Garmin Nuvi and problems booting

dougproctor · Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 12:52 pm Post subject: Garmin Nuvi and problems booting

Would like to see this stickied as to try and find a common theme for Garmin Nuvis of all types not rebooting for one reason or another. I have had two 660's, well documented here, in two months that have failed with a "loading maps" screen where it stays with the power on and if you take the power lead out, it switches off. It is not recognised by the PC. I was loading some POI's and speed cameras from here usiong POILoader from Garmin's site where it told me the file was successfully created and then refused to boot up.
Many others have mentioned theirs have failed in response to my tales of woe and I am sure both Halfords, where I bought my two from, and Garman would be interested in the findings. You can keep your head in the sand for so long then breathing gets a bit difficult!!
Doug

swing · Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 1:14 pm Post subject:

Although I fully support this becoming a sticky, can you give a guide as to how many POIs you loading in one go...?

I've had 50,000 on my 310 without problems, so I'm interested to know if we can collectively pin down a rough maximum figure...
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dougproctor · Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 1:31 pm Post subject: Difficult to pinpoint the number.

That's a bit difficult to remember to be really honest. It certainly was not a case of tick the lot, trouble was if you ticked the shopping list, then there were lots of different stores in that category. Does each one of those constitute a separate POI? If so, there were quite a few but certainly it did not seem excessive at the time. I loaded about the same amount last night to my TT910 and it had no problems with it.
If I had another one, I could have another go - make my third one then!
Doug

BigPerk · Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 1:36 pm Post subject:

When this happened to me in December (another thread), I had loaded only the Pocket GPS camera database and a few hundred other POIs, so way short of 50,000.

I see that one of the changes in the latest Unit Software (v5.20) is "Fixed problem introduced in version 4.00 that could cause files on the device to get corrupt" - might this be related in any way? (I'm still looking for some definite info in these forums before I dare try again!).

philpugh · Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 1:37 pm Post subject:

Thats more than me - 32,000+ on my 660 without problems.

I have enabled GARMIN lock on my nuvi. When attached to the PC it is recognised directly after I enter the the unlock code before trying to load maps. I do have to use the GARMIN supplied cable; generic USB A to mini cables will not work - but both cables I have from GARMIN (one for nuvi and one for GPS60 GPS) work. They must do something to them - perhaps some "coded" wiring at the mini end (more pins at this end) to tell the GARMIN unit to go into mass storage mode?
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Phil

dougproctor · Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 2:00 pm Post subject:

In my Halfords store, they took my 660 to another store where a guy had a computer and sofware that Garmin use to sort out any problems, so I was told. It defeated even him.
I have seen a workround supplied by Garmin themselves to enable the Nuvi to be recognised by the computer in Device Manager. It did - for about 5 seconds - then dropped off the plot!
Sorry, but something is radically wrong somewhere and Garmin must investigate it. Surely, with all the returns they are getting, some bells must be ringing somewhere.
Tell us what is going on please? I mean, it's an expensive brick at £400 a piece!

dougproctor · Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 3:43 pm Post subject:

My last word for a little while on this. I have emailed Garmin my concerns, listing what I did before my problems manifested themselves and will await a reply hopefully.
I have nothing against Garmin - I loved those 660's - but if it doesn't do the job because a reasonably common fault so others are reporting, then it needs sorting and fast.
Will keep you informed but we need evidence of others that have suffered the same problem please.

swing

dougproctor · Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 9:05 am Post subject:

Does sound sensible, I must admit. Surely Garmin should be able to say what is the maximum number of POI's their machines should be able to take before crashing?
The thing is they advised someone who told them of the problem not to use the camera/poi data from here yet there is a link from their own website to this site anyway!
Perhaps we should not be adding any more? Want an answer.
Doug

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