SDS100/SDS200: SDS100 Stopped picking up any signal

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Tramagod

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Everyone's ego has been soothed so move on.

Thank you sir, so many here so willing to belittle others to inflate their own egos. I made an error, I apologized , just don’t know why these “greater than thou” types can’t accept that and move on.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

darkness975

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So something weird just happened with my SDS100. I have not had any noticeable issues since I bought this one. The last couple of days, I have been leaving it on all day/night. Today when I went home for lunch I noticed that it was unusually quiet. When I looked at it, it appeared to be "stuck" on a certain frequency (analog FD frequency in case this is at all relevant). I advanced it to scan forward but it did not receive anything for a few more minutes even though my others are running fine. I turned it off, and back on again, thinking the old "reboot fixes things" cliche. It seems to have been working for the remainder of the time I was home but I turned it off and am now back at work.

I didn't take the tax day update. But I don't know if my issue is the same as the others in this thread or not.

I really hope I do not have to send this thing in for repair and spend money on shipping and be without the scanner.

:confused:
 

mule1075

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So something weird just happened with my SDS100. I have not had any noticeable issues since I bought this one. The last couple of days, I have been leaving it on all day/night. Today when I went home for lunch I noticed that it was unusually quiet. When I looked at it, it appeared to be "stuck" on a certain frequency (analog FD frequency in case this is at all relevant). I advanced it to scan forward but it did not receive anything for a few more minutes even though my others are running fine. I turned it off, and back on again, thinking the old "reboot fixes things" cliche. It seems to have been working for the remainder of the time I was home but I turned it off and am now back at work.

I didn't take the tax day update. But I don't know if my issue is the same as the others in this thread or not.

I really hope I do not have to send this thing in for repair and spend money on shipping and be without the scanner.

:confused:
Do the firmware update and see if the same issue returns. I will say also had a problem with A Hp-1 that did something similar and it was the SD card flaking out so that might be something to consider also.
 
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hiegtx

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So something weird just happened with my SDS100. I have not had any noticeable issues since I bought this one. The last couple of days, I have been leaving it on all day/night. Today when I went home for lunch I noticed that it was unusually quiet. When I looked at it, it appeared to be "stuck" on a certain frequency (analog FD frequency in case this is at all relevant). I advanced it to scan forward but it did not receive anything for a few more minutes even though my others are running fine. I turned it off, and back on again, thinking the old "reboot fixes things" cliche. It seems to have been working for the remainder of the time I was home but I turned it off and am now back at work.

I didn't take the tax day update. But I don't know if my issue is the same as the others in this thread or not.

I really hope I do not have to send this thing in for repair and spend money on shipping and be without the scanner.

:confused:
If you have an extra card, try a new, properly set up, memory card. Or try clearing, formatting, and initializing the card you have.

Format with SDF.
Then, use 'clear user data' under the drop-down Scanner menu in Sentinel.
Then, 'write to scanner' from Sentinel to reload your Favorites lists. Before doing these steps, you might as well update the database in Sentinel so that you have the latest version.

The firmware update, as mule noted, is another thing to try.
 

kruser

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So something weird just happened with my SDS100. I have not had any noticeable issues since I bought this one. The last couple of days, I have been leaving it on all day/night. Today when I went home for lunch I noticed that it was unusually quiet. When I looked at it, it appeared to be "stuck" on a certain frequency (analog FD frequency in case this is at all relevant). I advanced it to scan forward but it did not receive anything for a few more minutes even though my others are running fine. I turned it off, and back on again, thinking the old "reboot fixes things" cliche. It seems to have been working for the remainder of the time I was home but I turned it off and am now back at work.

I didn't take the tax day update. But I don't know if my issue is the same as the others in this thread or not.

I really hope I do not have to send this thing in for repair and spend money on shipping and be without the scanner.

:confused:

I've had the no receive thing happen with my earlier production SDS100. I've always wondered if it is heat related as mine did it while being on and scanning for a couple days. It also did it once that I can remember when it had just been turned on for maybe 5 minutes after sitting off and off the charger for days. In both cases, it lost total reception and the signal indicator bar graph never showed any signal.
A power cycle has always brought it back to life. Now it has not done this for ages so it kind of scares me if it does have a cold solder joint or the internal connector is failing randomly.
Between the time I had the problem of no signal and when it seemed to stay working normally, it had no firmware updates at all so firmware did not make it start behaving, it just did that on its own.
I probably should not talk about it as it will start failing again! Na, that would be fine as then I'd know for sure it needs to go back.

I let it purposely run for 4 days recently. I placed it in an area with no air circulation in an attempt to let it run good and warm. It never failed once. I let it scan all digital system types in conventional and trunked systems as well as conventional analog channels.
At the end of the 4th day, I brought it out of the "warm" area (its case felt very warm!) and placed it in the airflow of the AC vent which was blowing 51 degree F air temps. That cooled it down quickly. I wanted to stress it thermally and this was the best way I could think of without putting it in the fridge or freezer. I left it hanging at the air duct for hours but again, it never flinched and kept on receiving just fine.

So I don't know what happened but all has been just fine with my SDS100.

Oh, when trying to make it fail, I also rapped kind of hard on its case to try and shake a solder joint open but that test also failed to cause a failure. I only tried this when it was good and warm but never tried it when in front of the AC duct.
 

starsty96

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So something weird just happened with my SDS100. I have not had any noticeable issues since I bought this one. The last couple of days, I have been leaving it on all day/night. Today when I went home for lunch I noticed that it was unusually quiet. When I looked at it, it appeared to be "stuck" on a certain frequency (analog FD frequency in case this is at all relevant). I advanced it to scan forward but it did not receive anything for a few more minutes even though my others are running fine. I turned it off, and back on again, thinking the old "reboot fixes things" cliche. It seems to have been working for the remainder of the time I was home but I turned it off and am now back at work.

