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A & D patch lights of death


bond19
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I have been tweaking my Firehawk, and moving patches around, adjusting levels, and basically trying to figure the thing out. This morning it crashed and locked up on me multiple times. I shot video of it happening:

 

https://youtu.be/fJ4_5HqS0Ds

 

As you can see, it boots up, and you can play with it for a short period of time, but after a few patch switches, it will emit a loud noise (or just go silent), then patch button A and D will come on, an then the whole thing locks up. This has got me P-O'ed, as I possibly can do a system restore and re-create my setup from "my tones"- I did a system restore before and it wiped everything out. I am thinking I either have a defective unit, or the unit in general needs some changes.

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Very scary.  Have not seen anything like that yet.  Only problem I have had it the darn blue tooth not connecting one time. After 15 minutes of attempting I just figure Oh Hell, just plug direct to amp.

 

I am new over here and don't know how responsive Line6 is too these problems.

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Update:

 

I performed the factory restore, and from what I can see it is performing just like it came out of the box- with all my patches deleted. I know it seems crazy, but I think one of the patches I downloaded from the cloud screwed up my Firehawk. I think the patch is she ain't pretty from the author: wanerb. As you can see by the video, that is one of the patches I am using whien I am doing the test. I did not have it saved to my tones, so for my steps to restore my Firehawk to where I had it before the problem, I redownloaded this patch. When I tried to open it up to edit the noise gate settings, it crashed the app. Can somebody please verify this for me? I am not asking to save the patch to your firehawk, so it bricks it, just see if it crashes the app. If it is true then, Line 6 should have some kind of "trusted tone" verification in place.

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  • 1 month later...

Hi,

the problem I have looks very simular, and I to had it before, did a factory restore, lost all my presets, and am now back where I started, with the problem reacuring!

https://youtu.be/RKEOIc6e5x4

One thing that is diffrent, I was relocating some factory presets to my user banks, so I cant blame it on some strange preset.

Anyway, Im not happy right now obviously.

Cheers!

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I do not have any tones from the cloud on my FH. I am losing my patience and feel insecurity after experiencing 'A&D' death during a live performance.

 

I am on the latest firmware, application, and just custom tones consisting of FH's amps and effects. Is it too much for users to expect no sudden death while gig and practice? I did not have such an experience while I used M13 for past couple of years.

 

I can live with the lag for now, but cannot live with the sudden death. I had to factory-reset while gig.

It is too unstable. Period.

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I use the FH now for about two weeks for our church choir. I never had a problem with it until last Saturday evening while church service, where the unit just went silent, so there was suddenly no guitar in the mix. Fortunately, it was during the last song we played, but it was very frustrating. In September we do some kind of Musical, and I don't want to go in that with a bad feeling, that the FH could suddenly stop working while a song (I have also some solos).

 

All I can say, it was a slightly modified patch from the cloud (couldn't recall the exact name, I have to see at home). No big stomping around, just slight use of volume pedal.

 

Maybe I should take the HD500x to the next gig, just to protect my heart :-). I really like the FH concept of easy editing and the tone match feature, but if it is unstable like this, I wouldn't use it for gigging.

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I got another "A & D" patch lights of death during a gig last Friday again. Before the gig, I had followed the Line 6's Firehawk Troubleshooting (hardware reset, reinstalling firmware and application, and re-save each preset one by one, without downloading anything from the Cloud). While I was using a Wah (volume pedal), it got stoned and I couldn't change to any other preset even after multiple power-offs and power-ons. The only way to get out of the stoned Firehawk FX was a HARDWARE reset during the gig. I managed to finish the gig using the presets on the cloud.

 

On Sunday, I replaced my second expression pedal, VP Jr, with Line 6 EX, but got the same symptoms during rehearsals.

 

Now I am trying not to use any bluetooth connection, basically only Firehawk without iPad or iPhone. I have not had the issue so far since last Sunday. If it turns out to be a bluetooth issue, it will be very frustrating. Because Firehawk FX is all about controlling the pedal board using your bluetooth device.

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Dear bond19:

Yes you are right. I had my Firewhawk FX with no bluetooth device connected, and another A/D death happened to me:
 

https://youtu.be/sqOo2H-aJAY

 

My preset 01A was all made of FH tones, not from the Cloud. I was able to turn on/off each foot switch, but it emitted a crazy noise (I had to take off my headphone) and got stoned when I tried to move to other presets. The only way to get out of this is a factory reset. Powering on/offs does not work.

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I know, this is looking like some kind of flaw in the programming - at one point, I thought that if the first banks (01A being key here) were altered with user made tones, it would cause the A/D Death, but then it showed up in different situations, so I am stumped on this.

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Mcbeddall. For all the messing about we have done with this so called "easy to use" device, I am thinking I would have been better off with my first instinct and bought an HD500X, as at the end of the day, I need a reliable live unit, and it does not matter If I get my tones programmed with a PC or Android device.

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Yeah I get what your saying, last night was my first band rehearsal with the Firehawk and it locked up once and the patch changes were much more noticeable than when I've played alone, maybe I'd got used to the clunks and warbles, much like your experience my bandmates loved the sounds I was getting but they all agreed we just can't risk it live, our next gig is an outdoor festival that is being recorded by the BBC in England, we are 1 of 3 bands that were picked from hundreds and it's a massive opportunity for us, we only have time for 5 songs but definitely can't risk it locking up as there are no second takes

I was fairly happy to wait out for another update but there has been no response from line 6 about the issues in about a month

So we don't really know if a fix is in the works or not

I don't think any musician would argue that it CAN be used live, not as intended anyway, I mean I basically have a multi fx that I'm scared to change patches on

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I'm I a similar position, in that I LOVE mine - functionality, use, features and sounds are all excellent, but it's not fit for purpose live at this time...

