Pure Evoke 3 Major Problems

[Anonymous]

My Evoke 3 also packed in, after 1.8 upgrade, then after reading another blog, someone mentioned that his worked again, after reseating the EN6 connector.

I decided that it was better, to try this, than have a £200 scrap radio, and it worked for about two weeks, so I tried it again, but also sprayed a little Electrical spray, on the connectors, and it has been working fine since, and that's been about 6mths ago, so well worth trying.

 

[Anonymous]

After experiencing major problems with my Pure Evoke-3, I came across this forum and my heart sank. I tried one or two of the solutions suggested here but nothing worked.

I had resigned myself to a battle with Pure's customer services when I decided to try one last thing based on a technique used on a problematic laptop a few years ago.

I took out the power lead and removed the chargepak battery. I then pressed and held the ON button for thirty seconds. I then plugged in the radio and it came back to life. So far, it seems to be fully restored. I don't know what this trick achieves but whatever it is, it works.

Try it if you're in a similar position and report back if it works.

 

[Anonymous]

I've been having various problems with my 4yr old Pure Evoke 3 and was searching to see if others had similar problems - sad to see so many others having trouble but most seem to be different to mine.

I use it at night with a pillow speaker plugged into the earplug socket as I'm a quadraplegic who doesn't sleep too well. Hence having audio books on the SD card and a selection of preset radio stations that I can select using a special puff/suck remote device is a real boon (when it works!). However, occasionally the presets just disappear for no apparent reason. Then if my wife unplugs the pillow speaker - the volume disappears completely. Switching it off/on a couple of times usually fixes that error.

Even though the firmware was v1.8 (I'm sure it's always been that version since I bought it) I decided to update it using the USB socket. Went ok but same problems still persist. What's the point of Pure advertising 'USB updates' from your comp unless they bring out regular updates?

For a 200 quid machine, it's not exactly what I was hoping for. Sadly, no other machine seems to offer everything that the Pure Evoke 3 does with good sound quality. It would probably cost about £200 to send it back to Pure for a repair with no guarantee I'd be any better off. I'm really disappointed in this machine.

 

[Amadeus1756]

I've got a Chronos II and I've had problems with it occasionally not coming on in the morning (so I've been late for work). I spoke to their support department a couple of times and I was very disappointed - they seemed so amateur. Someone just picked up the phone and said "Hello" - no company name or department name or anything. They said they'd seen this problem a few times and some new firmware was coming out in the next month or so. I've not seen anything yet and that was a long, long time ago.

Nice looking products, good quality but if something goes wrong, from my experience, you're on your own.

 

[Anonymous]

My Evoke 3 'temporarily' died due to inlaws either pulling the power lead out or switching off at plug socket - needless to say it was somethong else for us to fix amongst all the things their daughter breaks.

The upgrade fixed it for us - thanx Andy Clough for links -

Lesson for the day - always turn off the radio correctly - never pull lead out/switch off at plug socket/spikes generate and that will corrupt the radio's software.

Now, I see there are other problems that others have had - when unit 'really' dead - intermittent or no power.

Like any electrical device - and more common now due to manufacturing - the power connectors and power supply components WILL fail after time - the cleaning up of the internal C connector is good advice - although I've had no need to do it - yet. When voltage applied to a connector day in/day out/deposits build up leading to a poor connection and finally a connection that doesnt work. (not fully recommended but a good slap of the radio can bring some relief and get things going again before the need to take the radio apart)

If this fails - and although I dont know the inner workings of unit - I assume they'll be some small capacitors of some description within around the power supply - these will be worth replacing after so many years.

The above can be applied to all your electronic devices/tv's/computers/etc etc

Its not a 'Pure' problem - just a product of the electronic manufacturing process and the components used.