I didn't take the tax day update. But I don't know if my issue is the same as the others in this thread or not.

I really hope I do not have to send this thing in for repair and spend money on shipping and be without the scanner.

:confused:
That’s how mine was acting before it completely took a dump on me. Hopefully it doesn’t do that to you....and if it does I hope you don’t have to deal with the hassle of sending it in again with more issues

I have not received any update from Uniden on my scanner yet.
 

TailGator911

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A percentage of these radios are problematic, a small percentage just like other electronics. If you have an SDS scanner with issues you are in the minority of customers with repair requests. The number was given in another thread- out of 2000 sold (at that time) they had 100 complaints. Still not good numbers, but they are hard at work to resolve the issues. Most SDS owners, myself included, have SDS scanners that work as advertised, and we are in the majority. It is safe to say there are thousands of happy SDS scanner owners out there. To lump all SDS scanners in a negative light because of the few that need repairs is unfair and unjust. I just had a go-around with the LG TV people when I bought a big flat screen for my RV. It was a lemon. After a customer service battle they made things right and a replacement arrived in fine working order. You won't hear me say LG TVs suck. They do their best, and they will have a bad TV here and there. I just happened to buy one. $#it happens. Deal.

JD
kf4anc
 

darkness975

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I don't have a spare SD card to use. And I don't think I'll be able to get one until the weekend. I guess in the meantime I'm going to have to see if it continues to not work properly when I get home later. I'll run the updates, but honestly that shouldn't matter.
 

starsty96

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I don't have a spare SD card to use. And I don't think I'll be able to get one until the weekend. I guess in the meantime I'm going to have to see if it continues to not work properly when I get home later. I'll run the updates, but honestly that shouldn't matter.
You could try that. Worst thing that happens is you have to send it in for repair.

Their turn around time is about 20-30 days it looks like.

I know its no fun :(
 

kruser

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That’s how mine was acting before it completely took a dump on me. Hopefully it doesn’t do that to you....and if it does I hope you don’t have to deal with the hassle of sending it in again with more issues

I have not received any update from Uniden on my scanner yet.

If mine is going to go belly up, I just wish it would do it already!

JD, I'm in no way saying all SDS scanners are bad. I own tons of Uniden products and generally have nothing bad to say about them at all. Same goes for the SDS line, if I so happened to get one of the lemon's, so be it. I can live with that.
I've also had my share of other otherwise highly rated electronics only to be unlucky and get a defective unit. As you said, $#it happens.
 

starsty96

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A percentage of these radios are problematic, a small percentage just like other electronics. If you have an SDS scanner with issues you are in the minority of customers with repair requests. The number was given in another thread- out of 2000 sold (at that time) they had 100 complaints. Still not good numbers, but they are hard at work to resolve the issues. Most SDS owners, myself included, have SDS scanners that work as advertised, and we are in the majority. It is safe to say there are thousands of happy SDS scanner owners out there. To lump all SDS scanners in a negative light because of the few that need repairs is unfair and unjust. I just had a go-around with the LG TV people when I bought a big flat screen for my RV. It was a lemon. After a customer service battle they made things right and a replacement arrived in fine working order. You won't hear me say LG TVs suck. They do their best, and they will have a bad TV here and there. I just happened to buy one. $#it happens. Deal.

JD
kf4anc
I don’t believe anyone in this thread said Uniden or SDS scanners suck. Some of us just have bad apples.

I would say they seem to care about these issues.
 

kruser

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I don’t believe anyone in this thread said Uniden or SDS scanners suck. Some of us just have bad apples.

I would say they seem to care about these issues.

Sorry, I took it that's what TailGator was saying with the comment, "To lump all SDS scanners in a negative light.....is unfair and unjust." in message 209.
My Bad, I read it sideways!
 

KK4JUG

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I don't want to be an oracle of doom, Darkness, but that's how mine acted before it quit. They had it not quite a month, but I also caught them in some kind of a parts inventory or update or something. That extended my wait by a few days. I bit the bullet and sent it to Unidenland in Texas and upon return, it worked like a charm. It continues to work great. According to their work sheet, my problem was a cold solder joint. I believe they should stay out of those joints. :)
 

TailGator911

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No, sorry, I was generalizing, referring to all negative posts about Uniden, not necessarily singling out any one. Just saying that's the odds these days when you buy electronics. We've all had lemons from companies we know and trust. It has happened, and it will happen again, that's the luck of the draw. I blame it on people who do not care enough about their jobs and take pride in what they do. But, don't get me started, that's a whole 'nother thread.
 

darkness975

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I don't want to be an oracle of doom, Darkness, but that's how mine acted before it quit. They had it not quite a month, but I also caught them in some kind of a parts inventory or update or something. That extended my wait by a few days. I bit the bullet and sent it to Unidenland in Texas and upon return, it worked like a charm. It continues to work great. According to their work sheet, my problem was a cold solder joint. I believe they should stay out of those joints. :)

I am a pessimist by nature. I tried changing once but all it did was disappoint me.

I don't know maybe it just screwed up because these are software defined and something with the software errored.

I guess I'll know if I go home and turn the stupid thing on and it doesn't work.

Oh the fun. (n)
 
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