[Leica] Cannot upgrade M8 firmware

[spencer at aotera.org (Spencer Cheng)]

Peter,

Plenty of suggestions from others. I never had this kind of problems. To 
eliminate H/W & S/W problems related to your Mac, take one of the 
aforementioned unreadable SDHC cards to the Apple Store in Tokyo and plug it 
into a Mac with a built-in card reader (MacBook Pro,...) and see if it is 
readable and/or mountable. If it is fine, then it's either your card reader 
or your Mac. Take you Mac in to the same Apple Store and ask them if they 
can check it for you.

SDHC cards are delivered from the factory with a boring FAT32 file system on 
them. There should be no reason that any standard care reader/PC/Mac cannot 
read the card unless the FAT32 file system is damaged.

One thing you can try is to use Disk Utility to check the integrity of the 
file system and underlying flash memory on problematical cards. Format the 
card as FAT32 using the option to wipe the whole card (under Erase->Security 
Option -> Zero Out Data). This will tell the Disk Utility to write 0's to 
every single bit. If there are problems with the underlying flash memory, 
this should find them. If any errors are detected, discard the card (not 
worth the hassle compared to the cost of a new card). If the card is fine 
according to Disk Utility, stick it back into your M8, reformat the card and 
give them a try.

It could be something wrong with the card reader in the M8.

Regards,
Spencer

On Jun 24, 2011, at 5:53, Peter Cheyne wrote:

> Thanks for lots of double-check advice, guys.
> 
> I haven't had a chance to try it in another computer yet.  Basically, none 
> of my Leica formatted SD or SDHC cards can be read by my card reader.  I 
> have two card readers.  Both can read my Lumix SD/SDHC formatted cards.  
> The same card formatted in an M8/9 won't work, but will be read via the 
> reader when formatted in the Lumix or Canon S90.  The card tab is not in 
> the lock position.
> 
> Might be that my Mac cannot read Leica formatted cards.  Absolutely no 
> idea how to remedy this.  Anyway, my workaround is to USB link the Ms to 
> the Mac when I upload image files.  And when I transfer a firmware upgrade 
> file to the M9, I make sure the M9 is set to Mass Storage mode, so I can 
> put the file to the card in camera from the Mac directly.  However, the M9 
> does not have Mass Storage as an option, so it needs a card reader to get 
> the firmware file on it.
> 
> Now I am going to be careful and try putting an M8 card in the M9, then 
> connect to the Mac via USB.  Then I will put the M9 firmware on the card.  
> Of course, I will not try to run the firmware on the M9!  I don't want a 
> Silver Grey brick!  If I can get that firmware file on the card, then I 
> will switch the card to the M8 and try to upgrade the firmware from there.
> 
> Fingers crossed!  I'll let you know if it works.
> 
> Peter
> 
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