I wouldnt junk the unit - everyone should know someone with a soldering Iron and a Sunday afternoon to fix it for them

Ed

 

[Anonymous]

oops - C connector should have read EN6 connector -

problems with C connectors on the brain/

Clean all the connections you can access/I dont know how many there are as ive not taken apart

Ed

 

[daycartes]

You folks are lucky. MY Arcam DAB receiver at many times the price of your Pure Evoke broke after a few years. I'm still waiting for a reply from Arcam Customer Support. Have given up waiting really as they just are not interested in Customer support. I even sent them an audio of the problem. Was advised that electronic equipment nowadays no longer works after about 3-4 years by a forum (not this forum) member. You can be sure that I have not purchased one piece of Hi Fi since. Oddly enough the fm/am Arcam that I bought second hand at around the same time is still working well.

 

[Anonymous]

My Evoke 3 stopped working after a power cut and the screen says it is waiting for upgrade. I have read through this thread and tried the Pure upgrade solution, but my computer will not recognise the radio when I connect using a USB. I am running Vista which is up to date. The computer says it cannot find the device driver. I have looked on the Pure site for a driver download, but could not find one. Does anyone know where I could download the relevant device driver from?

 

[Anonymous]

:wave: Hello Pure lovers

I was so happy with my Pure Evoke 3 (Eco plus) shipped to Holland. Suddenly it was ill after 4 years . After attempting all the rescuestuff I found on this forum it ended up in a coma. Terrible if software kills hardware. So don't waste your time too long reanimating a bad product.

Best solution is (how sad however) to kill your expectation that it will start working again suddenly out of itself (after pulling cables and connectors and applying more of those silly workarounds).

So find that old axe in your shed, and shred this thing into Digital Audio Bits like I did. Use your imagination to see how it looks like, because I cannot find a way to post the picture. I assure it will free your mind

When lots of people have this s(h)ame problem and Pure does not respond, my final conclusion is:

Never buy PURE again! PURE sucks!!!! :dance:

 

[Anonymous]

Add me to the list of unhappy customers. Although I boought my radio about 5 years ago. It has had little use. I am now in a position where I would like to use it, but no way! The rdio is absolutely dead. I have invested in a set of batteries,, I have borrowed a friend's power lead, all to no avail.

I have been referred to the Out of Warranty repair centre in Scotland, who tell me transport will cost £28 and that they could noy hazard a guess over the phone as to what could be wrong. The full cost of repair and carriage could be up to £100.

What a piece of junk!

 

[Anonymous]

Hi I have an old Evoke 3. My problem is that the power in socket is broken (worn out from being disconnected so radio could be moved around durng the day). I have tried to get a Pure to let me know if there are spare parts available otherwise it is pointless me sending them the radio. I have been askng for over a year and the reply each time is that they are trying to source parts. I am convinced they just want me to buy a new radio rather than have a cheap repair. Hardly eco-friendly is it? If anyone has a power socket is working condition, I would be able to fit it myself.

 

[Anonymous]

My PURE Evoke 2S has just stopped working with a similar problem. It was a Christmas gift in 2010 (so no receipt). Dan Hardy from the PURE help centre suggested turning it off, waiting 10 minutes, then turning it on again......this didn't work.

It's clear that PURE radios have an inherant software issue. Dan then had the cheek to suggest I buy another radio at a 'reduced price' from their website! £150 has been wasted and the PURE helpline is little more than a joke!

 

[Anonymous]

I changed to BT Infinity a few days ago and logged my Pure Evoke Flow onto it this morning and it worked fine. Then suddenly after about ½ it went totally dead. I plugged back into power, nothing. I took the radio and power block to Maplin to see if the charger was dead. No it was fine, they took out the battery pack, plugged it back in power, used the tester and said no “radio is completely dead”.

Took it home, went on to this blog and found the following written by Jason Stone on 22nd July 2011 “I took out the power lead and removed the chargepack battery. I then pressed and held the ON button for thirty seconds. I then plugged in the radio and it came back to life”.

Thank you Jason, I did precisely as you said. You just saved me £200.00.

I think your suggestion is the modern version of the old standby for computers “control/alt/delete” without the keys!!!!!!.

 

[Anonymous]

I've had the same problem; progressive difficulty getting the radio to start and eventually not starting at all. I contacted PURE but they confirm they will not release schematics or fault finding guides and would not offer a diagnosis. The manual is of no help. Eventually I went with let-me-repair, who are PURE's repair agents. This cost me £67.00 (£40 mandatory courier service and £27 repair cost).

