Nikon D7100 no USB connection [solved]

We tested as good as we can. But there will always be things we didn't find. If you found things that apparently don't work as they should, you can report them here so we can take care of them as soon as possible.
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AlanT
Posts: 4
Joined: April 1st, 2021, 6:22 pm

April 1st, 2021, 6:52 pm

Seems to be a fairly common theme but told this one shouldn't be down to the batch of faulty cables as it is a N2 Nikon connector. Tried two phones to rule out a device issue (Samsung S10 and my old A8], watched the video on installation to make sure I definitely had the connector in the right way round. On screen menu gives access to all the options for ISO/Shutter etc. but metering gives "Metering Area is not available USB is not active" message and greyed out options for adding image review (the main reason I wanted it so I can take shots from inside the car or house). Photo review message "Photo Review is not available This camera doesn't have this feature" even though I checked it should be possible on a D7100 before purchase and others have it working. A few shots attached to confirm it is plugged in correctly, might be a faulty pin or do they all look like that? Am I doing something silly?

Help appreciated, email already sent to support but not easy to diagnose.
Attachments
Screenshot_1_Unleashed.jpg
Screenshot_1_Unleashed.jpg (98.97 KiB) Viewed 5173 times
Pins_small.jpg
Pins_small.jpg (33.7 KiB) Viewed 5173 times
correct_connection.jpg
correct_connection.jpg (66.74 KiB) Viewed 5173 times
AlanT
Posts: 4
Joined: April 1st, 2021, 6:22 pm

April 4th, 2021, 9:54 am

Rulled out everything except cable related issues now I think, updated camera firmware encase that was the problem and reset to factory settings but still no USB connection for focus type or image review. Will borrow an iOS device to confirm it isn't an android Bluetooth issue but don't expect it to make a difference.
Oliver
Posts: 1127
Joined: October 9th, 2018, 4:17 pm

April 7th, 2021, 11:17 pm

Hi Alan,

Sorry for the trouble and thanks for the photos and other details.

Everything else looks fine, and Metering is exactly the right setting to look at to determine whether USB works or not. In your case, It does not.

Now it could be one of 3 things:
1. Unleashed
2. Cable
3. Camera.

I'll start in reverse order:
3. Is the least likely, but we know of several cases where the USB port was damaged - eg when the camera was previously used a lot for tethered shooting. Those normal USB cables with the straight connectors and quite rigid cables unfortunately provide an excellent lever effect where a small force applied to the wrong spot can cause quite some damage in the socket of the camera. You can eliminate this possibility by testing your USB port with the cable that came with your camera and any Tethering or image downloading software on a Mac or PC. On a PC, the Camera will probably show up like an external drive in Explorer, on a Mac it might open Photos automatically for importing images, or you can use the "Image Capture" app that comes with MacOS.

2 would be the easiest, but we have not had any trouble with our 8P cables. the issue you read elsewhere were exclusive to the a small batch of USB-C cables. The missing pins in the plug are by design. that's what a normal cable looks like.

3 is also possible. There are traces going from the socket all the way to the microcontroller, the 5V pin even has some additional components in between. We do test all Unleasheds for short circuits, but do not do an additional open circuit test, as this is already done by the PCB manufacturer. So there is still some small chance for a hardware issue despite all tests passing.

Can you try very slightly unplugging the cable plug from the Unleashed? if the pin you circled sticks out of the plug a little too far, it can cause a short circuit that will hinder USB from working (but don't worry, it won't break anything).
Other than that, if you can also confirm the camera port is OK, we'll have to send you a replacement cable and/or Unleashed, and you can send us back whatever was defective.
Founder & CEO of Foolography, Hardware & Firmware developer.
AlanT
Posts: 4
Joined: April 1st, 2021, 6:22 pm

April 8th, 2021, 2:23 pm

Thanks guys this one is now resolved I think.

I borrowed an apple phone today and it tested correctly without any issue on iOS with metering and photo preview on an old iPhone 7.

Will investigate my security settings on android as it may be blocking write access to memory 🤔 have developer options enabled which might be causing some conflicts.

Think it rules out camera, cable and unleashed unless there is a temperamental connection. Will let you know if I get it working on my Samsung.
AlanT
Posts: 4
Joined: April 1st, 2021, 6:22 pm

April 8th, 2021, 2:46 pm

Other things I did which may have had an impact.

Update camera firmware to the most recent Nikon version (I was a couple behind]

Add a clean reformatted the memory card and reset to default file paths and names (I had some non standard folders and images naming)

Give app when active access to activity and location rather than asking, and changed power settings for the app so it doesn't go to sleep in the background.

Working now so might have been one of these that fixed the issue on android and iOS.

Happy customer now, will get out and start using it.

Thanks 😊
Attachments
Screenshot_20210408-133911_Permission controller.jpg
Screenshot_20210408-133911_Permission controller.jpg (94.11 KiB) Viewed 5131 times
Oliver
Posts: 1127
Joined: October 9th, 2018, 4:17 pm

April 8th, 2021, 10:52 pm

I'm glad to hear it works now! Thanks for letting us know!
Founder & CEO of Foolography, Hardware & Firmware developer.
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