Rant about IFD self-bricking on failed update :(

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   I was really looking forward to a flight today to visit a friend a few hours away. Got to the plane and updated my databases using JDM on iPad and my BadElf Wombat, which has worked a million times before. This time though for some reason, my IFD540 hiccuped during the update and it failed.
From that point on, no updates would succeed. I tried two different nav database revisions from Jepp, two different USB sticks, reformatting them, etc. and the update would always fail. The data was good, since I could move the USB stick to my IFD440 and it'd read/update without any issue.

I spent a bunch of time on the phone with Avidyne support today, and the best they could offer is that it may need the internal storage formatted, and I have to go to a dealer for that. So flight cancelled, plane pretty much unusable for IFR (no redundancy), and now I've gotta burn some gas, time, and money to get a dealer to hopefully get this IFD going again.

Whose idea was it to design the IFD to self-brick when a database update fails? Maybe a feature request for 10.4 to remove the self-bricking feature? Honestly not sure I'll keep these IFDs long enough to see 10.4 though. :(

Edited by jimmyz80 - 08 Jun 2024 at 4:24pm

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jimmyz80 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 24 Jul 2016 Location: Folsom, CA Status: Offline Points: 101	Post Options Post Reply Quote jimmyz80 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Rant about IFD self-bricking on failed update :( Posted: 07 Jun 2024 at 6:40pm
	I was really looking forward to a flight today to visit a friend a few hours away. Got to the plane and updated my databases using JDM on iPad and my BadElf Wombat, which has worked a million times before. This time though for some reason, my IFD540 hiccuped during the update and it failed. From that point on, no updates would succeed. I tried two different nav database revisions from Jepp, two different USB sticks, reformatting them, etc. and the update would always fail. The data was good, since I could move the USB stick to my IFD440 and it'd read/update without any issue. I spent a bunch of time on the phone with Avidyne support today, and the best they could offer is that it may need the internal storage formatted, and I have to go to a dealer for that. So flight cancelled, plane pretty much unusable for IFR (no redundancy), and now I've gotta burn some gas, time, and money to get a dealer to hopefully get this IFD going again. Whose idea was it to design the IFD to self-brick when a database update fails? Maybe a feature request for 10.4 to remove the self-bricking feature? Honestly not sure I'll keep these IFDs long enough to see 10.4 though. :( Edited by jimmyz80 - 08 Jun 2024 at 4:24pm
	2006 Cirrus SR22 - IFD540 IFD440 DFC90 AXP322 MLB100

yce Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 25 Jan 2017 Location: PA Status: Offline Points: 23	Post Options Post Reply Quote yce Report Post Thanks(1) Quote Reply Posted: 26 Jun 2024 at 5:34pm
	Same thing happened to me. Not good-- we just got it back after a bench repair (and it's associated cost (!)). Not particularly happy... I had also just talked to my shop about adding a second Avidyne to my stack. Need to think about that a bit.

compasst Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 22 Feb 2015 Location: Akron, OH Status: Offline Points: 176	Post Options Post Reply Quote compasst Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 27 Jun 2024 at 5:21am
	There used to be a field-installable software available that un-bricked an IFD. I know because it was made available to me for just this situation - only I was the brick-head. I was updating database while taxiing from hangar to fuel pumps and shut down the engine (and master) before realizing that the update had not finished (it was the longer one for charts). OOPS.