Soundlink Revolve won't charge in Portable

Portable
21

(I do not work for Bose)

I have encountered this situation now 8 times across 5 Revolve's.  The current firmware does not 'solve' the problem.  In fact, I suspect it is somehow 'involved'.  The unit needs to be completely factory initialized.  I have tried a 'procedure' which is slightly different from Bose's.  Sometimes I have had to use it multiple times but in all 8 cases it has pushed the unit back to 100%.  It is described in multiple places here and also in this thread.


There is nothing wrong with the battery.  In fact, the first time, I sent two units in and paid for battery and circuit board replacement.  Didn't help, then they exchanged them both for two brand new units and one of them had the charging issue.  You can see the patterns - imho it has something to do with a combination of charging and firmware.

 

22

_another one bites the dust_

 

I have been trying to resurrect my SoundLink Revolve for the past 72 hours, but nothing seemed to work...

 

Symptoms:

 

- The device "seems" dead (pressing the "Power" button does not do anything); I said "seems" because:
- ...if I plug it in the battery led would start glow, intermittently, like if it was charging, but I cannot hear the usual sound of when it is actually charging
- ...if I press and hold the multi-function button for 10 seconds, I can see the BT, Power, and source buttons flashing
- ...if I connect it to my laptop, head over to btu.bose.com, do the "adv up down" trick, I can keep on updating the firmare (I thought re-deploying the last version of the firmware might do the trick, but no luck

 

However, none of the suggested solutions had worked for me.

 

Let's begin with, the classic firmware upgrade (I am running 3.1.1):

 

> 1. Go to btu.bose.com
> 2. If prompted add region and login
> 3. Ignore the error that says your speaker is updated
> 4. Type and hold letters adv and push arrow up then arrow down and release adv
> 5. Repeat #4 until the updater turns light blue and allows you to select the update button

I am able to install and re-install 3.1.1 over and over again, but does not seem to help as I wished it did.

 

Then I tried 's method:

 

> 1. Turn off by holding down the multifunction key.
> 2. Plug in and tap power button until it comes on.
> 3. Unplug
> 4. Power on and initialize by holding down the top power key for at least 10 seconds. If won't work try with plugging in first.
> 5. Power off and power on to get english language prompt. Do not process at this point, yet...
> 6. Power off and plug in to charge.

 

However, I get stuck at step (4), i.e. I cannot turn it on no matter how many times I press the Power button, or however long I hold it down (and when plugged in, the battery indicator simply keeps on glowing, intermittently, over and over).

 

I would really try to drain its battery, and see if that helped at all, but how? I don't even know if the device is turned on or not, otherwise, when on, I would try and press the different buttons a gazillion times until dies out. Would keeping the multi-function button pressed, for like hours, help or make things even worse? That's the only "action" my device seems to be responding to (again, it would case the BT, Power, and source LEDs to flash), so maybe over time that would drain all the remaining batter.

 

I am losing my hope here...

23

alright i fixed it,

 

previously, i updated fw 4 times but still was getting red bliking at the end, i decided to interfere during the update process. 

 

i did the fw update once again, used keyboard a,d,v up, down because already latest fw, force reinstall

 

now the trick was during the long update

there are 2 moments where there is a sound and led breathes yellow (as proper charging)

-> inmediately press and hold the power button as if to trigger a hard reset (10sec is the rule, but the led will turn off anyway, so you can release when led is off)

 

i did it in both moments just in case. then wait until the update finishes.

 

voila, you will hear initializing sounds and the light will stay breathing

 

edit: although i was expecting the factory reset to succeed, the custom name and previous connection history remained.

also asked me to charge it, battery low.

 

if i dont write back, the brick stayed alive.

 

enjoy

24

I'm having same issues as you. Plugged into laptop was able to update.  Orange light just glowing.  No beeps heard.  None of the buttons work.  Can't turn on, reset.  Nada.  None of these instructions help if nothing works!

Can't read serial # at all.  Worse design ever.

If you discover anything I'd be interested to know.

25

I called support and they told me that for 79 euros they would check the battery _and_ fix the problem; I went ahead with it, and now my Bose is finally working again.

 

PS. The piece of paper I found in the box with the repaired device mentioned that the following item got substituted: "PCB ASSY, SOUNDLINK REVOLVE II, POWER, SVC", so it really seems like it was a hardware problem.

 

PPS. They also extended the warranty by another year, so it really felt like a no brainer to me.

26

(I do not work for Bose)

Keep your attention on this anyway.  18 months ago, I sent in two units with the same problem and it was returned with the same diagnosis.  Then after a while after return, the same problem happened on both unit.  They replaced them with 2 brand new ones and I still had the problem on one of them.  Now after a year both have had the problem and I occasionally have to go through the augment recharging procedure I have defined elsewhere here after few months.  Sometimes they charge and sometimes they won't go to 100%.

I still believe the issue is a combination of the charging process, hardware and firmware.  For me, I do not believe the original two I sent in and paid for replacement was actually necessary.

 

27

Ha Ha!  Nice auto-edit of my true wording, Bose!  Sorry if I offended your delicate ears with my coarse language but I am not a very happy camper at this point.

28

That is really sad though strange since its not a global problem.  No pun intended.  I have two Revolves and a Mini 2 and so far 🙂 🙂 🙂 I have not had a charging issue with any of them.  If you feel comfortable tell us what country or state your purchased them from.  My Mini 2 came direct from Bose to replace a much large Soundlink (the book one with flap) predecessor which after some number of years (probably 4 or 5) legitimately would no longer hold a charge.  My Revolves were purchased directly from Amazon on 8/3/17 and 9/29/18. I can get manufacturing dates and serial numbers if necessary.  Im from Texas.  I wonder if the issues involve certain regions, batches or serial numbers?

I would agree with you that likely there is a quality control issue unless (unlikely, but possible) it is something to do with your power or the way you charge these devices.  Which makes me wonder in general, does it make a difference how we charge these devices.

29

Thanks for the reply.  I bought both Mini IIs from Costco.  The Revolve came direct from Bose as a replacement unit.  From a glance at these forums it's clear that I'm not the only one having this issue.  As for how I charge.... I run the speaker for several hours/day on battery and plug it in overnight so it's ready for the next day.  

 

I gave Bose the old college try but after three strikes I'm out.  I just want a refund so I can buy a speaker that works!