 

So close, but yet... It's like having the best car in F1.... With the worst gearbox.

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I am still confident Line 6 will come through with a firmware update that will fix the Lag, as well as the other issues- I am thinking it would have to be version 2.00, not 1.2- as this probably a major update, which may require an overhaul on the programming to get the Firehawk to perform up to user's expectations (and as advertised).

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I'd be more confident if someone from line 6 would come forward with some information... 

I'm thinking the Line-6 engineering team is too distracted by the new Helix.

Based upon my history with prior  Line-6 gear , I doubt we will see a Firehawk FX "Firmware 1.02" until October 2015 at the earliest  

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I've opened a support ticket with line6 and while I'm waiting for a response I contacted my supplier to see where I stood, they have offered me a refund and have said I can give it a few days to see if my support ticket resolves anything

So I doff my cap to Andertons they have been really easy to deal with both this time and when my first firehawk arrived faulty

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I got a response for my support ticket

They said do a system reset after reinstalling firmware and app and if that doesn't work I need to send it to a repair centre

 

I already tried resetting and I'm not about to send a brand new firehawk to a repair centre so I'll be getting a refund next week

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I got a response for my support ticket

They said do a system reset after reinstalling firmware and app and if that doesn't work I need to send it to a repair centre

I already tried resetting and I'm not about to send a brand new firehawk to a repair centre so I'll be getting a refund next week

I'm in the same boat, only in the last few days have I started to get errors and lock ups with it and getting concerned about it - I'm Andertons too, so tempted to change to a HD500X or something else entirely (Helix is a bit expensive for me!)....

 

What are thinking of changing to?

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I'll stick with my Zoom G5 for now, I already tried most other modellers in the same price range including the hd500 and I didn't get on well with any of them, I don't like the digital sound of boss stuff either so I'll just wait and see if either zoom bring out a successor to the G5 or the Firehawk gets fixed and I'll buy it again

I'm not that blown away by the helix tbh, for that kinda money I'd want more effects

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Bump.  Just started happening to me last night.  I'm ok with a hardware reset for now because I'm not using it at gigs yet but yeah hopefully this is a software issue that can be fixed.  For me it happens when i'm playing with my custom Soldono amp setups (I have 4 in bank 1).  Here's what it looks like for those wondering:

 

 

post-785163-0-90288000-1437598107_thumb.jpg

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After experiencing tens of A&D deaths, here is what I found looks suspicious:

 

1. Any preset with vox AC30 HD amp

2. Any preset with a tremolo

3. Any preset saved with wah 'on'

 

Then the A&D patch lights of death happens when I try to change the preset or bank using foot switches.

To avoid the death, I am currently using the FH remote app to change the presets back and forth (from 'My Tones'), not using any foot switches. In this way, the lag time gets more unbearable, but A&D death occurs less or not.

 

I am really trying hard not to die during gigs.

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The 'possible' cause of death listed above could be just for me. However, I have listed the presets which caused the death multiple times. For instance, I had set up a nice preset with an activated wah (without using your toe) and I had no sound when I came back to it from other presets. Then the death happened when I switched to other presets. Regarding a preset with tremolo, it usually happens when changing TO the preset with a tremolo itself, not the other way around.

 

When it happened, I deleted the preset and made one from scratch with either AC30, tremolo, or wah, and it happened again. The scariest thing is, you can not revive FH by turning it off/on, but only after a factory-reset.

 

It would be a great experimentation for users who has not experienced at all so far, such as stevekc, to try that out. Let's say, make three presets - one with AC30 HD, the other with a tremolo, and the third with wah on, and change presets among them a few times by pressing foot switches. If it doesn't occur, I would believe mine is a lemon. If it occurs, it could be a holistic firmware/application/hardware issue.

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I caused mine by (I think) changing preset on the device, while it may still have been saving from app -> FH.

 

Kinda like taking a usb drive out too soon...

 

I'll give your setup a go tomorrow if I get a chance and see what happens...

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Maybe we are trying to narrow this problem down too much by thinking it is a problem amp or effect, or combo of both- possibly it could be that for some reason areas of the Firehawk's internal memory get corrupted which cause the lockup- just a thought.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Tony's 'recovery from A & D lights lock-up' explains the symptom that I have experienced. It is indeed related to a specific amp/fx combo made using original firmware. Because we cannot tell what tones have been corrupted until A & D lights death happens, it looks like we have to remake all tones from scratch using firmware 1.10. I am concerned if it means that we should do the same thing after future firmware updates.

 

Line 6's locking-up recovery:

 

We've found that tones created while using the original 1.01 firmware can sometimes be corrupted, regardless if they are new or downloaded tones. This results in the device locking up, with a factory reset being needed for recovery (press and hold the Master Volume knob and the TAP button as you power up the unit).

Firmware 1.10 resolves this issue. Tones created in version 1.10 can no longer be corrupted like they would have under version 1.01. However, corrupted tones created in version 1.01 are still problematic when used in Firehawks updated to later firmware versions. 

We encourage those encountering this issue to update to the latest firmware via the Line 6 Updater software, then perform a factory reset. Please note that any tones not backed up to My Tones prior to a reset will be lost (corrupted tones cannot be uploaded because they crash the unit and thus can't be selected for uploading).

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