"Is she dead, Jim?"

Dangerspouse

Senior Member
I turned my D5500 on this afternoon, attached a 55-200mm lens, and...it wouldn't autofocus.

I tried another lens, then two more. Same thing. I put in a fresh battery. Same thing. I cleaned the contacts, took it off BBF, checked for a firmware update, prayed to Ba'al...same thing. No autofocus. Then I tried those same lenses on my wife's D3300, and they all worked.

Gahh! It was just working yesterday! I didn't change any settings, I didn't drop it, nothing was spilled on it, I didn't even speak harshly to it. But something happened from this time yesterday to this time today to make it stop auto focusing.

Here's the kicker. I got a hundred dollar "Thank you for working during COVID!" gift from my work, and used it to buy a used 55-200mm lens from KEH. The lens arrived this morning (which is what I was checking when I discovered the camera was wonky). The plan was to sell the D3300 with this essentially free 55-200 and a few other accessories I don't use, and put the money towards my D500 fund. I'll get more money for the D3300 with a lens than for body only.

Now with the D5500 not working, I have to use the D3300...and I have two 55-200 lenses now. I got an online estimate from Nikon's NY repair center, but the quote they gave me is close to what I paid for the body. And that would really set back my plans for a D500. I did request a quote online from my local shop and am waiting for them to get back to me, but I can't say as I'm very optimistic.

Anybody have any thoughts on what it might be? Or barring that, the name of a god other than Ba'al who might be helpful? Thanks!
 
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TwistedThrottle

Senior Member
Well if you are praying to a god named Ba'al, you might need to sacrifice the D5500 to the next thunderstorm that rolls through. You could try Santa, but that might be a while- I'm still waiting on that Nash skateboard I asked for more than 30 years ago.

Have you done the green dot reset? When you cleaned the contacts, did you check for any bent pins or anything abnormal? Did you just rub the contacts off with microfiber or did you use something like deoxit to improve conductivity? Did you double check both menus for BBF? The one to disable the shutter for focus and also the one to assign the back button? Did you try manual, aperture priority, shutter priority and auto? When manually focusing, do you still get the green, (or white) focus assistant in the view finder? Does it matter if its in live view or not? You could always try dropping it from really high up, but I've never heard of this working for anyone. Ever. I think that's all I got. If you do the last one, take pics :p
 

BF Hammer

Senior Member
Is there a nuclear full-reset in the menu? It will just reset everything to factory defaults, but nothing to loose at this point. Also try removing the SD card, and I would even escalate to flashing the firmware, even if you are up to date.

I had my D80 die of the aperture error code last fall. This just half a year after it was converted to an infrared-only camera. I've had the body for 13 years, it was time to bury it. But that $250 I put into the conversion back in March made it painful.
 

Dangerspouse

Senior Member
Well if you are praying to a god named Ba'al, you might need to sacrifice the D5500 to the next thunderstorm that rolls through. You could try Santa, but that might be a while- I'm still waiting on that Nash skateboard I asked for more than 30 years ago.

Have you done the green dot reset? When you cleaned the contacts, did you check for any bent pins or anything abnormal? Did you just rub the contacts off with microfiber or did you use something like deoxit to improve conductivity? Did you double check both menus for BBF? The one to disable the shutter for focus and also the one to assign the back button? Did you try manual, aperture priority, shutter priority and auto? When manually focusing, do you still get the green, (or white) focus assistant in the view finder? Does it matter if its in live view or not? You could always try dropping it from really high up, but I've never heard of this working for anyone. Ever. I think that's all I got. If you do the last one, take pics :p

Dammit. The first thing I tried was the high drop test. I should have waited to read your reply first.

I did try almost everything else you put on your list there, with one exception: I'm not familiar with the "green dot reset". What is said reset, pray tell? (Never mind, I'll Google it. Tomorrow - I'm off to bed in a few minutes here.)

And yeah, I went through all the modes and tried both live view and eye piece. And both menus for BFF. If I figure out what that green dot reset is and does the trick though, I'm sending you a new throttle. One that isn't twisted.

Thanks for your thoughts, man. Really. :encouragement:
 

Dangerspouse

Senior Member
Is there a nuclear full-reset in the menu? It will just reset everything to factory defaults, but nothing to loose at this point. Also try removing the SD card, and I would even escalate to flashing the firmware, even if you are up to date.

I had my D80 die of the aperture error code last fall. This just half a year after it was converted to an infrared-only camera. I've had the body for 13 years, it was time to bury it. But that $250 I put into the conversion back in March made it painful.

Thanks very much! I'll give a look to see if I can do that full reset tomorrow after I get off work. I'm not sure I know how, but that's what YouTube is for, right? :)

Oh man, that was a sad, sad D80 tale. That must indeed have been painful!
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
Did you have the new-to-you lens on the camera when you turned on the D5500? I'm wondering if there was some type of electrical short from the lens that might have caused it. :confused: Bummer though. :(
 

Needa

Senior Member
Challenge Team
Hopefully you get it resolved. :)

Two button reset

Reset_5500.png

Just a comment on cleaning contacts. Don't forget to clean the lens mounts and camera mount, plus the contacts inside the camera. As always hold upside down so any contaminates fall down and not in to camera.
 

