Fried? or Just call it 'Bootsie'?

[SMOKE1]

Spent the last two days reading everything I could find relating (some what) to my problem, both in the RR Forum archives and Googling numerous wordings of my problem. No Joy.

Item info :Uniden BCD536HP bought from Uniden who shipped it 12/01/2014
SN# 375Z480042xx
No outdoor antenna, just the factory whip.

PROBLEM : I turn on my 536 and it lights up, loads the 'Uniden Bearcat BCD ... ' screen, then the 'Copyright 2014 ...' screen, then the scanner BEEPS three times and the display goes dark for 2 seconds and returns to the first screen, above, and repeats this sequence. Over, and OVer and OVER...

So I tried the following trouble shots as suggested in the RRF:

1) SD card toast? I put the card out of my 436 into the 536. The 536 did 8 or so reps of the 'semi-boot' and then made it almost all the way through the 'Loading NATIONWIDE...' screen and then went dark and resumed the 'semi-boot' cycle.
I shut it down, removed and reseated the 436's card and turned it back on. It returned to the 'semi-boot'. I then powered the 536 down, put it's original card back in with same results.
While I had the 536s card out, I had put it in the 436. The 436 booted normally off the 536s SD card.
I then dug up two 'New-FRESH-Unused' SD cards and did the exercise with the 536. Same results.

2) While there was a brandy new SD card in the 536, I booted up the PC and downloaded the latest, i.e. 'Todays', version of 'Sentinel' and plugged the cable into the 536. The 536 just did the screen semi-boot and the 536 did not recognize the cable or the
Sentinel software. For giggles, I booted up Arc536Pro, also with no recognition.

3) I did a 'FACTORY RESET' of the 536. The old press and hold the "DEPT+2+9" while turning the 536 'ON' with no results, 4X. And then, for S&Gs, I even did it 3xs with the 536 unplugged.

NADA. So what do I do now? Send it south for some R&R? Anyone else have this problem?

V/R
Ronzo

 

[troymail]

Last gasp? Did you try reflashing the firmware?

After that, sounds like some R&R (Uniden repair) is in order - on your dime, of course.

 

[Markscan]

Had the same thing happen to my 536. Uniden repaired the issue, whatever it was. I tried the same troubleshooting items you did.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[SMOKE1]

Last gasp? Did you try reflashing the firmware?

After that, sounds like some R&R (Uniden repair) is in order - on your dime, of course.

Yes, I did. But as #2) in the OP explains, NADA. Scanner can't talk to the outside world.
Looks like it's road trip time...

Thanks for the suggestion!

V/R
Ronzo

 

[SMOKE1]

I suspect the " 3 beeps " are very important and indicate what the problem is, or Uniden engineers would not have designed them in. Maybe it's machine language that translates into English as " Stick a fork in this one..."

V/R
Ronzo

 

[SMOKE1]

Last gasp? Did you try reflashing the firmware?

After that, sounds like some R&R (Uniden repair) is in order - on your dime, of course.

Ahhhhh Grasshopper, you workie work with computas long time, maybe ?
Answer hane, you may!

While trying different inquires on Google about my problem, I came upon this at an HP service site about POST messages:

" 3 short beeps Unable to start flashing (such as when missing a utility or BIOS image )

As Bones once said, "It's dead, Jim..."

V/R
Ronzo

 

[SMOKE1]

Well, after my 536 spent some quality time with the family in Roanoke, TX over the past couple of weeks, I got word today she'll be home Saturday. But the travel agent wasn't very informative....

Anyone have a UNIDEN Service Dept. to ENGLISH translation dictionary handy?
USD sent following: "
Parts Used
FLEXSTRIP
UPDATED DATA BASE
BATTERY MODIFICATION
D415 D416 D417 D418
COMMENTS
NONE"

I would have updated the database if the unit had ever made it far enough to ask the MASS STORAGE question, but it didn't, so the SDTs must have done {something?} else to get it that far...
What's the FLEXSTRIP? Is it a known problem? Maybe UNIDEN duct tape?
How about the BATTERY MOD? Did they hit it with a Hammer?
And don't ya hate all those pesky, poor quality Dxxx parts? Do they always fail in sequential order? Does D418 fail before D415? Or are they all in parallel?

Just curious what I got for $100USD , other than a [Hopefully] working 536. Do they do a free detailing of the scanner? Put a "I (heart) UNIDEN" sticker in the package? A coupon for 10% off one of the upgrade codes purchase?

V/R
Ronzo

 

[jonwienke]

Flexstrip is probably a ribbon cable. Likely the one connecting the front panel with the SD card holder to the mainboard.

Battery Modification refers to the RTC failure that caused older units to lose date/time settings if powered off.

D415-418 is the display backlight LEDs prone to failing in older scanners.

So Uniden fixed your booting problem, and did both of the campaign repairs to keep the clock and display backlight from failing.

 

[N9JIG]

I wish I had seen this thread earlier. With the three beeps possibly indicating unable to flash I wonder if you had a corrupted firmware file in the Firmware folder of the SD Card. I had that issue once and I just deleted the old firmware file from the SD Card and replaced it with a new and uncorrupted one.

It looks like you did the right thing anyway so that you got the other items fixed.

 

[maus92]

I just got notification that my 536 has been repaired. It was exhibiting cyclic reboots much as described in this thread, but without the triple beeps. the replaced part was - wait for it - "Flexstrip." Hmmm.....

We'll see how it works out.