Dead powerpod - any ideas?

[Purpledog64]

This may be a bit of an unusual tale, but back in 2016 I bought a powerpod (the old model, v1 I assume?)

Shortly after that I had an operation on my wrist, then a bit later another op on my foot. Then I moved to the alps and in my newly unfit state after all that inactivity couldn't cycle very far in the hills, so I got an e-bike. I never used used the powerpod and it sat in its box waiting for better days. Last week I decided to get my road bike back on the road, and started the setup of my powerpod.

I was excited to be setting it up and finally have power data. I charged the battery until the red light stopped blinking, installed Isaac software and connected the powerpod to my computer via USB. The light on the powerpod came on and all was good so far. I went through the initial setup screens then checked for firmware updates. It found an update and I agreed to install it. The firmware update failed for an unspecified reason, and now my powerpod is seemingly dead. It is unresponsive to button pushes, being plugged in to charge, the software cannot find it (Device-Connect-Test Connection reports that the device is not responding).

I've tried different USB ports, both via a hub and directly on the computer. I tried the hard reset but after even 60 seconds or so there was still no light so I gave up. I have relaunched Isaaac, and rebooted my PC, all to no avail.

So in summary, it's been sitting there all that time waiting for me to be able to ride again, and the second I connected to the Isaac software and tried to update the firmware, it's dead.

I wrote to technicalsupport@velocomp.com at the weekend but have had no reply so far- I've read that they are very good at support (and no, there's nothing in the spam folder). How long does a reply usually take?

So... has anyone had a similar experience? What did you do? I suspect the firmware update did did some damage - partial install then failure suggests there's no hope for the firmware unless it can be re-installed somehow?

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks for reading my rambling post,
Dave

[Velocomp]

Sorry, but if the firmware update failed then likely your PP is dead. It cannot be resuscitated to life

[Purpledog64]

So that's it?
I spent $350 on this and it was destroyed by the firmware update without ever being used?
I followed all the instructions and now I have a very expensive piece of plastic?

To say I'm upset would be an understatement...