"Green Light of Death" (?) on D850

PhilM_TX

Senior Member
Greetings all,

I'm a recent convert from Canon to Nikon, so this is probably an old question.

One of my new bodies is a D850. I recently noticed that the green light on the back (writing data to card, as I understand it), blinks perpetually when the body is turned off.

When I picked it up tonight, I discovered the EN-EL18c was completely dead. All my gear is Nikon - no 3rd party stuff.

I have now tried it with all the following conditions, and as long as any battery is installed and the camera is powered "off" the light just flashes endlessly:

Different EN-EL18c in battery grip, no EN-EL15 in body with XQD installed & fresh format from this D850.
Different EN-EL18c in battery grip, with EN-EL15 in body with XQD installed & fresh format from this D850.
Different EN-EL18c in battery grip, no EN-EL15 in body with no memory cards in stalled.
Different EN-EL18c in battery grip, with EN-EL15 in body with no memory cards in stalled.
Above options both with & w/o lens mounted.
Freshly charged EN-EL15 in body, no grip, with and w/o XQD with lens.
Freshly charged EN-EL15 in body, no grip, with and w/o XQD with w/o lens.

The only way to make it stop is to remove all batteries.

Google calls it the "Green Light of Death", but from what I found it was mainly on older bodies.

I tried the switch flicking exercise w/o any results, but this body is less than 3 months old with low usage at this point.

Any thought, ideas, recommendations?

Anyone else had this on a D850?

Thanks in advance!

Phil
 

PhilM_TX

Senior Member
Thanks for the feedback. The body shipped with the latest (1.03) firmware.

I have a status update on my situation.

I left the body w/o any batteries overnight. When I put a battery in this AM, it immediately began flashing again.

I pulled the battery & brought it to work with me so I could call Nikon on it.

When I put the battery back in, in preparation to calling Nikon - IT NO LONGER FLASHED! Just like taking a car to the dealership. :-/

I went ahead and called Nikon and worked with a gal for about 30 minutes. She had me go back and disable Airplane mode and check Network & BT settings. Both had never been enabled, configured, or connected. She said that even with Airplane mode enabled, the camera "could" try to find a BT device. Not sure I buy that, but I followed recommendations as directed.

In the end, I re-enabled Airplane mode.

All is working normally, but I do not understand why. I'll have to keep an eye on it and see if it occurs again.

Nikon did log the incident against my s/n, so I can easily follow up if necessary.

I have to say, the phone experience with the Nikon tech was "top notch", simple, and quick. Thumbs up on that one!
 

PhilM_TX

Senior Member
Thanks guys...

Update: 1/9/19

Things seemed to be going well yesterday. I went out during lunch & shot a 100'ish images & all was well. When I was done and powered the body off, there was no blinking green light on the back.

When I grabbed the camera this AM, the battery (EN-EL18c) was DEAD. It was fully charged yesterday and I shot roughly 100 images.

I put a different, fully charged EN-EL18c in the battery grip and the camera booted as normal. When I shut it off, the *&% blinking green light on the back was blinking perpetually again.

Note: I have NEVER attempted to connect it to WiFi or BT. In fact, I set AirPlane mode to "Enabled" during my initial setup and have NEVER taken the unit out of AirPlane mode - All of my Nikon bodies are setup this way to maximize battery life. I learned this from a Z7.

Guess I need to get Nikon back on the horn. :-/
 

Blade Canyon

Senior Member
Have you tried different memory cards? Are you using an XQD card? I would remove the XQD card and try SD only. Then I would try XQD only and/or different SD cards. If you don't have different cards, try reformatting the ones you have.

My reasoning is that the blinking light normally means the camera is trying to write, so maybe there is something wrong with the cards that is causing the body to keep trying to write.

Strange, however, that the light was not blinking, but the battery was dead anyway.
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
Have you tried it without the grip to narrow down whether or not the grip is a factor?
 

PhilM_TX

Senior Member
Have you tried different memory cards? Are you using an XQD card? I would remove the XQD card and try SD only. Then I would try XQD only and/or different SD cards. If you don't have different cards, try reformatting the ones you have.

My reasoning is that the blinking light normally means the camera is trying to write, so maybe there is something wrong with the cards that is causing the body to keep trying to write.

Strange, however, that the light was not blinking, but the battery was dead anyway.

Yes, I have, on all questions.
Different XQD
Different SD
All formatted on this D850

I am in agreement with regard to the attempt to write data theory.
 

PhilM_TX

Senior Member
Have you tried it without the grip to narrow down whether or not the grip is a factor?

Yes, I have.

I've tried with no grip & different standard (Nikon label) batteries.
I've tried with grip and various batteries in the body.
I've tried with various batteries in the grip and no battery in the body.

:-/
 

PhilM_TX

Senior Member
Any update on your D850?

After talking to Nikon support, we agreed that it should go in for evaluation.

When I went to prepare it for shipping back to Nikon, (just like taking a car t the shop) mysteriously I could not get the flashing to occur. I tried & tried, but could not. I felt like sending it in w/o being to reproduce the condition would be of little value, so I did not send it.

So far, it has not happened again. As time passes, I am gaining confidence in the body.

Thanks for asking!
 

Bikerbrent

Senior Member
I am reminded of the old FAR SIDE cartoon where a scientist in a white lab coat is staring at a chalk board covered with mathematical equations and in the bottom right corner of the board you see "AND THEN A MIRACLE OCCURS" :mad:
 

PhilM_TX

Senior Member
Update: The blinking light returned. This time, I video taped the phenomenon (knowing it will probably not occur when it gets to the "hospital") and sent the body in for repair.

I'll let ya know what they find.
 

PhilM_TX

Senior Member
Update 2: I got my D850 back today. In addition to the normal clean, adjust, testing, they replaced the "Image Control PCB".

Hopefully I'll be in great shape now. :)
 

callmedos

New member
How is your D850 doing after the Image Control PCB replacement?

Asking as mine is on a returned visit with Nikon Support for the blinking green light. Received back yesterday and out of the box it was happening again. They were very helpful on the phone and already sent back to them for additional repairs. Image Control PCB wasn’t replaced, however they originally replaced two other parts.

Fingers-crossed and hope to hear how you are making out as you have had it back for a few months now. Thanks!
 

PhilM_TX

Senior Member
How is your D850 doing after the Image Control PCB replacement?

Asking as mine is on a returned visit with Nikon Support for the blinking green light. Received back yesterday and out of the box it was happening again. They were very helpful on the phone and already sent back to them for additional repairs. Image Control PCB wasn’t replaced, however they originally replaced two other parts.

Fingers-crossed and hope to hear how you are making out as you have had it back for a few months now. Thanks!

Sorry for the slow response Adam.

The repair they did on my D850 resolved the issue. In my case, the body is performing as well or better than before I sent it in.
 
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