Software auto-update killed my fenix 6

Hi folks,

My fenix 6 standard was working perfectly until I saw this software upgrade notification a couple of days ago. The new version is 22.10.

Now, the watch has the following issues:

- menu nav is dead slow (takes about 15sec from the moment I press a button and the moment the screen refreshes)

- heartbeat, GPS, altitude, etc. nothing works anymore... only the time is ok

- phone pairing does not work anymore

I tried soft, hard reset several times, which goes through the problems persist.

I saw this issue affects several other people. Has anyone managed to recover from this issue?

The issue occured exactly 1 year and 5 days after I bought the watch... how inconvenient for me /s It still baffles me that Garmin give themselves the right to kill hardware remotely.

I thought of downgrading the software but I cannot find any way..

Thanks for any help guys...

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+1 Zankie over 2 years ago

Tried upgrading to 22.80 beta?

0 muppetman over 2 years ago

It sounds like one of the software components hasn't updated properly. i.e. if the Sensor Hub FW doesn't update you get these sorts of odd issues.

I would log a ticket with Garmin and get them to help you.

I'd also lose the attitude - it's not like Garmin would have done this on purpose.

0 5707064 over 2 years ago in reply to Zankie

Good idea, I will try thanks!

0 5707064 over 2 years ago in reply to muppetman

Yes, I was a little pissed off - I have a marathon this weekend and I will be running it without a watch that I have used maybe 40 times.
Regarding the attitude, I don't know if you work for Garmin, but I am software engineer and force pushing a software update that breaks devices, and especially when this is a recurring issue, is simply unacceptable. I checked the forum and they haven't helped or responded to people having similar issues in months.

In software engineering, we have methodologies to prevent this and not using them is an insult to customers.

0 5135968 over 2 years ago

You can find downgrade software in the backdate folder of any Alpha release - although this will only downgrade main firmware, not subsystem firmwars like GPS, WIFI, ANT/BT or sensor hub.

If downgrading use 20.60 not 20.50 as 20.50 had an unrecoverable bootloop issue.

0 5707064 over 2 years ago in reply to Zankie

Thank you Alain! I worked!
For those who have the same issue: after the upgrade from 22.10 to 22.80, the issues remained for an hour (even after a soft and then hard resets). Then suddenly after ca. an hour, the watch started vibrating for 10 sec and a notification appeared: "restart the watch to enable GPS". So I accepted and it restarted. After that, it seems to be working. GPS, heartbeat and altitudes are back. Menu is much faster, although still freezing by moments

0 broyson over 2 years ago in reply to 5707064

Did it update even with auto update = off? That is clearly a bug. You should report that in the proper support channel. This is user to user forum. Garmin staff interactions are rare here.

0 5707064 over 2 years ago in reply to broyson

I haven’t, I didn’t know - I supposed they are reading messages as they’re posting announcements here. Also I checked the forum history and this bugs seems to occur quite frequently, and not just with recent versions. I saw a lot of people reported this without getting substantial assistance. I can only assume Garmin tech teams have accepted to go along with it