since the last shoot and this is the first time I pick them out and put them in the camera, nothing works.

 

[Will Vazquez]

No sure if it's your cards or your RED Komodo, but I had two Anglebird Cards that failed on me. The first one suddenly wouldn't mount and would cause my computer to freeze. The card was under warranty and I sent to Anglebird and they sent a replacement. About two months later, the new card also got corrupted. I can't trust Angelbird because of this.

The only cards I can trust are ProGrade or Sandisk.

 

[Björn Benckert]

No, they can't be erased and they can't be fixed through disk utility. These cards have not been formatted. They had material on them since the last shoot. They haven't been formatted or changed in any way and I have not upgraded any firmware on the camera.

It's as I've been saying before... the ONLY thing that has happened between now and when I previously used the cards and camera and card reader is time. Nothing else has changed. The cards have been lying in the drawer with material on them since the last shoot and this is the first time I pick them out and put them in the camera, nothing works.

Odd.
But what I mean if you can see the card / device, likely there is a way to format it with the computer to get it working again. If it does not show anything on any device.. then that is more critical.

 

[Christoffer Glans]

No sure if it's your cards or your RED Komodo, but I had two Anglebird Cards that failed on me. The first one suddenly wouldn't mount and would cause my computer to freeze. The card was under warranty and I sent to Anglebird and they sent a replacement. About two months later, the new card also got corrupted. I can't trust Angelbird because of this.

The only cards I can trust are ProGrade or Sandisk.

Definitely the cards. The camera can't make my PC or Mac not able to mount or handle the cards or show corrupted images for a few seconds before crashing Redcine. That's basic logic.

Good tip with the other brands. I've been naive thinking buying from Red means they have a bar of quality in order to maintain reliability, but that idea has been shattered completely now.