Electron endlessly blinking cyan (used to work fine before)

Troubleshooting
1

Particle Electron issue “Endlessly blinking Cyan” 11/4/2017

I deployed my first Particle Electron with my application code flashed over-the-air (OTA) without any problems, and it continues to work fine.
I purchased a second Particle Electron and set it up. Tinker and Console access worked ok.
The next day I flashed the second Electron OTA with the same application code as the first one, and it never came up healthy.
Symptoms:
After reset, the Electron

  1. lights up white for about 1 sec, then
  2. blinks green for 25 sec, then
  3. blinks cyan for about 90 sec
  4. 3 very short blinks of orange (could be yellow?)
  5. repeats cycle starting at 2) above forever

As suggested in Particle Community threads
SOLVED - Blinking Cyan Bursting Red Flicker
[SOLVED] Electron high frequency flashing in cyan

I tried the following

  1. Reset
  2. Complete power shutdown (disconnect battery and USB for 60 sec) then power up
  3. Disconnect and carefully reconnect the antenna
  4. Remove and carefully re-insert the SIM card (while powered off)
  5. Move to a location with known strong cellular signal
  6. After installing dfu-util with the Windows installer, run these
    commands from the Windows command line (no errors, see Log01 below)
    particle keys server
    particle keys doctor xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <-- my actual device ID here, of course
  7. After installing dfu-util with the Windows installer, run this
    command (no errors, see Log02 below)
    particle doctor

None of the steps above fixed the problem, the symptoms remain.

The second one of the Particle Community threads above suggest (ScruffR, response # 61,62,63)
“Particle has just confirmed that there is an issue with some SIMs and you’ll get a replacement SIM”

I don’t know how to contact Particle, and the Support site sends me here, to the community forum.
Please indicate what I should do next.

--------------------------Start Log 01--------------------------------------------------------------
C:\OpenSSL-Win32\bin>particle keys server
Found DFU device 2b04:d00a
spawning dfu-util -d 2b04:d00a -a 1 -i 0 -s 3298 -D C:\Users\Tom\AppData\Local\particle\node_modules\particle-cli\keys\ec.pub.der
dfu-util 0.8

Copyright 2005-2009 Weston Schmidt, Harald Welte and OpenMoko Inc.
Copyright 2010-2014 Tormod Volden and Stefan Schmidt
This program is Free Software and has ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY
Please report bugs to dfu-util@lists.gnumonks.org

Opening DFU capable USB device...
ID 2b04:d00a
Run-time device DFU version 011a
Claiming USB DFU Interface...
Setting Alternate Setting #1 ...
Determining device status: state = dfuIDLE, status = 0
dfuIDLE, continuing
DFU mode device DFU version 011a
Device returned transfer size 4096
DfuSe interface name: "DCT Flash   "
Downloading to address = 0x00000ce2, size = 320
Download        [=========================] 100%          320 bytes
Download done.
File downloaded successfully
Invalid DFU suffix signature
A valid DFU suffix will be required in a future dfu-util release!!!
Okay!  New keys in place, your device will not restart.

C:\OpenSSL-Win32\bin>particle keys doctor 3c0033000447373037383633
Found DFU device 2b04:d00a
Found DFU device 2b04:d00a
New Key Created!
Found DFU device 2b04:d00a
This file already exists, please specify a different file, or use the --force flag.
Continuing...
spawning dfu-util -d 2b04:d00a -a 1 -i 0 -s 3106:leave -D 3c0033000447373037383633_ec_new.der
dfu-util 0.8

Copyright 2005-2009 Weston Schmidt, Harald Welte and OpenMoko Inc.
Copyright 2010-2014 Tormod Volden and Stefan Schmidt
This program is Free Software and has ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY
Please report bugs to dfu-util@lists.gnumonks.org

Opening DFU capable USB device...
ID 2b04:d00a
Run-time device DFU version 011a
Claiming USB DFU Interface...
Setting Alternate Setting #1 ...
Determining device status: state = dfuIDLE, status = 0
dfuIDLE, continuing
DFU mode device DFU version 011a
Device returned transfer size 4096
DfuSe interface name: "DCT Flash   "
Downloading to address = 0x00000c22, size = 121
Download        [=========================] 100%          121 bytes
Download done.
File downloaded successfully
Invalid DFU suffix signature
A valid DFU suffix will be required in a future dfu-util release!!!
Saved!
attempting to add a new public key for device 3c0033000447373037383633
submitting public key succeeded!
Okay!  New keys in place, your device should restart.

C:\OpenSSL-Win32\bin>
-------------------------------------------------------End Log01-------------------------------

------------------------------------------Start Log02-------------------------------------------------
C:\OpenSSL-Win32\bin>particle doctor
The Device Doctor will put your device back into a healthy state
It will:
  - Upgrade system firmware
  - Flash the default Tinker app
  - Reset the device and server keys
  - Clear the Wi-Fi settings

The Doctor will operate on your Electron connected over USB
You'll be asked to put your device in DFU mode several times to reset different settings.

Updating system firmware

Put the device in DFU mode
Tap RESET/RST while holding MODE/SETUP until the device blinks yellow.
? Select Continue when ready Continue

> Your device is ready for a system update.
> This process should take about 30 seconds. Here it goes!

! System firmware update successfully completed!

> Your device should now restart automatically.


Flashing the Device Doctor app

This app allows changing more settings on your device

Put the device in DFU mode
Tap RESET/RST while holding MODE/SETUP until the device blinks yellow.
? Select Continue when ready Continue

Flash success!

Clear all data in EEPROM storage

? Select Continue when ready Continue
Cleared EEPROM data


Resetting server and device keys

Put the device in DFU mode
Tap RESET/RST while holding MODE/SETUP until the device blinks yellow.
? Select Continue when ready Continue
Okay!  New keys in place, your device will not restart.
New Key Created!
Saved!
Saved!
attempting to add a new public key for device 3c0033000447373037383633
submitting public key succeeded!
Okay!  New keys in place, your device should restart.

Flashing the default Particle Tinker app

Put the device in DFU mode
Tap RESET/RST while holding MODE/SETUP until the device blinks yellow.
? Select Continue when ready Continue

Flash success!

The Doctor has restored your device!

> Please visit our community forums if your device still can't connect to the Particle cloud
https://community.particle.io/

C:\OpenSSL-Win32\bin>
---------------------------------------------End Log02-----------------------------------------
2
  1. Are you using a particle SIM?
  2. What is the colour/mode on the RGB LED?
3

Yes, it’s a genuine Particle SIM.
The color code is blinking (not breathing) CYAN.
Please see my situation update (next message)

4

Situation update 11/6/2017:

  1. Particle Support has taken on the case, ticket # 51584.
  2. After 3 days of blinking cyan (cell connection ok but no internet) the Electron miraculously started breathing cyan (fully connected) without my intervention. Console and tinker work, I flashed my code and that works fine, too.
    I have no idea what the problem was and will post another update here if anything surfaces.
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