What to do when your EV3 stops working – LEGO Engineering (2024)

The EV3 brick is a wonderful piece of technology, but like all technology, it sometimes has glitches. Here are some possible problems starting, stopping, and connecting the EV3 brick, with suggested solutions.

Starting/stopping issues:

1. The EV3 brick is dead after a battery change. The battery connection may be bad. Check the battery springs to make sure that none of them got bent during the battery change.
2. When started, the EV3 flashes red briefly then dies. If you have the Education version, the problem may be a defective battery pack. Early shipments of the kits included a defective rechargeable battery, which LEGO Education will replace.
3. The EV3 brick’s display says “starting” but never progresses beyond that point. You need to reload the firmware. Follow these steps:
   1. Remove the battery and then reinsert it.
   2. Hold down the Center and Right buttons until the display says “Updating…”
   3. Open the EV3 Software and plug the EV3 brick into the computer via USB.
   4. Update the firmware by selecting Firmware Update in the Tools drop-down menu.
4. The EV3 brick gets stuck during a firmware update and the update never completes. To fix the problem, manually update the firmware. Open the EV3 Software and connect your EV3 to the computer via USB, then follow these instructions from the EV3 User’s Guide:
   1. Hold down the Back, Center, and Right buttons on the EV3Brick.
   2. When the EV3 brick restarts, release the Back button.
   3. When the screen says “Updating,” release the Center and Right buttons and click the Download button in the Firmware Updatetool. The firmware will be downloaded to your EV3 Brick, whichwill restart itself.
   4. If the manual firmware update does not make your EV3 brick workthe first time, repeat the manual update process.
5. The EV3 brick stops working and will not turn off. Perform a manual reset. From the EV3 User’s Guide: Resetting the EV3 brick does not delete existing files and projectsfrom previous sessions in the EV3 brick memory. Files and projectsfrom the existing session will be lost.
   1. Make sure that the EV3 brick is turned on.
   2. Hold down the Back, Center, and Left buttons on the EV3 brick.
   3. When the screen goes blank, release the Back button.
   4. When the screen says “Starting,” release the Center and Left buttons.

Connection issues:

1. The EV3 brick is not recognized by the computer after a firmware update. Check the box in the lower right-hand corner. If it says “EV3 Firmware Update,” click on the Available Brick tab and switch to “EV3”.
2. The EV3 Software will not launch after it is installed, but instead gives an error message. You may have a problem with Silverlight. Try uninstalling and reinstalling Silverlight and the EV3 Software.
3. The computer “beeps” when the EV3 is connected, but thedrivers donot recognize the brick. You may have a damaged port, caused by trying to force the EV3 cable in upside down.(Thank you to Damien Kee for the information and photo.)
4. You are using a Windows computer and get a “communication failure” message when you try to connect with the EV3 brick. There may be a conflict with the antivirus software or some other application. Try turning off the antivirus software to see if that fixes the problem. Try restarting your computer using Selective Startup.
5. You are using a Mac and the Bluetooth connection will not work.If you are using the Home version of the EV3 Software, try updating the firmware, which should fix the problem with Bluetooth running on the newer Mac operating systems. If you are using the education version, an updated version of the firmware should be released in the next couple of months.

And finally, here are some general things to try when you encounter a problem:

1. Remove and reinstall the battery.
2. Restart the EV3 Software.
3. Do a manual reset of the EV3 brick. See #5 in starting/stopping issues above for detailed instructions.
4. And, of course, you can contact your local LEGO Education distributor.