Nikon D5100 Crashing?

I got a brand new D5100 today and it will randomly "crash" What I mean is I'll be taking photos, looking down the viewfinder, snapping away and then I'll press the shutter and nothing happens. When I look at the screen it's black and not responsive. The only way to get it back is to pull the battery and put it back in. It also will do it while scrolling through the playback or in the menu. I have a feeling, its something with the firmware cause I'm still running the stock 1.0.It's really frustrating having to do this so if anyone knows anything it would br appreciated.

You could try resetting the camera to default.

If no luck it could be faulty.

Call Nikon

It's not the firmware. Return the camera for a replacement. Don't forget to bring everything that came in the box and the official sales receipt.

The current firmware for the D5100 is ver 1.01, so you are on old firmware. You may want to download the current version and try it before doing anything else.

But your symptom is not listed in the bug fixes for the firmware so you may have a bona-fide problem. The closest issue is that the camera may not recognize some memory cards. If your camera is having that issue, it is conceivable that it might be behaving as you state - if the issue is intermittent.

That would be the only other thought, to try a different brand memory card - especially if you are using a brand or type not listed as tested - as all of the actions you state appear to be when you are accessing the memory card.

The firmware update might fix the problem, if that is what is happening.

If you can return it, that might be the best solution. Or try 1.01 first, then return it if it is still kaput.