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Stable CHDK will not load on my sx120

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Offline alfredb

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Stable CHDK will not load on my sx120
« on: 24 / July / 2015, 10:56:05 »
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Hi,
I am new in here.

I have a Canon SX120IS which was bought in Australia.

When I check the firmware using the vers.req method on my 4GB SD card, it tells me the following:

Canon PowerShot SX120 IS
P-ID : 31 E0  PAL D
Firmware Ver  GM1.00B
E18
Jun 5 2009  17:09:33

Therefore I used Acid to download the correct CHDK(full version).

Then I copied the PS.FI2, DISKBOOT.BIN and the CHDK folder to the root of my SD card using my laptop.

After this I turn on my camera using the play button, pressed MENU and scrolled down to Firm Update, pressed Func/Set and selected OK to update firmware version from 1.0.0.0 to 1.1.0.0.

When I do this, instead of getting the CHDK splash screen I get a black screen and that is it.

I reformatted the SD card, reset all defaults on the camera, removed the volatile ram battery to clear things, but it did not work.

Should I assume that my Canon firmware is incompatible with CHDK?

Any help very much appreciated.

Thanks.
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Offline zeno

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Re: Stable CHDK will not load on my sx120
« Reply #1 on: 24 / July / 2015, 11:10:02 »
While my ACID app will download the right build I recommend using my STICK app instead. It will download and install the correct build for you so that CHDK will automatically start if you lock the card and turn the camera on. It's designed to be as simple and foolproof as possible.

Of course, when you don't want to run CHDK all you need to do is unlock the card.

Dave
PS note that the SX120 is a pre-2011 camera so while you can use a 4GB card with just a simple FAT16 partition, bigger cards will need two partitions if you want CHDK to auto-start.
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Offline alfredb

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Re: Stable CHDK will not load on my sx120
« Reply #2 on: 24 / July / 2015, 12:07:54 »
Quote from: zeno on 24 / July / 2015, 11:10:02
While my ACID app will download the right build I recommend using my STICK app instead. It will download and install the correct build for you so that CHDK will automatically start if you lock the card and turn the camera on. It's designed to be as simple and foolproof as possible.

Of course, when you don't want to run CHDK all you need to do is unlock the card.

Dave
PS note that the SX120 is a pre-2011 camera so while you can use a 4GB card with just a simple FAT16 partition, bigger cards will need two partitions if you want CHDK to auto-start.

Thank you for your quick reply, I will try the stick app.
My SD card is already formatted as a fat32 FS and it can store images from the camera.

Are you saying I should create a fat16 partition instead?
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Offline zeno

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Re: Stable CHDK will not load on my sx120
« Reply #3 on: 24 / July / 2015, 12:56:32 »
You don't need to do the formatting - STICK knows the camera needs a FAT partition and will do the formatting for you.
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Offline alfredb

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Re: Stable CHDK will not load on my sx120
« Reply #4 on: 25 / July / 2015, 08:17:47 »
Quote from: zeno on 24 / July / 2015, 12:56:32
You don't need to do the formatting - STICK knows the camera needs a FAT partition and will do the formatting for you.

Hi Dave,

How are you?

Today I bought a 16GB SD card which had fat32 by default.

I ran stick, it goes up to the point where it was supposed to create the partitions BOOT and PHOTOS, but it failed.

On loading a partition manager I noticed that the 16MB FAT partition was created, but not formatted. The remaining FAT32 shows as unformatted.

Diskpart reports this:
DISKPART> list disk

  Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
  Disk 0    Online          298 GB      0 B
  Disk 1    Online           14 GB      0 B     This is the SD card

After running stick soon after failure:

DISKPART> list part

  Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
  -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
  Partition 1    Primary             16 MB    512 B
  Partition 0    Primary             14 GB    16 MB


Detail partition

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
* Volume 3     E                RAW    Removable     16 MB  Healthy  Not formatted as FAT

The remainder of the SD card:
DISKPART> select part 0

Partition 0 is now the selected partition.

DISKPART> detail part

Partition 0
Type  : 0B
Hidden: No
Active: No
Offset in Bytes: 16777728

There is no volume associated with this partition.

Anyway I am attaching the stick log.

I am not sure what is causing this.

Thank you.

