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2.0 and 2.01 crashes


gbakerjr
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Okay...So, my Helix had been working perfectly up until I went to 2.0.  The first gig with 2.0 was last Saturday (7/16), and early on in the show, the Helix froze up.  It would pass and process audio, but I had no control over the machine via footswitches or buttons on the Helix.  I rebooted the Helix (mid-song....), and from there, it worked flawlessly.

 

Since there was a fair amount of talk both on this form and on the Facebook Helix user group page of folks with similar experiences after going to 2.0, I figured there was just a firmware hiccup, and then 2.01 came out almost immediately, so that more or less told me there was indeed some sort of firmware hiccup that Line6 addressed.  I loaded 2.01 as soon as it came out, but I didn't have much time to play with 2.01 before my next gig.  I did log a good hour on it with no issues.  At the gig last night (7/24), the Helix worked absolutely perfectly through most of the show, and then I had a "mini-freeze".  I was frozen in the current bank.  Everything worked within the current bank (patch changes, footswitches, etc.), but I couldn't get out of the bank.  The bank up and down buttons did nothing.  Again, a mid-song reboot fixed the problem. 

 

Just sharing in case anyone else had a similar issue.  I realize these things are computers and you're going to have hiccups now and again.  The best thing we can do is share, so if there is a hiccup, we get it exposed ASAP so Line6 can address is ASAP.

 

Interestingly enough, both gigs were outdoors.  We were under roof so it's not like the Helix was baking in direct sunlight, but outdoors none the less.  At the first gig, the freeze was early on, but between setup and soundcheck, the Helix had probably been running 2 hours or so before the freeze up.  At the second gig, there was a dinner between our soundcheck and the start of the show, and the freeze up was late in the night, so the Helix had been running probably around 5 hours before the freeze up.  I can't imagine any of that would have contributed to the freeze, but for the sake of diagnosis, I figured I'd throw in as many details as possible.  AC at the first gig was perfect.  AS was solid at the second gig, but the voltage was a little low...Around 108 volts.  But again, the Helix ran on that for hours (as did a ton of other digital equipment, and we run everything through conditioners and UPS), so I doubt that had anything to do with it.

 

Anyway, I'd be interested if anyone else has had a similar experience.

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Okay...So, my Helix had been working perfectly up until I went to 2.0.  The first gig with 2.0 was last Saturday (7/16), and early on in the show, the Helix froze up.  It would pass and process audio, but I had no control over the machine via footswitches or buttons on the Helix.  I rebooted the Helix (mid-song....), and from there, it worked flawlessly.

 

Since there was a fair amount of talk both on this form and on the Facebook Helix user group page of folks with similar experiences after going to 2.0, I figured there was just a firmware hiccup, and then 2.01 came out almost immediately, so that more or less told me there was indeed some sort of firmware hiccup that Line6 addressed.  I loaded 2.01 as soon as it came out, but I didn't have much time to play with 2.01 before my next gig.  I did log a good hour on it with no issues.  At the gig last night (7/24), the Helix worked absolutely perfectly through most of the show, and then I had a "mini-freeze".  I was frozen in the current bank.  Everything worked within the current bank (patch changes, footswitches, etc.), but I couldn't get out of the bank.  The bank up and down buttons did nothing.  Again, a mid-song reboot fixed the problem. 

 

Just sharing in case anyone else had a similar issue.  I realize these things are computers and you're going to have hiccups now and again.  The best thing we can do is share, so if there is a hiccup, we get it exposed ASAP so Line6 can address is ASAP.

 

Interestingly enough, both gigs were outdoors.  We were under roof so it's not like the Helix was baking in direct sunlight, but outdoors none the less.  At the first gig, the freeze was early on, but between setup and soundcheck, the Helix had probably been running 2 hours or so before the freeze up.  At the second gig, there was a dinner between our soundcheck and the start of the show, and the freeze up was late in the night, so the Helix had been running probably around 5 hours before the freeze up.  I can't imagine any of that would have contributed to the freeze, but for the sake of diagnosis, I figured I'd throw in as many details as possible.  AC at the first gig was perfect.  AS was solid at the second gig, but the voltage was a little low...Around 108 volts.  But again, the Helix ran on that for hours (as did a ton of other digital equipment, and we run everything through conditioners and UPS), so I doubt that had anything to do with it.

 

Anyway, I'd be interested if anyone else has had a similar experience.

 

I am not saying the Helix has one but a memory leak can cause a crash or freeze that is time related rather than heat related.  So it could be related to how long it is up, not necessarily how hot it gets.

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I had a crash last Wednesday night. Luckily it was at the end of the gig and I was just tweaking a preset volume before I put things away.

Last night's gig went without a hitch. Think I'll leave it alone for a while.

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I had the same thing happen; sound was still processing but I lost all control.

 

My case was almost completely opposite of yours: nice low 70 temp, indoors, helix had been running less than 30 mins.  I was working on a bass patch so was connected to my PC.  The helix PC app also froze up (win 10).

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I also have had Helix lock up a couple of times after 2.01 upgrade. Both times tweaking patches and connected to MAC via USB. Helix would still process sound for current patch but no button functionality and editor was locked as well. Had a Variax connected via VDI cable. Weirdly the knobs on the variax were glowing red and green rather than the usual white. I didn't even know they could do that. Cycled the power and Helix came back up fine.

