Did my JTV just brick itself?

[sbamkmfdmdfmk]

I've been working on getting my new home studio set up and realized I was long overdue in checking for all my gear's firmware updates. I was able to update my Firehawk 1500, FBV3 pedal and POD X3 Live with no issues. I also checked my old Variax 700 bass and Variax 700 guitar and those were already up to date. Finally, I checked on my beloved JTV-59 (~2012, I unfortunately don't know the serial as it was secondhand and didn't have it on the headstock). It was quite outdated, still on the 1.70 flash.

 

So with it connected VDI to the POD X3 Live which was connected to my computer's USB port, I kicked off the update in Monkey and watched the progress bar slowly go. After some time Monkey had a pop up error (which I didn't remember to screencap) that the connection was lost; the LED on the guitar had turned blue. After I unplugged the VDI, the guitar has been unresponsive. When I try to plug the VDI back in, I'll see the tone LED just briefly blip red and then nothing happens. I get the same behavior whether I try to plug the JTV into the POD or my Firehawk. To rule out a cable issue, I tried my old bass and 700 guitar and both are working fine. Then I thought maybe something fried with the JTV's VDI jack so I tried using my XPS direct box. When I plug the cable into the 1/4" jack, the same thing happens - brief LED red blip but the guitar doesn't turn on while the direct box gives me a green power light as if everything's working. I do not have a battery/charger (got the JTV secondhand and that wasn't included, nor was a VDI USB interface).

 

A few times, (and I don't know how to replicate this behavior), the tone knob LED will actually turn green when plugging in the cable, and then the tone/tuning knobs light up and appear to work, but they don't appear to have any effect on the output to the POD or Firehawk (getting mag pickup output via the VDI). I was only able to get that to happen a couple times and I haven't been able to get it to happen lately to try detecting in Monkey.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions or is my axe screwed?

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EDIT: after trying over and over, the modeling knob lit up when connected to the POD X3. I connected the USB to my computer again and lo and behold, Monkey recognized it and in fact said it was on 2.23 firmware. Just to try to get it back to a recoverable state, I rolled back to 1.90. After doing so it was working fine. So I decided to give 2.23 one more try. This is time I got the same error again "(Code 80009000) Unknown MIDI error." and the guitar wasn't outputting with the electronics on. Tried to plug it again in thankfully the modeling knob lit and Monkey recognized it again. As earlier, it said it was at 2.23, but the guitar was still not outputting any modeled sound so this time I just told it to reflash the same version. Finally it went through successfully, and the JTV's working again!

Edited July 10, 2019 by sbamkmfdmdfmk
Solved!

[brue58ski]

 Just a follow up. I recommend using the stand alone Variax digital interface as opposed to going through any of their modelers to update it. I've always had issues doing that. None using the digital interface.

[sbamkmfdmdfmk]

Thanks brue58ski. Unfortunately I don't have one (secondhand guitar was missing the interface and battery charger when I got it) which is why I had to go through the POD.

[brue58ski]

Well this is what you need

 

https://shop.line6.com/accessories/guitar-accessories/variax-vdi-usb-interface-kit.html

 

It was included with a new JTV. Another $100 but I think it would be worth it.