My wife is going to kill me because I tried to update her Cobalt and bricked it!

[Dan Dickey]

We have 2 pretty old Cobalts. I decided since we are planning a trip I would update our Cobalts. So naturally I tried to do my wife's first. It went all the way through the little bobbing balls thing and finished with no warnings or errors. But the computer never rebooted even after waiting about 15 minutes. So I thought, ok I know there is a trick where I can pull the battery and get it to reset. But no that won't work because the computer has the battery wires soldered to the circuit board inside the battery box. The connector pins are there alright but no connector. I guess they were out of connectors that day and decided to continue production by soldering the wires. Now there seems to be no way to remove power and reset the computer.

When I tried a second time to update the DC with the Dive Log program it flies through a bunch of messages and says "Done" in less than 1 second so I'm pretty sure that isn't right.

When I plug my other computer into the USB port it is identified as a Cobalt by the Device Manager and I can upload dives ok so I think that means the computer drivers are ok. But when I plug the bricked computer it in comes up as "USB Serial Bus Controllers->Unknown Device" in Device Manager. The S/N of the bricked unit is 2910-0388.

Can anyone save this marriage by helping me unbrick this thing before she finds out what I did?

 

[RonR]

Dan,

Apparently the reset signal didn't come through from the PC- you are correct in that removing and restoring the battery should restart the Cobalt, provided the update really did finish.

The little connector/ circuit board you see sitting on the pins will pull off- you just need to lift it straight up. The sockets that slide over the pins grip tightly, but they are not soldered on, the battery is replaceable.

I'm sending you a PM with more info, and a contact in case the reset doesn't work (it should).

Ron

---------- Post added August 16th, 2013 at 04:57 PM ----------

In case anyone is worried, Dan's wife's computer is back up and domestic tranquillity is restored.

Ron

 

[Dan Dickey]

Yes, all is right with the world now. Best part is my wife never knew about the calamity due to Ron's quick response. In fact, she thanked me for updating her computer with the latest software. I'm such a thoughtful guy.

 

[divin'dog]

... so is it true that you actually see your life flash before your eyes when you think you're going to die? Glad you got it fixed... Next time do yours first!