D300 DEAD won't power on

[rossb]

<p>Having a camera break right away would not be fun but I would not worry about it to much. They will send it back in great shape. But not to worry the D300 is a solid and quality camera. I am impressed that you only snapped off 100 shots in 5 weeks. I probably would have passed that up in the first few hours just playing with it. I will surely buy a D300 in 3 or 4 years when a nice used one seems affordable. </p>

[robertbody]

<p>I had my D300 since about April 2008, almost a year ago... 90,000 shots... no problems<br>

I didn't upgrade the firmware at any point.</p>

[rossb]

<p>My D200 has 6200 shots in two years..I think at that rate it will take 28 more yrs to get to the magic 90,000 mark. </p>

[don_clayton_bell]

<p>Am glad to hear from everyone. And to answer eveybody wondering --- only 100 shots in 5 weeks............I got it before my trip to visit my daughter in Denver, CO for a week after Christmas. I also gave her a Nikon D40X for her Christmas Gift. Then on our return home to GA. I got sick .......stayed in the house for 3 1/2 weeks with flu or a bug! While with her I spent by time with her and her D40X plus the 3 grand kids. Only pulling my camera out of the bag 1 time going to Breckenridge. Oh Ya.....I ordered a Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 HSM II Macro today .............as a surprise for my D300 body when Nikon Repair sends it back to ME!</p>

[fotolopithecus]

<p>OP Don, I just took note of the fact that my D300 appears to be within 600 cameras of yours, but thus far no similar problem. Perhaps if anyone else who has a problem with their D300 would state the serial number we may be able to understand if there is some kind of quality control problem.</p>

[bruce_margolis]

<p>I think Don already gave us the reason for his D300 illness. Looks like it caught his flu bug. :-)</p>

<p>But seriously, hope you get the camera back soon. It will love the new lens.</p>

 

[chris_werner]

<p>Don - sorry to hear about your problems</p>

<p>My D300 is #3132221 - no problems of any kind to date.</p>

[dave_mcjannet]

<p>My D300 went dead with only two days left on the one year warranty. It's off with Nikon now, no idea how it happened although I have been travelling in some hot temperatures lately. My laptop has been subjected to identical conditions and there is no problems with it.<br>

Not sure what the serial number is.<br>

Less than 6,000 shots taken. Was very reliable, very good battery life. But when I pulled the camera out of the drawer the other day it was dead, no shots remaining indicated or anything. Thought that maybe I'd drained the battery somehow so charged it up - no change. Tried a different battery at the dealership - no change. Pretty sure that I hadn't left it powered up and drained the battery. Tried master reset, no help.<br>

Camera has been well looked after with no shocks, no scratches, no traumas at all.<br>

Only other minor problem is that the Nikon 18-135 lens regularly had difficulty making contact with camera controls. This problem not apparent with the Nikon 70-200 VR though.<br>

See what happens when I get my camera back, in a month or two ...</p>

[bms]

<p>BTW my serial is 3004498 - don't think it is a "batch" issue</p>

[dmcgphoto]

<p>Allow me to chime in to those who say..."there are many out there, and this doesn't happen"<br>

Well allow me to share my story<br>

1 D700-Err message after 6 weeks of use (6 weddings~1800 shutter attenuations per)<br>

2 D200-Err message again on both<br>

Nikon says "Gosh, We've never heard of this, that's weird"<br>

Colleague of mine - D3- Err message.<br>

Okay, so it's very much the cameras, what? I don't know, but it is consistent, and my D200's are out of warranty, so I'm looking at an issue to get my backups back where I'm paying for this.<br>

The question really is, what is it that's causing the shutters to stick? I have noticed that when I hold the AE/AF-L button down while firing the shutter, that it happened to me with the D700 and the D200's. The D200's failed tonight at a wedding within 30 minutes of each other.<br>

So perhaps, just perhaps, there is some kind of antecedent to these failures, something where the camera is being asked to complete a process (focusing or holding the focus) while another process is on deck (raising the mirror) Perhaps, just perhaps, Nikon has never created a hierarchy for this, apparently common, situation and is merrily accepting the $100-200 repair fees per attempt.<br>

I say perhaps, the problem really is, and yes-I'm bad mouthing Nikon here, they will certainly never admit it because the tech people don't accumulate information on repairs and coalate them. It's not their "fault" it's just Nikon, as with any big company, has no real incentive to look at those issues. Unless it affects their bottom line, why do you think they came out with the low noise sensors? Bottom Line, Full Frame? Bottom Line. I prefer Nikon to Canon for a lot of reasons, but that doesn't mean I think that Nikon could use a bit of rethinking in terms of their engineering based on previous user problems rather than market forces alone.<br>

Thoughts All?<br>

Daniel</p>

[fotolopithecus]

