Timeout When Updating

Mark Erbaugh

My 6700 developed an issue where it was acting like the UP button on the microphone was stuck (even with no mic connected). I opened a helpdesk ticket and the resolution is to return the radio and I was issued an RMA, but told to wait on shipping clearance due to the pandemic.

Anyways, with nothing to lose, I decided to see if an older version of the firmware might make a difference. The radio was running 2.6.1, I decided to go back to the version that was installed on the radio when I bought it new, 1.2.17. I installed SSDR 1.2.17 and fired it up. It said the radio needed an update. I said okay and was asked to verify the downgrade, which I did. In the middle of the update process, the display on the radio went from "Calibrating..." to "Timeout" and the LED gave 3 red flashes (repeatedly) indicating the software was not running. I tried a reset to factory defaults. Same results.

I searched here on the forum for similar problems and they all seemed resolved as a hardware failure. I find it hard to believe that a hardware failure precisely coincided with an update, unless the hardware failure was also what is responsible for my mic button problems.

As I said, it's no big deal as the radio is going back to Austin at some point hopefully in the near future, but I put this out to the community to see if there's anything else I should try.

Perhaps this experiment will give the troubleshooters at Flex some more data points when diagnosing problem.

Bill -VA3WTB

Mark, by simply un plugging the radio and restarting usually clears a time out problem? I have heard of people needing to restart a few times to clear the issue.

bahillen

Not just turning off PS but unplugging is important. 73 Bill W9JJB

Bill -VA3WTB

Bill, I don't know if you missed this or not. Tim said that if unplugging the radio is difficult then leaving the radio plugged in and waiting at least 30 seconds after the power supply is turned off and drained will work ok.

Mark Erbaugh

Here's what I've tried to no avail.

1) Turn off the radio
2) Wait 2 minutes
3) Disconnect the power cable
4) Wait 30 seconds
5) Reconnect the power cable and apply power
6) Wait 2 minutes
7) Hold the OK button while turning on the radio
8) Wait for the countdown to do a reset

The radio still times out during boot

Bill -VA3WTB

Could be an SD card failure Mark, Help Desk? yes you started one,,,looks like they will check all that out.

Mark_WS7M

Sorry to hear about the issues Mark.  Especially in this time when we are using our radios more probably and getting the fixed is harder.  It is frustrating to have it fail.

Hopefully Flex will turn it around reasonably fast.

Bill -VA3WTB

Mark, I'm wondering,,did the SD card come up in your communications with Flex? If not, maybe ask them what their thoughts are on that? If that is the case then they can send you a new and you can install it yourself.

Mark Erbaugh

Bill,

Thanks for the suggestion. The SD card did not come up in the Helpdesk emails, but I have updated it with that information.

Mark Erbaugh

Fortunately, the 6700 isn't my only HF radio, so I'm not off the air. Hams should always have a plan B (or C,D,E ...).