PM4 Dead after only two months use

Rockin Roland · Post by **Rockin Roland** » March 8th, 2009, 1:35 am

A couple of months back I bought a brand new PM4 (with suunto heart rate belt) to retro-fit a model D erg. It worked great for 2 months then one day it wouldn't switch on.

I tried all the recommended tasks to activate it. Pressing the reset button on the back several times did nothing. Plugging it into a computer with USB cable also had no response. I even took the batteries out overnight and replaced them with new ones in the morning. Still nothing. Also unsrewing the back cover to inspect the board inside didn't reveal anything obviously wrong. The only explanation I could find for it not to work, after only two months, was the "Made in China" printing on the back. I didn't realise that PM4 monitors aren't made in the USA.

I sent the thing back to C2 here in Australia to be replaced by warranty. However I was disappointed when my replacement PM4 arrived. It wasn't brand new like the one I originally purchased. It had been used in October for the Australian Indoor Rowing Champioships. The memory had dozens of 2000m races on it. Since my original PM4 was so new and hardly used I expected another brand new monitor.

Is there any way that I can delete all these unwanted races from the memory? It came with no batteries so I would have thought the memory should have been blank.

Citroen · Post by **Citroen** » March 8th, 2009, 7:16 am

The on-board memory is limited. As soon as it fills the oldest workout is deleted. The machines in my gym hold about two days worth of gym monkey rowing.

If you press the reset button, in some cases that will erase the short term workout memory. But the 100% guaranteed way is to replace the firmware. Even if you "upgrade" it with the current version it's running that memory will be cleared by the process.

The only thing you can't reset is the record of lifetime metres which shows on the main menu --> more options --> utilities --> product id (page 2)

Most PM4s have the rechargeable battery pack.

Sheepster · Post by **Sheepster** » March 22nd, 2009, 4:22 am

Citroen wrote: The only thing you can't reset is the record of lifetime metres which shows on the main menu --> more options --> utilities --> product id (page 2)

What exactly are the "lifetime meters" on the product id screen measuring. My PM3 screen says something like 96002 meters when I go to the screen you mention- but I've rowed at least 600,000 and probably more on my erg. I've always had the log card in. I can't figure out where the 96K comes from. I thought you were supposed to be able to see the total rowed on the erg.

Although as I'm writing this - I'm recalling that my PM3 stopped working after my marathon row during the JVC but eventually I figured out that I needed to press the reset button to get it to work again. Not sure why it went blank... If that reset everything to zero - then I guess 96K could be what I've rowed since then. But you wrote that pressing the reset button doesn't erase lifetime meters...

Citroen · Post by **Citroen** » March 22nd, 2009, 12:52 pm

Sheepster wrote:If that reset everything to zero - then I guess 96K could be what I've rowed since then. But you wrote that pressing the reset button doesn't erase lifetime meters...

Depends on the firmware version. The very earliest versions of PM3 firmware didn't record lifetime metres.

Make sure you're running V101. The LogCard Utility http://software.concept2.com/logcard/Lo ... tup622.exe does the updates.

If it's very old run http://software.concept2.com/pm3firmwar ... 1Setup.exe

Sheepster · Post by **Sheepster** » March 22nd, 2009, 4:49 pm

I am running firmware 101 (and have been since a few days of getting the erg.)

c2scott · Post by **c2scott** » March 28th, 2009, 9:30 am

There are various firmware and hardware revisions in the field, so the answers may be different for different firmware and hardware. But, some general statements:

1) To clear internal memory, hold down UNITS and DISPLAY and reset the monitor. It should say "Resetting Factory Defaults" or some such and should be fully cleared.

2) Lifetime meters is the # of meters rowed on this monitor since the last time the counter was cleared. For firmware < 300, this could be as recent as the last battery change that took too long for the internal capacitor to keep the memory alive. Early firmware for PM3 did not even bother keeping track so yes, it could be 96k meters since you updated to version 101. The data is kept in memory on these models, so if the memory is corrupted for any reason (batteries out too long) or deliberate reset, or sometimes just updating firmware the lifetime meters will get reset to 0.

Sheepster · Post by **Sheepster** » March 29th, 2009, 3:16 pm

Actually, I've rowed something like 800K since updating the firmware, so it was definitely not the firmware update. The batteries were never removed either - they are still at 100%.

Whatever caused the PM3 to appear dead (or the reset I performed to bring it to life again) must have cleared the memory.

Skymeat · Post by **Skymeat** » June 12th, 2009, 9:30 pm

I'm buying one of these in the next couple weeks. So I'm wondering if it's standard practice to replace a faulty monitor with used/refurb parts. Seems kind of cheep. Especially if you can't reset/import your data.

Skymeat.

Snail Space · Post by **Snail Space** » June 13th, 2009, 2:04 am

I vaguely remember someone posting about how one could edit lifetime metres. It was probably Dougie.

Cheers
Dave.

Concept2 Forum

PM4 Dead after only two months use

PM4 Dead after only two months use

Standard Practice?