Frightening UMP crash error - please advise

Hi guys and girls

Today a very frightening error reared it's ugly head during a shoot. I also encountered it 3 weeks ago, but it apparently disappeared and so I didn't take action. Until it returned today.

It began several weeks ago during a demonstration in front of a school class. I had the UMP connected to a beamer and showed the pupils different shot sizes. All off a sudden, the image and the sound became totally garbled, loud white noise in the sound and a digital snowstorm of all colors in the display.

I quickly turned the camera off, since it was extremely loud. I thought it might have been the beamer or something else, and since the lesson was finished anyway, I packed my equipment and forgot about it.

A week later during an e-casting shoot for a friend it happened again: Total crash, audio and video noise, no buttons responded. When I switched the UMP off, it also didn't immediately shut down but rather took about 5 seconds to finally turn off.

After several reboots it became apparent, that the problem persisted. Everything was fine for a certain time (ranging from 10 seconds to several minutes), but eventually the UMP always crashed. We bought an USB-cable, did an software update to 5.1.1 (which in hindsight was very risky, because a crash during the update might have bricked the UMP!). But it also didn't help.

So I had to drive home to get my old BMPCC, stuck in traffic, missed half of the public viewing and Germany was kicked out of the world cup. But I digress ...

After the match we finally figured out, that the crash was preventable, if I turned off focus peaking! We were able to finish the shoot on the UMP and everybody was happy. At home I did a factory reset (which wasn't possibly before, because it always crashed, before it could finish), and everything seemed to work again, even with peaking on. So I thought the reset fixed everything.

Until today.

It started this morning, when the UMP wouldn't turn on. Flipped the switch, pushed the alternative buttons, but nothing happened. I took the battery off an attached it again. Nothing. Battery off, on again, then it suddenly worked.

Ok, this might have other cause, but I still suspect the camera.

Then, the REAL problem reappeared. After several seconds it crashed again, audio and video noise and everything unresponsive. And even when I turned focus peaking off, it crashed!

This time I took the BMPCC with me right from the start and drove to the shoot (a demo tape for an acting student). This time it only took about 2 seconds til it crashed when turned on. Also, at first it didn't turn on at all again. Ok, it was a very hot day (37°C, 99°F) so I thougt that might also play into the problem, so I shielded it from the sun. I played around with the peaking settings and just showed the problem to my friend (the acting teacher of the student) when the camera stayed on. And it stayed on for the rest of the day (because I never switched it off again!). Luckily, even after a necessary battery change it kept on working.

But as you can imagine, now I am scared, when it might happen again. And if I can fix it again next time!

So: Has anybody ever experience something similar? Is this a known problem and I am just to stupid to search?
Can this really be caused by the focus peaking? Might camera temperature be a factor (although I can almost rule this out, since it kept on working during this very hot day).

And the most dreaded question: I bought the UMP May 2017. Is this still covered by warranty? And how long do I have to send it in to get it fixed?

Sorry for the wall of text, but the trauma from today is still fresh and this was kind of therapeutic

It comes with a one year warranty normally except for those regions in the world that require two year warranties. Definitely get in touch with your regional support centre no matter where you live. BMD Support is great!


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Even if just out of its warranty, still contact your regions BM Support Office, and they will sort this out for you.
Cheers

Thanks for the replies. I contacted BM support and hope for the best.

But nobody experienced this before?

Took me a while to work out what a beamer was

In my part of the world it’s a certain brand of German car.

It sounds like something’s intermittently wrong. I don’t think the peaking or temperature has anything to do with it.

Next time it happens try and document it and I’d get in touch with BMD and see what they can do for you.

It’s not normal behaviour and shouldn’t be happening.

JB

OK John, what is the OP’s Beamer?
Cheers

Denny, in German we call a projector a "Beamer", which is used as a pseudo English term. We also say Projektor, but that is mostly meant for analog projectors.

Ah, got it, thanks Robert. I know Projektor use, but was kind of guessing a beamer, might be some type of digital projector. Thanks for clarifying this for me.
Cheers

Sorry about the "beamer" I know, that no one else except us calls a cell phone "Handy", but the projector thing was new to me.

The more you know ...

And thanks for all the good advice. Let's see, what BMD support has to offer.

In regards the original posters fault - I had the exact same symptoms. Eventually I called our local office who asked if I could make a video of the problem. Did that , they asked I return the camera ( very easy - they sent a courier ). New unit sent after a few days. They thanked me for the video as they quickly diagnosed and confirmed the fault.

Just a quick update:

I contacted the support and got offered an RMA. But since I was in the middle of a (not so important) project, I decided to wait and to try to further control the issue. And I found the problem: heat!

Or better: The absence of heat.

When I started the UMP for the first time on a given day, the error happened inevitably. Or the UMP didn't start at all. But as I described, on the very hot day it kept on running after a few starting problems.

So I tried a radical approach two weeks ago, after I tried and failed different firmware versions and peaking settings: I took a hairdryer and blew hot air into all the vents, until the UMP was steaming hot. And then it worked flawlessly!

I confirmed this solution on many different days in different settings: The error occurs, if the UMP temperature is below a certain threshold. On one day we shot in the shadow, and after the wind grew stronger, the error reappeared again – the UMP had cooled down too much. So I took my trusted hairdryer (which has become a key member of my equipment) and heated it up. And voilá: It worked again.

So far this workaround took me through 8 different shooting days, with a perfect record. If the UMP is hot, it works. If it gets too cold, it crashes.

So my assumption is, there is a cold soldering joint somewhere or any other problem with the flow of electricity.

What do you guys think?

On August 29th I will finally send it for the RMA.

Could be anything that would be cured by heat expansion, like a bad soldering or just a tiny rupture of any copper layer on a PCB. Glad the workaround helped, but I'm sure you'll get some more noise in your pictures.

Also blowing hot air into your vents doesn't seem like the best idea? As a Dutch person (we have the same language quirk) I did laugh at the beamer confusion!