RFR and v 2.0 update

I was going to post on this same issue this morning. I want to revert to the previous version I was running. Is this possible? Has anyone tried it? The new version goes to sleep almost immediately and is constantly reconnecting to the base station. The first version that the unit shipped with was rock solid compared to this.

What is the answer ETC?

I've been having the same problem but haven't had time to trouble shoot it.  my RFR works for a little while then starts reconnecting over and over and over.  for now I've just setup my RVI on stage to act as a remote.  but it would be nice if I could get it fixed.

It will work fine if you plug it into the USB charger cable, no need to set up the RVI.  It will work if you manually swap the batteries for fresh ones, but once it drops to a certain point, it will start the reboot cycle.  I've considered bringing in one of my USB battery packs and just strapping it to the back of the RFR.  But that would be silly.

Many customers have reported significant improvement with RFR v2.0 software.

If you have a full battery charge (charge it overnight), how long does the unit work before it starts to reboot? We will test this on the RFR you returned.

Thanks,

Dennis Varian

Not that this will halp you much, but I have not seen any of the above mentioned problems with my RFRs sinced I updated to version 2.0, and I have 5 of them.  However, I do have 2 of the 5 base stations that will drop offline on the network side but will stay active on the wireless side.  This causes my handheld to connect to the base station and get stuck in bootup trying to connect to a primary console, which it can not.  I have not mentioned it to support yet as I am trying to pin the problem down more and see if there is something funny with the network.  Everything else with the RFR 2.0 upgrade has worked quite well for me and I would recommend it.

Bob V. is working on mine right now - yesterday, the RFR I still have had a full charge at the start of the day and never really dropped any battery level until it fell asleep, then when it woke back up, the battery level was 2 pixels high and it was rebooting.  There is something seriously broken with the power management in both of my RFRs.  I wrote a small novel detailing the troubleshooting I did with both units, and included it with my RFR.  Bob probably has it.

Here are my exact words to repair:

    Immediately after the upgrade, I noticed that upon turning the RFR on, it would reach the "Live" screen and then immediately reboot.  All through this reboot cycle, the battery indicator would be one or two pixels wide, even though the unit had been plugged in and charging for days.  It would work fine while plugged into USB, but was not entirely useful as a wireless remote.
    I called tech support and explained - and we went through several troubleshooting steps.  I re-updated the units - no dice.  I put in other NiMH batteries, charged in a different charger - voila!  Until they ran down, then boooo!  I put in alkalines - voila!  Until they ran down.  The NiMH batteries removed from the unit show as fully charged in the other charger (A nice Maha 8-bay charger), so it seems like the charging circuit is 'fine'.
    An interesting twist - if the RFR is booted up without the ION running - and it cannot find the base station, it will happily sit there for hours and hours looking.  So it's got battery power to spare.
    Now, I thought I was going crazy because of the conflicting results of the troubleshooting but the other RFR that I have is exhibiting the exact same behavior, and also started immediately after the software upgrade.

So, how many hours did it work before it started rebooting?

DV

2 hours maybe?  I turned it on at 11am after it charged for 3 or 4 days.  We used it a few times and I left it on the techtable around 1 to see how it behaved.  It powered down over lunch by itself and then when I came back at 2 and hit a key, it immediately rebooted and the battery icon was almost at zero.

Hey Guys,

rebooting constantly sounds like a hardware problem. Could you please contact ETC Tech Services to see about having your Handheld sent in for repair.

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We had the same problem with ours when I upgraded to 2.0.  Had to send it back to ETC, they sent us a replacement. 

I'm having 2 issues with the replacement:

First, On the replacement the screen seems to be brighter in some parts than others.  I would estimate that majority of the screen is running at 75% while the area where the battery indicator is and everything right below the battery are running at 100%.

I e-mailed ETC about this a week or so ago and haven't heard back.

Here's a very blurry picture that kind of shows the problem.  It's much more noticeable in real life than the photo makes it look.

Second problem I've noticed is if I turn off the RFR when it's in park mode, some times when I turn it back on the display will read Live, but it will respond to commands as if it's in Park still, for example the Rem-Dim button will produce an error.

-Bryan

bryankacz said:

Second problem I've noticed is if I turn off the RFR when it's in park mode, some times when I turn it back on the display will read Live, but it will respond to commands as if it's in Park still, for example the Rem-Dim button will produce an error.

 

-Bryan

I have noticed this problem (RFR screen shows "live" but responds as if in "park") as well on our RFR v2.0 with networked base station.

 I am also having the problem with the constant reboot at low battery level- same symptoms as nfarwell.  For now I just use used batteries leftover from our  wireless mics to keep the RFR running.

-Todd

I called ETC on Thursday to see the status of the one RFR in repair and they said it was in testing with a new version of the software.  I really hope testing goes well as the one I'm using in tech right now has started rebooting randomly even while plugged into USB power.  I really need a working remote - the one I still have is not wireless anymore and is not very functional.

My RFR is now on it's way back to me and I will then play with the beta and give a report.

(note:  when the customer is calling every day asking if it's done yet and telling you his only other RFR is not functioning while in tech rehearsals, shipping back the repaired RFR via GROUND is not conducive to low customer stress)

Software version 2.0.11 seems to fix the battery/power/rebooting issue.  I got back a surprise new RFR (with an integral belt clip!  Thanks!) with the new software and then my other repaired one a few days later.  So far, it works.  Thanks guys.