Amplifi 75 not responding, all tone LEDs solid, no guitar sound

[bsewart]

Hi,

I bought a new Amlifi 75.  Just opened the box and it seems to not work. tried 2 different PCs. both win 10 though, but I dont think that is the Issue.

 

symptoms:

-  all 4 tone lights are on, BT light is on (dim though as far as I can tell).

-  when I press BT button it does not flash, or change like manual says.

- when I plug in USB cable (tried 2 different ones that work on my printer fine) PC does not make any indication that something has been plugged in.

- when I installed drivers, the software did not seem to know Amplifi was plugged in after the prompt to do so.

- forums saying to start in firmware update mode, hold tone and Tap button while turning on.  this doesnt seem to do anything, all tone lights are just on.

- forums say to factory reset, hold master volume and tone button while booting.  This seems to have no effect.

- My android phone does not detect a BT device beaconing

- with guitar in, no sound from AMP

 

I have downloaded updater, but it does not detect anything.

 

I am an IT manager and been in IT for years, had extensive experience with different devices, firmware updating etc.

 

 

 

Anyone have any idea please?

Thanks!

Brian

[cbrillow]

I would suggest calling for phone support. If you search to forum, you'll see that these things can be VERY temperamental when it comes to connecting to Windows PCs via USB, especially those running Windows 10. I am also an extremely competent and experienced computer geek/hacker, yet I had all kinds of difficulty updating the firmware on an Amplifi 150.

Get a tech support guy on the phone and have him walk you through the process. If you can get it across to him that you're technically competent, he'll be very willing to work with you. You may find that none of his suggestions work, but you can at least be assured that you're doing everything correctly.

You have the advantage of your unit being brand-new, which gives you the option of running away from it with a refund, exchanging for another, or having them cover you under warranty.

 

Good luck -- have fun!

 

[bsewart]

Thanks, I went the route of support.

This one is a bit more than temperamental, it just doesn't work at all.  the steps are easy enough, but unit doesn't respond to anything, plugged in to guitar, USB, or any button push.

After going through the Line6 support and some basic troubleshooting, tech agreed it was faulty.  I was told by Line6 to get in touch with AU distributor (Yamaha).  They in turn pointed me to a local repair centre.  The repair centre told me that in AU, if a product is faulty out of the box, it should be replaced or repaired to be as new, through the place of purchase.  So I get in touch with them and now they are waiting for Line6 to respond as to what to do.  I can see it is going to be a long time before I can get to play with it.... I hope it is worth it.

If there was another product similar price, that did the same thing ... Amp and modelling, I would consider changing.  I cant see anything as simple or arguably that does what this seems to do as well.

I will keep updating so others know what happens in the same situation.

Have to say Line 6 and Yamaha both responded fairly quick.  I was a bit disappointed in the support email that went through the various steps.. pretty much just replayed what was in the manual.. and my email went through explicitly that I had tried all, and also great detail of issue.  The support has to go through it, I understand, but the answer didn't acknowledge anything in the email and started with "I am sorry you are having trouble updating the firmware" . I would still call the support pretty good, as they escalated quickly after the turn-it-off-and-back-on-again stage.

Once it is out of warranty I may do some work on saving firmware and working out how to restore a bricked unit.  It has a MicroSD card in it but I would think firmware lies on a different chip. There seems plenty of opportunity, JTAG

 

 

 

 

[cbrillow]

Sounds like you're at least satisfied with the level of support you got from contacting the mothership. That's good. Here in U.S., the policy on defective new, out-of-the-box merchandise is almost universal in that you should be able to return it to the place of purchase for your choice of exchange or refund. I wouldn't be satisfied to wait for the retailer to be in-touch with Line 6/Yamaha. They should give you another one, period, and then they can determine what to do with the one you returned. You shouldn't have to wait for a brand-new product to be 'repaired'! 

I've been through the frustration you experienced with their not paying attention to what you'd written, and basically telling you to do things you'd already tried. It's frustrating to take your time to thoroughly document a problem and the steps you took to try to resolve it, only to have tech support send you back to square-one with, 'Are you sure it's connected to a power source?', or something equally inane. When I finally talked on the phone with a Line 6 support tech, I was able to quickly establish that I was competent and knowledgeable enough that we could approach the problem as peers, rather than going the baby-step route.

I bought a used Amplifi 150, which initially seemed to work fine. But I found that the firmware was outdated, and tried to load the latest. That's when I went down the same rabbit hole that others who have tried, and failed, found themselves in. Line 6 was very generous in repairing my out-of-warranty unit at no charge, but it cost me over $100 US to ship it across the country for repair. That pretty much negated the good price at which I had obtained the amp in the first place...

