I just wanted to post this here. If it helps anyone else, then I would be glad. I’ve had my OP-1 for a while now, and there are times when I don’t use it for a few months.
After these months, when I take out the OP-1 it seems completely dead. I remember the first time this happened I was distraught! I googled loads, watched videos, went on forums, I found lots of half complete answers. So let me create one post with what repeatedly works for at least my unit.
Symptoms:
It’s not been turned on in a while
Turning it on, nothing happens
Plugging it in to charge, nothing happens (no charging lights)
Turning it on while holding COM button, nothing happens
The unit appears completely dead, no matter what you do
It functions well as a paper weight
I do the following to bring it back to life… (it involves updating the firmware, so you can download it ahead of time). I have to do this exactly:
My fix:
Ensure power switch is in OFF position (away from you)
Plug it into charge, and leave it over night (again, there will be no lights, it will look dead).
The next day, unplug from the wall (it will still look dead, no lights)
Wait a few seconds, then hold down COM button and turn it on
Magically, the recovery screen should load (if it didn’t, make sure it is unplugged)
Press 1 to update firmware and follow onscreen instructions
Re-install or update the firmware (it doesn’t matter if it is the same version)
Once finished, hopefully the OP-1 will be back to normal, with everything still loaded
This has worked every time for my device. In a nutshell, it just needs to be charged for a good number of hours, unplugged and then the firmware re-installing. Then it is back to normal (boots fine, charging indicators back to life, etc etc)
I wanted to share because I see many posts with people having the same issue, with advice such as “just leave it charging and it will come back to life” and maybe they are giving up and start using it as a paper weight. I almost did the first time.
If it helps you, then I’m glad. If not, then at least I will find these instructions again for my future self!
ye i’ve had my OG-1 “die” probably 3 times, but always recovered with steps like above.
anecdotally, it might help to warm it up a bit too (if your house is on the cold side)
(e.g. carefully place it on a radiator, with a towel or something between so it doesn’t get too hot)
i dunno i would be careful physically heating up a lipo battery in an unnatural way
def a good way to give your battery problems, swelling and on the extreme side burst // explosion
The same happened to me once. It started taking a while to power up, sometimes up to 10 seconds before the logo was shown. Then a few days later nothing happened anymore when I turned it on. The steps you described worked for me and I didn’t have the problem since. Thanks for sharing!
This is very handy info so thank you but I was wondering if anyone finds that their OP-1 ends up dead again only after a few weeks of doing this fix and you have to repeat the process to get it working again? Is there a fix for this?
cross-post from reddit, just to potentially help anyone who stumbles here:
Resuscitated mine again today. I think this is the fourth time it’s refused to turn on / charge? (i got it in 2014).
In the past, I revived it with some combo of:
Leave plugged in, switch Off or On
probably did this for about 36hrs total
Carefully warm the device (i’ve used a radiator, some towels in between to avoid overheating; and a small space heater, holding it a careful distance away). Might give the battery a little extra energy to kick it back on
then try plugging in and/or switching on
Switch on while holding COM to get to boot menu (it sometimes takes a moment longer than expected)
then reflash firmware and/or factory reset
None of that worked this time. The final step, which I’ll probably jump straight to next time,
Switch on while holding COM (boot menu) (this finally worked, after reconnecting the battery), and re-flash firmware.
Reassemble!
I suspect what happens is after reaching some very low voltage threshold, the firmware (including bootloader) gets in a confused/corrupted state. But the power switch isn’t a “real” power switch, so disassembly is the only way to hard power cycle the board. And I must have just been lucky in the past when I was able to revive it without opening it up.
n.b. I inspected the battery while I had it open (expecting to need to replace it finally), but it showed no signs of damage/swelling, and read a healthy ~4.2V . 10years running!
