GEM and the dreaded Red System LED

[sub3marathonman]

Of course it happens on a weekend, and I actually know the exact time, when the GEM, which had been working fine for months, suddenly stopped sending data.

The Right Side Communication LED is fine.

The Left Side System LED is solid red.

I've rebooted the GEM several times, with the GEM returning to the same status. Now, what is also interesting is that pressing the little "Push Button Switch" (#14 GEM Manual V 4.1 Page 12) had no effect. I could push it fast, slow, long, short, nothing had an effect. Now, I have previously used the button when I was first setting the GEM up.

I've attempted to get it into "Recovery Mode" by turning the GEM on while holding the Push Button Switch, again without any apparent effect. I'm able to choose the firmware program, but it will not connect or stay connected with the GEM in order to proceed with the recovery.

I see that some of the power supplies were not working properly, but it seems that isn't the problem here. I also wondered if it is possible that this is what happens when the CR-2032 battery needs to be replaced? I didn't want to open up the GEM and lose all the data just to try what seems to be a low probability of solving the problem though.

In my opinion, my low serial number indicated it was a fairly old unit prior to me purchasing it. It is a wi-fi only unit, which I don't know if this type is currently being made.

The only other slightly unusual aspect is that it was relatively cold (for Florida), as there was frost on the roofs of houses, but it was working until 2 p.m. when it had warmed back up. I could tell that there was no voltage surge right before it quit, as recently I had modified btmon and I had been logging that too.

I don't know if anybody has run into this, but at least searching the GEM support section I didn't see anything that looked promising.

[ben]

Any idea what firmware(s) you were running?

The red LED can be caused by a flag that needs to be reset after loading a firmware past COM ~2.58. WHen that firmware is loaded, the battery has to be removed and the GEM has to be cycled power (for a few seconds to remove any possibility of a charge) to reset that flag. If the flag was never reset, the GEM can jump into an endless loop.

Removing the battery, and cycling power is worth a shot in this case.

If the above doesn't fix it, with the battery removed, unplug the GEM, hold down the button at the bottom of the GEM, and plug it back in. This will put it in "Recovery mode" which will allow you to load the firmware via the GEM Network Utility (make sure you checkmark recover mode, and just load the COM firmware, don't do anything else).

[sub3marathonman]

Any idea what firmware(s) you were running?

The red LED can be caused by a flag that needs to be reset after loading a firmware past COM ~2.58. WHen that firmware is loaded, the battery has to be removed and the GEM has to be cycled power (for a few seconds to remove any possibility of a charge) to reset that flag. If the flag was never reset, the GEM can jump into an endless loop.

Removing the battery, and cycling power is worth a shot in this case.

It is firmware COM 3.24, and was loaded on 6/2/2015, and has been working fine since then. The other firmware in ENG 1.49, I don't know or remember when or if that has been updated.

I did attempt again to power-cycle it this morning, and left the power off for much longer, about 20 minutes. I did not remove the battery, as it was before ben's reply.

It came back on, and now shows GREEN!!!

However, it will not connect back to the GEM Network Utility 5.9. It gave a "Wifly 3" error, a timeout error, and another error. I left it for about two hours until I just got back to working on it again. I kept trying to reconnect, failing each time, and then moments ago it did reconnect, without any other intervention by me.

So I don't really know why it had a problem yesterday, or really why it was gone today.

How does the GEM react when the CR2032 battery is dying and needs to be replaced? Does it just operate as usual as long as there it utility power, and will then shut down completely without utility power? Is there a warning such as the red LED light to indicate the battery should be replaced? And about how long does the battery last in the GEM?

Thanks for all the help.

[ben]

Any idea what firmware(s) you were running?

The red LED can be caused by a flag that needs to be reset after loading a firmware past COM ~2.58. WHen that firmware is loaded, the battery has to be removed and the GEM has to be cycled power (for a few seconds to remove any possibility of a charge) to reset that flag. If the flag was never reset, the GEM can jump into an endless loop.

Removing the battery, and cycling power is worth a shot in this case.

It is firmware COM 3.24, and was loaded on 6/2/2015, and has been working fine since then. The other firmware in ENG 1.49, I don't know or remember when or if that has been updated.

I did attempt again to power-cycle it this morning, and left the power off for much longer, about 20 minutes. I did not remove the battery, as it was before ben's reply.

It came back on, and now shows GREEN!!!

However, it will not connect back to the GEM Network Utility 5.9. It gave a "Wifly 3" error, a timeout error, and another error. I left it for about two hours until I just got back to working on it again. I kept trying to reconnect, failing each time, and then moments ago it did reconnect, without any other intervention by me.

So I don't really know why it had a problem yesterday, or really why it was gone today.

How does the GEM react when the CR2032 battery is dying and needs to be replaced? Does it just operate as usual as long as there it utility power, and will then shut down completely without utility power? Is there a warning such as the red LED light to indicate the battery should be replaced? And about how long does the battery last in the GEM?

Thanks for all the help.

When the battery is dead/low, you'll get an orange Err code in the GEM Setup Webpage upon power cycle.

If you have a red Err code in the setup webpage, that's an error for the flag I discussed earlier.

The battery should last at least a few years if the hardware option is set correctly under the Firmware tab.

You'll want to update to the latest firmwares available at http://www.brultech.com/software since you're having issues.