1.4 Boot problem

[john delonghi]

I have two 1.4 cameras here and one is very unreliable at booting up. This only started happening as I went to use it again after a long period of being stored away.

Maybe 1 time in 10 it will turn on, the rest of the time the fan comes in initially, the display flashes a couple of times then the menu appears for a few seconds and it powers off.

The other one also behaves in the same way periodically but it's nowhere near as bad as the other.

What can be going wrong and what can I check?
Both are on the latest firmware. Batteries are OK.

 

[CS223]

Did you try a hard power down? I had the same thing happen when I updated the firmware. Power down holding the button for 4 seconds or longer then power up.

 

[tesla500]

Does the power LED flash red just before the camera turns itself off? This indicates the PMIC watchdog thinks the main CPU has crashed, and is about to power it down. You might try reflashing the OS card with the latest software, as seen here

 

[GhostRider]

My 1.4 does the same thing. I have to boot it 2-3 times before it will bring up the on screen menu. I have not upgraded to the new OS yet.

 

[john delonghi]

Does the power LED flash red just before the camera turns itself off? This indicates the PMIC watchdog thinks the main CPU has crashed, and is about to power it down. You might try reflashing the OS card with the latest software, as seen here

Yes the LED was flashing at some point before powering itself off, but I've come back to it this morning and now it's booting up fine!

Odd behaviour.

 

[clkdiv]

On my Chronos 2.1 this happens too sometimes. When things go bad, I have to restart the camera 5 or 6 times before it starts up. I am always running the newest "unstable" development releases.

 

[hsmore]

I only got my 1.4 a few days ago.  But, mine does the same type of thing.  So far, my "fall-back"
plan is to hit the RED record button on the top of the camera as soon as the display screen shows up.
Somehow this makes it "stay awake" instead of powering right back down all by itself.....

 

[Bian]

Sometimes I have the same problem. At one day it needs several boot operations - at the other day it works without problems....

 

[sanjay]

Quick question for everyone that this is happening to: Does it happen on Battery, AC, or AC + Battery?

 

[john delonghi]

external power or internal battery

 

[sanjay]

Another thing that would help me out here: If you have software version 0.4.0, you should see a "Last Shutdown Reason" readout in the Util -> About section.

I had implemented this in mid-march to help track down the shutdown issue in the field, since it's been hard for us to replicate here in the office. On the first successful boot after a failed attempt, the software will have captured flags from the power manager and put them in this screen. It would be very helpful to know what this says the next time the issue is encountered.

 

[hsmore]

Quick question for everyone that this is happening to: Does it happen on Battery, AC, or AC + Battery?

It happens when plugged directly into the AC-socket of my wall (with battery also inside camera).  It happens with battery+AC.  It
happens with just-battery.
I have not tried it without the battery inside the camera.

 

[hsmore]

I only got my 1.4 a few days ago.  But, mine does the same type of thing.  So far, my "fall-back"
plan is to hit the RED record button on the top of the camera as soon as the display screen shows up.
Somehow this makes it "stay awake" instead of powering right back down all by itself.....

Well, that above method did not work consistently.  Boy-oh-boy, if you get that sucker to
turn on, you better leave it on for the rest of the day until you are completely finished
with your tests.  I honestly thought at one point that I had made the three-hour trip for
NOTHING and was going to have to go home empty-handed.

 

[JeffNickel]

I'm suffering the same intermittent boot up issue, very frustrating.  I am using 1.4 V4.0 is it possible to go back to previous firmware?  I do not need USB control but I do need my camera to turn on!

 

[JeffNickel]

I also have a negative ghost image on my screen from a previous recording.  Only way to remove it is to reboot!  Hope it boots up again!

 

[坦丁]

Confirming this is happen in my case also
Both in 0.3.2 and 0.4-beta versions.

Quick question for everyone that this is happening to: Does it happen on Battery, AC, or AC + Battery?

It happens when plugged directly into the AC-socket of my wall (with battery also inside camera).  It happens with battery+AC.  It
happens with just-battery.
I have not tried it without the battery inside the camera.

In About screen on next success to boot:
Last Shutdown Reason: 97: PwrBtn, Software, PMIC Ack

 

[sanjay]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for adding details. After some information gathering about when/how this shutdown issue occurs, I've started the process of narrowing the problem down to something we changed in code between 0.3.1 and 0.3.2. For those encountering this issue who need to have their cameras turn on and work reliably until we release a fix, there are two options:

1. Attempt to use the "safe boot mode", which is a mode in which our power management controller ignores commands from the CPU, running only a minimal amount of firmware (your fan will spin at full speed, and no battery info will be reported on screen). To get into this mode, disconnect all power and battery, press and hold the power button down, insert the battery. If you see a green/red blinking pattern, it is now in safe boot mode, and you can attempt to use it normally.

2. Back up calibration data and downgrade to 0.3.1 using this downgrade package: http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=460.0;attach=575


I apologise for the inconveniences that this might have caused. It has been something that has slipped through our standard QA process, but it is now a high priority for us to address.

 

[JeffNickel]

Thanks, The safe mode worked for me.  I've completed my tests so I'll try the firmware downgrade next.

 

[JeffNickel]

Mu 1.4 is running V4 firmware.  I tried your downgrade firmware option but the system does not see any options on the UBS stick.  I can save movies to the USB stick but the option available is Voyager from the repository.  Is this downgrade only available for V3.2 cameras?

 

[sanjay]

Alright, some good news for those having the 'random' shutdown issue:

After digging through some code changes, I was able to reproduce this and realized that changes in how some status flags are set between the Power Manager and the CPU had changed between 0.3.1 and 0.3.2/0.4.0+.

If you hold the power button down for half a second or more, as you would to turn OFF the camera, the power manager will interpret this as a request to turn off after having entered the power ON state. Therefore, the camera boots, power management daemon starts before the rest of the UI, sees that a shutdown was requested, and then proceeds to turn the camera off.


The solution is to briefly press the power button to turn the camera on. Do not hold it down to start the camera, as anything > 500 mS will be interpreted as a command to turn off.


Please let me know if this mitigates the issues that everyone here has experienced. If so, I will add a delay sequence to the power manager so it correctly handles this button press.


Jeff, yes, the downgrade script is only to go from 0.3.2 to 0.3.1.