FW 2.0 beta 2 - rolling back kills Axe Fx II MK II

Hubi

Hubi

Experienced
Rolling back von FW 2.0 beta 2 to 1.06 killed my Axe II MK II - timeout on the PC, alle LED´s in the Display on, no connection to Edit and Bot.

Switching on - off the Axe several times - nothing. What to do now?

Holding recall when switching changes nothing.....
 
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Yes , I did......I hoped someone has got the right idea here in the community.......in Germany everybody is sleeping.............
 
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dbun said:
You mean other than support???
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Yes shure.............seems like the Axe is without any programming.............so it don´t know what to do..............but there´s no "First Aid" - knob to lead it back to Axe Edit or Bot.
 
It's the symptoms of a bad flash. It's fixable but you'll need to get one of the boot proms and install it so you can boot into a recovery mode and re-flash. Support will get you straightened out.

They added the recovery prom to the XL & XL+ models, but the MK. II didn't have it built in.
 
I think its just as likely that updating to a new firmware could brick the unit as moving backwards. Its not the direction your going, its that your writing a new firmware to the unit, be it FW1.06 or 18.3 etc

It can carry a small degree of risk, just like updating the FW on your phone, your camera, your computer etc.
 
Wolfenstein98k said:
And we can't, if people don't make it publicly known at all (and instead simply go direct to Support).
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I really don't think this would be the kind of issue that users would be required to inform other users about. If there was a known real issue with flashing, I'd suspect a company like fractal would advise against all flashing until they sort it out. This is a single report with no relevant details.

I'm not trying to poo-poo on your post Hubi, but there are definitely some user-error related issues that can cause this, that's all. I'm less inclined to believe it has anything to do with going from one specific firmware to another, and more inclined to believe that it's some sort of other unique failure. Of course I could be wrong, though. It sucks either way, and I do hope you get it sorted.
 
Hellbat said:
It's the symptoms of a bad flash. It's fixable but you'll need to get one of the boot proms and install it so you can boot into a recovery mode and re-flash. Support will get you straightened out.

They added the recovery prom to the XL & XL+ models, but the MK. II didn't have it built in.
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This. You bricked your AFX. We can't do anything for you. As for it being some general thing, flashing a firmware is ALWAYS a chance to brick a device; this is why smartphones, laptops, etc, won't load an update unless the battery is at a certain percentage or plugged in, etc. Fortunately for XL series device owners, there is a hardware recovery method built into the device that is not affected by a flash... so they can recover from a bad flash via a special boot procedure but for Mki/II, however, there is always a risk that your device will be bricked when you flash (example power outage during the 'programming' phase of the flash).

There is no special magical scenario about this particular firmware being more subject to this risk. Hubi just happened to get bit in a** this go round and needs to contact someone who can actually do something for him rather than generating a bunch of pointless noise on the forum.

This is why I bought a boot prom for my MkII, the second I heard they were available from FAS.

Hubi: we feel your pain, brother, but only the a part from the mother ship can fix it.
 
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Ok, G66 - Support says Eprom broken......shit.But they will send it, it can be done at home.

So Vintagegear - Ultra will do the job tonight.............it´s called Fasching here in Bavaria.......THanks for all!
 
When I had my AFX II MK I, it bricked on me quite a few times. I was using fast internet and a wired connection with nothing running as far as software goes. Just Fractal Bot or the the available sysEx. tools that were available before Bot. At any rate, I always suspected corrupt downloads. Something in the transfer while downloading as loading new FW was not a issue for 99.99% of other users.

Since I have had the XL it still happened a couple/few times. So what I always do is download the FW, (or whatever) two or three times and use the re-downloads if loading the new FW fails and trash the one that bricked.

I'm no computer ninja by any regard but I have had the same initial downloads re-brick while no issues with secondary downloads.
 
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swass said:
When I had my AFX II MK I, it bricked on me quite a few times. I was using fast internet and a wired connection with nothing running as far as software goes. Just Fractal Bot or the the available sysEx. tools that were available before Bot. At any rate, I always suspected corrupt downloads. Something in the transfer while downloading as loading new FW was not a issue for 99.99% of other users.

Since I have had the XL it still happened a couple/few times. So what I always do is download the FW, (or whatever) two or three times and use the re-downloads if loading the new FW fails and trash the one that bricked.

I'm no computer ninja by any regard but I have had the same initial downloads re-brick while no issues with secondary downloads.
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The best solution for that scenario (if corrupt downloads really were the issue) is to ask FAS to post MD5 hashes on their downloads page.
 
philipacamaniac said:
The best solution for that scenario (if corrupt downloads really were the issue) is to ask FAS to post MD5 hashes on their downloads page.
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Corrupt downloads shouldn't be an issue. Fractal Bot checksums the file before transferring and then again after programming.

I think the primary issue is people shutting off the Axe when Bot says the transfer is complete and then ignoring/missing the part that says "wait until the front panel says to shut down before turning off the device."
 
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Can one buy the boot prom just to have in case ? I'm thinking it might be nice to have if a situation comes up when on the road. Support it super fast I'm sure but could be nice to have the means to solve the problem right after it happens.

Kinda like how we used to Lways be carrying spare tunes, fuses, cables etc on the road

Spare PS, boot prom, ethercon cable etc as a road emergency kit for the axe
 
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