WS1065 Fails to Boot Two Nights In A Row

[OdysseyDawn]

Received my brand new WS1065 yesterday. Set it all up by evening and programmed a few frequencies into it. Worked great. Turned it off and left it alone for about 30 minutes or so, came back and switched it on and it’s as if it forgot what to do. All the bright orange lights came on but the LCD display was just lit with no words. Played nothing but static. Pressing any buttons did absolutely nothing. Tried every possible power troubleshooting method you can think of, nothing. Requested for a new unit to replace this defective unit. Left it switched on but unplugged for the night.

Next morning (today). Woke up. Switched it off. Plugged the power back in. Switched it on. Everything worked as it should. Internal software booted up and everything was fine. Programmed some more frequencies with Win500 and uploaded to it and used it for a couple more hours. Turned it off for dinner. Had some dessert. Played with my camera for a bit. Turned the scanner back on and same as last night. As if the internal software was just wiped away and it doesn’t know that it’s a scanner. Just bright lights, lit LCD with no words, nothing but static.

Anyone else experiencing this? I’m from the San Francisco Bay Area if that helps. Is this just a defective unit?

I actually cancelled the replacement unit today since it was working again but it happened again...

I’m leaving it switched on but unplugged again like last night and will see if it’ll recover before I sleep tonight. If not then I’ll leave it like so for the whole night again and report back tomorrow.

 

[OdysseyDawn]

Tried it once more tonight and no luck. Will try again tomorrow. Here’s a picture of what I’m talking about. This plus static.

 

[hiegtx]

Sounds like it has an intermittent connection somewhere internally. If you purchased new, and have the option of getting a replacement without a hassle, I'd say go ahead with that. Otherwise, you're going to continue playing Whistler Roulette, where it might, or might not, work when turned on.

My guess is that one of the ribbon connectors or circuit boards, internally on the scanner, was jarred loose during shipping.

 

[OdysseyDawn]

Sounds like it has an intermittent connection somewhere internally. If you purchased new, and have the option of getting a replacement without a hassle, I'd say go ahead with that. Otherwise, you're going to continue playing Whistler Roulette, where it might, or might not, work when turned on.

My guess is that one of the ribbon connectors or circuit boards, internally on the scanner, was jarred loose during shipping.

Very likely that’s what’s going on. But hey, it’s working again this morning after doing the same thing from two nights ago. Weird.

 

[OdysseyDawn]

Annnnnd it failed again. Yea, this is just Whistler Roulette I’m dealing with here . Confirms it’s not just a night time issue, though.

 

[tvengr]

Try gently hitting the scanner when the problem occurs. If it is a loose or intermittent connection, that may start it scanning again. Also, try resetting the scanner. Turn the scanner off. Turn the scanner on. At the welcome screen, press and release 0 and then press and release 2. That will reset the scanner without erasing the memory.

 

[OdysseyDawn]

Try gently hitting the scanner when the problem occurs. If it is a loose or intermittent connection, that may start it scanning again.

Just tried. Turned it on, did some hard taps with the side of my fist all over, some taps here and there, a bunch of shakes in all directions, nothing clicked. Weird.

 

[tvengr]

If the reset does not work,, try this the next time the scanner is working: Save the attached zipped file to your computer and extract. Hold the PROG button while turning on the scanner. That will put it in CPU update mode. Connect the scanner to your computer and run the extracted program. That will reload the CPU firmware to check if the firmware is corrupted. The 1040 and 1065 use the same firmware.

 

[OdysseyDawn]

If the reset does not work,, try this the next time the scanner is working: Save the attached zipped file to your computer and extract. Hold the PROG button while turning on the scanner. That will put it in CPU update mode. Connect the scanner to your computer and run the extracted program. That will reload the CPU firmware to check if the firmware is corrupted. The 1040 and 1065 use the same firmware.

It’s working again! Alright, gonna give this a try.

 

[OdysseyDawn]

If the reset does not work,, try this the next time the scanner is working: Save the attached zipped file to your computer and extract. Hold the PROG button while turning on the scanner. That will put it in CPU update mode. Connect the scanner to your computer and run the extracted program. That will reload the CPU firmware to check if the firmware is corrupted. The 1040 and 1065 use the same firmware.

Made the update. Thanks for this. Not sure if it fixed it though. While using the application to check the current firmware version, the application popped up a message saying "The scanner currently contains no CPU application code!". That...doesn't sound right. But the update worked, though. Only time will tell if it fixed it but I also have a replacement unit arriving tomorrow.

 

[tvengr]

It is possible that the program did not detect the firmware because there is a problem with it. Please let me know if you have any more problems. That is the latest firmware available on the whistlergroup.com download site.

 

[OdysseyDawn]

It is possible that the program did not detect the firmware because there is a problem with it. Please let me know if you have any more problems. That is the latest firmware available on the whistlergroup.com download site.

Thanks for the help so far. Much appreciated.

 

[CycleSycho]

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Straight out of the box with issues, It would not be in my home past an RMA on their dime with a new one cross-shipped.

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[OdysseyDawn]

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Straight out of the box with issues, It would not be in my home past an RMA on their dime with a new one cross-shipped.

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Yea...my first Whistler product. Had a Uniden before this for several years, still works with no issues ever. Off to a bumpy start with Whistler but I’m sure it’s just this one unit. Doesn’t seem like anyone else has encountered anything like this and their SDS 100 & 200 look very promising.

 

[tvengr]

Made the update. Thanks for this. Not sure if it fixed it though.

Has the scanner failed since replacing the firmware?

 

[OdysseyDawn]

Has the scanner failed since replacing the firmware?

It’s been booting up just fine the past couple days. Thanks again for the help! Very much appreciated! I have about 90 days to complete the exchange of my original unit with the replacement unit so I’ll report back if anything happens again between now and then with the original unit.

 

[tvengr]

Thanks for the update!