Strange3500 EFIS screen-picture after power-up.

[ao.frog]

Hi all.

Yesterday I went out to fly.
Before fueling, I turned on my 3500 EFIS as usual to check fuelquantity. The 3500 turned on normally. Then I turned power off and refueled.

After refueling, I strapped in the a/c and turned on power before start.
But then the only thing which became visible on the screen was the AFS-logo, The usual letters indicating that the unit was initializing wasn't there.
The EFIS wouldn't go into initializing mode either; the AFS logo was the only thing showing and that was it.

I recycled the avionics-power but no change.
I then started the engine without the engine instruments (kind of stupid, I know...) so I could get the generator on line and hopefully get the 3500 to initialize then.
The 3500 still wouldn't intialize. The only thing showing was the AFS-logo as it had been the whole time.
Then, after recycling avionics-power, the small letters in the middle of the screen apppeared indicating that the unit was starting up.
After that, everything was normal, and all through the flight too.

Has anyone ever had a similar experience? This made me alittle worried that the 3500 can be in the process of quitting on me?

I'll add that the 3500 has up until yesterday performed flawlessly.

[Trevor Conroy]

Hi ao.frog. If that is the older non-s CPU system, it was probably the watchdog timer kicking in and rebooting the system after a failed start-up. That is what should happen. Do you have the latest software from the website? It is version 7.3.7-MV15. Was the SD Card seated all the way? Did you remove it while it was powered up?

[ao.frog]

.... for chiming in so quickly Trevor.
Just so I understand this correctly; here's the answers to your questions and a few follow-up questions:

No, I wasn't aware of the new software. I've downloaded it to the SD-card now and I'll install it before the next flight which will take place tomorrow. (30th of Oct)

There was no SD-card in the EFIS during the incident, thus nothing to remove during powerup.

What could cause a failed start-up?

How long does the watch-dog timer take to reboot the system? (I didn't even know there was such a feature in there..)

Thanks.

[Trevor Conroy]

That is interesting then if you didn't have an SD Card installed. The software could have found some fault in itself and then the watchdog timer kicks in after 5 minutes of system instability to reboot. It doesn't happen very often. If you send us your System Logs, we could probably look at the data and figure out what happened to trigger the reboot.

[ao.frog]

... do I dowload the system logs into a SD-card? (I'll use a different one than I'm using for the update)

If it's not too difficult, I'll be glad to send you the files. (I'm not so good with computers really...)

Can I send you the logs as an attchment to an e-mail or should I put the SD-card in the regular mail?

Thanks.

[Trevor Conroy]

To copy the System Logs to an SD Card do the following: Press CHECK -> MAINT -> ADMIN -> SYS LOGS -> START
Give it some time to make the file and copy it to the SD Card.
Put the SD Card in your computer and locate the file. It will look something like... 1009291.ALS
E-mail me the file

[ao.frog]

Hi Trevor.

I've just sent you the logs to your e-adress.

Regards Alf Olav