Stuck Progress Bar

[bosoxgirl3358]

Last night, my fitbit got stuck with the dreaded "progress bar".  That's been the only image on my Fitbit charge HR for almost 24 hours.  I called to get help with this matter, and the bottom line is that this is a known issue with the firmware/software.  That's it.  Problem NOT solved and I'm stuck with a $150 hunk of junk.  Anyone else having this issue?

I feel bad for the customer service people who are clearly following prompts and walk frustrated customers through a bunch of steps that end up not working.  It's not their fault that the product is poorly made.

Moderator edit: title for clarification

[Rich_Laue]

Many people have seen this bar, including me snd my coisin, all we did was restart the download. Fof me i had to restart it twice before the update completed, then another 3 times before the app successfully told Fit it that the update was successful.

[bosoxgirl3358]

Unfortunately for me, it says that the device is up to date so there is nothing for me to restart. "Don't confuse me with your reasonableness."

[Rich_Laue]

Since the initial question did not present all the facts, i was unable to ascertain what problem you where referring to.

[MeylinP]

Welcome to our Community @bosoxgirl3358! Thanks for joining us! I'd like to confirm this is exactly what you're seeing on your tracker:

                                                                 

If this is what you're seeing, please try to re-attempt the firmware update. Sometimes the Firmware Update can fail multiple times telling you that it has updated when it didn't updated correctly so please try several more times (8 - 10, apologize for inconvenience). If it doesn't work after several more attempts, reboot the tracker and try a few more times. If you're still having issues, I'd suggest you contact our Customer Support team and let them know the steps you've tried so they can provide you with a good solution for this.

Hope this helps, have a nice day! 

[bjb250]

I was getting the same issue for about a week.  I'd see the progress bar and the device would die and then would recharge and happen after about 10 minutes of use.  Obviously a software issue - called fitbit and thankfully they are sending me a new device since its within a year.   Nothing is perfect, just glad they were accomodating as i like the device and tracking software otherwise.

[Brian1975]

Bought one of these yesterday.  worked for almost 24 hours.  Why does your company continue to sell these pieces of hot trash?  I am now enjoying the progress bar of death.  No amount of button pressing, recharging, disconnecting the cable, etc is fixing this.

[Rich_Laue]

If you got the update bar then it looks like it started to update, the best thing to do would be to restart it again. Set your phone or PC so the screen does not turn off, or set to max time. The PC going to sleep is the biggest reason for an update failure after it has started. Other reasons would be losing contract with the server.

[Fatboab]

Will you update your new Charge HR when you receive it or just leave it alone ?

[Rich_Laue]

Will I sure, I've done, I've already done over 10 updates, with only one time needing to restart it 6-7 times before it completed. Not to mention the 8 relatives that didn't have problems.

[Brian1975]

Are you a paid spokesman?

[Brian1975]

My PC was on all day as I worked and wrestled with this thing.  Plus, there isn't exactly a great user interface or an on/off switch.  Hold the button for 30 seconds?  Press the button 3 times in 10 seconds?  I've tried it all.  At least they are sending me a new one.  Hopefully it's an improvement, although I have my doubts.  

[Rich_Laue]

On the Blaze, go to the settings screen - tap once- scroll to shutdown - tap - confirm.

To reset simultaneously hold left and lower right buttons.

The answer is no, im.just saying that if there is any sign.of the progress bar increasing, then.keep trying. Do a search, you'll see that it has worked for many. With comments like on my 5th try it worked. I.can't tell you what the most tries ive had to do, but would not be surprised if it was 7+, but I was having internet, unrelated to Fitbit, problems.

[Brian1975]

Dude.  Why do you keep apologizing for fitbit?   You seem to think somewhere between 5 and 100 restarts is normal.  If there was a turd in your cheerios, would you just eat around it?  

Do you think fitbit should make a product that, you know, works?

[Rich_Laue]

Dude I'm not apologizing, im just saying what has worked for many, and that Fitbit is only one of the links between the Blaze and their server.
There is the BT connection, the phone, the app, the internet connection, your internet provider, then the many computers on the internet the signal pops through to get to and back from the Fitbit server. It could be that the timeout set on the Blaze is to short, or a packet gets lost., etc

[Brian1975]

Funny, my mobile phone manages to successfuly recieve updates, same with my laptop.  But I guess fitbit not working is the fault of my internet service provider, and the ISP at my work.  Nice of fitbit to send me a new one when it clearly is the ISP's fault.  

Keep on being a fanboy (or paid shill). 

[Fatboab]

Well after a week with a frozen screen and fitbit telling me to turn it on, got in touch with Amazon and they are sending me a replacement but I will definately not be updating it for sure !

Sent from my iPad

[nhuq67]

They sent me a new one.

[wxray]

Wow, what a mess.  I am having this problem too.  Yesterday, it got stuck on the Half Bar of Death (HBOD) with a question mark.  I came here and tried the reset procedure, and that worked.

For some foolish reason, I tried to update the firmware again this morning, since my phone app keeps imploring me to do so.  Again it failed.  OK, so I tried reset.  No go!  HBOD!

Tried resetting 5 or 10 times.  No reset.  Stuck on HBOD.  Came back here and someone above said "try the update 10 or 20 times".  I thought this was ridiculous, but I tried it. 

What do you know?  After about the 15th attempt, the half bar started moving to 3/4, then finish.  The app came back with "You're all set".  My charge is now working and is updated to version 8.110.

This charge is from last October 2015 (10 months old).  I have no idea what the old version was.  All I know is this update was very painful.

My suggestion out there is if you have this problem, before you call support or toss it, try the following:

- try the reset procedure (hold button 15 seconds while plugged to dongle)

    + if your Charge resets, stop here!  At least it is working again.  Going further is dangerous.

- try the update procedure many times with dongle attached

- try the update procedure many times (at least 20) without the dongle attached

I will never try an update again.  Too dangerous.  My device will reach end of life first. 

[LucyAP]

It's great to see that you've visited the Fitbit Community @Jaren and @wxray! @Jaren Have you tried the suggestions provided by @MeylinP on how to solve this. If so, please contact Support for extra help. I'm sure that they can help with this and get you back on track in no time. Just remember to let them know the troubleshooting steps you already took. 

@wxray Thank you for sharing your experience with your Charge HR and for providing helpful tips. If you continue experiencing an issue with your tracker after all the steps you took, please contact Support. I'm confident that they can be of help with this. 

Good luck and keep me posted! 🙂