Wahoo Elemnt Bolt Won’t Start
 

Hi,

My Elemnt Bolt was working fine. Now it won’t start - the Wahoo logo comes up, the light comes on and then it repeatable over and over. I’ve tried the hard reset 6-7 times and still no luck. It’s Sunday so I haven’t had a chance to contact Wahoo Support yet.

I’ve been searching the forum for a while. Any ideas appreciated! Thank you!

Plug it in? Wait until Monday? Really, if the power is low that's what mine does.

Thanks - trying to let it run down.
 

Thanks - it was at about 60% last time I shut it down. I'm going to try the opposite and let it run down and see what happens.

Turns out the Bolt hard reset is the power button + the front right button for 10 seconds. This isn’t written down anywhere. It looks like it worked though.

As noted on the Wahoo website after a Google

"Forced Reboot: Hold down the power button for 10 seconds to perform a forced reboot. e.g. Generally used if the screen becomes non-responsive."
"Factory Reset: Accessible from the Settings menu, restores settings to factory default. Warning: Will delete all workouts stored on the device."

Wahoo Elemnt Bolt "Hard or Forced Reset" Steps
 

Hi:

Thank you for the reply. I searched Google (and even Bing) for a couple hours myself. Unfortunately, for the Elemnt Bolt model, this is not correct for the Forced Rest / Hard Reset to get a "stuck / non-responsive" unit moving (Factory Reset is correct, but you need to have a fully booted, functioning unit to be able to navigate to the Settings menu). I eventually found it by accident by using different key combinations and later Wahoo Support verified it as follows, in case it's helpful for anyone else.

--> Wahoo Elemnt Bolt "Forced or Hard Reset" <--: Press the front, lower right hand corner button + the Power button on the Left side of the unit for 10 seconds.

--> Wahoo Support advises not to use the Hard Reset except as a last resort.
--> NOTE: You should not lose your screen setup or customizations with a Hard Reset (that was my experience at least - "your mileage may vary").

Cheers,

Akod

Since other like me might misconstrue the directions, you might want to post this on the Wahoo Google forum, so that others equally as confused as I was, would gain from your experience.

Cheers Back !

Great idea. Will do!

Thanks, this is good to know.

This also happened to me.
 

I had just fully charged my Elemnt overnight and it was fully charged. I turned it on and it was into the endless loop. The Wahoo name came on, it stayed on for about 30 seconds, then gave up, ad infinitum. There was no way to turn it off.

I came here for advice and immediately misread the instructions on Hard Reset. Instead of Power + Right Button for 10 seconds, I did Power + Center Button for 10 seconds. This also worked. The unit turned off and when I restarted it, it came on properly with nothing lost.

What causes this? Is there a firmware change that would fix it?

Same here, it just received an 'update' and now it's stuck in a rebooting cycle. Battery is at least 90%. Hard resets have no effect.

This on my first day of a 2 week cycling holiday...lesson learned is 'dont trust technology, buy a paper map'.

Bollocks.

I don't bother with paper maps. I download the area of interest to my phone from google maps. I also d/l courses from ride with gps to my phone. So far I haven't had to use either, but I'm glad I have them.

Make sure your phone is connected to the internet, and your Wahoo is nearby and connected. Put on your HRM even, because sometimes it is caused by "sensor update required".

There have been a lot of "forced upgrades" lately, and you may be stuck in one.

When the phone is connected to Wahoo, and location and Bluetooth are BOTH on, then go to setting on phone and find upgrade (this is from memory)

Thank you for these instructions. The incorrect information is still posted on the Wahoo support site. I got the constant reboot issue on a brand new out of the box Elemnt Bolt and almost had to return it.

Frustrated Element User
 

Help, Help and Help! I am on my 3rd Wahoo Element and always the same problem: it goes dead, I try to charge 16 hours, and then unresponsive despite rebooting attempts. Am I the only one? Should I try a different cycling computer? If it is user error, I would like to know. I get flashing yellow lights across the top when pressing the on switch, or sometimes, a single green light. Should I go Garmin?

Try powering on with charging cord still attached.

If the battery is fried, it may power up and die almost immediately when the cord is removed.

Barry

I have tried everything, including your suggestion. I have lost hope in the unit.

Wahoo Support
 

I've found Wahoo Support to be incredibly good.
Open a case and see what they can do for you.

Barry
BTW have you seen their article on "Bolt wont turn on"

HELP! MY ELEMNT/BOLT/ROAM DOESN'T TURN ON!

If your ELEMNT/BOLT/ROAM is not turning on by holding down the left side power button, try the following:

• Charge the ELEMNT/ BOLT/ROAM using a non-Apple brand wall charger with a power block rated for at least 2-3 amps, for 1 hour or more.
• Avoid using Apple brand USB charging blocks and desktop/laptop/automobile USB ports as these often do not provide a full charge.
• Try charging using a different charging cable as older cables may not be able to support ELEMNT/BOLT/ROAM power requirements, can potentially be shorted, fractured or fatigued, or provide only data (but not power).
• After 1 hour of charging with a non-Apple USB block and a different cable, press and hold the power button for 10 seconds.

I too have the flashing yellow, won't boot up syndrome. Did you ever find a fix?