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Chelton Sierra PFD Failure

jmartin871

I'm New Here
While attempting to up date the data base in my Chelton PFD, somehow a file in the boot up routine was corrupted. Now, when power is applied, the unit goes through the programmed start up routine, but when it is at the point of coming on line, it starts over again and never completes the start up.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

RV-7

N970WM
 
Plug in an older data base card if you have a card. Not familiar with Chelton systems. Assuming it is like an older Garmin GX60.
 
Last edited:
Chelton

Trying to reload the last known working database card would be my next action to resolve the issue. Is this a navigation database? The newer database could have downloaded with an error causing your problem.
 
While attempting to up date the data base in my Chelton PFD, somehow a file in the boot up routine was corrupted. Now, when power is applied, the unit goes through the programmed start up routine, but when it is at the point of coming on line, it starts over again and never completes the start up.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

RV-7

N970WM

One caution when using the Chelton systems is to NEVER interrupt power to the devices when they are booting up and especially during the TESTING phase because doing so can corrupt critical files.

You can try the following:

Insert your data card and boot up to access the maintenance and update menu.

Select "View Log Files" [or a selection similar to that]. This should show you which file has been corrupted - it will have failed the CRC check.

Note that you can also find this information in the BIT_LOG.DAT file in the CODE subdirectory.

If the problem is one of the database files then trying the database update with a fresh download will probably solve the problem.

If the problem is one of the system files you will need to replace it with a backup if you have one. If you need a system file and do not have a backup you can PM me and I can send you one from my backups. However, I am not sure whether this will require you to reconfigure limits and calibrations since mine will be from a different airplane and system.

You will need a basic knowledge of DOS and a way to plug a keyboard into your Chelton to replace the offending system file.

You can learn quite a bit about your Chelton by browsing the website referenced above.

Hope this helps.
 
Chelton PFD Malfunction

Thank you so much. I haven't had a chance to try your recommendations yet, but I truly appreciate your detailed response. I'll let you know if I get it back on line.
 
All the replies so far are right on target. If this indeed happened during a database update, you should just get an older database or new copy on a new memory card and try again. When you install a database it deleted everything in there and installs all new files. As another user mentioned, you can do a bitlog and CRC test of the files too.

If it is NOT the database that's the problem, you could have a corrupt drive on the screen. That's a much bigger job to fix, and you'll end up taking the screen apart to fix it. I highly caution anyone who has hardware issues against sending their screens anywhere for support. If you have any damage in shipping, insuring it won't be enough, because there are plenty of parts that you simply can't get anymore. So any time you work on them or ship them, you risk a forced panel upgrade.

I always have the same advice for people who wish to continue using those Chelton screens.

1) Have at least 10 or more spare memory cards on hand. They fail, and are not nearly as robust as current memory card technology.
If you end up with all of your cards destroyed, you can't update databases or even change configuration of the screens anymore.

2) Buy hardware spares. Spare screens, spare ahrs, spare magnetometer, anything that can go bad. The AHRS are expensive to fix and take time to do so, and the screens may not be fully repairable depending on the issue. So own spare systems, and start saving for replacements because they won't last forever. These were designed around the year 2000, and 19 years is much much much longer than the useful lifetime of most any computer technology.
Lucky they were way ahead of their time when they were built, because from a functional standpoint, they only in the past few years being caught up and passed by the other companies.

Also, as someone mentioned, I have a forum that you can join and post specific questions for that system on, and there are many Chelton users who can answer some of those things for you. CheltonEFISpilots.com
 
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