Help! My Cosmo is dead after 4 days.

[Kim Possible]

Everything has been going swimmingly, apart from hating the space bar.

While driving this morning, with Waze running, Waze was not picking up a network signal. I tried to restart the Cosmo, hoping that it would find a signal. The Cosmo never restarted... properly.

It is single-boot, not rooted. Nothing strange installed on it.

When I clicked on "restart," it never did restart. The screen went black, or so I thought. On the lower, left-hand corner, in tiny writing, it said "Fastboot mode." I tried to hold down the Esc/On/On button, to no avail. I tried to hold down the silver button with the Esc/On/On button. I just get a dark gray screen. The Cosmo ran from warm to hot for several hours after its death.

Please, someone help me before I go into a blind panic and contact Planet Computers.

[ehem]

Okay, as quoted in large, friendly letters of the cover of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, "Don't Panic".  Planet Computers would readily be able to help you with this situation and I'm a bit surprised no one here hasn't already replied.

What almost certainly happened was you accidentally held down one (or more) buttons when you attempted to restart.  As a result your Cosmo ended up in "fastboot mode".  Nearly any search engine would get you some information for the string "fastboot".

There are several ways to get out of fastboot mode.  If you've got the Android tools installed on a handy computer, plugging your Cosmo in and typing the command

Code: [Select]

fastboot reboot would restart your Cosmo.  This though requires installing the program onto an appropriate computer, a handier method may be to open the cover, remove the battery and all power sources.  The battery only needs to be out briefly at which point you can reinstall the battery and boot normally.  (note, I'm used to phones where batteries are easily removable and the Cosmo may not be line this; I haven't got it yet so I don't know)

When your Cosmo is initially starting make sure not to hold any keys.  Holding buttons during startup of many electronic devices often cause them to enter various special modes.

By now I imagine you've already tried pulling the battery and your Cosmo is fine.  Forums like this can be a bit slow.  Hopefully this information has been informative even if likely too late for your purposes.

[Simon Pooley]

Sadly, my Cosmo too seems to have expired.

I've been using it as my main device since it arrived at the end of November.
I updated it with the new software and Cover Display s/w mid-Dec.
All was going well.

After Christmas I had been using it in the car for navigation for a few hours (powered, so the battery was fully charged).
After removing it from my pocket when I was back in the house, it had turned off.

Nothing could bring it back to life - both screens quite unresponsive.

Planet suggested a reset option:
 - power left-hand-socket for 30m
 - hold Esc for 20s
 - release for 3s
 - hold Esc again for 3 sec
...but that had no effect.

My device is currently packed up, ready to ship back to Planet after New Year.

[jakfish]

While these things have not yet happened to my Cosmo, I find Waze freezing on a constant basis, and both post-ers said their problems began with Waze.

Oh, dear,
Jake

[Kim Possible]

That's the same "fix" Planet sent to me. Also, no effect. I wrote back, but since it is New Year's Eve, I didn't receive a response. Did they offer you no other solution? Just send it back?

Sadly, my Cosmo too seems to have expired.

I've been using it as my main device since it arrived at the end of November.
I updated it with the new software and Cover Display s/w mid-Dec.
All was going well.

After Christmas I had been using it in the car for navigation for a few hours (powered, so the battery was fully charged).
After removing it from my pocket when I was back in the house, it had turned off.

Nothing could bring it back to life - both screens quite unresponsive.

Planet suggested a reset option:
 - power left-hand-socket for 30m
 - hold Esc for 20s
 - release for 3s
 - hold Esc again for 3 sec
...but that had no effect.

My device is currently packed up, ready to ship back to Planet after New Year.

[Simon Pooley]

There was no further succour to be had from Planet...just the instruction (and return code) to send it back.
I'll dispatch it tomorrow, now that the New Year disruptions have settled.

[Simon Pooley]

...both post-ers said their problems began with Waze.

I had been using Google Maps for my driving instructions, not Waze.
And navigation was shutdown for the last 15 mins or so of my journey.

[jakfish]

Ah, got it. I misread your post.

Jake

[Kim Possible]

It's alive!

This is what Planet had to say this morning:

Fastboot mode is typically entered when one of the toggle options is pressed on the toggle key at the back (the fingerprint scanner). Could you try clicking it, and then restart by holding Esc for 20 seconds again? Maybe it's stuck in a clicked position.

I tried clicking it all over the place, holding down Esc, clicking it all over the place, hitting Esc again, clicking it all over the place, and what do you know? It started to boot up... sort of. It's been plugged in since the 29th, and it was on 1% charge. It's still off and charging at the moment. It's only been about 30 minutes, but it's on Planet's fast charger, and it's already at 65%. I'm hopeful that all is well in my Cosmos, as it were.

[Beiriannydd]

I was going to add that when something similar happened to my Gemini it was because it wasn't charging. I have noticed that sometimes the Cosmo will trip a charger requiring the charger itself to be unplugged from the mains and re-plugged before it will charge again.  Probably some difference between PD and PE3.

[spook]

It's alive!

This is what Planet had to say this morning:

Fastboot mode is typically entered when one of the toggle options is pressed on the toggle key at the back (the fingerprint scanner). Could you try clicking it, and then restart by holding Esc for 20 seconds again? Maybe it's stuck in a clicked position.

Thiis is interesting and could explain why 2 users had the same issue while navigating in the car. I'm making assumptions here, but it is possible that some car holders put a small amount of pressure on the back, which presses downon the toggle switch and causes the device to reboot in Fastboot mode.

It's a good warning for anyone using a holder in the car or elsewhere. Glad you got it back up and running Kim!

[TheHarryChannel]

Mine died after about 9 days. It's almost certainly a hardware issue — it won't boot, the video is corrupted, and it smells a bit of smoke from the right side. I hope the exhange process is fairly painless.

I'm letting the battery discharge before I ship it. I actually put it inside my oven last night in case it burst into flames while I was asleep.

[Simon Pooley]

Planet looked at my failed Cosmo after a week (once it had got to the top of their service queue) and were unable to resuscitate it.
They sent me out a replacement (new) unit on Friday which arrived on Saturday.

So, on the whole, good service from Planet (Thank You) but rather disconcerting to have experienced a quite unexplained failure resulting in a completely dead unit.

[Hount]

Planet looked at my failed Cosmo after a week (once it had got to the top of their service queue) and were unable to resuscitate it.
They sent me out a replacement (new) unit on Friday which arrived on Saturday.

So, on the whole, good service from Planet (Thank You) but rather disconcerting to have experienced a quite unexplained failure resulting in a completely dead unit.

How long did it take for them to haul your support request "to the top of their service queue"?
I've been now waiting 8 days. I got briefly someone to answer via PC's FB-chat but no luck getting anything actual (e.g. shipping label or instructions).