Related
This discussion has been locked.
You can no longer post new replies to this discussion. If you have a question you can start a new discussion

Alarm failing to go off

ascii256
over 9 years ago
I'm always skeptical when someone says their alarm didn't go off, especially when it's me. I usually assume I slept through it.

This morning though I have absolute confirmation that there is an issue with the alarms on the Forerunner 235.

I have a weekday alarm for 5:10 that is basically always on. This morning I woke about 20 minutes early, so when 5:10 hit I was awake and sitting in my recliner watching local news.

So there is this quirk with the 235 where sometimes it will stay on on the Bluetooth, HRM, steps, etc... screen and not timeout and go back to the watch face. This is actually a "feature" that some have requested that seems to happen for me when I cycle through screens while the watch is charging.

Anyway, this morning played out like this.

1. I woke around 4:50
2. Around 5:00 I forced a sync on my watch.
3. After the sync, my watch stayed on the Bluetooth screen instead of returning to the watch face.
4. At 5:10 the alarm DID NOT FIRE as it should.
5. Around 5:12 I verified that my 5:10 alarm was on and the time on my watch is correct.

So somehow whatever causes the 525 to sometimes stay on a non-watch-face screen also prevents the alarms from going off.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 9 years ago
    Hi Guys.

    As the author of one of the threads mentioned earlier in this post, i can totally sympathise. You can read about my frustration here: https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?339759-Alarm-doesn-t-go-off-while-device-is-locked

    After contacting Garmin support via email they responded with the following suggestion:



    After restoring the device to its factory settings i've never had a problem. The only thing i think i lost was the days steps and HR data. I've used the alarm almost daily since then and it hasn't missed a beat.

    I hope this helps someone.
    Darren
  • 0 over 9 years ago
    Question for everyone who has this issue

    Hi,

    In order to try and narrow this down can anyone with the issue answer the following questions please:
    how was the alarm was set?
    do you have the device locked?
    do you have any sleep/wake times set on connect?
    was it charging at the time and how (computer or outlet)?
    was the watch was "stuck" on a screen when the alarm was sounded?
    anything else you noticed at the time the watch goes off?
    do you have do not disturb feature enabled?

    CW
  • 0 over 9 years ago
    In order to try and narrow this down can anyone with the issue answer the following questions please:

    My answers are given in green, and they pertain (only) to the few instances when the alarm didn't go off during my experimentation.

    • how was the alarm was set?
      By long-pressing on the Up button at the watch face, then selecting Clock Options, then Alarms, then changing the time of an existing alarm entry.
    • do you have the device locked?
      No.
    • do you have any sleep/wake times set on connect?
      Yes. The time specified for the alarm was outside of my Normal Sleep Time in the Device Settings for the FR235 in Garmin Connect.
    • was it charging at the time and how (computer or outlet)?
      Yes, connected to a standalone charger.
    • was the watch was "stuck" on a screen when the alarm was sounded?
      No, it was at the watch face.
    • anything else you noticed at the time the watch goes off?
      No. No change visible on the display, no alarm notification screen, no vibrations, no tones.
    • do you have do not disturb feature enabled?
      No.
  • 0 over 9 years ago
    Mine didn't go off again this morning either

    My alarm didn't go off this morning either for wakeup. I did fiddle with the watch about 20 minutes before it was supposed to go off because it wasn't getting bluetooth and I happened to wake up (disconnected and reconnected bluetooth). I'm not sure if that is related.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 9 years ago
    I just copied ASmugDill's start and filled in my answers

    how was the alarm was set?
    Both by using the long hold up and by going into the alarm screen via the settings menu. I've had hits and misses both ways.
    •do you have the device locked?
    I have missed alarms both locked and unlocked.
    •do you have any sleep/wake times set on connect?
    Yes. I did try to "unset" the sleep/wake times but they filled back in. I have had hits and misses both within and outside of the designated sleep times.
    •was it charging at the time and how (computer or outlet)?
    Most of my testing as been unplugged and not charging.
    •was the watch was "stuck" on a screen when the alarm was sounded?
    I have had misses both on the watch face and with an app running, but I'm not sure I've ever seen the "stuck on a non watch face" scenario that I've seen reported here and there.
    •anything else you noticed at the time the watch goes off?
    No. No change visible on the display, no alarm notification screen, no vibrations, no tones. Same..... it just flat out missed and does nothing.
    •do you have do not disturb feature enabled?
    No. Do not disturb is not a feature I have ever messed with.


    As I've described before I've seriously tried hard to isolate misses to something that I can repeat and have utterly failed in doing so. This is one of the reasons I haven't pursued this with support further. As others have stated, if you can't clearly identify a problem it's very difficult to communicate that to support. All I can say with certainty is that the alarms miss from time to time. I mitigate the problem by setting multiple alarms.
  • 0 over 9 years ago
    Thanks for the feedback, as you said, nothing obvious. Just trying to think of things that might trigger it.

    CW
  • 0 over 9 years ago
    Had another little quirk. Since I started this thread I have had no problems with alarms failing to go off, but last Friday a strange thing did happen. I have a weekday alarm set to go off at 5:10 am. I usually set an earlier alarm each night manually, but 5:10 is kind of my trigger-the-day alarm.

    So anyway, this alarm has been on my watch since December, is rarely turned off, and is set to Tone+Vibration. Friday morning when the alarm went off it was silent. It vibrated just fine, but there was no audio.

    I immediately checked the watch and the alarm was still set to Tone+Vibration. I was not in do-not-disturb mode, charging, or anything like that. My watch was connected to my phone via bluetooth.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 9 years ago
    Did the alarm screen always have the down arrow with the word "dismiss" on it when an alarm fires? Seems I just started noticing that. Is that new since firmware 4.2?

    I'm wondering if they visited this code. I haven't had a single miss since upgrading to 4.2 Could be chance, or maybe they changed something? Time will tell.
  • 0 over 9 years ago
    Had another little quirk. Since I started this thread I have had no problems with alarms failing to go off, but last Friday a strange thing did happen. I have a weekday alarm set to go off at 5:10 am. I usually set an earlier alarm each night manually, but 5:10 is kind of my trigger-the-day alarm.

    So anyway, this alarm has been on my watch since December, is rarely turned off, and is set to Tone+Vibration. Friday morning when the alarm went off it was silent. It vibrated just fine, but there was no audio.

    I immediately checked the watch and the alarm was still set to Tone+Vibration. I was not in do-not-disturb mode, charging, or anything like that. My watch was connected to my phone via bluetooth.


    I'm almost positive this is a bug with 4.2. I've never had my alarm fail to go off, but my "GPS is ready" notification stopped beeping, for some reason. It NEVER beeps anymore, and it used to. I've restarted my watch, and nothing.
  • 0 over 9 years ago
    Did the alarm screen always have the down arrow with the word "dismiss" on it when an alarm fires?
    It was certainly the case with firmware 4.10.

    … my "GPS is ready" notification stopped beeping, for some reason.
    Are you saying that it is displayed visually, but there is no accompanying auditory signal? Does the watch vibrate when the ‘GPS is ready’ toast notification pops up?
    It NEVER beeps anymore, and it used to.
    Hmmm. I almost always have music playing in my earbuds when I leave the house to go for a run, so I guess I noticed whether it beeped or not.