The more I think about this, the more pissed I get!

[Knuckle]

So Friday morning I headed out to the water for a relaxing day of smashing bass. Drop the boat in, fire up.the 4 Helix’s and my gen 4 12 up front is locked on the initial screen. Had to unplug it to get it to turn off. Switched the plugs to see if that was the issue,nope. Tried different start up procedures, which got it fired up for about 4 minutes the screen lock again. Tried switching the plugs again to no avail and a black screen for my troubleshooting! Mind you it is only 2-3 months out of warranty. Which is evidently a bridge to far for Humminbird to cross. I guess bad pr is going Meet the upset angler and cost a lot more than that $350 I gotta pay

[densik]

Do you have a SD or map card in the unit, if so try taking out before start up. If not then, yes HB will have to be involved.

[SLYDoggie]

Will it boot up and stay up with only the power cord connected and no cards in the card slots (a bare unit)? If so, then start by adding one thing at a time back as you boot up to see what the issue is. If not, can you get it to stay up long enough to do a restore factory defaults? If no to either of these, then it does sound like there is an issue with your unit that will require Humminbird involvement.

The best way to contact Humminbird is through the new One-Boat Network App (downloadable for free to your phone from the Apple and Google stores). On the first screen, there is a "Request a Callback" button at the bottom. Just provide a little information and they call you back... no waiting on hold and they typically call back pretty fast.

[Knuckle]

Will it boot up and stay up with only the power cord connected and no cards in the card slots (a bare unit)? If so, then start by adding one thing at a time back as you boot up to see what the issue is. If not, can you get it to stay up long enough to do a restore factory defaults? If no to either of these, then it does sound like there is an issue with your unit that will require Humminbird involvement.

The best way to contact Humminbird is through the new One-Boat Network App (downloadable for free to your phone from the Apple and Google stores). On the first screen, there is a "Request a Callback" button at the bottom. Just provide a little information and they call you back... no waiting on hold and they typically call back pretty fast.

I tried everything! Even the house power cord and nothing.
Generally speaking, hummingbirds customer service is great BUT for them to not cover a unit that is 3 months out of warranty? I’m gonna let everyone I know about it! From a P.R. standpoint, it’s a poor business decision by them. And to top it off, the $350 to repair it doesn’t include the $135 shipping it cost me! So damn near $500!!! I highly doubt I will make this mistake again.

[fish_finder1]

They do it for you that have to do it for everyone. I’m sure you’re not the only one.

[bobcoy]

Repair outside the warranty is not even possible by some other fish finder companies. I don’t recall that much for shipping. I sent mine at the post office with insurance for way less than that.(3 day delivery)

[SLYDoggie]

I get it that you are upset, but warranty is warranty. Hummimbird already includes 2 years of warranty for most of their equipment. It is unreasonable to think that any company would do warranty repairs outside of the warranty period... it just doesn't happen.

[MCIPinkie]

I'm going to assume that you have done this per SLYDoggie suggestion, but if not, give it a try.

Disconnect EVERYTHING but the power cord from the unit. Take out any card(s) you may have. Try a clean boot to see what happens.

If it boots, restore defaults immediately. Hook up transducer only, then try again. If it's on a Y cable, disconnect and go direct. If you can get running with only a transducer, you've eliminated the unit, most likely. Plug the Y cable back in and try again. Hook up the rest of your stuff one at a time and troubleshoot each one. This may save you sending the unit to Eufala, and running up a big repair bill that doesn't solve the problem.

I fought a similar problem last fall and it ended up being as simple as a loose ethernet cable connection under the console.

[OlMan]

My Gen 3 Solix 12" was locking up on start up which drove me crazy until i changed how much of the map (it was whole of US/Can) I was putting on my Navonics, when I resized to the areas I fish everything was fine after that. I suspect that the Birds don't have enoughf memory to handle loading large data maps.

[Shortbus17]

It’s out of warranty. So how long out of warranty do you think they should continue to cover it?

[Jaydbee]

Kinda late to the party, but here’s my experience:
Last year my Helix 10 SI G1 had approximately the same issue yours did.
It turned on, got stuck, so I turned it off and back on and nothing. Like you I was ticked.

Swallowed my pride and sent $350 with the unit to Alabama.
Two weeks later I got a box back from them.
Inside was a brand new Helix 10 MSI+ G4N with a new transducer.

I don’t think I’ll ever complain about Humminbird’s CS ever again.

[OK_BassBum]

Wouldn't be such a pisser if their units worked right in the first place and didn't always have some sort of software issue for the past 2 years.
Just my 2 cents and not to mention after your 2 years, your unit is old and a new gen comes out...