Pink Screen of Death

[bruceh]

Apologies to Microsoft for usurping their blue screen of death...

I have had this happen now a couple of times. Boot up the avionics. All is well. Taxi out and poof! The screen goes pink.
December 9, 2019:

January 1, 2020:

I am able to get it to come up correctly with a reboot attempt or two. Disconnecting and reconnecting the back up battery is sometimes also required to get it to do a hard reset.

I have the data logs and it doesn't seem to show anything unusual. It seems to happen when it is colder and the airplane has been sitting for a while (over a week for me). I live in SoCal, so "cold" to me is in the 40's.

Is this terminal and/or something that needs repair? I only have the one EFIS display, so encountering this in flight would not be good.

 

[AlanR]

Yes I've had the colored vertical stripes on both of my D1000 screens this past year. One went back to Dynon last April and the other P2 screen has gone back to them recently. Both screens only 3.5years and 150 flying hours from new.
To say I am very disappointed with the short term longevity of the product would be an understatement!...How long will they last before they go again is what I would like to know?

 

[bruceh]

I did search the forums before posting this. I found another thread on the Pink Screen of Death symptoms. I'm not seeing any vertical stripes, just a pink screen. Sometimes there is also a bit of blue mixed in.

I've had this happen on boot up in the past. In those cases, cycling the power and rebooting would eventually clear it. Sometimes it would require me to unplug the backup battery. On those instances, I had parked the airplane (RV-9A) overnight in cool/wet/humid conditions. Not sure if the EFIS is just susceptible to being left out in the cold, since normally I'm hangared and in SoCal where the weather isn't much of an issue normally. The EFIS is not getting any direct moisture, nor do I have any canopy leaks (canopy cover keeps the rain out).

What is new is having it boot up normally and then just go "poof" with a pink screen on me while taxiing or in the run up area. Not a good feeling right before a flight.

 

[ninelima]

We had this happen on a regular basis. Just after start and "poof" as you say, away she goes.
For us, the fix was to add a dedicated backup battery for the EFIS.

If your installation is not properly shielded (shielded twisted pair wires everywhere) and RF choked where applicable. It can also happen when you transmit on the Comm Radio. Enough current can be induced in the cables to do strange things to the EFIS. Especially if you use a balanced antenna (dipole) connected with a co-ax and balun.

 

[Dynon]

So there are multiple root causes, but the bottom line is that we don't expect your display to do that, and we'd be happy to take a look at it here. Give our support team a call at 425-402-0433 or at support at dynonavionics dot com.

 

[bruceh]

So there are multiple root causes, but the bottom line is that we don't expect your display to do that, and we'd be happy to take a look at it here. Give our support team a call at 425-402-0433 or at support at dynonavionics dot com.

I think it is time to make the call and send it in. I was going to do some pattern work today, but after repeated attempts at getting the Skyview display to come up, it never was able to. I get the verbal messages, so I know that the system should be up, but the screen is just a blue/pink mess.

I took video and it is here:

https://photos.smugmug.com/RV-9A-Project/Phase-2/i-P4477FM/0/3935d6f9/640/015-640.mp4

 

[bruceh]

Fast forward a month. I send Dynon the unit, pay the $450 flat rate fee for servicing, and they send back the unit. I plug it back in, and turn it on. Same issue. After several attempts, lo and behold, it displays just fine. Try it a couple of more times and it seems to be working again. I go and do a couple of laps in the pattern to warm up my oil for an oil change, and it seems to be working fine. Yesterday, after 2 weeks of sitting in my hangar, I decide to go knock around the pattern again, since I haven't flown since the oil change. I turn on the Skyview and after more than 20 attempts, the screen is still not working. This time it is just lots of pretty vertical lines.

Video here of 4/19/2020:

Phase 2 - overthehills

The repair from Dynon took over 2 weeks. I was able to get the screen working after multiple boot attempts and did a quick flight to warm my oil for an oil change. Haven't flown since, and today I tried to power it up to update the map data and it wouldn't come up.

www.overthehills.com

And here on 4/20/2020:

Phase 2 - overthehills

Another attempt to boot on the next day. I was going to fly the pattern a couple of times to circulate the new oil, but again, the display is not working after it was supposedly repaired.

www.overthehills.com

Does Dynon do any sort of post repair quality control checks? This is NOT the first time I've sent hardware back and forth for repairs that came back still failing.

 

[swatson999]

Perhaps something in your system is causing the failures? Not making any accusations, but have you carefully examined and thought about your wiring harness, layout, power regulation, etc.?

 

[bruceh]

The display issues have creeped up over time. Usually a reboot would eventually get it up and running. I noticed that cold/wet/humid weather also had some correlation. The wiring has been thoroughly checked. I did talk to the folks at Dynon today and they went over the prior RMA details. They did find a bad solder joint and replaced the LCD screen. They also did hot/cold soak testing before sending it back. It may just be infant mortality, or possibly a different hardware issue. Anyway, I hope this time it gets back to me as good as it was new! It has made me think that going to dual HDX just might be a good path. Having a single display is cutting into my flying time when it goes kaput. Now I just need to find the money!

 

[bruceh]

Just a follow up. Dynon swapped out my EFIS with a newly refurbished unit (different serial number). I installed it and it seems to be working properly now!

 

[WmInce]

Just a follow up. Dynon swapped out my EFIS with a newly refurbished unit (different serial number). I installed it and it seems to be working properly now!

Great.
What part of the country are you located in?
I know a super sharp Dynon Skyview Tech, down here in Florida.
Jesse Saint, Dunnellon, Florida (X35).
(352-427-0285).