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Stuck in boot loop / Triangle of Death

Martin
5 months ago

My Descent M3i went into boot loop today when I tried to start a running activity.

I have tried to turn in off and on (hold the Light button) - this goes back to boot loop.

I have tried to reset (hold the the Light button to turn off, then hold Start and Back and turn on, release the Start after first beep release Back after second beep) - this does not work, I don't get even the first beep just more of the triangle.

I understand from other forums there is a worldwide issue on several watch models today. I am creating this thread to keep as placeholder specifically on the Descent Mk3i forum.

  • 0 5 months ago in reply to Milosherman

    Yes

    First connect it to computer

    The restart loop will continue

    After the triangle reappears immediately press the light button to shut down watch

    Since it is connected to computer it will start again, click and hold start / stop button this will prevent and stop the loop, if done correctly you should see the watch 'stuck' on triangle and it will be mounted on your computer

    A good sign is Once its start you should hear on your computer on windows the sound of a new device found thats a good sign, to prevent it from accessing the loop click and hold start / stop button

    Once mounted access the mentioned folder and delete the file

    Good luck, my fingers are still hurting from all the tries holding those metal buttons maybe use a cloth to protect your finger skin

  • 0 5 months ago in reply to Stronos

    Ding dong is a good sign you should have the start stop button pressed before the ding dong, it will prevent it from looping and keep it stuck on the triangle Blue, and the device will appear on 'my computer'

  • 0 5 months ago in reply to pgray007

    Usb c original mk3 plug

    I posted a reply with the exact steps that worked for me

  • +1 5 months ago in reply to Jean

    It did actually work :-o

    1) Turned off the watch via Light button

    2) Connected to PC, boot loop starts

    3) Held Light button - triangle disappears

    4) Let go of Light button, hold Start/Stop button (while screen is still dark)

    5) Triangle appeared, got stuck and device got mounted

    (maybe I cheated and had Garmin Express searching for devices in the background, dunno)

    Used USB-C cable with reduction to USB 3.1

  • 0 5 months ago

    Last sinhronisation 12 hours ago... Looping all the time (blinking triangle). Power down with light button does not work. What is button combination for factory reset?

  • 0 5 months ago in reply to Stronos

    Awesome!

    I think that the key was: after connecting it to the computer and the triangle appears hold the light button to shut it down manually and in the immediate next interval initiated by the fact that that the watch is connected to the computer hold the start / stop button to keep it mounted and prevent it from shutting down

  • 0 5 months ago in reply to Jean

    YES, it worked! Thank you!

    After about 10 reboots and connected to the computer it finally mounted. And I managed to remove the GPE.bin file. And the watch started up…

    What now, dear I start an activity, or will it crash, because it does not have the GPE file?

  • 0 5 months ago in reply to Milosherman

    The corrupted file is gone from Garmin servers, open Garmin Connect and sych, then you are safe.

  • 0 5 months ago in reply to Jean

    You are a star! Thanks a million times, this worked for me finally, after dozens of reboots and USB-connection retries. I used the original USB-C cable too, bdid several tries with the reboot and light / start button combinations as per your description, and finally, I could mount the devide and delete the Garmin/RemoteSW/GPE.bin file. 

    My watch are in factory reset mode now, but that's better than nothing, I will restore the backup. I am going to dive tomorrow, so this saved my day! 

    Thanks!

    (And SHAME to Garmin Support, which did not provide solution yet for Descent up to this moment - community must have done it instead of them).

  • 0 5 months ago

    has anyone managed to do this on a mcbook??