Di2 issue - solved but would like to understand



10kman

New Member
Aug 19, 2012
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Out riding today, on a very long ride. Hit a lame attempt at a pothole repair and it was a good jolt but nothing ridiculous. My shifting completely stopped working. I could press and hold the button of my junction at the handlebars and the rear der would skip up and down the cassette, so things were connected. I picked a gear and suffered home for about 55 miles, didn't want to be fiddling with trying to shift via that button. Get home and after getting some food and water in me I go out to see if the connectors were loose (again). All were solid. Unplugged and replugged everything and still nothing. I download the Shimano e-tube software and did some troubleshooting. Software finds all pieces and says it has an update for the internal battery. I scratch my head but let it go. Unplug everything, hold the bike up, hit the buttons and low and behold everything is shifting again. So I ask, wtf?
 
It almost had to be a break in the electrical path or a short due to to the bump. You inadvertently restored the path on your second attempt with the wiring and connections.

Perhaps a wire that's internal to the components is making poor contact?

If it were my bike, I would go out and slam a few RR track crossings to see if I could replicate the failure. 55 miles in the 53 x 15 sucks in Ohio. Good luck!
 
Originally Posted by 10kman

Out riding today, on a very long ride.

Hit a lame attempt at a pothole repair and it was a good jolt but nothing ridiculous.

My shifting completely stopped working. I could press and hold the button of my junction at the handlebars and the rear der would skip up and down the cassette, so things were connected. I picked a gear and suffered home for about 55 miles, didn't want to be fiddling with trying to shift via that button.

Get home and after getting some food and water in me I go out to see if the connectors were loose (again). All were solid. Unplugged and replugged everything and still nothing.

I download the Shimano e-tube software and did some troubleshooting. Software finds all pieces and says it has an update for the internal battery. I scratch my head but let it go.

Unplug everything, hold the bike up, hit the buttons and low and behold everything is shifting again.

So I ask, wtf?
FWIW. Presuming that you are in the US, I suggest that you contact Shimano in Irvine (CA), directly ...

  • while it may be inconvenient for you in the short run, they may request that you send your Di2 components back to them ...
  • if they do, then then they will dispatch NEW replacements if they do ... processing is generally the same day on which they receive the item (you'll need an RMA, of course) & the turn-around with their package to you should be about a week's time, total (presuming that you use "regular" FedEx Ground service, or equivalent -- i.e., about three days out, about three days back).
[*]Of course, they may not want to look at your unit ...
  • it may depend on how you describe the problem (in detail, of course) to them you just have to be matter-of-fact when describing the problem you encounter
  • histrionics and/or embellishment are absolutely not required
  • Shimano's North American (Worldwide) Customer Service wants you to be a happy, repeat customer I can't say THAT about some aspects of their Engineering Department which chooses to be saddled by some design legacies which seem to echo in some current designs!

Otherwise, follow CAMPYBOB's suggestion & try to replicate the problem someplace closer to home.
 
I can say for sure that the system was not shifting at all before I tried the software update. Outside of pulling the internal junction out I heard the "click" on every connection outside of the bike. As soon as I did the update everything came back. I went out to the driveway early this morning and did some drop testing with the bike. Everything kept working. It's in the stand now and I ran through the gears like it's brand new. I will contact Shimano tomorrow and see if they have any advice or ideas. I don't care a ton about the issue because the beauty of the system is that you can still pick a gear and get home but I saw articles written with photos of these things covered in more mud that I'll ever get on a road bike and all was well (so they say). For what I do with the system it should work.
 
Is it a Microsoft operating system?
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After the software glitches with my Cateye Stealth GPS cycling computer I could certainly believe it a possibility the EEPROM or microprocessor or whatever controls thing 'forgot' it was a computer, but doing it right after a hard thud to the bike? I don't think it's possible to rearrange the 0's and 1's using a pothole.

I assume you've practiced your Brad Wiggins Di2 Failure Angry Bike Toss and can get it to stand up against any vertical object! Just kidding! I will be giving Campy's EPS a try, but I'm waiting for the 12-speed to be released.
 
Test ride success, took it for a 90 minute spin and wasn't shy about staying off bumps. No issue. I'm not sure I'm pro or against electronic shifting as a whole. They both have pros and cons. My main issue is that there's not a lot of troubleshooting that you can do in the field so to speak which worries me. If this was a race then what? Now I need to start packing a laptop and enough tools to rip the whole system apart? Not fun. For daily riding and for those that wrench their own stuff, I say it's easier. No cables to lube and adjust as time goes on. Works very well. Less effort and has a neat factor. My uphill race bike is mechanical and staying that way. My daily grinders will be di2 unless I have repetitive issues.
 
Originally Posted by CAMPYBOB
Is it a Microsoft operating system?
big-smile.png


After the software glitches with my Cateye Stealth GPS cycling computer I could certainly believe it a possibility the EEPROM or microprocessor or whatever controls thing 'forgot' it was a computer, but doing it right after a hard thud to the bike? I don't think it's possible to rearrange the 0's and 1's using a pothole.

Unless there is some kind of feedback from the Servos in the Deraileurs -to- the processing unit.

Then knocking the deraileurs a bit out of place would cause some "confusion" in the self-adjusting system. (For example the processing unit receives that the Deraileur is in e.g. gear "6" whilst the signal sent would be for it to be in gear "5".

Maybe when the software update was done the whole system was "rebooted". The "ROM" is probably impossible to reset but maybe the "BIOS" of the system was resetted for the new position the deraileur was (maybe the knock just made the gears connected to the Servo "jump" a few teeth?) and recalibrated the whole thing for that position.

Btw, do these things keep a log or something? Is there a posibility to download any information from it to a PC and check it? Do they have a "Trim" function? Just like the H & L system on a mechanical group?


PS:

Have you ever tried connecting a Symbian Nokia phone to a Windows PC?
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It doesn't get much more random...
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Originally Posted by CAMPYBOB
Is it a Microsoft operating system?
big-smile.png
E-tube requires a PC running windows to update, but, no, Di2 is not running Windows.

I like Volnix's explanation.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by oldbobcat .
E-tube requires a PC running windows to update, but, no, Di2 is not running Windows.

I like Volnix's explanation.



Fanks!
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I now have a similar issue. I have a TT bike with Di2, which is especially nice because unlike mechanical shifters you get to have them on both the base bar and the aero bars. The shifters on the aero bars are the single-button flavor and only shift the rear derailleur. 15 miles out on my last ride the "up" shifter on the left aero bar quit working, all other shifter buttons worked as expected. At the next intersection I took a quick look and found that the cable from that shifter had come unplugged from the junction block. Not sure how it came off, maybe I bumped it when I was loading my aero water bottle and it just worked loose with road-rattle from there. I plugged it back in but it still didn't work. I checked and rechecked the connection, played around with the buttons, no luck.

However, now I found your post! Thanks for the pointer, I will download the software and give that a try. Hopefully that will do it and I didn't damage the cable.

Thanks,
-Brad
 
Not yet. Need to check with LBS to see what they charge and weigh that against the $170 for SM-PCE1.
 
I did it myself for free. Took the charger, plugged it into USB on laptop, other end into charge port on Di2, and downloaded software myself from Shimano. http://e-tubeproject.shimano.com
 
That sounds cool. What charger do you have? I have the SM-BCR1, no USB or Di2-type cable connections.