SV Touch Boot Error

Jim8JD

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Recently when I powered up my D1000T it came up with Boot Error - Please Restart - Contact Dynon Avionics if problem persists (photo attached). The unit powered down and restarted a couple times and hung with the same message at the top of the display with the Dynon logo on the screen. More attempts the next day found the problem was solid and the unit was dead in the water and couldn't be booted up. I contacted Dynon Avionics support and they issued a RMA. I shipped the unit to them and they diagnosed, repaired the problem and charged me the fixed rate out of warranty repair fee. I talked to support yesterday to understand the nature of the problem that was found and was told SV software/firmware is stored on a SolidStateDisk (SSD). The SSD had been experiencing data errors over time and had reached a threshold that had been set in the code, indicating a malfunction or failure is likely in the near future, which triggered the hard Boot Error message and halted boot. Support replaced the SSD, reloaded the firmware and the unit tested good. They return shipped it to me.

Background and Food for Thought:

My RV6A has one 10" SV Touch unit in the panel, so this hard boot error grounded me for 2 weeks without warning. More importantly I have recently taken 2500 and 3000 nm x/c trips. If this Boot Error had happened at startup in Ohio or Iowa, I would have been faced with a decision whether to fly back to Tucson without EMS data. I have other backup Nav devices (phone and tablet), but there is no backup for EMS data. This is a case where having dual SV's wouldn't have helped. Since the primary SV couldn't boot up, the EMS data couldn't be displayed on a 2nd unit, since EMS data only comes into the primary unit if my understanding is correct.

Given the nature of this problem I would have preferred to have received advanced warning of the SSD problem via a message at boot time, that I would need to acknowledge to continue, telling me to contact support with a code that they could look up, but then continuing to finish boot-up instead of a threshold being reached with no prior indication and the unit cannot boot up, when actually the unit is still functional but has been experiencing abnormal numbers of intermittent errors over time. This method would allow pilots to fly back to their home base and have the problem repaired by Dynon Avionics (a deferred maintenance approach).

This was a remanufactured unit that was received after the original new SVT unit was RMA'd back to Dynon with different issues after very little usage . From the discussion with support I understood that there is no check of the actual number of SSD data errors in the remanufacturing process... I was told there were not significant enough errors to trigger this threshold at time of remanufacturing, which doesn't say there weren't abnormal numbers of data errors occurring previously. SSD internal errors were likely occurring in a previous aircraft installation before the unit was repaired for a different issue and shipped as a remanufactured replacement for a new unit that was RMA'd for a different issue.

Given that this appears to be a single point of failure, even for a dual SV setup, I recommend the SSD area be re-looked-at in the design and changes be made to give advanced warning of the problem without throwing a hard boot error. I was lucky that this boot error happened when my plane was parked in the hangar at home. Checking the actual number of data errors in the SSD and replacing it if there are abnormally high numbers of errors logged should be added to the remanufacturing process to ensure intermittent SSD's are not shipped in remanufactured units as replacements for new units that were RMA'd for different issues, later on experiencing this issue, requiring out of warranty repair service.

I would be interested in hearing if this problem has been seen by others.
 

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thibault

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Oct 25, 2009
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Jim,
You said "This is a case where having dual SV's wouldn't have helped. Since the primary SV couldn't boot up, the EMS data couldn't be displayed on a 2nd unit, since EMS data only comes into the primary unit if my understanding is correct."

Actually, a 2nd SV would have functioned just fine if installed properly. Both screens receive all data all the time, when the installation is done correctly. I have a Lancair with a 10" and a 7" screen, so I know this works. With two screens you would only lose all EMS data if the EMS module failed. If there is room, think about adding another screen.
 

Jim8JD

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Jim,
You said "This is a case where having dual SV's wouldn't have helped. Since the primary SV couldn't boot up, the EMS data couldn't be displayed on a 2nd unit, since EMS data only comes into the primary unit if my understanding is correct."

Actually, a 2nd SV would have functioned just fine if installed properly. Both screens receive all data all the time, when the installation is done correctly. I have a Lancair with a 10" and a 7" screen, so I know this works. With two screens you would only lose all EMS data if the EMS module failed. If there is room, think about adding another screen.

Thanks for the correction thibault. Maybe my glove box should become a 7" SV... :)
 

thibault

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Jim,
That's what I have, because a 10" would not fit. Wish I could fit the 10" because the 7" is almost unuseable over in front of the pax.
 

swatson999

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Supposing the 2nd display wouldn't have shown something you required for flight (and you found out before flight), in a real pinch you could simply remove or disconnect the 1st, make the 2nd primary and fly with only one display. Just to provide an alternate solution that someone may need at some time...
 

Raymo

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If I recall, the first unit to boot up becomes the primary. In the event of a failure, you should have configured a default view for the remaining unit, which will default to that view if the other screen goes down. The remaining unit then becomes the primary.

I have dual 10" SVT screens and my default view is 40% PFD, 20% EMS, 40% MAP. The CP screen may or may not be configured that way but if I lose the pilot screen the other will switch automatically to my default view.
 

Jim8JD

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Thanks for the replies and info about SV fail over behavior, but I only have one SV, so I would have been unnecessarily in a pickle if this boot error had happened away from home. IMO the SSD data error threshold handling should be changed to a deferred maintenance approach, from the current hard stop approach, so I don't want that to get lost in the discussion.
 

Dynon

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Given that this appears to be a single point of failure, even for a dual SV setup, I recommend the SSD area be re-looked-at in the design and changes be made to give advanced warning of the problem without throwing a hard boot error.

We definitely agree, have implemented such a system, and SkyView provides advanced warnings when it can. SkyView does have the ability to monitor the health of the storage subsystem (and other aspects of the system), and some of those health indicators will throw a helpful error message. These are shown as "System Events" in the message area. If you see those, we want to see your display, because there has been an accumulation of events, but generally, it doesn't impact the performance of the system.

However, the boot error that you saw in your screenshot isn't one that is thrown after an accumulation of errors. If you're seeing the boot error message (and the display refuses to start), there's something that has actually become corrupted, and the system is unable to function. That can happen whether or not the system had previously thrown any System Event errors. That said, this behavior is definitely more likely to occur if your system has already warned of a "System Event". That's why we surface those warnings - so that you can get the display serviced while it is still working.

All that said, thanks for your report, and sorry that you experienced this.
 
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Jim8JD

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Thanks for the info and explanation. I had not seen any indications or system event messages prior to the boot error, unless they were happening, were being logged and not surfaced to me as a message on the screen. How does SV warn a pilot when a system event occurs? Am I supposed to regularly look at some system message area for system events? If so, that is news to me, so please tell me where to find info about doing that. Apparently the explanation I received on the phone was incorrect that there had been an accumulation of data errors that reached a threshold causing the boot error to surface. Was there a hard data error in the SSD that caused it to be replaced? That is not what I was told.
 

Dynon

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It shows up where all the other alerts, warnings, and notifications do (right above button 8), and is also accompanied by an audible alert.
 

Jim8JD

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Thanks, good to know. So that means the SSD failed during power on, since there were no messages or audio alerts of system events before I powered down from the previous flight.... I always take a photo of the engine screen before powering down. The only message was alerting me that my ADS-B GPS source had been lost since I had powered down the Garmin 420W. If the SSD failed during power on, it would have no way to post an alert... just the boot error message.... makes sense. I sure hope this never happens again!
 
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