S9 GEN1 Baro update 2.23.20 failed / defective state

MarkusHH

Dear Community,

any ideas how I could help myself other than repair service?

Problem

Watch is not operational. Shows Firmware Download Screen flashing dot 2 of 4.
SuuntoLink: “Firmware update error: Peripheral update failed”

Root cause
Uknown.

Cause
Trying to update to firmware 2.23.20 with SuuntoLink on Windows 10. SuuntoLink keeps telling update failed.

Analysis

Though the watch reacts to the reset of SuuntoLink with a progress bar, the reset is not successful
The error happens after SuuntoLink shows something like 75+% of progress; the watch then flashes dot two of four instead of three of four like before

What have I tried?

Waited for battery to be empty / watch shows no screen
Different Cable
Different Computer (also Win10)
Followed https://www.suunto.com/en-us/Support/faq-articles/suuntolink/how-do-i-recover-my-watch-if-the-firmware-update-fails/
Tried to revert to Ibiza-fw_2.20.30.682-F and Ibiza-fw_2.19.42.453-F

Thanks!
Markus

Brad_Olwin

@MarkusHH Sounds as if you have tried everything. Sorry, I think the only thing to do is contact support and likely a repair.

MarkusHH

I sent the watch out-of-warranty to Suunto repair center. They said repair wasn’t economic and offered me a new replacement for 340 Euro including 2 years warranty.

I’m not sure if I consider that offer better or worse than nothing. I can buy that same watch for 40 Euros less from a trusted online shop.
I wished Suunto was making it’s system more resilient - no matter if that error was caused by my PC or my cable or the system (app and watch) destroyed itself.

Brad_Olwin

@MarkusHH I would check to see it they can offer a discount on a current model, not the 9 Baro. Is that what was offered? I am a bit surprised.

Spree

@MarkusHH It was most likely caused by neither. The updates “reveal” underline hardware problems. This of course calls into question why there was a hardware problem in the first place, but it’s just to clarify.

But do get in touch with support via chat. They should be able to offer a decent enough discount on a newer product/model from the suunto.com webshop.