Furby (1998)/Troubleshooting

About	Technicals	Troubleshooting	Manual

Furby won't turn on[]

Replace batteries.

Minor stuck gears
- Gently move and turn various Furby parts - the beak, the eyes, and the ears up and down together.

Soft reset
- Press the reset button on the bottom of the Furby.
Hard restart (will reset name and all learned English)
- Hold Furby upside down
- Stick your finger in its mouth and hold down the tongue
- While holding down the tongue, press the reset button on the bottom of the Furby.
Motor force-start (easy)
- The simple approach is to insert a fresh set of batteries into the Furby, close the battery compartment door, and slap the back and bottom in careful but strong movements - that might take a few minutes.
Motor force-start (medium)
- Tip the Furby's top beak forwards. There should be a gear inside to the left.
- Turn the gear gently with a something small like a screwdriver.
Motor force-start (advanced)
- Skin your Furby.
- Remove the shell.
- On the front of the Furby, next to the bottom left of the beak, is a horizontal gear. Turn this gear anti-clockwise (to the right) at a medium to fast speed (carefully) for about 10 minutes. You will see the motor on the bottom right of the beak spin, and see the Furby go through different motions.
- Do a hard restart. If Furby still doesn't turn on, you can continue turning this gear for longer, Furbys have been known to turn on after 30 minutes of turning this gear.
Jammed gears
- Slap the bottom of the Furby.
- Skin your Furby.
- Remove the shell.
- Move the ears up and down together. The gears should move. If they do not, find the gear at fault and gently wiggle it and push it until it turns.
- Turn the motor gear anti-clockwise (see "Motor force-start (advanced)" above). The large, inside gears should start turning, making the whole Furby go through different motions. If they do not, find the gear at fault and gently wiggle it and push it until it turns.
Battery Compartment Adjustment
- If there's no effect after a long time, the battery compartment adjustment procedure might help.
Broken tilt sensor: A broken tilt sensor can prevent a Furby turning on due to a failsafe, where the tilt sensor reports an incorrect location. There are two or more types of tilt sensors used. One of those can be cleaned. You can find instructions here.

Furby says "Me Sleep Again" and goes back to sleep[]

This feature is known as MSA but it is sometime a fault with the tilt sensor. Click here for known solutions.

Glitched voice[]

1998 Furbys have no way of detecting when the batteries are too low.
- Try replacing the batteries with a fresh, alkaline set.
The speaker may be broken. It may be replaced with another Furby's, or with any 32-ohm, 0.5W^{[image needed]} speaker of a matching size.
The circuit to the speakers may be damaged or cut off.
If your Furby has an RL factory code, this might be a common issue dubbed the RL "special-edition" bug (it's a misnomer: the special editions aren't the only ones known to be affected).

Furby powers on, but only cycles through movements repeatedly

This has been referred to as a Furby going through a "boot loop", "magic dance", or trying to find its "home position".
Normally, Furby will cycle through all of its movements once or twice when powered on as part of startup operation. However, an issue with the Furby's sync screw may cause it to endlessly cycle through its movements until the batteries are removed or the reset button is pressed.
- As noted in this guide, the sync screw's contacts may not be touching (or are touching too much) when Furby reaches its "home position", or due to malfunction or debris, are not producing electricity when touching. Furby will not recognize "home position" and continue to try finding it until it is reset or its batteries are removed.
- Using the guide above, with discretion, clean and/or carefully adjust the sync screw as needed and test Furby's startup periodically.
- This video guide also instructs on how to adjust the sync screw.
- Note: This may or may not solve the problem, as there could be other malfunctions causing the issue. More research is needed to identify all issues associated with Furby experiencing a boot loop.
- Depending on the factory that produced the Furby, and differences between generation models of the 1998 Furby, sync screw apparatuses may differ in appearance. Be sure that you recognize the sync screw before adjusting any screw in the Furby.

Battery Compartment Corrosion[]

Gently scrub the corrosion with a toothbrush or q-tip dipped in vinegar, or another substance such as coca cola, lemon juice, or apple juice vinegar. Do not apply to much liquid at once, or let too much drain inside the Furby.

Design errors[]

Other known issues are known bugs, glitches, and design errors, and may not be able to be fixed.

Fur discoloration[]

Furby fur and plastic may become sunbleached.