Did my Fenix 5 plus die or are there methods to bring it alive?

I have been using my Fenix 5 Plus for almost 1.5 years now.

(update/spoiler: further investigation and screenshots show the unit has an internal hardware failure)

With exception of the first month (beta firmware) i had no issue with this watch until today.

This morning i did a short 2Km OWS followed by a 5Km run.
Watch added both activities to Garmin connect and i was off to a birthday party.
While at the party i received a "storm warning" which happens when air pressure drops and in this case it had to be false as it has been 23.x hPa all day.
Short time later i received beeps and a message something like "* accident detection turned off, use Garmin connect" (i never used accident detection, nor was it turned on)
Seconds later the screen went black.

While unlikely, personally i thought i forgot to charge my watch.

Back home i connected the power cord and the blue triangle showed up,
a few minutes later when i looked again i saw my normal (factory default) watch face and a charging indicator at 57%!
I removed the charging cable to see if the percentage would drop however i again received beeps and again the message "* accident detection turned off, use Garmin connect"
Seconds later the screen went black.

I reattached the power an saw the watch booting up (blue triangle + loading Maps ...) and a charging indicator at 60%!
I decided to leave the watch alone while charging and was about to watch TV.
I then heard beeps from my watch so i rushed to the kitchen, this time the screen was all black.

At the moment the watch doesn't do anything.
I tried different power adapters & PC, used different Garmin power cords.
Tried holding the upper left button for 30 seconds

Any ideas of what i can do before contacting Garmin on Monday?

! i added an update below (screens indicating hardware failure) !

Top Replies

7599813 over 5 years ago +1

Try hard reset

All Replies

0 7599813 over 5 years ago

Try hard reset

0 Dr Phil over 5 years ago

Since you’ve done the hard reset (press and hold power for 15s), you might need to try a full reset. That involves pressing and releasing buttons in a sequence that I cannot remember at the moment. However, you’ll find the instructions If you search around...unless someone remembers and posts. Contact Garmin Support perhaps beforehand.

0 Artivis over 5 years ago

Well the full reset sequence is holding the power (upper left button) until the watch switches off, then pressing it again shortly to switch it on.

When the blue triangle appears hold both start (upper right) nad back/lap (lower right) buttons pressed, when you hear the first beep release the upper right button, when you hear the second beep release the lower right button...

The full post is here:
https://forums.garmin.com/outdoor-recreation/outdoor-recreation/f/fenix-5-plus-series/149936/hard-reset-firmware-reinstall-data-location-and-backup

But from what you write, the screen is blank and the watch does not react. If connecting to a charging cable or pressing the upper left button for a long time (30s) an then pressing it shortly does not show the boot screen (blue triangle) warranty claim is the only choice I think.

Check if when connected to a PC does it show the watch drives at all

0 BWonder over 5 years ago

A little update:

Saturday Night:

While connected to my computer, i touched the Light buttun on regular base to see if it responds.
Sometimes it seemd to respond with the blue triangle but then 10 sec later it was all dead. Touching it agail would never do anything.
After a few times i reconneced the cables but nothing changed. Pressing other buttons while the blue triangle was appearing suddely changed the watch to the charging while connected to PC (like a clock with charge state slowly going to full circle, mine was already 70%)

Watch was connected with USB and i backuped the data and let Garmin Express synch and update (maps only)

I was happy because it looked like a single software failure.

Sunday:

Woke up and saw my watch was still working, so i went for a swim, outside it was freezing but water temperature should be the same as yesterday, approx 7-8 degree.
Did my swim and returned home and the watch direct synchronized to my phone.
But then i took a look at the (water) temperature 61 degree Celcius (should be 7-8)(Garmin Connect)
Looked on my watch and -451 degree, looked at the next screen barometer 136 (should bet ~1020)

Fenix 5 plus temperature fail Fenix 5 plus Barometer fail

Dual failure.
Did a reset so see if it would reinitialize the hardware but after that these views are both total blank
Did a 17.5k run after that and all was registered OK, except the temperature and barometer. Both where NOT recorded and are not available anymore in Garmin Connect.
Tried a (Garmin menu) hardware reset with backup of data but that didn't help

Monday:

with "Only" the sensor failure i continued to look if it might be a initialization problem.
At 9:00 AM i received the message "Set emergency help in via Garmin Connect Mobile" and a powerdown.
I rebooted (48% battery) but result was a 10% battery discharge every hour, resulting in a powerdown.

At home i managed to boot into the technical screens with the next result:

Main screen mentions a (high) battery voltage of 4.35V and 30degree. Result of ROM and RAM test both Unknown.

I seems the barometer with integrated temperature sensor has a failure resulting in strange behavior.