New Maestro Bootup Problem

L.Kubis

My brand new Maestro won't bootup!

It starts but quickly stops and eventually locks up with a window showing "Waiting on Hardware Initialization (Y,K,YTS)"

Help!

Lloyd
VE3ERQ

Flex 6500
v 1.7

Brent Parker

Lloyd,

The second day I had mine, it did the same think. I was running on the battery, which turned out not to be a good one. It than took to using the "internal" battery (which will keep it up for about 2 min while you switch) and killed that one too.

So, when I got the power to the Maestro, the internal battery had to get re-charged, before the message would go away.

I believe I left it plugged in and off (charging the internal) for about 30-40 min and then all was fine.

Give that a try and hopefully it recovers.   73

W8XG Brent

Mike va3mw

If what Brent says doesn't work, then open a support ticket.

L.Kubis

Thanks for the tip, Brent.
I am using the Flex supplied wallwart but didn't have power on it long enough perhaps. I will let it soak for an hour or so and try again.
The unit was sitting on the self for a couple of months so something may have discharged internally.

Cheers!
Lloyd

Brent Parker

When it happened to me, I took the cell phone battery out, plugged in the wallwart and did not power up the unit. After "soaking" for awhile, I powered up and all was well. Scared the  C...* out of me!

If after an hour or so, this doesn't work, yea, I'd start a trouble ticket. But, do let us know how this works out.

73  Brent

Tim - W4TME

I have converted this topic to a support HelpDesk ticket (http://helpdesk.flexradio.com) for expedited issue resolution.  If anyone else is experiencing an issue similar to this one, please submit a HelpDesk support ticket for issue resolution.

N9VC

I had the same problem last night.Turns out
I forgot to plug in the 12 volt supply and
kept getting the same hardware message. As
soon as I fed it 12 volts and re-started, it
was okay. I'm sure yours will be okay also.

73, Jim N9VC

[Deleted User]

This is supposed to be a portable device and should be able to boot up as long as the battery is good. I don't think it should have to be tethered to a wall wart and extension cord to turn it on???

N9VC

The only reason I am using 12 volts is I have
not purchased a battery yet for it. If it has
a battery of sufficient charge, then I agree,
a wall wart or power supply should not be
needed.
In my case, I attempted to start it up without
the power supply connected and it made a valid
try till the internal battery became depleted.

73, Jim N9VC

Mike VE3CKO

Hey Lloyd, hope your doing well. I plugged mine in for several hours before doing anything. Before I got Mojix battery I would go portable around the house and did experience something similar. Quickly surmised I let the on-board battery get too low, plugged back in and let it get a good charge, all was well.

Kevin Va3KGS

Lloyd

Attend Mike and my presentation in the fall, you might learn something !!!!!!

Hope you got it working.  Just fired mine up today for the first time, and listening to the maestro right now.

Cheers

Kevin

Kevin Va3KGS

Lloyd

give us an update on your situation.

Kevin

L.Kubis

Was replaced, Kev. 

New one is working great!

Let's get on some night!

Cheers!
Lloyd

Brian_W9HLQ

I had the same problem.  It seems you can never get too far from 12V external power source.  Even with full charged batteries in the rear of the Maestro, it still will run down the internal battery and fail to re-boot.  So it seems we need TWO batteries to run the Maestro away from the mains.  Dudley suggested to get a 12v gel cell to keep the internal battery charged.  I am disappointed I need to do this.  Why can't the battery in the rear compartment charge the internal battery?  

Tim - W4TME

Why can't the battery in the rear compartment charge the internal battery?  

It should as long as the battery bank you are using has sufficient charge capacity to  charge the internal battery.  With the info provided, It sounds to me as if your battery bank may be weak providing 5 VDC under load.

If this problem happens using different battery banks, then I suspect a hardware issue.  If you have an open HelpDesk, I would provide this feedback.  If not, I'd open a HelpDesk ticket since it sounds like a problem with the internal charging circuit.

Brian_W9HLQ

Tim,   I have two different batteries that I swap out before an operating session.  I assume they are reasonably charged since I just took them off the charger.  Since you indicate the Maestro should work only on the batteries in the battery compartment  I will spend the next few days experimenting.  When I get the "Insufficient battery power. Please replace battery..." message I will immediately replace the battery.  If this fails to solve the problem, I will open another trouble ticket.  Dudley told me to use an external battery to keep the internal battery charged, that did not sound right.  So I have some experimenting to do.  Thank you for your comments.

Tim - W4TME

If the Maestro has no external power source (battery bank or DC connection) the internal display battery will drain over time, which is why Dudley made the recommendation.  If the internal battery has insufficient power and is connected to an external power source, the Maestro will not boot until the internal battery has charged, usually in about 10-15 minutes.  Maintaining power to the Maestro when not in use will speed up your boot time if you do not have to wait for the internal battery to charge.