 

Update: My Macbook had locked up so i rebooted it and the Helix Editor attempted restart while connected to the Helix via USB. The Helix still processed sound on the current patch but all the controls were locked again. I unplugged the USB cable and that "released" the Helix which immediately regained all of its functionality. No restart required. So in my case it appears that Helix editor will "freeze" the Helix and release it when unplugged from USB.

Edited by ccornel
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Mine froze at a show Thursday, it locks up as you pointed out(still processes sound but all switches, etc. have no effect).

Thankfully I brought my HD500X and switched out to it.

I upgraded to 2.01 Saturday but haven't played with it yet. Hopefully that solves it because right now I'm back to my HD for performances until I solve my issues.

On a different subject, Love the new Mesa Mark IV models but still haven't been able to build a decent SRVesque tone yet.  

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It may be woth re-saving any patches that are not stock patches. And do it on the Helix itself.

 

I've had patches that rebuild with every restart and after re-saving them this behavior goes away.... leading me to believe that there was something wrong with the patch.

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It may be woth re-saving any patches that are not stock patches. And do it on the Helix itself.

 

I've had patches that rebuild with every restart and after re-saving them this behavior goes away.... leading me to believe that there was something wrong with the patch.

 

Try holding FS 10 & 11 during bootup...

 

http://helixhelp.com/pmwiki.php?n=Main.ResetOptions

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FS 10 & 11 makes a lot of sense. When you upgrade Helix, it rebuilds all the patches automatically on the first reboot after upgrade. But if the update requires an FX 9 & 10 global reset, then all the patches that were just potentially updated/rebuilt are immediately deleted! If you import them back in, it would seem that the import operation would address any patch migration issues, but it might not. Depends on how import is implemented. Using FS 10 & 11 after you've done all the patch imports would ensure that the patches were migrated. Possible making a small edit in each patch and re-saving might have similar results.

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Yes - I've had the freeze-up happen a couple of times and I suspect it has to do with older patches in imported custom setlists and the timing of rebuilding them. I also did the forced rebuild at startup and haven't had problems since (although I haven't tested for long or thoroughly).

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Thanks for the advice.

I've done all of the above many many times. (Starting in another thread)

I've had this problem since moving to 2.0.

Reinstalled, rolled back, followed the direction perfectly, rinse, repeat, etc. etc.

I'm working with 2.01 tonight and I'll see what happens.

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It is not imported patches; when it locked up on me it was with an entirely new patch. In fact I was tweaking one of the Cali Bass presets so no IRs either, stock cab.  FWIW I was tweaking the compressor via PC editor and hadn't touched the helix hardware in quite a few minutes when it happened.

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It is not imported patches; when it locked up on me it was with an entirely new patch. In fact I was tweaking one of the Cali Bass presets so no IRs either, stock cab. FWIW I was tweaking the compressor via PC editor and hadn't touched the helix hardware in quite a few minutes when it happened.

It seems like most crashes are when hooked up via USB. Funny that most people like the software. I still fnd it easier to edit on the Helix. IR selection and such is annoying on the software. I prefer a pop up box or similar for selection. Scrolling is a pain. Try to move stuff up or down with the mouse and it doesn't work so I have to hi light and use arrows. Same on line 6 updater. On my PC I can't even get the text to scroll and read full instructions. I have to read on the website.

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Just spent some time on my Helix and it worked fine so far.

Anyone notice it takes a bit longer to boot up now?

 

It did not seem to take any longer to boot to me but I did not time it before and after.  Given the new features, snapshots, etc. I think the bootup time is impressive and lightning fast considering what they are loading up.

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It did not seem to take any longer to boot to me but I did not time it before and after.  Given the new features, snapshots, etc. I think the bootup time is impressive and lightning fast considering what they are loading up.

Interesting....I updated to 2.01, followed all the directions(yes I held down the correct FS's), reloaded my patches and IR's, played a few minutes and turned it off....that was Saturday. I turned on my Helix last night and it took about 3 minutes to boot.

 

I have a show tonight so I just turned it on to warm up a little bit and it booted up in 27 seconds....?!

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Interesting....I updated to 2.01, followed all the directions(yes I held down the correct FS's), reloaded my patches and IR's, played a few minutes and turned it off....that was Saturday. I turned on my Helix last night and it took about 3 minutes to boot.

 

I have a show tonight so I just turned it on to warm up a little bit and it booted up in 27 seconds....?!

 

Yes, thirty seconds or less has been my experience. It sounds like it was doing the initial preset rebuild the first time you booted. Once it has completed this one-time process successive bootup time is quite fast.

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It seems like most crashes are when hooked up via USB. Funny that most people like the software. I still fnd it easier to edit on the Helix. IR selection and such is annoying on the software. I prefer a pop up box or similar for selection. Scrolling is a pain. Try to move stuff up or down with the mouse and it doesn't work so I have to hi light and use arrows. Vey si I,at to line 6 update. On my of I can't even be the text to scroll and read full instructions. I have to read on the website.

 

Sure, but I don't have a good surface and it's all the way down by my feet. First world problems.

 

I'd probably use the hardware too if I had the rack version but paying more for less functionality (expression pedal) just didn't seem worth it.

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This 'phenomenon' exists since Vers 1.00....

Some freezes / crashes might have to do with the continuous parallel signal & data flow (Audio / MIDI / Helix editor etc.).

With Helix, I work mostly offline (no internet, no security software, no firewall) and this makes editing more fluently, trust me :lol:

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