Safe Mode

Safe Mode is an error condition triggered on the OEM7 receiver if it encounters certain critical problems during start-up. The receiver does not track GNSS satellites in this state, but the user interface is still available to allow for diagnosis of the problem.

The receiver will enter Safe Mode under certain rare cases including the following:

  • Corrupted or bad data within the receiver Non-Volatile Memory (NVM).

  • An unsupported Auth Code.

  • The expected main firmware image could not be found by the boot code. This is possibly due to an error during the main firmware loading process (i.e. WinLoad, SoftLoad, etc.).

Safe Mode exists to allow users to take steps to recover the receiver after such an error occurs. Potential recovery steps are described in Recovery Steps.

Safe Mode is indicated by an error bit in the RXSTATUS log.

Reset Loop Detection

In order to determine when the Safe Mode error should be triggered, OEM7 receivers have the ability to detect when an unexpected reset has occurred during the boot process. If a Reset Loop is detected, the Reset Loop Detected bit is set in the RXSTATUS log.

This bit is only a warning and the receiver may still be able to operate correctly. The receiver will allow several unexpected resets to occur before triggering the Safe Mode Error, at which point the receiver will not track GNSS satellites.

Recovery Steps

If the Safe Mode error bit or the Reset Loop Detected warning bit are set in the RXSTATUS log, take the following steps to diagnose and recover the system:

  1. Request the SAFEMODESTATUS log and determine the current Safe Mode State of the system.

  2. Reference Table: Safe Mode States and find the suggested actions for the current Safe Mode State.

  3. If the suggested actions do not resolve the issue, contact NovAtel Customer Support.