Apex Purple Light of Death - I was spared

[BigHildy53]

Sharing my story to possibly help others.

Came home yesterday to the purple light of death on my Apex 2016 base unit. Tried the basics of powering off/on, unplugging, nothing worked. Spoke with Neptune tech support.

First thing to try was unplugging all aqua bus cables from the base unit and plugging in a 12v power supply. The lights changed but still ended in the purple light of death.

Next was to use a paper clip to reset the unit. Was instructed to hold the paper clip in until the light turned red. After almost a minute, still the purple light of death. Downside to trying this is that everything would be wiped from Apex (all setup).

I let the unit sit un-powered while talking with the tech about the next steps. As the tech and I were finishing up, I received an email from Neptune asking for some basic information. One piece of information was a picture of the base unit. I decided to plug the base unit back into the 12v power supply (no aqua bus cables plugged into the base unit). I wanted to take a picture with the purple light. To my surprise the purple light never showed, instead solid orange. Unplugged the 12v power supply and plugged the aqua bus cables in. Again solid orange. And my settings are still in place!

I wonder if letting the system sit un-powered helped to resolve the issue. But that's a complete guess.

I'll play the lottery this weekend.

Since spare return pumps are common, should a spare base unit be also?

 

[Bob Escher]

Sharing my story to possibly help others.

Came home yesterday to the purple light of death on my Apex 2016 base unit. Tried the basics of powering off/on, unplugging, nothing worked. Spoke with Neptune tech support.

First thing to try was unplugging all aqua bus cables from the base unit and plugging in a 12v power supply. The lights changed but still ended in the purple light of death.

Next was to use a paper clip to reset the unit. Was instructed to hold the paper clip in until the light turned red. After almost a minute, still the purple light of death. Downside to trying this is that everything would be wiped from Apex (all setup).

I let the unit sit un-powered while talking with the tech about the next steps. As the tech and I were finishing up, I received an email from Neptune asking for some basic information. One piece of information was a picture of the base unit. I decided to plug the base unit back into the 12v power supply (no aqua bus cables plugged into the base unit). I wanted to take a picture with the purple light. To my surprise the purple light never showed, instead solid orange. Unplugged the 12v power supply and plugged the aqua bus cables in. Again solid orange. And my settings are still in place!

I wonder if letting the system sit un-powered helped to resolve the issue. But that's a complete guess.

I'll play the lottery this weekend.

Since spare return pumps are common, should a spare base unit be also?

 

[Dom274]

is/was the unit warm to the touch?

 

[Bob Escher]

I’m getting ready to upgrade to the 2016.before I do I’m going to backup my classic and keep the backup
And keep the classic stored away just in case

 

[Dom274]

I wonder if letting the system sit un-powered helped to resolve the issue. But that's a complete guess.

I'll play the lottery this weekend.

Since spare return pumps are common, should a spare base unit be also?

No. A spare base unit isn't necessary to keep the life support systems running, and excluding any extenuating circumstances, would be a fairly reliable device (No moving parts = much more reliable).




Having said that, I hate to burst your bubble, but I would expect your unit to die soon and would go ahead with the RMA.


I'm making some educated guesses here - An Apex is just a real simple computer (Like a raspberry pie if you've heard of them) that loads a custom OS designed for a specific function (Vs. say windows or mac). Devices like this typically load the custom OS from some built in flash memory upon boot. Since these devices are simple enough, diagnostics/error reporting can be done with a simple LED and usually 2 states. A solid light indicates the unit is working. If the light changes color, or rhythmically flashes, it is an indication that the device failed to boot up - Which 99.99% of the time is due to the flash memory failing. Flash memory is susceptible to heat, and it is somewhat of a known "IT trick" that these kinds of devices will sometimes come back to life if you unplug them for an extended amount of time (Like an hour or more). If this works, it's a solid indication that the device is over heating and the flash memory is failing (Which is why I asked if it felt warm to the touch). Unfortunately, flash memory doesn't heal itself and I would expect the unit to die sooner rather than later. I would get a replacement on the way and view it as a bonus that you were able to restore the system while waiting for new parts to arrive.

 

[BigHildy53]

No. A spare base unit isn't necessary to keep the life support systems running, and excluding any extenuating circumstances, would be a fairly reliable device (No moving parts = much more reliable).




Having said that, I hate to burst your bubble, but I would expect your unit to die soon and would go ahead with the RMA.


I'm making some educated guesses here - An Apex is just a real simple computer (Like a raspberry pie if you've heard of them) that loads a custom OS designed for a specific function (Vs. say windows or mac). Devices like this typically load the custom OS from some built in flash memory upon boot. Since these devices are simple enough, diagnostics/error reporting can be done with a simple LED and usually 2 states. A solid light indicates the unit is working. If the light changes color, or rhythmically flashes, it is an indication that the device failed to boot up - Which 99.99% of the time is due to the flash memory failing. Flash memory is susceptible to heat, and it is somewhat of a known "IT trick" that these kinds of devices will sometimes come back to life if you unplug them for an extended amount of time (Like an hour or more). If this works, it's a solid indication that the device is over heating and the flash memory is failing (Which is why I asked if it felt warm to the touch). Unfortunately, flash memory doesn't heal itself and I would expect the unit to die sooner rather than later. I would get a replacement on the way and view it as a bonus that you were able to restore the system while waiting for new parts to arrive.

You aren't bursting my bubble. I've built my own Windows desktop and fully understand your point. At Neptune's request, I have sent a couple of log files (syslog.txt and syslog.bak). These log files may point to a reason. The unit is out of warranty, so I'm thinking of purchasing a new base unit.

 

[BigHildy53]

My base unit is definitely degrading. It keeps telling me that my EB832 and flow monitoring modules need software updates. The updates are applied, but the software version never changes and the module still shows as needing a software update. My flow monitoring module was renamed when trying to update the software. I will heed the warning signs. A bit disappointed.

 

[Dom274]

My base unit is definitely degrading. It keeps telling me that my EB832 and flow monitoring modules need software updates. The updates are applied, but the software version never changes and the module still shows as needing a software update. My flow monitoring module was renamed when trying to update the software. I will heed the warning signs. A bit disappointed.

Sorry to hear that, but unfortunately, I'm not surprised. If you forced me to pull an estimate out of thin air on how much longer it would last, I would have said a couple of days to maybe a week. I would strongly advise against making any software changes (Anything that involves extra reading/writing to the flash memory. No re-naming, no software updates, pretty much no changes whatsoever), as the next time the unit is restarted may very well be it's last. It being out of warranty is crappy, but I wouldn't hesitate to replace it - For what's worth, it looks like you are in a very small minority. The quick searching I did on this issue didn't revel many results at all - I have no clue how many units Neptune has sold, but as far as I can tell from my armchair, I would say they have an impressively low failure rate.

 

[BigHildy53]

As I said, I'm disappointed; but I'll replace the unit. I'm overall happy with the system. Neptune's tech support was great. They acknowledge the gravity of the issue from the start. They continued to respond to email for about an hour after their closing hour. As the saying goes "S*** Happens". I am ordering a new unit and will overnight it. My LFS don't have it in stock yet.

 

[RickG]

Hey so today my apex started acting up. I have tried unplugging, resetting etc but nothing seems to work. The base unit flashes purple, green and yellow. Wondering if this is what happened to you

 

[BigHildy53]

I didn't notice anything unusual; until is crashed/froze. As mentinoned above, using an external power supply got it past the purple light. I ended up replacing my head unit.