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11-15-2016 12:44 PM
Hero 5 Black LCD screen blank
[ New ]So I just bought my very first GoPro product yesterday which is the Hero 5 Black and everything worked perfect. There was 10% battery life on there prior to purchase and then I let it charge overnight after I played with it for a while until it died. Never dropped it, banged it up or anything. Camera is literally right out of the box and powers right up but the LCD screen does NOT work but it worked perfectly last night. It's just a black blank screen. I removed the battery and card numeruous times to see if that was the issue but it isnt. I read online that others were having a similar issue and they were told to download the firmware update through Quik. I downloaded Quik and selected to update the camera but the firmware update is showing no progress. Did I buy a defective camera? If the firmware is asking me to select something on the LCD screen to continue, I obviously can't see it. Just sucks since I have a Hawaii trip coming up and I'm trying to avoid bringing my DLSR camera gear so I can pack light. Frustrating and dissappointing that I spent so much money on a brick.
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09-05-2017 02:13 AM
Re: Hero 5 Black LCD screen blank
[ New ]Millions of Hero5 cameras have been sold. There are somewhere between 20-30 reports of this issue in this thread. 11 pages with many people posting multiple times. If your camera has an issue that can't be resolved by using a recommended SD card and performing a manual update, exchange it for a new one. It's that simple.
I know it's frustrating when you get a new piece of tech and it doesn't work correctly, but unfortunately this happens across all brands and devices from Apple to Samsung, HP to Dell, and GoPro to Garmin. You can search forums on any of those brands and find Customer complaints of issues. If you only look at those forums it's easy to quickly be mislead into thinking these products have a widespread issue, especially if you are one of the people experiencing it. However, when you take into account the total number of units sold and the vast majority that don't have issues, you realize that there aren't very many that have problems and unfortunately you are just one of the unlucky few.
I, like millions of other GoPro cameras owners, do not have any issues with my Hero5 Black or my other six GoPro cameras. I only use recommended SD cards and I always manually update to the latest firmware. I'm not incredibly lucky. I'm just one of the majority.
I get the frustration, but not the anger. GoPro obviously didn't intend for You to get a camera with issues. They certainly hope your experience would be similar to the million+ people who are enjoying their camera.
If you are having an issue the steps are simple.
1) Be sure you are using a card from this list https://gopro.com/help/articles/Block/microSD-Card-Considerations
2) Format the card in your computer and then run a manual update https://gopro.com/update
3) If your camera still doesn't work correctly, either exchange it where you purchased it or contact the GoPro Support Team https://gopro.com/help/PKBContactus
The reason for using a card from the list is to help rule it out as being a source of the issue. GoPro cameras will work with other cards. However, 99% of all issues are SD card related. Perhaps not yours, but it's much easier to determine that if you are using a card GoPro has tested and knows that it works.
Running the manual update is equally important for the same reason above and also because sometimes it corrects errors in the firmware. If you are having an issue it's important to determine if it's software or hardware related. Running the manual update with a recommended SD helps to rule out the software and determine it's probably hardware. Your camera comes with a 1 year manufactures guarantee. If it's hardware related and not due to accidental damage, GoPro will happily exchange the camera for you.
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11-15-2016 05:49 PM
Re: Hero 5 Black LCD screen blank
[ New ]Hey, i'm in the same boat. no LCD activity.
When i turn on just the little screen shows GoPRo. is there a way to reset the Hero 5 or force reflash firmware?

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11-16-2016 09:27 AM
Re: Hero 5 Black LCD screen blank
[ New ]I've decided that I'm packing everything back in it's packaging and returning it today for an exchange. Too much hassle. Hopefully the new one will be a different story. Everything should be ready-set once out of the box. I'm feeling pretty unconvinced with their product at this point. If I get the same result with the second camera I'll probably never give their product a 3rd chance, kinda ridiculous.

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11-16-2016 02:53 PM
Re: Hero 5 Black LCD screen blank
[ New ]
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11-16-2016 03:38 PM
Re: Hero 5 Black LCD screen blank
[ New ]Thanks for replays, hopefully i can get this figured out.

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11-16-2016 05:33 PM
Re: Hero 5 Black LCD screen blank
[ New ]@Anonymous @Anonymous
You can reflash the firmware by doing the update manually.
https://gopro.com/support/product-update/register-camera
That should resolve the issue.
Thanks,
Marc.

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11-16-2016 08:58 PM
Re: Hero 5 Black LCD screen blank
[ New ]How long should the update take? My is still blinking red with a 2/2 and an arrow pointing down on the front. It's been 15 mins already. I tried doing it manually, the quik program wasn't clear how to update through the desktop or my just wouldn't connect. Any ideas what to try next?
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11-16-2016 09:05 PM
Re: Hero 5 Black LCD screen blank
[ New ]@Anonymous - It shouldn't take quite that long. If the update through the app isn't working out, I'd recommend doing the manual update. It's usually very reliable. The instructions for the manual update are at the bottom of the page at https://gopro.com/update/hero5.
Thanks,
Jeff