800 Won't Boot

[mn90403]

I was out at the beach about an hour ago when I decided to restart the detector.  I did this because I was using the supplied headphones which I like but they were not sounding the best.  When I started the detector this beach session I noticed a different connection routine.  I always turn on the headphones and then the detector.  Thousands of times now the detector shows the screen and then you get the connecting sounds through the headphones.  This last time today it cycled twice before the headphones connected.

The detector functioned mostly normal and I found a few things on a beach I go to often.  About an hour into the hunting, I was getting ready to walk over to another beach and I said I needed to restart the detector.  That is when the circling didn't stop.  The movement keep going around and around, even tho it pauses and tries to get me a screen.  I've tried it with the headphones on and off.

The last thing I've tried was to take the coil off.  When I do this the Cd comes on because it doesn't recognize a coil and then it shuts down.  This is normal from what I remember.

I've held the start button in with the idea of getting it to go to factory reset but it has no effect.  It can be turned off by giving a quick press of the button.

I don't get the control wet, just the coil.

Time to get it fixed and have the replacement as a backup to a Manticore?

[GB_Amateur]

34 minutes ago, mn90403 said:

I was getting ready to walk over to another beach and I said I needed to restart the detector.  That is when the circling didn't stop.  The movement keep going around and around, even tho it pauses and tries to get me a screen.  I've tried it with the headphones on and off.

My 800 has done this for years.  I posted about it here probably 3 years ago and no one seemed to have experienced it.  So now you've joined me!  Misery loves company.  🤣

To be clear it doesn't always do this (thankfully).  It does seem to be related to EMI, or the Noise Cancel function, though.  For example, I'll be running fine and then EMI creeps in.  No problem, just do a Noise Cancel.  But just pressing that button causes the detector to shut off, try to start again, and get into this loop you mention (repeatedly shutting off and trying to restart in the middle of the restart cycle).  Sometimes it happens when I first turn on the detector after having been dormant for a day or more.  But more often it occurs during a session after it's been operating just fine.

I've never had to end a session due to this problem, though.  Going to an EMI quieter place seems to help, but again, I can't say 100% that the EMI is the problem.  It's one of those pesky intermittent maladies, like happens with vehicles -- you take it to the repair shop and they say they can't find the problem....  The biggest frustration is that when it's in this crazy mode you can't change anything (e.g. lower the sensitivity) because it never gets far enough to allow you to make a change.

[mn90403]

When you say noise cancel do you mean after it starts, shows you a screen and then you go to the first adjustment to find a clear channel?

Mine right now won't stop on anything.  I can press all the buttons and it just ignores them.

[mn90403]

So, I just went over to it and while it is on charge it gave me a screen ... then it did it again.  I turned it off and on a couple of times and I got enough of a screen again.  It did show the battery was down much lower than it should have been based upon my last charge of a couple of days ago.

I have a little bit of hope that it is glitchy and not fatal.  We'll see after I try a few other restarts.  Maybe it is not enough power, and I have to get the recharables replaced?  

[GB_Amateur]

1 hour ago, mn90403 said:

When you say noise cancel do you mean after it starts, shows you a screen and then you go to the first adjustment to find a clear channel?

There are two scenarios.  One occurs after the detector has been working fine, and while still on it starts to show signs of EMI.  If I then go to the Noise Cancel screen and hit the button it turns itself off, tries to turn on, and then gets in that loop where it never makes it on.

The other scenario occurs when I first turn it on (i.e. at the start of a day's hunt).  It never gets to be fully on but rather turns itself off and on again, repeatedly.

In both cases I can get it to settle down, sometimes after multiple tries at turning it off completely, then back on.  And as mentioned if I can relocate (possibly to a quieter, EMI-wise, place), it will turn on normally.

You mentioned the battery icon showing it being low.  For the occasions that the detector won't start after having not been on for over a day I do recall it hadn't been recharged since last use.  But never way low, just halfway or so.  So maybe a not fully charged battery plays a role, too.

I've never sent it in for repair, at least partly because I wasn't confident the problem would show itself.  It really is an intermittent occurrence, and my experience (mostly with autos/trucks) is that after a couple tries the repair people just want to conclude everything's fine but the operator....  If it's EMI related, that makes it very difficult to reproduce since both the type of EMI and its intensity tends to be sensitive to both time and place.

[midalake]

3 hours ago, mn90403 said:

It did show the battery was down much lower than it should have been

Possible you need a battery replacement. 

[mn90403]

It might be a voltage problem.  I wasn't taking too many notes before it happened.

It wasn't out of power as it was trying to boot.  I actually thought about letting it drain completely so that the eprom might clear itself.

We'll see what happens tomorrow.

[wltdwiz]

just a thought try a power pack hooked to the charging cord see if she runs

[mn90403]

I've charged the detector overnight.  Solid green and full charge show up.  It powers on normally and hooks up to the headphones.

Let me attribute the problem to my lack of attention to the battery level for now ... until it happens again!

[mn90403]

After the charge it seems to be normal.  I hope it stays that way.

I've run out of power before.  It starts blinking and you know you have just a short time before you are done.  This didn't happen this time so ... one detecting day at a time ... which is good advice anyway.

Here is what I found today by going to a park and finding the cars and then picking up where I left off yesterday.  I got the broken silver chain that is about 5.5 grams.