<p>Chris, I don't think you mentioned if you had a problem yourself or not, but if your serial # is correct your 127723 cameras away from Ben, and 27300 away from Don. Hard to see much in that.</p>

[dave_mcjannet]

<p>My D300 serial number is 6014281, model D300 HK Set. Purchased Jan 29th 2008 in Sydney Australia. Not a grey import.</p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>One thing to keep in mind is that Nikon uses different serial numbers for different geographical regions. As far as I know, all D300 bodies sold through Nikon USA have serial numbers that begin with the digit 3. I am not sure that includes Canada or not. Dave's starts with a 6 for those sold in Australia.<br>

Personally, I doubt that there is any correlation among batches.<br>

If you are interested in learning about D300 issues, we had the following thread from May 2008. Back then the False Battery Low problem was far more current. It took Nikon several months to figure out a solution: <a href="http://www.photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00PPbf">http://www.photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00PPbf</a> Needless to say, that was extremely frustrating for those who were affected.</p>

<p>Speaking of serial numbers, has anybody bought a new D300 body in 2009 in the US (or perhaps in December 2008)? I you could provide me the serial number, I would appreciate it. It is not necessary to give me the entire serial number; I am mainly interested in the leading 4 digits, starting with a 3 presumably.<br>

Thanks in advance.</p>

[joshloeser]

<p>Make it three people who can report their D300 going dead for no apparent reason. My battery showed 77% just an hour or so ago, and as I went to transfer my pictures into my laptop, I noticed my D300 wouldn't power on at all. I took the battery out, put it back in and now there's absolutely nothing showing.</p>

<p>Remember, for those who saw my earlier thread, it has already been to Nikon and back (and it never had this problem before). What on earth is going on?</p>

[dave_mcjannet]

<p>Dear Nikon Forum:</p>

<p>My D300 came back very quickly, in about a week to the dealership. Nikon did not give a reason for the failure, but advised on firmware update, cleaning, etc.<br>

Dealership has not seen this issue before, and is not able to comment.<br>

Can only speculate:<br>

1. There may be an internal fuse or other component sensitive to static discharge that is easy to reset.<br>

2. ???<br>

So I'm going to pay more attention to static, keeping it stored in one of the LowePro cases - definitely not in the sock drawer any more in my carpeted bedroom.</p>

<p>Best Regards:<br>

Dave McJannet<br>

Melbourne, Australia</p>

[mary_vandenberge]

<p>My son's D300 just came back from repair on BENT PINS after having the camera less than three months, we picked it up yesterday after waiting for it to come back for 10 weeks. We get home he puts the lens on goes to shoot a photo and the camera goes DEAD...recharged the battery...put the battery on...DEAD!!! Please someone help!!! </p>

 

[johnharris]

Hi Ihave recently encountered this problem. I have 5 batteries and even purchased another charger. Cleaned contacts and scratched my head a lot.

However the camera works just fine with my MBD-10 attached. Makes it heavier to lug around but hey it's working. I bought the camera second hand in 2018 got it cheap as the battery door needed replacing and the plastic LCD cover was cracked. Fixed those and I still love the camera.

[rodeo_joe1]

John, without the MBD-10 attached, and the camera 'dead', is the viewfinder normal brightness or abnormally dimmed and out-of-focus?

 

A dimmed and fuzzy finder would indicate that the camera is completely without power.

 

I know the D300 is now an old camera, but it would be nice to finally get to the bottom of this issue. The previous suggestion of an internal fuse seems quite likely, or just lack of contact of the battery with the camera contacts.

[mike_halliwell]

Be interesting if it can power-up from the external socket thingy.

 

That's the one with the daft, 'unique' 4 pin design.

[keerthi]

It could be a component issue I had a few years back on my D40X.The camera would just not power on.A small gear accessible as you open the base plate had worn down and upon getting it replaced, it worked just fine.I do not remember what the function of that gear was now.Assuming that the D300 has a similar setup,you could try.

[kevinmiller]

<p><strong>There's been a lot of owners</strong>, on this site and other photo sites, that had their D300 go completely <em>"DEAD"</em> for no apparent reason. I'd like to hear from <strong><em>YOU, </em></strong>if you had this problem, repaired it thru Nikon Service Center, what it was contributed to, how long have you had it back, and any further problem? Mine's at Nikon now. With less than 100 shots at 5 week. My serial number is <strong>3159521 </strong>I like to know if camera serial nos. are close? Read a lot about the trouble, just not about the fixes...........Thanks</p>

 

I bought a D300 new in 2007, and I still use and love it. I've never had an issue with mine, but I recently picked up another nice one for a few hundred bucks (included Nikon grip and lens). My point being, there are some great deals out there on the D300 if you need a replacement.