Obihai bricked my Obi110

[Tor2626]

I already contacted customer support but I don't have much hope for that as a method of help since their customer service is terrible according to reviews. So the forums are my last hope.

My Obi110 was working fine yesterday, until I noticed a red/green alternating lights on the device. This meant that the FW was updated automatically and was interrupted mid-process. So now in recovery mode, the only way I could access the device was through firefox by typing the IP subnet of my Obi110. I was greeted to a FW update page, nothing else was accessible. I went to download the latest FW update from the sticky in this forum (OBi-1-3-0-2824.fw) and manually updated the device. Nothing changed and it was still asking me to update. Strange thing is my device told me it was on the latest FW already, and nothing was changed. So I power cycled and now I had a permanent red light (meaning a brick). After trying various tricks of resetting and resetting+power cycling, I got it back to recovery mode. At that point all I could do again was update manually, which I did 2-3 times until it seemed to finally work and it went back to normal green lights.

But that only lasted a few seconds as it went back to recovery mode again. I assume the obihai website kept spamming update requests to my Obi110 and I could still see the yellow triangle icon on my dashboard. I decided to completely remove my device from the dashboard and try again resetting+powercycling to get out of recovery mode. Nothing works now and I'm stuck with a useless brick constantly asking me to update the FW and a red/green alternating lights.

I am appalled at how in 2014, a company is allowed to force automatic firmware Internet updates without a user's consent or knowledge. I mean, nothing possibly can go wrong with that, right? Thanks ShermanObi!

A question in case I somehow get this working again; is there a way (other than remove devices from the dashboard) to completely block automatic web firmware updates on the obihai website? Would really appreciate any help on this matter.

[cluckercreek]

Did you preform the "hard reset" with a paper clip on the bottom of the unit? As far as stopping future updates, yes you can. On Obitalk, since you have the 110 there use the Expert configuration setting. After entering the Expert mode, click on System Management>Auto provisioning>Auto firmware Update> click on Disable.

[Tor2626]

Yes that was how I perform all my resets, with the paper clip.
Wish I knew how to disable that FW forced update before, because I could have prevented a brick.

And I just got back from my support ticket:
"Per your description, it appears this OBi is no longer working properly
(electrically damaged), and it is already outside of the 1 year warranty.

We suggest you get a replacement OBi such as OBi200 model at amazon.com, it
is a newer device and has many more features.

Thank you,
Obihai Technology"

Gee, thanks Obihai! "electrically damaged" that was caused entirely by them forcing a FW update on my device, then blaming me for it. 5 star customer support right there.

[azrobert]

This might help you unbrick your OBi:
http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=6534.msg55912#msg55912

To prevent auto FW update:
Log into the OBI via Web interface
Go to System Management -> Auto Provisioning
Under OBiTalk Provisioning set Method to Disabled

If you do this you must configure the OBi via the Web interface.

[Tor2626]

This might help you unbrick your OBi:
http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=6534.msg55912#msg55912

To prevent auto FW update:
Log into the OBI via Web interface
Go to System Management -> Auto Provisioning
Under OBiTalk Provisioning set Method to Disabled

If you do this you must configure the OBi via the Web interface.

I already read and tried the options in that thread already. Unfortunately it did not work for me.

[Taoman]

I already read and tried the options in that thread already. Unfortunately it did not work for me.

What's the longest you've had your Obi physically unplugged from power? Just for grins you might physically unplug it for a day or two and see what happens. There have been sporadic reports of "bricked" OBis coming back to life after a couple days of just being unplugged from power. Worth a shot if you haven't already tried it.
Although I readily agree if your OBi puked during a firmware upgrade that is not a good sign.

Sure seems like Obihai is trying to push the 2xx series to 1xx owners or at least as a solution to 1xx series problems occurring past warranty. I made the jump to an OBi200 because I needed the extra SP slots and I wanted to be ready to move to Ring.To if the need arose. However, my OBi110 is still going strong and has been rock solid for years. Hope you can resurrect yours.

[azrobert]

Said by RonR to fix continuous re-boots:

1. Remove power.

2. Using a paper-clip, depress and hold the reset switch accessible through the bottom of the unit.

3. Apply power.

4. Continue holding the reset button depressed for at least 30 seconds.

The unit should be reset to factory defaults.

Can't hurt to try.
I would first disconnect the OBi from the router.
Do the LONG reset above.
Even if the OBi is looping, connect it to the router.

[Tor2626]

Said by RonR to fix continuous re-boots:

1. Remove power.

2. Using a paper-clip, depress and hold the reset switch accessible through the bottom of the unit.

3. Apply power.

4. Continue holding the reset button depressed for at least 30 seconds.

The unit should be reset to factory defaults.

Can't hurt to try.
I would first disconnect the OBi from the router.
Do the LONG reset above.
Even if the OBi is looping, connect it to the router.

I already read and tried the options in that thread already. Unfortunately it did not work for me.

What's the longest you've had your Obi physically unplugged from power? Just for grins you might physically unplug it for a day or two and see what happens. There have been sporadic reports of "bricked" OBis coming back to life after a couple days of just being unplugged from power. Worth a shot if you haven't already tried it.
Although I readily agree if your OBi puked during a firmware upgrade that is not a good sign.

