SHARP LC-60LE745U WON'T UPDATE

I have a new Sharp TV, LC-60LE745U combined with a Sony BDP-S790 3D Blu Ray Player. All HDMI connections. I have learned most operations on both units. It took some time to get a 3D movie working. The picture is great.

The one thing that I have been unable to do is properly download a firmware update. The TV refers to the update as software, but when I called Sharp they said that it is firmware. A pop up comes on saying that an update is ready and asks to update. [405U1210161] I click on yes and it starts to download but it always stops and sits on 67%. I have tried this a dozen times. Then after calling Sharp, I attempted the flash drive method. It stopped at 37% with each attempt. It would just sit for a half hour. A couple of features [never used] that I found when poking around had pop ups that said not in operation due to a partial download of an update.

Can anyone help with updating my Sharp? I am stumped. Thanks

Nobody has answered my question yet. I stopped by to check. I guess I could compare customer service between Sony and Sharp now that I talked to both on the phone. When I called SHARP to ask about the download problem I was told to put the firmware download on a flash drive and stick it in any USB that is empty and go from there.

When I first got the TV and the player [detailed in my prior post,] I couldn't play a movie and could only see black on the TV screen. I called Sony and told the man what my problem was. He didn't seem hurried like Sharp did. He asked for all the details including hookup. He asked if I had time and a portable phone so that he could walk me through the setup of the Sony Player from the beginning. He said that it makes little sense to attempt to correct one operation without starting from the beginning to make sure everything is working properly. I said, isn't that going to keep you on the phone for a long time? I don't mind but you might because I am not well learned [?] in electronics. His answer was that he had to work X number of hours no matter what he was doing so don't worry. I graduated from Sony 3D Blu ray Player Academy about one and a half hours later. I can't say enough nice things about Sony Customer Service. Not only did he set everything up but he taught me how to use it along the way.

I wonder if everyone uses the Sony Crackle for FREE movies? Pretty nice deal. The movies are free as long as you don't mind 5 or 6 fifteen second commercials during first run movies. That's right Fifteen seconds. The story is that Crackle used to be a pay movie site like Hulu or Netflix but they decided to go with short commercials for revenue and have the movies free. It's a real bargain. Well that's it for me. Please solve my update problem. Some people here have probably had this same thing happen to them. Thanks, Joe

djrichrok,

Now I have started getting messages that nothing can be found on the flash drive. I'm giving up on calling Sharp, maybe a letter will get someone's attention. If it's OK with you I'll use your post, anonymously, as an example of others' complaints in my letter. I'll let you know if I hear anything. Joe

djrichrok, 8traxrule, Sharpsucks,

Well, I did get several things started. I spent some time in Google picking out someone from The Sharp Corporation to be the recipient of my next letter. I did some multi-tasking [this is a great time to throw some business lingo around to impress] While doing that I came across one of those "contact us" options for Sharp. So I filled in all the info and this one allowed up to 1000 characters to explain the issue. Then I joined The Sharp Aquos Advantage something or other. It is some kind of complimentary thing to make people owning certain model Sharps feel that are, IMHO, extra special. What the heck, we already knew we were special!

While still feeling as though I had been anointed by the Pope, I received an Email from Sharp and was surprised to read that the first line said, "Unfortunately, there have been many issues with the firmware updates." I have to give them credit for not attempting to minimize the situation or put the blame on some customers who might not be electrical engineers. The letter went on to say that I should call and that this situation now had a case number. I called and for almost an hour they telephonically walked me through various procedures on the TV. It started with unplugging the set and then plugging it back in while one finger is on the input button and another finger on the negative volume button [on the set itself] while watching the screen for the letter "K" before releasing my fingers. Instructions continued on through more settings than I can recall and then we got to the one where I would ask for a manual download. It started off fine but ended just as all the rest...at 67%. Then I was told to get my flash drive ready and I would receive a call back in 30 seconds. I never did get that call. I left the TV sit that way for several hours while I used the PC and nothing changed. It just sat there at 67%. Then I got it out of that mode and attempted to go to Netflix, which we subscribe to, and we are now blocked from that due to the partial download problem. So we are now in worse shape than before. The regular cable channels through COX Cable are fine.

So that's it from here. I'll let you know what happens next. Joe

I wrote Sharp again to remind them that my case number should still be considered active and problems increased from the firmware down load attempts. I'm glad that they don't want to do the same thing over again. They do know that this situation is being discussed on various forums and specifically this one. I think that is a good thing. They wrote in part:

“Thank you for contacting Sharp Electronics Corporation's AQUOS support.
I am very sorry for the inconvenience that you are having with your Sharp TV.
We are currently aware of the issue that you are experiencing and are in the
process of working on correcting the issue. I have routed your case number
up for call back once they locate a resolution.”

I guess that we will have to wait for a fix. At least they know there are more than a few customers with this problem. Joe

TO EVERYONE HAVING A PROBLEM WITH FIRMWARE DOWNLOADS IN THEIR SHARP LC-60LE745U

I received a phone call today, Friday about 10:15 am, and the caller said that he was from Sharp Electronics. He said that they had developed a firmware update that has worked so far. He said that he has it on a 2 gig thumb drive and he would like to send it to me. He is going to ship it on Monday. The thumb drive also has complete installation instructions If this continues to work, I would think that Sharp will be sending these to everyone who complained and is on the list.

12/04/2012
The thumb drive from Sharp arrived yesterday. Attempted to install the update with negative results. The screen message said that there was no update on the drive. I put the USB drive into my PC to check it and found that it was completely empty. Blank! Wrote Sharp again. Joe

I just retrieved a phone message that said a 2nd USB would be sent to me. 12/11/12.

I received a new flash drive from Sharp. This is my second one from them. THIS ONE WORKED! It came with instructions that I followed: Turn TV off. Put flash drive in a slot on the back of TV. Unplug the TV. Have someone hold the "on" button on the TV side while the TV is plugged back in...the button should be held in the ON position until the screen fills with the "firmware update" in progress message. Let go of the button and the update will continue, while the screen is a green color, and finally the update is accepted and finished. I had to turn the TV off and back on again to get away from the green colored message screen. Everything works fine now.

I also received a letter that said to call if there were any problems. The phone number is 800-237-4277. Have your case number handy. Good luck to all. Joseph

Maybe two weeks ago I was given a way to download a firmware update. It was a somewhat complicated procedure, not using the normal way, but it didn't work. It seemed to be too old and the TV would not accept it. I'm not sure what they have posted now. I would think that update page is not up to date or they would not have sent the flash drive. The page should be fixed in the future because I doubt that they would continue to send flash drives in the future. The flash drive gave firmware update: 406U1212051 Joseph

Did you follow the directions that I posted where I have "THIS ONE WORKED" in bold letters? The post with directions is in one of the prior posts that I made. I received the thumb drive directly from Sharp so I am not sure about the downloads.