D800 now displays ERR

What would cause my D800 to display ERR in the top LCD. I forgot to turn the camera off yesterday and over night it drained both ( MD-D12) batters dead today. I recharged them tonight to full charge. Put them into camera and grip, turned it on and got eer. A 2 button reset did not work. Nikon told me to send it in, I would like to have some idea of what happen. Did the batteries go bad being fully discharged?

Thank for any help or ideas
Larry Shuman

Is your lens set to it's smallest aperture?

Joe

The camera will not react at all with a lens on it . It displayed Err with a 24~120G and with my 300F:4 AFS with a aperture ring. The shutter button is dead, no focusing no nothing. It goes in Monday morning.

I don't think leaving the camera on overnight should drain the batteries to zero. Somethings wrong that caused them to do that. A lens with an aperture that isn't set to its smallest f-stop displays an FEE message not ERR.

You might check out this:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3203361

And this:

https://photographylife.com/how-to-fix-blinking-err-error-on-new-nikon-dslr-cameras

The one other thing I read was to do the two button reset while, at the same time, pressing the shutter release.

Joe

The other thing that you could try is to remove the backup battery and then reinstall it. and charge the camera for 24 hours. The Nikon backup camera charges from the main battery and they wear out over time. If you totally depleted your camera batteries and your backup battery (the one that maintains time and date) is worn and depletes, the camera could be in a state of being totally dead. After a full recharge and giving some time to get even a little bit of charge into the backup battery can bring the camera back to life. Based on this happening after a deep depletion, this is what may be going on. If that still doesn't work then you gotta get it serviced.

Thanks EJ but I don't know what a backup battery is. I only know about both EN-EL15's that are in the camera and D12.

I did a little research and unlike the single digit DX bodies, D3, D4, D5, etc, the smaller DXXX bodies do not have a user replaceable internal battery (often a CR 1616) so if a 24 hour charge cycle doesn't resolve your problem (meaning you leave the camera alone for 24 hours with a fully charged main battery in it) then it will need to go to Nikon.

Several people have mentioned checking setting d12 re:battery order. Try switching the usage order of the camera and grip batteries. It fixed things for some of them. Live view settings also confused the camera for some when the batteries were removed.

Joe

OK I put the main battery into the camera handle battery holder. I checked the battery info thru the menu and its 100% and new. So do I leave it in for 24 hours, do I leave the camera on???? Does the camera have a internal clock that gets its charge from the main battery, so with the camera turned off the internal clock still get its charge? All I know about electric things is if I turn the switch up to turn on a light and turn it down to turn it off. I have already spoke with Nikon and their estimate including shipping is $261. Midwest Camera Repair in Detroit quoted me $241 this morning.

Yes, there is an internal battery for the clock and it will charge with the camera off. The instruction manual tells you about it. It will hold a charge for about three months.

Instruction Manual

Page 28

Joe

Thanks Joe. Its setting here with a fully charged battery and the camera is off. Lets hope that does the trick.
Thanks again
Larry Shuman

Larry
Before sending the camera to Nikon, you may want to bring it to your local dealer to see if they can help you.

Arnie Berger wrote:Larry
Before sending the camera to Nikon, you may want to bring it to your local dealer to see if they can help you.

Thanks Arnie

Where I live we don't have any knowledgeable Nikon dealers. This evening I'll check the camera. It will have been setting for the 24 hours turned off as EJ and Joe wrote. Keep your fingers crossed. At the very worst I'll send it into Nikon and get a D5 to use while I wait.

cheers
Larry