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Helix Update Experience


Stratotron
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Due to a week off from playing/performing, I chose to update my Helix. In preparation I read much on the forum in regards to problems that others had encountered. This proved very helpful.

First off, I followed the directions closely, printed off a copy, and kept it close by, following the steps.

 

Yesterday, I backed up presets from user 1 and user 2 folders where all of my custom presets reside. Was careful to ONLY copy and save Setlist, NOT Bundle.

 

I took snapshots with my phone of all of my Global settings, so resetting all of those parameters was quick and simple. I chose phone pics, because I couldn't find a global settings screen on the Editor to take screenshots.

 

Once I was finished, I opened one of the new amp models from the Factory 1 Setlist using the Editor (PC). I noticed that the amp block was empty, no amp icon, on the Editor screen, but there was an icon on the Helix screen. The preset was working. I checked all three new amp models, and all were the same condition, no icon on the Editor screen, and no amp model in the list of amp models, for instance, no Litigator model in the list. I rebooted the Helix, and oddly enough, it built all of the presets again, like it did the first time during the upgrade. I restarted my PC, still no icon. I checked the model list on the Helix and all 3 new amp models were in the list. SO, based on what I had read, I concluded that the new amp models had made it to the pedal, but my Editor had not updated, so the previous version could "see" them. I uninstalled the Helix App from my PC, and re-installed the App on my PC. Once I reopened the App, all was well.

 

The new amps were as advertised, but spent my afternoon playing around with the Cali Rectifier. Can't wait to mess with some of the other amps, seems like they do sound slightly different. One thing I didn't do yet, was mess with the Global EQ, may not need to, will see.

 

I have about 30 custom presets, that I will probably need to go over, maybe switch out amp models.

 

I only have one preset with a Wah engauged, I'll be looking at the Exp pedal thing in days to come.

All this to say, the download was great based on doing some reading up front and following directions. NOW I am kind of thinking....I wish I hadn't taken this week off!!  

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...

I took snapshots with my phone of all of my Global settings, so resetting all of those parameters was quick and simple. I chose phone pics, because I couldn't find a global settings screen on the Editor to take screenshots.

 

....

 

Looks like your update went smoothly, well done sir. One note, you can usually take a screenshot by pressing the 'PrintScreen' button on your computer's keyboard, often abbreviated to 'PrtScn'.  Then cut and past the screen grab into an application like Word or Paint and save it. The print screen functionality is not in the Editor. Phones work great as well though, it is just a bit easier to see the larger screenshots.  :)

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Not at my Helix so I can't look, and I don't use the editor enough to know by heart, but I think he's saying that there's no global settings screen in the app, so you have to take pics of them on your Helix itself.

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That's great to see your update went well but it certainly isn't down to just following instructions for all of us.

 

I can't speak for others but I went over the instructions repeatedly and still got various results so it's not always that simple for some of us.

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I had a similar experience to Stratotron with my 2.10 update.

Much thanks to the many individuals here that offered insight into setlist backup etc...

No issues downloading or installing.  Upon re-start after firmware update, the Helix did do a re-build.

Once it was done and the globals were reset, and the new app was loaded on my PC, I did not initially see the new amps.

Power down Helix and after power up the rebuild ran again.  All new features were visible in both the editor and the unit.

Great new stuff.  Thanx to all here and at L6 for their attention to detail.

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And a thank you from here as well, updating went fine.

Fun fact: since Helix Editor Version 2.00 it shuts down quickly on a Mac, thanks for that.

Before 2.00 the editor took ages to finally terminate after quit (and shutting down the Helix itself had to wait until that was done).

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That's great to see your update went well but it certainly isn't down to just following instructions for all of us.

 

I can't speak for others but I went over the instructions repeatedly and still got various results so it's not always that simple for some of us.

I am one of those that things didn't go so well. I made sure that I followed the directions exactly, but the update failed and after many many tries using all of the different combinations of boot options, trying a different computer, different usb ports, different usb cable, trying to revert back to a previous version, my helix was still bricked. After opening a support ticket with Line 6, it was determined that I would have to send it in for repair. Since I bought it at Sweetwater, I will go that route for returning the unit. Man, I was really looking forward to trying out the new amps, but that will have to wait. Actually I have had issues updating in the past, but was always able to get the update to install. Still, I am very pleased with my helix. Sometimes things just go wrong. My biggest mistake was trying to update the day before Thanksgiving. I am still slapping myself over that decision.  :rolleyes:

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I finally got my Helix to update! I noticed (I think in this thread) that someone used Chrome to update. Switching browsers was the one thing that I had not tried because I had always updated with explorer before with no problems. Used Chrome and all went well. Thanks everyone for posting in this thread. It is nice to see how others solve some of the same problems that someone else may be having.

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I am one of those that things didn't go so well. I made sure that I followed the directions exactly, but the update failed and after many many tries using all of the different combinations of boot options, trying a different computer, different usb ports, different usb cable, trying to revert back to a previous version, my helix was still bricked. After opening a support ticket with Line 6, it was determined that I would have to send it in for repair. Since I bought it at Sweetwater, I will go that route for returning the unit. Man, I was really looking forward to trying out the new amps, but that will have to wait. Actually I have had issues updating in the past, but was always able to get the update to install. Still, I am very pleased with my helix. Sometimes things just go wrong. My biggest mistake was trying to update the day before Thanksgiving. I am still slapping myself over that decision.  :rolleyes:

 

 

I finally got my Helix to update! I noticed (I think in this thread) that someone used Chrome to update. Switching browsers was the one thing that I had not tried because I had always updated with explorer before with no problems. Used Chrome and all went well. Thanks everyone for posting in this thread. It is nice to see how others solve some of the same problems that someone else may be having.

