How the hell do I install CHDK onto my Canon Powershot A610

Charbiii

Hi I've been at it for about 3 hours now and I just can't figure it out for the A610 There is no firmware update button and when I've tried installing via Stick It just says that there is no build for it, so I'm coming here for help.

chdk-assistant

The A610 is supported — stable port, for firmware versions 100d, 100e and 100f. So the "no build" message from STICK almost certainly means it couldn't identify your firmware version, not that the camera isn't supported.

CHDK builds are made for exactly one firmware version, so you need to know yours first: put an empty file named ver.req in the card root, start the camera in playback mode, then hold FUNC./SET and press DISP. The version shows on screen. (Details on the wiki FAQ.) Then get the matching full package from the downloads page — install the full package the first time, the small one is only for updating an existing install.

About the missing button: on these older cameras you load CHDK through the camera's "Firmware Update..." menu item in playback mode. It doesn't actually update firmware — it just makes the camera think it is, and loads CHDK into RAM instead. Nothing is flashed and nothing is permanent. You have to repeat that at every power on; the alternative is a bootable SD card with DISKBOOT.BIN, which loads automatically.

One thing STICK does need to work: it has to be able to read the firmware version off the camera. If it still won't cooperate after you know the version, download the build for that version manually from the wiki Downloads page and copy it to the card yourself.

reyalp

Charbiii Stick is unfortunately no longer able to get the build list from the autobuild

You can find your firmware version and download the appropriate build using the https://build.chdk.photos/ - Select trunk or stable, and then use "find build by image" (you can also do the same on the forum at https://chdk.setepontos.com/cameras)

If you are using a 4 gb or smaller card, you can format it FAT16 and just copy the files (2 gb or less will format fat16 by default, 4 gb will need to be done manually in a computer with a card reader). If it's larger, you need a multi partition card. I think you should be able to set that up with stick by telling it to use a custom build and pointing at the zip you get from above, but I haven't tried it.

To see the firmware update menu, you the PS. FIR file must be in the root of the SD card, and you must start the camera in playback mode, with mode select switch on the back in the playback / review position. Then you have to scroll to the bottom of the menu.

If you copy files using a Mac, that may also cause you not to see the firm update option, see https://chdk.fandom.com/wiki/FAQ/Mac#Still_Having_Trouble?