GPZ Front Panel Button Lag And WM12 Audio Drop Out

[afreakofnature]

On 2/7/2021 at 2:03 PM, Libertas said:

Thanks for that JP!👍 Since day one with the detector I have noticed that my WM12 audio sometimes drops out randomly as well. I used to build PCs, so reseating the mylar cable should be easy enough and hopefully solve both issues. 🤞

I have had this problem recently except it happened when switching gold or ground modes.  I was switching back and forth to check target signals and lost all audio.  It has happened twice and both times i have had to power off the Z to get the sound back. 🤷‍♂️
 

I have also noticed that my buttons don’t react that fast.  I could fly through the buttons much easier if it would not take a full second or two to switch modes or select things.  Is this normal?  I have no one to compare this with.  I had my GPS fixed under warranty and asked to have my screen changed out since it was scratched, in the process they replaced the front panel, I could have swore it worked faster before they put a new one in.  No warranty now.

Maybe a hard restart or factory reset is in order and reinstall the firmware? 🤷‍♂️

[araratgold]

1 hour ago, afreakofnature said:

I have had this problem recently except it happened when switching gold or ground modes.  I was switching back and forth to check target signals and lost all audio.  It has happened twice and both times i have had to power off the Z to get the sound back. 🤷‍♂️
 

I have also noticed that my buttons don’t react that fast.  I could fly through the buttons much easier if it would not take a full second or two to switch modes or select things.  Is this normal?  I have no one to compare this with.  I had my GPS fixed under warranty and asked to have my screen changed out since it was scratched, in the process they replaced the front panel, I could have swore it worked faster before they put a new one in.  No warranty now.

Maybe a hard restart or factory reset is in order and reinstall the firmware? 🤷‍♂️

Do you have the GPS turned on ? Having it on slows the whole process down, must be RAM hungry on the CPU ! I found the whole thing very slow when the GPS was running and ended up not using it at all because of the lag !

Cheers,

Rick

[afreakofnature]

8 hours ago, araratgold said:

Do you have the GPS turned on ? Having it on slows the whole process down, must be RAM hungry on the CPU ! I found the whole thing very slow when the GPS was running and ended up not using it at all because of the lag !

Cheers,

Rick

Yes i do!  I’ll have to give that a try I only use the GPS so I can tell what time it is in the field. Other than that I don’t use it at all, but it is on.  Come to think about it when I remember the buttons being faster that was when the GPS was broken. Thanks Rick!   I’ll give that a try but I’ll have to wait a few months until the snow is gone.  LOL

[Steve Herschbach]

12 hours ago, afreakofnature said:

Maybe a hard restart or factory reset is in order and reinstall the firmware? 🤷‍♂️

Always my first reaction to any issues.

[flakmagnet]

3 hours ago, afreakofnature said:

I only use the GPS so I can tell what time it is in the field

I put my watch on my belt loop. It doesn't interfere with the 7000,
and I never use the gps, it's just too weird.

Hope you get it solved...

[Northeast]

AFON - The occasional and random drop out when changing between Gold Modes and Ground Modes is a known issue that I don't think has ever been resolved.  It is annoying in that you have to restart the detector but it seems to be not detrimental in any way.  It was discussed here.....

In late 2017 JP also made comment on a post by MLGDave that it sometimes happened when changing between modes and has been discussed on the Prospecting Australia forum also.  

It happened very occasionally to my unit over about the first 2 years that I had it and then for about the last 9 months I had it the issue didn't happen at all.  It was very hard to get a video of it occurring as it was just so random.  Some people thought it was to do with a firmware update, others thought it may be when not using the ferrite.  I think it just ended up being a random 'surprise' for you  😉

Hopefully JP may have some newer and more accurate info for you.  

Cheers, N.E.  

 

 

[normmcq]

My select button quit once while under warranty, I had to send it back to Minelab for repairs. It took almost a month to get it back but they did extend the warranty for six months. They didn't tell me what the issue was.

                                                                                                         Norm

[afreakofnature]

Thanks Northeast, I'll give that thread a look too.  Sure is nerve racking to have that happen out in the middle of the field.  The first time it happened I thought for sure I was going to have to hike all the way back to the truck to get the back up.

[afreakofnature]

After reading the thread from 2015 it appears that this is an ongoing problem that has never been resolved.  I’m hoping that some people out there might have some answers and I’m really anxious now to try Rick’s fix of just turning the GPS off (although really more of a workaround than actual fix, since now can’t use the GPS, but still appreciative Rick!).  Anybody else out there have the same problems that might want to try this?  I’m currently in winter lockdown with 0 degree temps to give it a go yet.  If enough people have this problem, and might be able to give this work around a try, I can put together a tally and maybe send something to Minelab and ask them if they’re ever going to resolve this problem that’s been going on. Worth a shot anyways.  I got alot of time at the moment 😊

[Jonathan Porter]

Firstly settings please, but I think I can guess at it a bit.

When you change modes there is a massive change to the Tx and Rx of the machine, often if the sensitivity is cranked up to high levels the poor little chip overloads and throws the detector into the state described. To avoid lower your sensitivity or pick the coil up and away from the ground so the detector is not blasted with a massive change while loading up its new parameters.

I’m not sure if the sluggish button presses are linked as I find the GPZ frustrating slow at the best of times (press, waiting waiting waiting.....change 😖), the sluggish button behaviour can also be corrected by firming up the Mylar power strip.

The other thing that can send the GPZ into conniptions is having the WM12 turned on before the detector boots up, it tries to connect up the audio before all the parameters are fully loaded and can throw the detector into a looping power cycle. Best work flow is to turn on the detector and wait till the battery icon appears then turn on the WM12, follow this procedure and all is well.

About one in 20 units do this with the stock that comes through our shop and is something I check during assembly and initial training. One customers machine does it religiously every time if he forgets whereas others only do it on occasion or not at all. There could be a correlation between the two scenarios and could be associated with a sensitive machine that is slightly vulnerable when it’s loading up its coefficients.

During the load up period the detector is performing diagnostics and takes into account a lot of things like temperature and slight differences between components, this is why there are so few variations between GPZs. This type of process is vital due to the absolute need to get a near perfect voltage for the tech to work, Zero Voltage Transmission means ZERO variation in the voltage.

Hope this helps
JP