D50 Repair - menu button, firmware issue?

tertiumsquid

New member
Hi all, got a troublesome Nikon D50 here. Powers up, takes photos, changes settings etc, but the Menu button doesn't work. Simple enough for an experienced electronics tech, right?

Hmm...

Tested the button itself, and it works. Traced the pinout from the zif connector to the button, continuity is good. (It's pin 6 on the zif, btw - pin 5 is Play, pin 7 is ISO, 8 is WB, 9 is Enter/Qual). Popped the main board out of the camera to attempt to trace the connection further, but sadly it's a multi layer board and I can't see the traces. Found a few extraneous solder balls stuck to the board, but picking them off didn't help.

So I put the camera back together and played with it some more. Turns out the camera actually responds to the Menu button being pushed (the top screen starts flashing the speed/aperture) but the menu itself doesn't come up.

Any ideas on fixing this, short of sending it to Nikon for a ridiculous sum of money, or replacing the entire main board for a slightly less ridiculous sum of money ($80-ish)? Alternatively, anyone seen this before?

(note: I did actually RTFM, and have tried both types of reset plus manually disconnecting the clock battery)
 

KWJams

Senior Member
Have you contacted Nikon's tech support?

I had an issue with my camera that I couldn't figure out and contacted them and was quite surprised the effort and willingness they made to help resolve the problem. I expected them to only pretend they wanted to help long enough to get me to ship it to them to fix for a large sum of money.
 

tertiumsquid

New member
Haven't contacted Nikon support, but I suppose it's worth a shot. As for tin whiskers, it's possible. The body is 8 years old after all. That said, I have the older D70 and a Canon 350D of the same age, and neither are experiencing similar problems. The D50 has the least use as well, with the lowest shutter count and best physical condition.
 
It may have been built with lead free solder which is now showing up as a problem ...have you checked all capacitors for bulging ends ....
 

tertiumsquid

New member
Pulled it apart again, and the only electrolytics I spotted were one for the flash and three on the DC-DC board. Didn't feel like unsoldering everything to pull it out all the way, but I got it out far enough to see the caps and they didn't look bulged or leaky (looked like polymers anyway).

I think I'm just going to put this one back together, try to get what I can for the old junk I've got, and buy a D5100 on clearance. Unless I get any other suggestions?
 
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Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
Pulled it apart again, and the only electrolytics I spotted were one for the flash and three on the DC-DC board. Didn't feel like unsoldering everything to pull it out all the way, but I got it out far enough to see the caps and they didn't look bulged or leaky (looked like polymers anyway).

I think I'm just going to put this one back together, try to get what I can for the old junk I've got, and buy a D5100 on clearance. Unless I get any other suggestions?


I think this would be a wise move since the D50 has long been improved on with newer models and the repair costs would probably be very close to the price of a new D5100.
 
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