Brand new Z12 Ultra throwing a tantrum!!?? HELP me please :-)

Just got my brand new Z12 out of the box and plugged it in for the first time. Went through the setup, it then downloaded and installed an update. Once that was done, I arrived at the home screen - so far, so good.

But then within a minute before I'd done anything except look, I get an error message:

0000001FED52E This product is not for sale outside EU/UK. Contact your seller.

Ridiculously, it's on the screen for only 5 seconds before the box shut down! The first time I didn't have time to grab my phone to take a photo of the message. Turned it off and back on, I then get:

"System shutdown initiated... Reason: Returning to last known power status before AC power loss... Press BACK or OK to cancel automatic shutdown."

There was no 'power loss' - the thing shut itself down!! And it shuts down again unless I cancel it. If I do cancel, within a minute I get the "not for sale outside..." message again, and once more it shuts down!

Here's the rub: I live in the UK. And there is nothing at all weird with my home broadband or anything, I don't ever even use a VPN. Just a bog standard British home with full fibre broadband.

What the hell is going on? Have searched in the support section of this website for both the error code and message I am getting - no hits.

More worryingly, from that 'Formuler support center' page there appears to be NO WAY to actually contact Formuler, to get support - or am I missing something? I should be able to contact the manufacturer to get help with a product issue like this - not have to turn to a forum to seek help. This box appears to be broken, and should be under warranty, but how do I actually contact Formuler?

Not impressed, this is going back unless I can find answers soon...

Thanks in advance for any help offered it is much appreciated!!!

Quote from SAM

The Box must go back to seller so or so, because your box is not for EU/UK. Ask for refund or he should give you new Box for UK Market.

Thanks very much to all three of you above for taking the time to message.

Sam - the problem is the opposite of what you and others are saying here; the error message I get is "0000001FED52E This product is not for sale outside EU/UK". So - it's a box 'geoblocked' to make it work in the EU and UK only, complaining and refusing to work because it's being used in the UK! This of course makes no sense.

This is then a manufacturer issue, there is something clearly wrong here with their product, it's being used in the market it's intended for but is blocking its use. If I buy a TV and something technically odd like this happens, I contact tech support at the manufacturer e.g. Sony, not the retailer I purchased it from - especially if I want to troubleshoot the issue, not assume from the outset it needs a swap out. And from a sustainability POV I will always want to try fix first, not junk it!

Like Yas786, mine was purchased from Amazon UK. Sure, if the box was saying you're in the UK and I'm a variant that is not designed to work in the UK, then you contact the retailer - as they are selling dodgy product.

Is it correct that as far as I can see, there are zero ways to actually contact the manufacturer - and so they don't actually support their boxes, but depend on the goodwill of volunteers such as yourselves to do their tech support work for them? If so, that's not good! I'm also not impressed that they are doing this geoblocking - what if I then move to say the States and take all my stuff with me, as I actually did for work a little earlier in life? My Z12 then refuses to work, and it's toast? I am rapidly going off the way Formuler does business...

Quote from SAM

if something goes bad everything possible is pulled out and questioned

SAM, that's a bit unfair? All you have here is someone completely new to a Formuler box - and so to this forum - who is a little upset, because on first use of a Z12 Ultra, in the UK, the box complains because it's "not for sale outside EU/UK". And then it just shuts down, and that's that - it now appears to be toast! Surely that's not an unreasonable reaction, but one that is understandable? The only other comment I've made, when something nonsensical like this happens, that's a question for the manufacturer, not the seller - and then you find they seem to offer no support.

And after only my second post on this thread, pointing out politely that you've misread my original message, telling me "The Box must go back to seller so or so, because your box is not for EU/UK" when I've posted that the box is telling me it is ONLY for the EU/UK (and I'm in the UK) - to then say to me "We can discus about this next 12 Months" is also rather unfair?

I thought such forums were intended to help each other - not jump to wrong conclusions, or quickly start to have a go at someone, especially someone new who is struggling with a problem not of their own making.

Anyway... my main reason for posting again is to record the successful diagnosis yesterday of what happened here, in case it's of use to anyone else getting the same issue in future. I sorted this with the help of UK online retailer https://www.world-of-satellite.co.uk/ who it turns out are the importer of Formuler devices for the UK market.

We got this nonsensical message from the box because it turns out the first time we connected and booted it up in my son's home, his VPN was on. Formuler sees this and concludes that trickery is afoot, trying to use the box in a market it's not designed for - and so it shuts down.

Questions for Formuler that arise from this:

1. If the box is going to instantly object and become a piece of toast when it boots up and sees a VPN in use, why isn't there a piece of paper inside the box warning this will happen - and so to turn your VPN off. Just because a user is using a VPN doesn't automatically mean they are trying to use your box in a country they shouldn't be.
2. Also when the box sees a VPN, why does the error message it pops up ONLY insist it's shutting down because it must be being used in a country for which it's not intended? Why not also flag that this may also be due to a VPN - which if you're in the correct market for the box, means all you need to do is turn the VPN off? Would also be SO helpful if they displayed the message for rather longer than 5 seconds before shutting down - that doesn't give anywhere near enough time to grab your phone to take a pic of the message!
3. Rather than going into 'toast mode' as soon as it sniffs a VPN, who don't we get a specific warning message telling us to turn off the VPN then reboot and try again?
4. And more importantly, when the box does shut done after detecting a VPN, why on next boot up if the VPN has been turned off doesn't the box simply recognise that and then work fine?

All this is very doable - and would be so much more helpful to the new user who isn't trying to do anything dodgy such as using a grey import! So I am still not impressed by Formuler, and make no apologies for that, this is just sloppy on their part.

In case anything like this happens to anyone else, World of Satellite told me the only way to get the box out of 'toast mode' is for them as supplier to contact Formuler to reset it.

Thank you henkie for the kind words, much appreciated.

Sadly something that needs seller involvement when seller has done nothing wrong is not for me - what happens if I get a technical issue in say 6 or 9 months time? A seller such as Amazon is very unlikely to be willing to get involved at that point. I'm not interested in giving my business to a manufacturer that seemingly offers no support. And does nothing to forewarn about how gravely their product will respond if it sniffs a VPN!

Seems to have attracted a very loyal, passionate following on here though - I'm happy for you guys! But I will look elsewhere, all I want is something to organise and play my own media...