paqman

HI All, New to the forum!

I have been shooting Nikon for a few years now and i have multiple cameras at my disposal.

Was surfing eBay auctions recently and someone was selling a D2x with charger but no battery as is. Description said it was working but all pictures were blank. I thought shutter but thought i may be able to fix it so i bought it.
It was 100$ so i though that could be a good deal if i could fix it.

Here is what it does, which is sort of indicative of a bad shutter but not at the same time:

- Camera turns on, menu works, all buttons work, autofocus works, aperture works ETC. I can even format my CF cards using the menu.

- First shot, the shutter, mirror and aperture actuate, but the mirror stays up. No picture is taken (No file on card) ERR appears on the screen.

- Press the shutter again and the mirror returns to normal but the camera menu is no longer working, screen is just black. The small lower screen shows the default 200ISO settings and cannot be changed.

- Otherwise, the camera seems to still be working correctly with no problem, shutter, mirror and aperture works fine. but again, no menu or other settings work. Even continuous high works fine. 

- When i turn off the camera and turn it on again, the menu works again but again, first shot shows ERR and repeats the problem above.

Weirdly, Mirror up function works fine, aperture close function works fine and the Mirror lock up function in menu for cleaning the sensor works fine also.

So i took the camera apart, The mirror box and all 3 actuators work, nothing binds, nothing appears to be broken or missing, everything can be actuated manually. in fact, everything looks really clean.

The shutter also caulks fine and releases fine manually. I even tested both coils on the shutter for continuity and they are good.

What seems to happen is that the camera detects a problem with the shutter and freezes or goes into a failsafe state.

So, where do i go from here? I know, its an old camera and not worth the money but still, it would be nice to figure out what is happening and get it working

Anyone have experience with these cameras and what could be the problem?

Thank you!!!