LetMeRepair fixed the problem by an internal software update followed by firmware update to version 1.8. I suspect that the first "internal software update" is not available to the general public and there was no reference to it that I saw in the PURE FAQ or manual. I have a theory as to the reason for the fault, but no way of confirming it.

It seems to me quite unreasonable that radios of a certain vintage (presumably with suspect firmware) should self-destruct after 3 or 4 years with no recourse other than to pay a large sum to put it right. I am currently "discussing" the matter with PURE.

 

[Anonymous]

A few further notes. PURE insist this is not a design fault but will not release details of the fault, or number of units from the same batch suffering from the fault. In other words they have you in a bind. PURE have also confirmed in writing that they will not release design schematics or fault finding guides. In this country there seems to be only the one authorised repair agent who you have to go to if you want it repaired.

The fault was fixed by a low-level software/firmware upgrade. This is *not* the same as the software upgrade that a user can perform. Once the unit is passed its guarantee period the only route to reclaim repair costs without hiring a lawyer is through the Sale of Goods act. However, the Sale of Goods act would require proof that there is a design fault and PURE have this locked down so you can't prove this. In addition, the Sale of Goods act can only give compensation against the retailer you bought the unit from and not the manufacturer - so again, PURE is off the hook.

For what its worth, I suspect that the fault is caused by ageing of electrolytic capacitors (I don't know the critical ones). This has the effect of introducing a relatively low shunt resistance across it which probably interferes with the timing sequence on start-up. To get around this, the low-level software/firmware upgrade probably changes the timing sequence to compensate for this. Consistent with this is the fact that after repair the radio takes longer to start up than it used to when it was originally working. However, this is just a theory and PURE will not release information to confirm this. The fact that PURE has the software upgrade performing in this way implies that they know all about the fault, and probably have for a long time.

 

[Anonymous]

Just experienced the problems that everyone else seems to be having.

As people say, £200 for a radio that packs up after 3 years is pretty poor.

So Mr PURE, I shal rubbish you sets in future.

 

[Anonymous]

I have now got the same problem. My beloved Evoke 3 has just started asking for a software upgrade, despite "pushing any button".

Ever one to get to grips with a problem - does anybody else feel aggreived like me and want to take Pure to court to force them to address the issue. I just cannot tolerate a situation where a UK company willfully ignores major product issues and refuses to properly support their products.

I f you want to take them to court lets band together and we'll go after tem as a group of cheated customers. Any takers?

 

[Anonymous]

I have now got the same problem. My beloved Evoke 3 has just started asking for a software upgrade, despite "pushing any button".

Ever one to get to grips with a problem - does anybody else feel aggreived like me and want to take Pure to court to force them to address the issue. I just cannot tolerate a situation where a UK company willfully ignores major product issues and refuses to properly support their products.

I f you want to take them to court lets band together and we'll go after tem as a group of cheated customers. Any takers?

 

[Deleted member 2457]

I have now got the same problem. My beloved Evoke 3 has just started asking for a software upgrade, despite "pushing any button".

Ever one to get to grips with a problem - does anybody else feel aggreived like me and want to take Pure to court to force them to address the issue. I just cannot tolerate a situation where a UK company willfully ignores major product issues and refuses to properly support their products.

I f you want to take them to court lets band together and we'll go after tem as a group of cheated customers. Any takers?

Sounds like a great idea. I managed to sell mine on eBay as faulty though. Be interested to hear how you get on though. Good luck, something needs to be done about them.

 

[Anonymous]

Stumbled upon this discussion thread after trying to sort out problems with my Evoke 3. Bought it in 2007 and started playing up 2 years later. It would sometimes just pack up and then not work despite unplugging and starting up again. Then jsut as inexplicably I wouldytry again and it would work with all the times and displays back to front. Alarm would also sometimes not work. I assumed it was probably just me and a one off dud radio until I read all these posts and now realise many have had similar problems and clearly there is a design fault. I loved my Evoke when I first got it but it's not fit for purpose if I can't even rely on it to wake me up. Be good to really make a bigger issue of this. If PURE cared about it's image, reputation and customers it would announce a recall and new radios for all those affected and own up to there having been major problems with this particular model. Fat chance eh?