When it was returned to me, there was no indication as to what had been done to fix it. I had to ask. And was told 'There was nothing wrong with it. We just reset it and updated the firmware.'  Which precisely what I had attempted to do, following specific instructions from a technician on the telephone. Tried it with 3 different computers, all up-to-date with drivers and OS, all in known excellent working condition and no hardware problems. (And all running Windows 10, which seems to pop up frequently in posts from others who have undergone this problem...)

There is another post here on the forum where a user reported being able to restore a non-functioning Amplifi device by copying the contents of the SD card from a 2nd device, or maybe just swapping the two cards -- I don't remember the details. But the suggestion seems to be that the firmware just *might be* stored on the SD card, maybe even along with all the presets. I wish we could get a definitive explanation of this, but you know it will never happen...

At the present time, I have a 30, a 150 and an  FX-100. It would be nice to know if the contents of the SD cards are unique and specific to those devices, or if they can be interchanged. Could come in handy, should one of them lose its mind in the future.

Good luck -- hope you're eventually delighted with your new amp!

 

[bsewart]

Just wondering how long after you have taken a line6 product to a service centre for a fault did you get it back fixed?  Australians probably most relevant for this question but interested in all over out of general curiosity.

Took it in 11th April, 3 weeks later(2nd May) I called after no response to email and was told hadn't looked at it but would that day.  Still not heard anything as of Friday 11th May.

[cbrillow]

That's pretty pathetic. You've been a very patient guy and deserve better treatment than this.

 

Guessing that this is an independent repair service that's been authorized and (maybe) trained by Line 6 to work on their products. I would contact Line 6 by phone or email and bring this lack-of-service and follow-up to their attention. I suspect that they appreciate knowing how the repair facilities that they have authorized are doing. Maybe they'll light a fire under this unaccountable gang... 

[bsewart]

got a call today saying he was waiting for a mainboard, or if they don't have one in stock they will send a new unit.  Apparently by tomorrow (18-May-2018) should be done or close to it. 

looking forward to trying it out!

[cbrillow]

Any chance you can have them fire it up at the store to prove that it works? Given all the grief you've put up with to get this far, that would seem to be a reasonable request.

 

I would also have them check the firmware version, and if it's not the current version, HAVE THEM INSTALL THE UPDATE FOR YOU! If you've been paying attention, you may have noted that updating the firmware via USB can be fraught with peril, especially on Windows 10 machines. Some very knowledgeable, experienced computer hardware jocks -- and I'll include myself in that category -- have had spectacular failures attempting this. In my case, I had a Line 6 tech on the phone following me step-by-step and verifying that I was doing it correctly, yet it still failed, repeatedly. I had to pay to send my 150 back to the factory and was without it for nearly a month.

 

When it was returned to me, I had to ask, but was told that 'There was nothing wrong with it. It just needed to be reset and updated.'  Yeah? Well why couldn't I do that with the expert guidance of a tech via telephone? Tried 3 different computers, all up-to-date with latest O/S patches & drivers. It should not be this difficult to accomplish. 

 

Make sure you have an up-to-date Amplifi 75 that works, before you walk out the door with it!

 

Hope all goes well and you love your new amplifier!

[deankhan]

I am having the same problem with windows 8. It is the first time I am updating the unit.

It will not respond as per instructions.

 

It is frustrating.

[Brantus]

Another Australian here. My Amplifi75 amp was working great one day (and has for some years). It gets very light use at low volume and sits in my air-conditioned study. Then, without warning, it starts up completely unresponsive and making these terrible, loud, random interference noises. Line6 support had me update the firmware (standard response). I managed to download and run the Mac updater and successfully connect it to the AMPLIFi75. The Amp went into update mode easily enough prior to running the update (lights went around from red>pink>white when I turned the dial). At the end of the update process the updater reports the Amp should restart itself automatically (see screen capture attached), but this did not happen. I left it for >5 mins (the whole time it's on, even during the update, it is still making very loud crackling sounds like random radio noise) but it did not restart. I turned it off an on and no change, still making noise and is unresponsive. I then disconnected the power for 5 mins and tried the update all over again: Still no change. Line6 responds with "I'm sorry you had an issue updating. I'm sorry I'm not a tech, so I would not be able to diagnose the issue you're experiencing. You should contact the distributor below for service options" (Yamaha Melbourne). This is very worrying. Added to others with this same issue it looks like Line6 have a design/component reliabilty issue. I've always loved this amp but how can I recommend Line6 now? I hope the repair will be less than a new box!