Yes FREE! With charging dock and battery.

The catch: You provide me with a solution to get the unit out of a constant state of 'Loading system files...'; something their ignorant tech support cannot accomplish and were not even willing to offer for me to send in for repair.

Why? Because we are officially done with URC and their shit support/products as of yesterday at 2:30 PM.

Background: I needed to go to a clients house to do some updates to 6 of their URC MX980's. Five of the units went perfectly fine. This unit locked up with the above error. I tried: loading a blank file, loading a default file, Watch/Enter press and hold, reset button, remove battery while performing reset and Watch/Enter...all to no avail. I finally surrendered to calling tech support. The call went like this:

Me: I have a locked up MX-980 that is stuck on 'Loading system files...'

T.S.: New or old unit?

Me: 3-4 years old

T.S.: Have you tried...(proceeds to list what I've done)

Me: Yes, tried all of those before calling you

T.S.: Hang on

T.S.: Unfortunately there is nothing we can do

Me: (in jest) Well, I guess I will just throw it away then?

T.S.: That's all you can do.

Me: (Click)

So...as stated above, figure it out and it's yours shipped for free in the continental U.S. Let's see if anyone is better than the idiot on the other end of the phone who I had to deal with. BTW, if you're reading this URC...time to retain better employees; the guy I spoke with talked like he was a reject from YO! MTV Raps and did not care if this issue was resolved or not. We have several hundred units in the field...there will be no more from my company.

I have one that functions perfectly except the screen is broken which makes it worthless unless you have a superb memory.

I wonder how hard it is to change the screen and make one out of two?

Not saying either of these will fix the issue, but worth trying.

1) try a battery from a different remote. Perhaps a very weak battery not allowing for proper bootup.

2) loading a default file from a different computer. I am sure we have all had issues where one computer had an issue where another did not during programming/uploading.

Can't say I have seen this issue before though, so interested in the fix if there is one.

Not sure about the 980, but I was at a small job to cleanup the wiring on a system for a new client. They had a MX850 with a cracked screen, and a non-functioning MX700. I took both apart and swapped screens. Worked perfectly. Was incredibly easy to do. Once I opened the remote and unscrewed the board from the front casing, the screen just swings free and is connected by a ribbon cable. Just disconnect the ribbon cable, transfer to good remote and replace screws I removed.

980 is easy to change screens, I've done it a couple times

If anyone figures out the loading thing I have 2 Mx-450s in the same state. One was a month out of warranty the other was a few years old.

 Tweeter if you need a replacement, I've got one in perfect condition laying around.  


I'm glad I'm not the only one calling these companies out for lackluster performance of "superior" products, whether it be the unit itself of the support that goes along with it.  

Enough to make a person want to pull their hair out.

there used to be a sequence for hard rebooting of the remotes - something to the effect of pull battery, press main (as the case may be) until all power memory drains out of the remote. continue holding it and reinsert battery, keeping holding, begin trying to download a blank mx file to the remote,

followed by downloading normally after that.

- I've not done this on an MX980 but have on 810's as well as many 700's 800's 850's

Good luck

It sounds like the system files got corrupted but they are intact enough that it still detects the system when you download a new config so all it sends is the new config. If you could get it to also download the system files like it does when there's a firmware update it may clear it up but I'm not sure how you could force it to do that.

One idea though - are you using CCP? If so, maybe try downloading a blank config using the basic MX-980 Editor instead. It may not recognize the state of the remote and might force a full download of the system files as well. Assuming that brings it back to life you should be able to once again download the proper config using CCP.

Good suggestion. I had an 880 in this state and was able to download from a different computer a basic file. Then I had to email the computer that worked the file i needed and download the file from that computer. It finally worked. Something my computer was doing. I downloaded to 3 remotes this week with my computer with no issues. Have no idea what happened.

I always ask for another tech. I think I know which one you talked to.

I thought I read or was told about a Safe Mode- IIRC, remove the battery, press and hold the power ON button and re-insert the battery, letting it reboot. Then, do a firmware update while in Safe Mode before removing the battery and re-inserting it normally.

Or, is that just Harmony?

980 has no boot loader/safe mode. many URC remotes do though....


Doesnt excuse the rudeness of the tech guy.

I had a similar issue with a 980 this wek as well. Older unit, just sits there and flashes sometimes. if the bateryis pulled for 30+ minutes, it seems to boot up and run fine for a while.. then reverts back to just flashing....

Was told there was nothing they could do since the unit was out of warranty.

Post this on AVS, IP, and URC Control Room and you'll have all bases covered....

Tweeterguy,

My name is Antonio, employee of URC. I have tried contacting you via email and private message to see if we can come to some resolution to your issue. Please contact me at your earliest convenience.

I know very well who you spoke to..  About as indifferent as a human gets. Couldn't give two f*(ks if your issue is resolved, if the info he gives you is right or wrong (even when you call him on it 30 seconds later), I don't think he'd even care if someone died while on the phone with him.  I usually ask for another tech or just hang up and spin the roulette wheel a second time.  Kinda like dealing with support in India I guess..  

Except with an American accent.  Sort of.