Fenix 2 showing either the Garmin logo or a blank screen, but nothing else

After hours trying to get my Fenix 2 to reboot in following the Garmin helpdesk processes, my watch was still either showing a blank screen or the Garmin logo exclusively...

The US helpdesk offered an exchange (thumbs up!) but then had to hand me off to the French desk who couldn't do anything for me (thumbs down).

Very frustrated, I found a way to fix the issue by myself and would like to share it so that other users can hopefully also benefit from it:

  1. while pressing on START + BACK + UP + DOWN, I connected the Fenix 2 to my PC
  2. the usual "software loader" message showed but this time it unlocked the watch
  3. I erased the GPX and ACTIVITY folders of the watch from my PC
  4. my Fenix 2 is now up and running