Sure seems like Obihai is trying to push the 2xx series to 1xx owners or at least as a solution to 1xx series problems occurring past warranty. I made the jump to an OBi200 because I needed the extra SP slots and I wanted to be ready to move to Ring.To if the need arose. However, my OBi110 is still going strong and has been rock solid for years. Hope you can resurrect yours.

Thank you for the tips. I tried everything you guys listed, and one of the methods seemed to have worked temporarily. I got the device to work and green lights and everything. I could enter the configuration settings fine. Interesting thing I noticed is that the default setting for the auto provisioning "auto firmware update" is set to "disable" at factory default. At this point in time I have not yet added the device to the obitalk dashboard.

As soon as I added the device to the dashboard on obitalk, and tried to set "disable" on the auto firmware update (obitalk dashboard has it set to "periodically" by default), it went back to recovery mode with the alternating green/red lights. Is Obihai intentionally sabotaging people with old 100/110 models and intentionally bricking their devices? Because this seems like the case for me.

My only other option right now is to go through this rodeo again and maybe configure things manually. But this seems complex as I relied heavily on the obi dashboard to do it automatically for me. I just don't know. I just find it extremely strange that my device won't work as soon as I add it to Obitalk. This should be a painless process. Why does it only work when it's not connected to obitalk?

[Usetheforceobiwan]

Have you considered that your power supply or power source is a problem?  It may explain your Obi's intermittent operation and "wonkiness".  And it maybe coincidental that it acted up during a firmware upgrade or the firmware upgrade (with associated hardware / software verification) may have pushed it over the edge.  It's a 12 volt power supply with a 5.5mm x 2.1mm barrel head.  You might find a router PS that is the same voltage and connector type.  Probably one of your tech devices has one at least....just a suggestion.

[Ostracus]

A Linksys Wall-wart may work.

[SteveInWA]

As soon as I added the device to the dashboard on obitalk, and tried to set "disable" on the auto firmware update (obitalk dashboard has it set to "periodically" by default), it went back to recovery mode with the alternating green/red lights. Is Obihai intentionally sabotaging people with old 100/110 models and intentionally bricking their devices? Because this seems like the case for me.

No, it's not a conspiracy.  My 110 works fine, as do thousands of others.  You'd see a s**tstorm of posts here if it was some evil deed.

I don't think anyone mentioned this already, but based on your symptom above, did you actually completely delete the device from the OBiTALK dashboard before adding it again, as a new device?  This would kick off the device discovery procedure, whereby you would key in ***5 on the attached telephone, and OBiTALK would find it, remotely reset it to default, and add it to your dashboard.  It would not copy any locally-configured settings from the device, and it would not write any previously-configured bad settings to the device

If you didn't do that, then OBiTALK may be overwriting bad information onto your 110, from a previous setup.

If you DID do that, then you have a bad device.

I don't consider their response to be "bad customer service".  Your device is out of warranty, and, just like any other consumer product, the cost of repair or replacement is your responsibility.  You may be able to buy a new power adapter from them, if it's suspect, and you don't happen to have a compatible adapter laying around.

Otherwise, you can get a brand new OBi 200 for $48.89 from Amazon.  Considering how much time you've spent troubleshooting, I'd say it's worth it.

[MikePA]

Is Obihai intentionally sabotaging people with old 100/110 models and intentionally bricking their devices? Because this seems like the case for me.

Check to make sure your tinfoil hat didn't fall off and short something out. 

No, Obi isn't sending out death signals to some devices.

Remember, software eventually works and hardware eventually dies.

[Tor2626]

No, it's not a conspiracy.  My 110 works fine, as do thousands of others.  You'd see a s**tstorm of posts here if it was some evil deed.

I don't think anyone mentioned this already, but based on your symptom above, did you actually completely delete the device from the OBiTALK dashboard before adding it again, as a new device?  This would kick off the device discovery procedure, whereby you would key in ***5 on the attached telephone, and OBiTALK would find it, remotely reset it to default, and add it to your dashboard.  It would not copy any locally-configured settings from the device, and it would not write any previously-configured bad settings to the device

If you didn't do that, then OBiTALK may be overwriting bad information onto your 110, from a previous setup.

If you DID do that, then you have a bad device.

I don't consider their response to be "bad customer service".  Your device is out of warranty, and, just like any other consumer product, the cost of repair or replacement is your responsibility.  You may be able to buy a new power adapter from them, if it's suspect, and you don't happen to have a compatible adapter laying around.

Otherwise, you can get a brand new OBi 200 for $48.89 from Amazon.  Considering how much time you've spent troubleshooting, I'd say it's worth it.