Dangerspouse

Senior Member
Did you have the new-to-you lens on the camera when you turned on the D5500? I'm wondering if there was some type of electrical short from the lens that might have caused it. :confused: Bummer though. :(

Huh, I hadn't thought of that, Cindy. I don't think that's the case, as I put that lens on the D3300 and it worked just fine. But maybe there was an initial electrical discharge...? I have to admit I don't know that much about the technical end of things to know if that's even possible though, so who knows.

Thanks :)
 

Dangerspouse

Senior Member
Hopefully you get it resolved. :)

Two button reset

View attachment 351244

Just a comment on cleaning contacts. Don't forget to clean the lens mounts and camera mount, plus the contacts inside the camera. As always hold upside down so any contaminates fall down and not in to camera.

Thanks very much for that! I'll give that a shot when I get off the air later. Much appreciated :)
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
Huh, I hadn't thought of that, Cindy. I don't think that's the case, as I put that lens on the D3300 and it worked just fine. But maybe there was an initial electrical discharge...? I have to admit I don't know that much about the technical end of things to know if that's even possible though, so who knows.

Thanks :)

Do you remember if the body was off when you put on this lens? Was the VR off? It's possible that an electrical glitch occurred but unfortunately no way to prove it if that was even the cause.

I can let you use my refurbished D7100 indefinitely which offers the sharpest images of all bodies I've owned. The sensor isn't quite up to par with the D7200 or D500 and has a slower buffer but would give you a chance to play with the buttons and wheels shortcuts that both your other bodies lack. Even the shutter count is pretty low (below 10k I believe). Give it some thought.
 

Dangerspouse

Senior Member
Hi Cindy -

I do know that the body was off (I always make sure of that), but I didn't know that the VR had anything to do with that. I hope that wasn't it!

You are, as usual, extraordinarily kind to make an offer like that. But I do at least have my wife's D3300 to still use, so I'll really only be missing the few extra features of the D5500 until I get it running again. Besides, knowing me I'd drop your 7100 in a lake or something if I borrowed it :sorrow: Lol. But THANK YOU for the incredibly generous offer!!

:)
 

Peter7100

Senior Member
Not sure if this is relevant to this make/model, but on Canon body, I was able to reset things by doing the following: 1. Switch off, 2. remove battery and card 3. switch on 4. Hold down the shutter for at least 15 seconds 5. switch off 6. re-instal battery and card 7. switch on and keep your fingers crossed.
It worked for me and cleared unusual issues I was having with it.
This was apparently a suggestion from a technician in one of their factories and was not widely known in the public domain. It makes you wonder if this is what they do when people send their cameras in for a repair costing a fortune:confused:
 

Needa

Senior Member
Challenge Team
Not sure if this is relevant to this make/model, but on Canon body, I was able to reset things by doing the following: 1. Switch off, 2. remove battery and card 3. switch on 4. Hold down the shutter for at least 15 seconds 5. switch off 6. re-instal battery and card 7. switch on and keep your fingers crossed.
It worked for me and cleared unusual issues I was having with it.
This was apparently a suggestion from a technician in one of their factories and was not widely known in the public domain. It makes you wonder if this is what they do when people send their cameras in for a repair costing a fortune:confused:


This and / or try leaving the battery out for several days to bleed off any remaining voltages in camera.
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
Hi Cindy -

I do know that the body was off (I always make sure of that), but I didn't know that the VR had anything to do with that. I hope that wasn't it!

You are, as usual, extraordinarily kind to make an offer like that. But I do at least have my wife's D3300 to still use, so I'll really only be missing the few extra features of the D5500 until I get it running again. Besides, knowing me I'd drop your 7100 in a lake or something if I borrowed it :sorrow: Lol. But THANK YOU for the incredibly generous offer!!

:)

No worries. Good luck to you!
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
I blame Karma because you didn't buy my "like new" one for $60 in the Marketplace. ;)

Just kidding. Hope you figure it out.

::what:: I had a copy of this lens for a time. It worked fine, but for $60...HOLY COW! I sold mine for more than that.
 

Dangerspouse

Senior Member
Not sure if this is relevant to this make/model, but on Canon body, I was able to reset things by doing the following: 1. Switch off, 2. remove battery and card 3. switch on 4. Hold down the shutter for at least 15 seconds 5. switch off 6. re-instal battery and card 7. switch on and keep your fingers crossed.
It worked for me and cleared unusual issues I was having with it.
This was apparently a suggestion from a technician in one of their factories and was not widely known in the public domain. It makes you wonder if this is what they do when people send their cameras in for a repair costing a fortune:confused:

Oh my GOD.

PETER!

IT WORKED!!

*sob* I love you, man.

Thank you so much for 1. remembering this ridiculous sounding trick, and 2. typing it all out for me. I promise I'll vote for your photos in the Weekly Challenge now even if they suck!

Woooooooooo!

:loyal:
 
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