 

[Anonymous]

Stumbled upon this discussion thread after trying to sort out problems with my Evoke 3. Bought it in 2007 and started playing up 2 years later. It would sometimes just pack up and then not work despite unplugging and starting up again. Then jsut as inexplicably I wouldytry again and it would work with all the times and displays back to front. Alarm would also sometimes not work. I assumed it was probably just me and a one off dud radio until I read all these posts and now realise many have had similar problems and clearly there is a design fault. I loved my Evoke when I first got it but it's not fit for purpose if I can't even rely on it to wake me up. Be good to really make a bigger issue of this. If PURE cared about it's image, reputation and customers it would announce a recall and new radios for all those affected and own up to there having been major problems with this particular model. Fat chance eh?

 

[Bobetuk]

Hi Folks,

Can you help me please (and hopefully anyone else) in identifying what your Evoke -3 is looking for on the USB interface when it is in the “waiting for upgrade” message?

So here’s the thing, my Pure Evoke -3 has just started asking for a software upgrade that so many of us are suffering and is stuck in this loop despite "press any key to cancel". The Radio powers up OK but appears to have got stuck in this “waiting for upgrade” state.

The obvious fix would seem to be to help the radio with it’s request and perform a f/w update – I have never updated the f/w in the Radio’s history so would assume an upgrade could be performed (as opposed to reinstalling the same version again, which it might complain about)

So I downloaded the latest set of files from Pure’s web site (version 1.8.exe) but the radio simply doesn’t get past the push any button to continue prompt. I believe this is because the Windows USB drivers are not the correct ones for the particular early version of PURE Evoke-3 currently ‘booted’ by the radio.

Say wot?

Taking a closer look …

The 1.8 driver .exe file can be expanded using winrar (or equivalent) into a number of files that you can pop into a temporary directory, to point Windows at when installing the drivers. It will also help in determining what is going on! BTW I have tried this on a number of Windows systems and it is the same on all – so it’s not the PC! (For this I am using Win XP)

1.8.exe has the following files: dvpack.exe,details.txt,Evoke3_1_8.dfu,flashwin.exe,imgwdm.sys,license.txt,setup.cfg,usb0.bmp, usb1.bmp,usb2.bmp,usb3.bmp,usbdfu.dll,usbdfu.inf,usbdfu.sys.

If you open the file usbdfu.inf in Notebook you will see at the very bottom under String Definitions the USB driver is created by Imagination Technologies and for the USB interface they have a Vendor ID (VID) of 149. (Indeed if you Google this you will find doco to support this Vendor ID).

Now the Product Id (PID) for the particular USB driver is known as 0112 and is described by Pure as a "Evoke-3". You will also see that at the top of the file the variable [DeviceList] is set up with these values.

I downloaded a copy of a USB diagnostics tool that will show a trace of what conversation takes place when you plug a USB device into your PC, an extract as below:

INFO: Device MaxPacketSize0 : 20

INFO: VendorID : 149a

INFO: Device ProductID : 012a

INFO: Device BCD : 100

INFO: ENGLISH_US language string descriptor is : PURE Digital

INFO: ENGLISH_US language string descriptor is : PURE EVOKE-3

INFO: ENGLISH_US language string descriptor is : ABCD

Hold on … the radio describes itself as Product ID 012A and yet on the downloaded 1.8 drivers as PID 0112. So I believe the radio is sat there waiting for a different driver to communicate to it.

You don’t need the USB tools to do this and can easily see this yourselves on Win XP.

Can anyone please try the following …

-Connect the radio to the PC

-Win XP should detect it on the USB port and want to install the drivers

-Cancel this and Win XP bubble will pop up declaring a problem occurred (again dismiss this message).

-Click Start and right click My Computer then select Properties.

-On the Hardware Tab select Device Manager.

-Scroll down and the radio should be initially picked up under Other Devices (with Yellow question mark)

-It will be called a “PURE Evoke-3”. Right click this and select properties.

