Extremely frustrated with Line 6 Customer support

[JGeoghagan]

I have been unable to update to FW 2.01 and have essentially bricked my Helix. For the past 10 days I have tried everything I could research on this forum as well as following the update instructions to the letter. On three occasions the upgrade has reached the rebuilding presets phase only to get stuck on a certain number (two different presets over three attempts).  I tried rolling back the FW and starting over, which held the most promise, but all to no avail. I frequently had to enter update mode by pressing FS 6 and 12 while powering up.

 

My frustration is that once I decided to place a trouble ticket, I outlined all the issues and then listed the things I had tried. The first response seemed almost canned and simply asked me to repeat processes I had already tried. I did as they asked, and of course I still have a nonfunctioning unit.

 

I then tried to roll back to the FW it shipped with, which I thought was FW 1.06. I got this in January as a late Christmas present. At this point I discovered that the FS 6 and 12 reset only works with FW 1.06.5 and later. Oops. Even when the device powers on and shows the first preset page, it doesn't function and further attempts to update lead through endless cycles of frozen screens.

 

After updating my trouble ticket with this information, they asked me to change USB cables and ports and again use the update mode (FS 6 and 12). I lost my cool at that point since update mode is not available to me with FW 1.06 and I have told them twice that I performed this process many times and it still doesn't work.

 

I fear that there is a physical problem with my Helix or all my attempts to update have corrupted it. All my previous updates went smoothly on the first try.

 

Years of phone calls with CS reps for other companies have conditioned me to expect the usual remedies such as power cycling, unplugging, updating drivers, etc. Most of the posts here rave about the great CS L6 has given so I was very disappointed in my experience.

 

BTW, I love my Helix and just want it functioning again. I suspect karma is catching up to me because if I read this post from someone else, I would assume they just weren't doing it right. At this point, I'll take the blame. I just need a fix.

[HonestOpinion]

I don't know if this will be any help to you but if any of the firmware versions you are rolling back to will allow you to get into the Helix long enough you can use the Excel sheet I created in the following post to identify which preset is failing and fix it. Of course, if you do manage to get past the firmware upgrade process I would immediately do the FS 9&10 preset to get rid of all the presets including those that are causing the failure. As always, make sure you first uninstall all Helix software and then install the version of the Helix application that has the Updater, Firmware, and Editor that matches the firmware version you are trying to roll back to.  You have probably already tried that as you said you followed the instructions to the letter but I thought I would mention it just in case.

http://line6.com/support/topic/20454-grid-for-getting-rid-of-the-preset-rebuild-messages-on-boot-in-latest-firmware-1120/?p=154331

 

 

You can also use the FS 11&12 reset combination to delete the current preset, perhaps that might get you closer to a successful update.  If the "Rebuilding #..." message changes then rinse and repeat until hopefully the Helix boots normally. Good luck with this!

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

[nippyjun]

What happens if you boot it up now holding down 9 and 10 footswitches? Or fi that doesn't help 5 and 6.

 

Or with 5 and 6?

 

 

5 & 6 Global reset

7 & 8 Reset setlists to factory, Keep IRs

8 & 9 Reset setlists to factory, Clear IRs

9 & 10 Reset setlists to factory, Global reset, Clear IRs

10 & 11 Upgrades existing presets to latest format

11 & 12 Clear current preset

5 & 12 Clear setlists, clear IRs, Return system settings to default

6 & 12 Safe boot mode

[vmoncebaiz]

Is your unit by chance the Helix Rack?  I have Rack, and didn't realize the reset procedures are different, so I was losing my mind when using the footswitches on Helix Control weren't actually resetting or rebuilding anything after an update.  If you have the floorboard version then feel free to ignore me and I hope you find a fix/get helped soon.

 

 

Helix Rack
Since the rack doesn't have footswitches, you'll instead hold down a combination of the 6 encoders that are below the main LCD screen as you're booting up.

 

ENC2 & ENC3 - reset globals

ENC3 & ENC4 - restore stock presets and setlists
ENC4 & ENC5 - restore stock presets, setlists, and IRs
ENC5 & ENC6 - reset globals and restore presets, setlists, and IRs (entire factory restore)
ENC1 & ENC3 - rebuild all presets
ENC1 & ENC5 - clear all presets, setlists, and IRs
ENC1 & ENC6 - will enter Update Mode (This feature is only available on firmware v1.06.5 and higher)

[JGeoghagan]

I don't know if this will be any help to you but if any of the firmware versions you are rolling back to will allow you to get into the Helix long enough you can use the Excel sheet I created in the following post to identify which preset is failing and fix it. Of course, if you do manage to get past the firmware upgrade process I would immediately do the FS 9&10 preset to get rid of all the presets including those that are causing the failure. As always, make sure you first uninstall all Helix software and then install the version of the Helix application that has the Updater, Firmware, and Editor that matches the firmware version you are trying to roll back to.  You have probably already tried that as you said you followed the instructions to the letter but I thought I would mention it just in case.

http://line6.com/support/topic/20454-grid-for-getting-rid-of-the-preset-rebuild-messages-on-boot-in-latest-firmware-1120/?p=154331

 

 

You can also use the FS 11&12 reset combination to delete the current preset, perhaps that might get you closer to a successful update.  If the "Rebuilding #..." message changes then rinse and repeat until hopefully the Helix boots normally. Good luck with this!

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

I have been rolling back the versions and deleting the others as you suggest, although I must admit I am always a little concerned that I could be off on that process. I will definitely copy the spreadsheet. Thanks. On the times that the helix does show the first preset on the screen, I can't change and get to one of the frozen ones before everything locks up.

 

What happens if you boot it up now holding down 9 and 10 footswitches? Or fi that doesn't help 5 and 6.

 

Or with 5 and 6?

 

 

5 & 6 Global reset

7 & 8 Reset setlists to factory, Keep IRs

8 & 9 Reset setlists to factory, Clear IRs

9 & 10 Reset setlists to factory, Global reset, Clear IRs

10 & 11 Upgrades existing presets to latest format

11 & 12 Clear current preset

5 & 12 Clear setlists, clear IRs, Return system settings to default

6 & 12 Safe boot mode

Safe boot mode doesn't exist for me at this point. The others will tell me what they are going to do, such as reset, clear, etc, but the screen never moves past this even if left for over an hour.

 

Is your unit by chance the Helix Rack?  I have Rack, and didn't realize the reset procedures are different, so I was losing my mind when using the footswitches on Helix Control weren't actually resetting or rebuilding anything after an update.  If you have the floorboard version then feel free to ignore me and I hope you find a fix/get helped soon.

 

 

Helix Rack

Since the rack doesn't have footswitches, you'll instead hold down a combination of the 6 encoders that are below the main LCD screen as you're booting up.

 

ENC2 & ENC3 - reset globals

ENC3 & ENC4 - restore stock presets and setlists

ENC4 & ENC5 - restore stock presets, setlists, and IRs

ENC5 & ENC6 - reset globals and restore presets, setlists, and IRs (entire factory restore)

ENC1 & ENC3 - rebuild all presets

ENC1 & ENC5 - clear all presets, setlists, and IRs

ENC1 & ENC6 - will enter Update Mode (This feature is only available on firmware v1.06.5 and higher)

No, I have the Helix floor, but thanks for trying to help.

 

CS is now saying I need to ship it back. Hopefully the turnaround will be short.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions.