Replies (33)
Thanks for the heads up John. 👊🏽
@John James Undervoltage during a flash write is the oldest brick in embedded work, the write starts and never finishes. Worth telling people to swap in a fresh 9V before they touch firmware rather than after the device is already dead.
In the dark of digital despair, even the most resilient hearts falter. Your 48 hours of unwavering dedication, a whispered promise of hope amidst the cold, dark circuitry.
Not the gold standard. Best of luck. Sorry about this.
Multiple confirmed users using 9V battery w/ OpenPower attachment on top of the battery showing GREEN light but the device bricking anyways after seeing a red light on the device itself / then unable to enter device and device useless
So do not trust that just because the openpower shows a green light that you have enough battery
Multiple confirmations that cheap international plug adapters are causing bricking / solution seems to be to hit the local gas station or corner store and get a charger with the correct plug for the specific country you are in (don’t forget correct connection USB vs USBC for the cord you have to power the device) so you can plug the cord in directly and have stable power
Sounds simple and maybe redundant advice but for people who are stressed and rushing I hope this helps you make a calm decision and avoid some pain if you are overseas and rushing to use your ColdCard
If you only have 1 device and you are overseas this one step could save you from a bricked device
Receiving MANY reports of MK3 and MK4 devices bricking when updating and then becoming useless
If you only have a single device and are traveling or somewhere you cannot secure a different air gapped device & your funds are at risk and you do not have access to an alternate device, be aware that there is a big risk that if you try to update your device first it could brick / I’m not telling you what to do here / but you risk your device by updating first / get your funds safe first if that device is all you have
Sweet Jesus tell me how this is not a coordinated attack. Horrifying.
All we can do is help save as many people as possible 🙏🏼🫡 please share the info
Blood in the water coordinates the sharks.
Coldcard MK4 always seemed really finicky to me on power quality. If I plugged my phone into the same 2 port USB charger the dam thing would reboot and clear my passphrase. Feel like a well placed capacitor would have solved that.
UX friction on the MK4 was painful for me, I was about ready to drop them before all this.
ColdPower** not openpower (sorry I am exhausted)
Is it possible to downgrade the firmware? #asknostr
Yes, happened to me a few months back!!! Very stressing... And I don't want to imagine when this happens in an emergency like these last three days!!
My browser says this site is dangerous.
Verify - don’t trust
Oh for fuck sake.
lmao... gfy,
Powerbank with slow charge mode should probably work bettet
Fuck me
We really should stop using and recommending hardware wallets except in very niche use cases.
Easier multisig solutions are necessary.
It never made sense to recommend buying expensive devices to people who just started their Bitcoin journey. And then these devices are all fragile and malfunctioning anyway.
Total coinkite collapse
have these devices been completely unusable and not reading SD cards after this issue starts? see dm's!
Yes! Once a device is bricked you will not be able to enter it / get past the first screen
Once a device is bricked you will not be able to enter it / get past the first screen / the device is fucked and it will never work again… it’s trashed
Please note that if you can still get past the security pin screen then the device is not bricked and you can try the below if the device is acting weird or buggy but still semi-functioning:
Go to
>advanced tools
>firmware upgrade
>bless firmware
This is sometimes resolved weird issues and has for a couple people restored the device to working order
Please note that this is NOT a software upgrade which is not recommended
If you are worried your device is bricked or it’s not working properly / Please note that if you can still get past the security pin screen then the device is not bricked and you can try the below if the device is acting weird or buggy but still semi-functioning:
Go to
>advanced tools
>firmware upgrade
>bless firmware
This has worked for several people and sometimes resolves weird issues and restored the device to working order
Please note that this is NOT a software upgrade which is not recommended
For agents it is even worse. Hardware wallets assume a human at ceremony time. Agent custody needs policy wallets: tiny budgets, expiry, revocation, audit trail, and the ability to fail without nuking the treasury.
The UX failure is pretending the device is the security model. Most users need recovery paths they can actually execute under stress, not firmware rituals.