-On the Details Tab and (if not already there) on the drop down menu select the Field Device Instance ID.

Here it shows my My Evoke-3 radio as VID_149A and PID of 012A.

Notice too that Win XP sees something called a “PURE Evoke-3” and yet the drivers within 1.8exe are called "Evoke-3".

Can anyone kindly please tell me if their radio is seen by WinXP as a PID as 012A or a PID 0112?

My theory is the Evoke-3 on early f/w looks for a different driver than is currently supplied on the latest drivers and why it just sits there waiting to be updated. (so you cannot jump from 1.0 to 1.8 )

So another BIG ask is if anyone has the early version of drivers, say 1.1 or 1.2, that might have a PID of 012A (Easy to see just by looking at the usbdfu.inf in Notebook) 😛ray:

Thanks in advance,

Rob.

P.S. I asked PURE support this and they said the radio must have a hardware fault…. Personally I think the PURE repair agents are simply flashing the Evoke-3 with an earlier version of f/w that changes the PID from 012A to 0112 so as to then be able to flash it a second time with the 1.8 version…..easy money!

I don’t believe it’s a h/w fault but a simple issue around the version upgrade path. Happy to be proven wrong….even happier to get my radio working again as the sound quality on these is excellent. 😉

 

[RobertY]

My Evoke 2xt has also just died. The display gives a quick blue flash and that is all. I contacted PURE, to be honest that was a waste of time;
"Thank you for contacting Pure.

Unfortunately, the Evoke 2XT has been discontinued. So we can no longer
receive parts for repair. As you are a existing pure customer we can
offer you a discount on any other Pure product On line.

If you would like to give me a call once you have seen any product you
like, I can then offer you the discount."

After confirming I would be looking for an Evoke 2s they replied;

"We can offer you a brand new Evoke-2S at a discounted price of £121.78 including VAT and delivery.

Thank you."

Really nothing more than a brush-off, and they obviously don't give a stuff, I contacted Consumer Protection who suggested contacting John Lewis, from whom I bought the radio but without the receipt and no proof of purchase (although JL did have a good look for proof) I've given up and bought a replacement; a ROBERTS not another PURE!!

Rob

 

[Bobetuk]

:bounce:

** Version 2.0 fixes this problem **

Folks, so this is what I believe the situation to be and I invite PURE to comment and correct me accordingly.

I believe there are TWO versions of the Evoke -3 radio that are identical in looks, that I will call the Evoke -3 and the PURE Evoke -3. At the time of writting the Evoke-3 s/w is freely available on the PURE web page and is at version 1.8. The PURE Evoke-3 runs version 2.0 firmware and is NOT on the PURE website.

Version 1.8 and 2.0 are not compatable, so if you have the 1.8 version radio and it is hung at the "waiting for update" screen then an update to 1.8 will fix it. *BUT* if you have the 'other' radio then the vsn 1.8 is not compatable and your Evoke-3 radio will sit there not recognising the V1.8 and do nothing - so will just sit there forever waiting for an update.

PURE tell me that they will soon make vsn 2.0 available to the "consumer" soon free of charge .......

I suggest you contact the PURE tech support in order to get a version if it does not appear very soon.

Despite many repeated claims from PURE that I had a hardware fault :wall: it simply needed the right s/w to reflash the radio - so DO NOT send it to Scotalnd for a chargeable repair until you are certain you have the correct version of s/w !!!!

.....and how do you know what kind of radio you have if it's just sat there 'waiting for upgrade'

Well all I know is my radio advertised itself as a PID 012a and not 0112 on the USB port ....as described in my earlier post.

FYI - if you have a working radio, go to the Software update screen from the menu system and it shows the version - mine is on 2.0 ! When I plug the power into the radio the start up 'banner' on the LCD display says "PURE Evoke - 3" ....

I would be interested to know if a version 1.8 radio also has the same 'banner'.

 

[Bobetuk]

:dance:

So PURE have now released a combined vsn 1.8 and vsn 2.0 set of drivers to finaly put to rest this fault.

Pulling apart the USB drivers there are two sets of PID's, the 0211 and the 012a,,,,,,so I was right all the clucking time! :twisted: