GC2 Reset

[Ronsc1985]

This has happened before where the GC2 just quits working and locks up. No amount of button pushing does anything.

Today I was using the sim with FR1 and the GC2 just shut itself off. The charger and the internal battery were at rated voltage. I did the Foresight equivalent of CNTL-Alt-Del by just disconnecting the battery. Upon re-plugging everything is back to normal,

This happens about once every year or so. Since the on/off switch is a software sense and not a real connect/disconnect mechanical switch there is no way to shut the machine completely off except by disconnecting the power supply and battery. Apparently every now and then there is a software error which locks the machine up and there is no recovery except to remove all power.

Today it happened while using a sim program. It has also happened using the GC2 in a stand alone mode. If it starts happening more frequently I 'll just cut into the power wire inside the machine and install a mechanical switch so when this happens I don't have to remove the cover to get at the battery.

This has happened often enough over the last 8 or so years that the screws are getting loose in the plastic.

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[grant2145]

If you don't need portability and can have the GC2 plugged in when in use, you can just remove the battery. Next time you have this issue you can just unplug it.

[Ronsc1985]

If you don't need portability and can have the GC2 plugged in when in use, you can just remove the battery. Next time you have this issue you can just unplug it.

The GC2 will not start up without a battery plugged in. It doesn't have to be charged but it does need to see the connections to the battery. I'm not exactly sure what it is looking for but I suspect it needs to see the over temp wire in the 3 prong battery connector active.

Another less obvious reason to have a battery connected is that it serves as a transient suppressor for voltage spikes that make it through the charger or are generated internally firing the flash tube. I don't have a schematic for the circuitry but it looks like the charger gets regulated down to 8.6 Volts or so and the 8.6 then is regulated down to whatever the IC's require, probably 5 volts.

I don't know what the high voltage sections step up from but in order to run the flash unit you need high voltage to power the primary of the high voltage transformer whose secondary voltage ionizes the gas in the flash tube.

BTW what craps out in the flash unit sometimes is not the flash tube but the high voltage transformer.

[grant2145]

Foresight support told me I could still use my GC2 without the battery while I was waiting to get it replaced. I've been using it plugged in only without the battery ever since and haven't had any issues.

[Ronsc1985]

Foresight support told me I could still use my GC2 without the battery while I was waiting to get it replaced. I've been using it plugged in only without the battery ever since and haven't had any issues.

You must have a different iteration. Mine is sn 2133. hw revision 2 firmware 4.0.0.15.

[grant2145]

That's a good point. Mine is the hw version 3. Have you made sure the ribbon cable connecting the LCD and buttons is fully inserted? I've heard that it can become loose. It's a long shot but maybe by flipping the GC2 around to take the battery out it jiggles back into place? Here is a video by Foresight showing the process. https://vimeo.com/87619613

[Ronsc1985]

That's a good point. Mine is the hw version 3. Have you made sure the ribbon cable connecting the LCD and buttons is fully inserted? I've heard that it can become loose. It's a long shot but maybe by flipping the GC2 around to take the battery out it jiggles back into place? Here is a video by Foresight showing the process. https://vimeo.com/87619613

The cable is firmly attached. This time the display went blank but previously the display was still on but the machine just locked up at whatever state it was n and it couldn't even be shut off. The same kind of lock up happened on older laptop PC's and the only way to recover was to remove the battery and restart. On PC's I always thought it was caused by some windows update which wasn't fully tested but that's just a wild guess. On my sim PC,. which runs on win 10, I have the network adapter disconnected for forestall any such problems. The PC is only used to run the sim so there is no reason to be connected to the web

[wbond]

Thanks for this, I think this is the first time that it's happened to me. I turned it on, and figured i'd plug it in since it hasn't been on the charger, turned around and nothing on the screen. I tried searching the following (Foresight GC2 won't turn on) and nothing showed up. Luckily I found this thread and all is good after battery disconnect. It would be better if there was a button press or mechanical switch instead of taking the case off and disconnecting it.

[Ronsc1985]

Thanks for this, I think this is the first time that it's happened to me. I turned it on, and figured i'd plug it in since it hasn't been on the charger, turned around and nothing on the screen. I tried searching the following (Foresight GC2 won't turn on) and nothing showed up. Luckily I found this thread and all is good after battery disconnect. It would be better if there was a button press or mechanical switch instead of taking the case off and disconnecting it.

I actually put in a spdt switch to disconnect the battery without taking the connector off. This was doing great until one of my kids kicked the side of the case where the switch was and broke off the switch lever. I'm now back to disconnect the battery connector. Strangly mine has not screwed up in almost a year. I expect it to screw up the next time I turn it on after posting this.