Yet another watch stuck in boot loop

Teroc 4 days ago

I was charging my watch this morning. As I disconnected the charger, the watch reset and is now stuck in the dreaded boot loop. I've tried restarting, doing the master reset (it works, I hear the two beeps), but it's still stuck on the boot loop.

I guess there's not much else to try. Any other magical step I could try?

I've already sent an email to support, but the watch is likely not in warranty anymore (bought 2nd hand), so I have low hopes.

Thanks!

edit: I've managed to get it going by doing the factory reset properly. Follow enkaytee's instructions and it seems to work.

edit2: once you've reset, do not go back into a RUN activity or you'll likely get stuck in the boot loop again. Wait for Garmin to update the firmware or somehow revert back to an older version (is this possible?)

Last edit: this appears to be a global issue on multiple watches, 255/265/955/965 both on beta AND stable FW. Garmin is aware and hopefully working on a fix. If you do not use GPS, it shouldn't go in the bootloop... GL everyone.

Top Replies

Garmin-Sierra 3 days ago +36 verified

All,

We are aware of the disruption of devices displaying a blue triangle when starting a GPS activity. Holding the power button until the unit powers off may or may not restore functionality temporarily…
Garmin-Sierra 3 days ago +2 verified

All,

Thank you very much for your patience as we worked on this issue. Please see the steps from My Garmin Device Will Not Boot Past the Start Up Screen for a resolution. If you already performed the steps…
dtunney 4 days ago +8 verified

Having gone through this all morning I have found that the only way to get the watch to not loop is to master reset and then do NOT connect phone or wifi. I have found that once it finishes syncing then…
enkaytee 4 days ago +5

Happened to me on a 955 and my wife on a 255. Also seeing reports from users with other watches so it looks like a more widespread issue. Needed to do a complete reset - while the blue triangle loop is…

All Replies

0 1497010 3 days ago

Garmin, my Epix Pro is still stuck in reboot loop, this issue is not fixed.

0 1497010 3 days ago

Garmin my Epix pro is still stuck in reboot loop, this issue is not fixed

0 road-run 3 days ago in reply to pdurys

My 955 only had a cpe.bin not gpe.bin.

I had no boot loop problem But I deleted the cpe.bin file. Working as before, synced a few times but the file didn't came back.... Not sure if I should have delete it or not....

0 Data 3 days ago in reply to pdurys

There is no setting to prevent syncing ephemeris files. I had Auto Update off and Data Upload off and still received updated ephemeris and time zone updates etc. Biggest problem with the faulty ephemeris data was (I think) that the GNSS subsystem choked on it and all software on the watch that referenced the GNSS system got no or an invalid reply and crashed. Which should not happen. "Program defensively" I was taught. Check all inputs and responses. Never assume anything. To Garmins credit, they generally do that (seeing "asserts fail" logging in betas) but this condition was missed apparently.

This is a bit of a vulnerability, one faulty ephemeris disabling many devices for hours. Now it was sports watches, but professional navigation systems should absolutely not be vulnerable for this kind of thing.

I now have Bluetooth and Wifi off on the FR955, I am happy with that for the time being at least. Had no issue at all getting a quick GPS fix this evening even with "Epehemeris Missing" (in System -> About). And USB data copy works just fine for me.

0 Leonardo 3 days ago

I followed the steps on the UNPROMPTED RESET stated on this link and worked: https://support.garmin.com/en-MY/?faq=wxPmdnWsev1xGRUf58oDC8

However, my watch is currently on version 21.22 (which seems to be the latest version from few weeks ago) and I'm afraid the boot loop may happen again anytime, until a bug fix is released.

0 Data 3 days ago in reply to Leonardo

They pulled the faulty file and a new one with normal valid ephemeris data is available and synced automically. I don't doubt they are fixing things so the same thing won't ever happen again.

Something else may go wrong of course, but you can't anticipate for every possible mishap. I would not worry about it.

0 8239386 3 days ago

About to go for a walk using my forerunner 955, after starting the GPS function , a blue triangle appeared which I can not clear. The watch is plugged in to charge, will an off/on reset work to clear this issue ?
Gil

0 9601690 3 days ago

Mine is stuck too. Do i just leave it to continue flashing? Please let us know when it is fixed.

0 Kalle_Runner 3 days ago

Can people confirm that it works now, I do not wanna do another round of factory reset on my phone? I do not connect my watch to Garmin express, I only use Garmin connect on my iPhone and have synched several times.

0 4853132 3 days ago

Hard reset worked for me but now I have to set everything again :-( All settings have gone, now I have to set everything again, all data fields for all my activities. From now I really hate Garmin. Great HW but really *** SW.