 

Nice tip on using an alternate browser and glad to hear you got your Helix back in action. I am curious, you said your Helix was bricked. Usually that means either a scary message is frozen on the screen or it will not boot completely or properly. Often the Updater cannot communicate with the Helix when it is in that state. Did you manage to get back to it booting normally before updating or were you able to update while it was 'bricked'? What were the symptoms of your bricked unit? Hoping your experience can help someone else.

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Nice tip on using an alternate browser and glad to hear you got your Helix back in action. I am curious, you said your Helix was bricked. Usually that means either a scary message is frozen on the screen or it will not boot completely or properly. Often the Updater cannot communicate with the Helix when it is in that state. Did you manage to get back to it booting normally before updating or were you able to update while it was 'bricked'. What were the symptoms of your bricked unit? Hoping your experience can help someone else.

 

I tried to install the 2.10 update using Windows 10 with internet explorer 11 and the update said it failed. When I tried to boot up, the screen would show Helix Rack near the bottom with Helix flashing over it and hang there. If I tried to boot into safe mode I got a blank screen and it hung up there. When I open up the updater, it showed that Helix version 2.10 was connected. Unless the Line 6 link was wrong, I absolutely did not install the Helix Rack firmware by mistake. I tried all of the boot-up foot switch on the Line 6 website. Tried another computer using Windows 7 again with internet explorer 11 with the same results. I tried different usb ports and a different usb cable with still same results. Then I saw on one of these Line 6 forum threads where someone with the same problem as me got theirs to update using google chrome. After booting up using the safe mode (screen was blank), I tried to update again using chrome as my default browser and after about a minute the firmware started to install and finally completed the update. In the past I have had update failures, but was always able to get the firmware to finally install after 2 or 3 tries. I think next time I will try chrome first and see if all goes well. At this point, I am nervous about updating my unit, but I appreciate all of the help posted on this and other forums.

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With any browser it should be possible to download stuff here manually:

http://line6.com/software

 

I recommend to update the flash memory (=firmware) offline:

You can download it seperately here (vers. 2.10):

http://line6.com/software/readeula.html?rid=7263

and then use the (already installed) updater application

to flash that (firmware) file (OFFLINE).

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I tried to install the 2.10 update using Windows 10 with internet explorer 11 and the update said it failed. When I tried to boot up, the screen would show Helix Rack near the bottom with Helix flashing over it and hang there. If I tried to boot into safe mode I got a blank screen and it hung up there. When I open up the updater, it showed that Helix version 2.10 was connected. Unless the Line 6 link was wrong, I absolutely did not install the Helix Rack firmware by mistake. I tried all of the boot-up foot switch on the Line 6 website. Tried another computer using Windows 7 again with internet explorer 11 with the same results. I tried different usb ports and a different usb cable with still same results. Then I saw on one of these Line 6 forum threads where someone with the same problem as me got theirs to update using google chrome. After booting up using the safe mode (screen was blank), I tried to update again using chrome as my default browser and after about a minute the firmware started to install and finally completed the update. In the past I have had update failures, but was always able to get the firmware to finally install after 2 or 3 tries. I think next time I will try chrome first and see if all goes well. At this point, I am nervous about updating my unit, but I appreciate all of the help posted on this and other forums.

 

Thanks for the response. I hope this helps some other users experiencing update issues. 

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With any browser it should be possible to download stuff here manually:

http://line6.com/software

 

I recommend to update the flash memory (=firmware) offline:

You can download it seperately here (vers. 2.10):

http://line6.com/software/readeula.html?rid=7263

and then use the (already installed) updater application

to flash that (firmware) file (OFFLINE).

I tried to download the firmware file with explorer 11 and it tried to open the file instead of downloading it. Phil_m discussed this in another thread and directed me to a microsoft support link. Strange, I was able to download the firmware 2.01 with explorer 11 though. Thanks for your help, but I just wanted to clarify that I and others had problems downloading 2.10 using internet explorer.

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I had the same issue as rwhite137 where my update failed and my screen was flashing Helix Rack.  I posted to this forum for help and was basically told to enjoy the death metal polka music because I must have not followed the instructions - LOL.  What finally unbricked my Helix was to reinstall Firmware 2.01.  Once I did that my Helix booted up and I used another computer to install 2.10. 

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I ended up touching up many of my personal patches on this update, something I didn't have to do on previous updates, at least not as much. I was using a Variax, Wah with Exp 2, and snapshots. And I had a number of footswitch controllers that turned somethings on and others off. 

 

I had a lot of trouble getting the Variax settings to work in snapshots. This was partly because of the missing variax parameters when selecting the input block. I finally had to switch the input block to guitar then back to variax to clear out what appeared to improperly migrated block content, and re-create my variax model selection and tunings. 

 

With footswitches that control multiple blocks, you may find that the footswitch light will display the state of the wrong block, that is it looses the block it was displaying when you exported and imported into the new version. Just touch the footswitch until it selects the correct block, then save. 

 

I went through the procedure to address the Exp 1/Exp 2 bug. That seems to be working ok now. 

 

Bottom line there were a lot of issues updating to 2.10 that required me to review every patch carefully. That may be fine, especially if I want to exploit new features. But I wouldn't recommend doing it right before a gig.

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