Alfred


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Offline zeno

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Re: Stable CHDK will not load on my sx120
« Reply #5 on: 25 / July / 2015, 08:38:56 »
Hi Alfred

I've looked at the log. STICK did seem to know what to do - convert the single FAT32 partition into two - a small 16MB FAT16 one to hold DISKBOOT.BIN and the remaining space as FAT32 for photos, scripts etc.

But something went wrong with the formatting - it seems as though it tried to format the large partition as FAT16 (which failed since 4GB is the max size for FAT16).

If you want to try again with the 16GB card then I would start by formatting the card in the camera (i.e. using the standard Canon menu). This will create a single FAT32 partition - trying to do this under Windows is often problematic. Once you have a single FAT32 partition you could try running STICK again.

However as you will have discovered, Windows does not make having two partitions easy. While running STICK you have to remove the card and put it back in again twice. And when you have installed CHDK you will have to switch the active partition (e.g. using my WASP app) whenever you want to copy photos to your computer and switch back in order to have the card boot CHDK. Mac and Linux users don't have this problem since both operating systems let you view both partitions at the same time.

If I were a Windows user, I would only use cards of 4GB or less in my older cameras (I have an A570) and use larger cards when using my s100 (which will boot CHDK from a FAT32 card).
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Offline alfredb

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Re: Stable CHDK will not load on my sx120
« Reply #6 on: 25 / July / 2015, 09:01:50 »
Quote from: zeno on 25 / July / 2015, 08:38:56
If you want to try again with the 16GB card then I would start by formatting the card in the camera (i.e. using the standard Canon menu). This will create a single FAT32 partition - trying to do this under Windows is often problematic. Once you have a single FAT32 partition you could try running STICK again.

Hi Dave,

I formatted the card in the camera as suggested.

Then I tried to run stick again and it is having the same problem.
Maybe there is a problem with my OS being Windows 8.1 64 bit.

I renamed the old log so that stick creates a brand new one.

This is attached.

Thanks

Alfred
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Offline alfredb

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Re: Stable CHDK will not load on my sx120
« Reply #7 on: 25 / July / 2015, 09:47:33 »
Hi Dave,

I decided to manually create the partitions using AOMEI partition assistant.

So I created a 16MB FAT partition first and formatted it.

Then ran STICK which did prepare the partition fine with CHDK.

Tried the card in the camera and CHDK loads OK.

After I re-inserted the SD card into my memory card reader and manually created another partition but FAT32 and formatted it.

Re-inserted the SD card into the Canon SX120IS, CHDK loads but now gives an error loading modules.

The modules are still there, but it is having hard time with the new partition.

So I destroyed the FAT32 and created another FAT partition of 4GB after the 16MB.

CHDSK loads fine, but I have no way of saving my shots in the new partition, only the BOOT one.

It is funny though. The camera can format FAT32 SD cards, but CHDK only boots fine from a FAT partition.

Might start looking for a new camera that I cannot afford at the moment since I have been unemployed for the last 13 months and was hoping to use the old CANON SX120 thanks to CHDK.

I was looking for RAW format and the ability to have a greater choice of shutter speeds.

Thanks

Alfred
« Last Edit: 25 / July / 2015, 09:49:08 by alfredb »
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Offline waterwingz

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Re: Stable CHDK will not load on my sx120
« Reply #8 on: 25 / July / 2015, 10:02:43 »
Quote from: alfredb on 25 / July / 2015, 09:47:33
It is funny though. The camera can format FAT32 SD cards, but CHDK only boots fine from a FAT partition.
As you seem to be interested in digging into this,  complete information about the CHDK booting process can be found here : CHDK : Prepare Your SD Card

Quote
Might start looking for a new camera that I cannot afford at the moment since I have been unemployed for the last 13 months and was hoping to use the old CANON SX120 thanks to CHDK.
You could simply reformat your SD card with a single 4G FAT16 partition and use it that way. Save you a lot of money and unless you are planning to shoot a lot of video,  I'd bet you never even notice the missing space.
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Offline srsa_4c

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Re: Stable CHDK will not load on my sx120
« Reply #9 on: 25 / July / 2015, 11:29:22 »
Quote from: alfredb on 25 / July / 2015, 09:47:33
The modules are still there, but it is having hard time with the new partition.
Note that once CHDK booted up, it can only see a single partition - the big one in this case. Therefore, you need to copy the CHDK folder and its content to the big partition.
You can also use a single FAT32 partition with the "firmware update" starting method, but it's tricky on this cam. See http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/SX120IS and the porting thread for various tricks that allow manual CHDK start.
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