Updated Beat Buddy and Now it wont power on.
I am getting now power at all.
Please help.
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Hi Persist, I also have a white screen on the beatbuddy. During the update. It read updating firmware so I waited as usual, but this time it never booted up it went “white” There has not been a power interruption and it still is on, but white screen. Looking for guidance please
The instructions in this post should get you back up and running.
Hi Persist, or anyone that has had this issue. The SD card is still in my BeatBuddy and the power is still on…except there is a white screen. Remember I mentioned that the display said updating firmware and then it went “white” with nothing showing. Not sure if I was to take the card out and put my backup card in if that would help?
I did try and follow the instructions that Persist sent in regards to the file “empty_production”…but I was not able to expand it like we are supposed to do. So I am stuck at this point.
I use an iMac and all was fine until this update……and there is no way that the power got shut off or that I interrupted the process.
I am certainly open to ideas, but for now it is still powered up with a white screen and the SD card in the slot.
Thank you
You can certainly try the backup card.
Power off to the pedal
Remove the failed card
Insert the backup card
Power on to the pedal
Sometimes the pedal will go into a white screen mode even when the power is not interrupted. It could have been caused by an incomplete or bad download.
What happens when you try to expand the sd production card with the rar extension? Usually the Unarchiver utility expands .rar files on a Mac. Check to see that you have the Unarchiver installed. I think that the free version of StuffIt can also expand it. If this still doesn’t expand, you might have have to download the file again.
Hi Persist, I now have the file sitting and I believe it is expanded because it has dropped the RAR and now it looks like this EMPTY_PRODUCTION_SD.iso and it is 3.9GB
I have watched the video for the next steps but it is not that clear because he is doing the work on windows. I do not want to mess this up and do not want to guess what to do next…and I would be guessing if I go ahead from here.
Do you know if there is a video or text of exactly how I proceed on a Mac…so I can get this finished? Thanks again.
Have you downloaded and installed Etcher? Although the video is for Windows, the concept is similar. Just replace the Windows app with Etcher. If you’re still having trouble, let me know.
Yes I loaded Etcher on my Mac, I will see if I can follow it further. Thanks again
I’m typing up a set of instructions now. It’ll take a few more minutes.
Mac Recovery steps 3 and 4
- Download and install Etcher
- Double-click Etcher to open (you will be prompted to allow the app to open)
- For ease of access, place the EMPTY_PRODUCTION_SD.iso image on your desktop
- Click Select Image in Etcher, navigate to the image and press Open
- Place your unlocked 4Gb SD card in your slot reader
- Etcher should now appear like this
- Press Flash! this will take a few minutes to flash the image to the SD card
- When complete, eject the SD card from your computer
- Power off on your pedal and insert the card
- Power the pedal back on; allow the update to complete (it will act like a firmware update)
- If power is restored to your pedal, you can restore it to the latest firmware and reset your pedal settings
- If functionality is not restored to your pedal, please contact support@singularsound.com
Hi Persist, I have tried this a number of times and one question I have is
which format type do I use for the SD card on a Mac
When I look at the card contents when done, there are no files, yet in the info it says that there is 2.7 mb on disk. The file at the beginning was 3.92 GB
? Should I be able to see something on the SD card? I did try it in the BB but nothing.
I reformatted card to EX Fat and retried. The etcher goes through the process and then validates…says all ok, but still SD card no files show. Any ideas? Thanks
Hi Persist, I just thought I would let you know that all of a sudden with the same card in the pedal and no changes to it…it started to work. The display came on and the update finished. I had tried it numerous times throughout the day but to no avail. I do not know why all of a sudden it started, but it did, so I am thankful for that and your help. Thank you kindly, Labren
Go figure 
Glad to hear it started working for you again, Labren. It sounds like there may still be something that’s not quite right with your pedal. Maybe the power supply, plug or port were not making good electrical contact. Anyhow, hope it all continues working.
I’ll answer your questions in bold text in the margins of your post
I tested the process (again) by bricking my pedal (pulling the power plug while updating the firmware—NOTE: please don’t try this at home 
) and the recovery card and process works. Given that this process is only designed to restore a pedal that no longer powers up, and the image placed on the SD card is only 2.15Gb, I would remove the card and mark it as “Recovery” and set it aside in case you ever run into problems again with your pedal not lighting up. If you do decide to use it, you would have to reformat your 4Gb card to it’s original size to MS-DOS (FAT 32), and use the BeatBuddy Manager (BBM) File > Export > Project to SD card to restore the contents.
As to why the Recovery card is now only 2.15Gb, it’s probably because it takes less time with a smaller image (it took Etcher about 15 minutes to flash the card and validate the contents).
Something else I discovered: I could not brick my pedal when pulling the power plug when updating to firmware 3.6. Although the pedal seemed dead, when I put the 3.6 SD card back in, and applied power, the updating resumed and I had a functional pedal. This may have been what happened in your situation. If Singular Sound retooled the firmware to reduce the risk of bricking the pedal when power is interrupted, my hat’s off to them.
Just a last comment. I had gone through the process of flashing the new card a few times and inserting it into the pedal and then powering it on….but the display would never light up. Then last night I was showing another person the pedal and I inserted my current card I had been using for the update and powered the pedal on, and it quickly went in to “updating firmware mode” and finshed the update.
Here is the question….* when you put the new recovery card (the one that is used to power up the dead BB) and it is said to power the pedal on….is the display supposed to light up?* I did insert it a few times and powered the pedal on but the display never came on, so I assumed it had no effect and was dead.
It was not until I put the original card back into the BB and powered it up that the display came on and update was finished.
So did the recovery card do something and is the display supposed to light after use of it or not?
This I do not know.
Labren
If the pedal is truly dead, then the recovery card will restore power so it lights up the display. Don’t know what happened but I can only guess that when you were updating the firmware the first time and it stayed on a white screen, it might not have been dead. It’s almost as if the process was somehow interrupted or paused itself and when you powered it off and the on with your project card, it came back to life. Sun spots? Have no idea . . . but I’m glad you have it working again. The last paragraph in my post above seems to replicate your situation.