Maybe not a 'conspiracy', but looking at the forums, I'm far from being the only one with the red/green lights problems. Both times I successfully recovered from that problem, the device was working fine on its own when it was not attached to Obitalk dashboard. The red/green lights problem arose as soon as I added the device to Obitalk. According to this: https://www.obihai.com/support/troubleshooting/alt
"The unit with red/green alternate flashing means that there was a power loss in the midst of firmware update of the OBi. And it is possible to recover the OBi operation."
The fact is, I haven't initiated a FW update in months. My device default for automatic firmwares was on "disable". Obitalk has it on "periodically" update on default. The website initiated a forced FW update and bricked my device. It should have never been on "periodically" on the first place. It should have at least ONE warning or notification when adding a device to Obitalk that you're about to be set on "periodically" automatic forced FW updates and risk bricking my Obi device while I'm sleeping.
I fail to see how I'm at fault here in any way and how I shouldn't be compensated, even if out of warranty. So far my support ticket is being ignored on this matter.

I'm done troubleshooting for now, since the last time I added my Obi110 to the dashboard bricked it for good. Now I cannot even update, as it fails every single time.

Check to make sure your tinfoil hat didn't fall off and short something out.  

No, Obi isn't sending out death signals to some devices.

Remember, software eventually works and hardware eventually dies.

More like hardware works perfectly for 1+ year, software gets updated automatically without my consent and hardware dies.

[WelshPaul]

As far as I'm aware when it comes to Firmware/Bios updates/flashing, if it fails and bricks your device then even if in warranty your out of luck. I don't know of any manufacturers who will allow a warranty claim on hardware defective due to a failed software/firmware update.

I'm on edge every time my 55" LG smart TV updates 

That being said, I hate manufacturers who force updates without allowing the end user to turn off the feature. After all if it fails and the manufacturer forced the update on you then yes they should be held liable. However they own the software, you the hardware and in the many, many, many, many pages of terms and conditions they have their backsides covered...

OBIHAI though do not force updates on anyone, out of the box automatic firmware updates are disabled by default. When registering the device against an OBiTALK account it is enabled although you can switch it off again. (if your aware it was enabled that is)

The OBi1032 however when registered against an OBiTALK account does not have automatic firmware enabled by default. I suspect this is because it's a new device and in time just as the other devices it too will have this feature enabled when registered against an OBiTALK account.

[RFC3261]

Maybe not a 'conspiracy', but looking at the forums, I'm far from being the only one with the red/green lights problems.

Not the only one, but small numbers, and a self selected group (people "post" only when they have problems, not when things are working fine, so you get into the statistics of selection bias.  No one disputes that you have an issue, but individuals are not statistically significant).

My "guess" (and it is just a guess) is that you may have been one of the unlucky to be at the low end of the flash memory life expectancy (someone has to be).  Sometimes repeated resets can result in sufficient bad block reassignments to get things working again.  And sometimes, not so much.

[jimates]

without reading everything in the linked threads I will offer this.
I had a bricked obi before most people had a good one. This is what I had to do.
Unplug the power supply
Press and hold the reset button with a paperclip
Continue pressing the reset button while plugging in the power supply to the obi
Continue pressing the reset button until the obi resets, then release the button and wait for the obi to finish.

[gderf]

One way to brick an OBi is to lose power to it during a firmware upgrade. The recovery procedure is here, but I can't say if it will work or not.

http://www.obihai.com/support/troubleshooting/alt

[ProfTech]

That is a good link. I've never seen the Red/Green scenario before so never had to go through the process. Guess it does pay to read the docs.

[PeteMoss]

As soon as I added the device to the dashboard on obitalk, and tried to set "disable" on the auto firmware update (obitalk dashboard has it set to "periodically" by default), it went back to recovery mode with the alternating green/red lights. Is Obihai intentionally sabotaging people with old 100/110 models and intentionally bricking their devices? Because this seems like the case for me.

No, it's not a conspiracy.  My 110 works fine, as do thousands of others.  You'd see a s**tstorm of posts here if it was some evil deed.

I don't think anyone mentioned this already, but based on your symptom above, did you actually completely delete the device from the OBiTALK dashboard before adding it again, as a new device?  This would kick off the device discovery procedure, whereby you would key in ***5 on the attached telephone, and OBiTALK would find it, remotely reset it to default, and add it to your dashboard.  It would not copy any locally-configured settings from the device, and it would not write any previously-configured bad settings to the device

If you didn't do that, then OBiTALK may be overwriting bad information onto your 110, from a previous setup.

If you DID do that, then you have a bad device.

I don't consider their response to be "bad customer service".  Your device is out of warranty, and, just like any other consumer product, the cost of repair or replacement is your responsibility.  You may be able to buy a new power adapter from them, if it's suspect, and you don't happen to have a compatible adapter laying around.

Otherwise, you can get a brand new OBi 200 for $48.89 from Amazon.  Considering how much time you've spent troubleshooting, I'd say it's worth it.

Why would they send you to Amazon when you can get the OBi200 at New Egg for $30 using the promo code on their OBi200 web page(?) The sale ends 9/14.

[SteveInWA]

Why would they send you to Amazon when you can get the OBi200 at New Egg for $30 using the promo code on their OBi200 web page(?) The sale ends 9/14.

Because, when I wrote my reply, the celebratory deal at Newegg wasn't yet available. 

newegg.com, $29.99 with code EMCPAWW99.