Locked Out of a X980T newedition

mike_harding · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 05, 2008 Posts: 8

I have just purchased a new Via Michelin x980T new edition from Kwikfit (yes I am aware of the limited life of this device but was impressed by the feedback on this forum and wanted the Michelin recommendations and guides for Europe). Having once set the device up using the disc and had a play with the menus etc, I then tried to reconnect it to the manager and found I could no longer communicate with the device. Now when it switches on and is not connected to the pc via usb it states on the screen ‘No map found’ and ‘change map’. When connected to the pc it screeches and a screen displaying a red circle with diagonal red line through it over a picture of the SD card being inserted in to the device is displayed. I can get no further and get an endless cycle of messages asking me to insert the SD card, connect the device etc etc.
I have clearly made several fatal decisions in my haste to get this thing going, but faced with continued defiance to connect, I tried the reset suggestions detailed in the manual that came in the package. I used both methods to no avail. I have uninstalled the software on my laptop and now can no longer reinstall it because the device and the laptop cannot communicate! Obviously I have been too hasty with my resetting and reinstallation attempts and I fear there may be no way back without a new SD card. However on the off chance that one of you experts have been through a similar experience and have been able to recover without waiting for a new card can anyone point me in a direction of a method which will enable me to breathe life in to a well wounded device?
Thanks in anticipation.

Mike Harding

BigPerk · Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 10:42 am Post subject:

I hope you get the advice you need (I haven't got any solutions offhand at the moment). In the meantime I would suggest you look at the following (if you haven't already) to see if there are any helpful clues:

- Full User Manual (download from the same website). This gives COMPLETE details of the installation procedures, and lots of other detailed info you will find useful once you are up and running again;

- the various threads on here which discuss relate to connection problems (the two longest threads are a good starting point, and others may help if the topic sounds relevant).

- Help Q&A section on the VM website;

It would be useful as well if you could give details of your laptop here to help anyone who might be able to help you (eg operating system, model).

Good Luck!
_________________
David
(Navigon 70 Live, Nuvi 360)

mike_harding · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 05, 2008 Posts: 8

David,
Many thanks for your help. I’d started on some of your pointers after my first post and will certainly follow them all up in due course. After all I cannot speak to anyone till Monday so I may as well use trail and hopefully not too many more errors. Stupid of me to have omitted PC details. I am using an Acer Travelmate laptop (Dual core etc etc so plenty of grunt, memory and storage) running Vista Home premium which in turn seems to use Windows Mobile device centre to connect to the 980. I’m not that familiar with Vista so I might try a fresh attempt on my Windows XP pro machine in a moment to see if I have more joy.
Thanks again - keep thinking
Kind Regards
Mike Harding

BigPerk · Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 11:38 am Post subject:

Mike,

I wondered if you were on Vista. You will find a number of posts in a couple of threads about some problems people have had with this OS and laptops - I believe progress has been made (but as I'm XP - at the moment! - I've not looked in any detail).
_________________
David
(Navigon 70 Live, Nuvi 360)

mike_harding · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 05, 2008 Posts: 8

Well for the benefit of those who are looking for solutions to similar problems, I regret that I’ve not cured my problem. I have not been able to re-establish communication between the 980 and the PC.
I have studied the on line manual (a vast improvement on the documentation that came with the device), studied threads with similar tales of woe, I have tried reinstalling the whole lot using my Windows machine, I have restored my Vista to a time just after the first successful installation and again to a slot just before the problems occurred all to no avail. Nothing has solved the basic problem of a lack of communication between PC and 980. Clearly I have shot the SD card somehow when trying to reconnect to the management software.
I will try to speak to someone at ViaMichelin on Monday - (I hope the phones are still manned despite the immanent redundancy of many of the original team!).
I must admit to being extremely disappointed at the ease with which I managed to stuff up the device and apparently destroy the SD card. I had high hopes for this device despite the obvious reluctance on the part of ViaMichelin to remain in the business.
Many thanks for your input David.
Kind Regards
Mike Harding

vizzair · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 22, 2007 Posts: 20

Having had problems with software on sd cards from other products, the first thing I did before any upates was to clone the sd card.

I used software on XP called driveimage XML ( free stuff that makes a cloned image of any drive. ) I put the SD in a card reader and made the clone image, then put a new sd in the card reader and reproduced the image on the new card. This is now in a safe place away from the 'puter in fact its in another room. ( I tested it first of course )
Now if I bork the card I can recover to the initial state with out having these sort of problems.

The content manager only seems to works if you have a good software on the sd card, so you can only reset if the unit boots OK, so if its corrupted you can't fix it ( catch 22 ).

Also try this..

Put something on the card using content manager..

Then "accidentally" delete it using the menu on the unit.
When you plug it back into the PC and it "sync's" with the content manager, it removes the content on the PC as well, so you lose all the content. ( some backup heh )

Viz

mike_harding · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 05, 2008 Posts: 8

Vizzair,
Thank you for your recommendations. I will certainly back up SD cards in future. I’ll pass on the experiment you suggest but I note the warning! I only hope there is someone left at ViaMichelin who knows enough about the product to talk me through a method for reinstatement/recovery of the software on this card so I can then make a back up otherwise I will have to send the whole lot back to them for them to replace the card and reset the keys it contains.
Regards
Mike

SpikeyMikey · Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 8:03 pm Post subject:

Hi,

If I've read your post correctly, the screen that you describe on the 980 when connected is what you should see when linked to the PC.

You then start Content Manager on the PC and it should give you the contents of the device.

I'm aware there are different problems with Vista from XP (which I use) and I hope that the pointers given by others earlier will help.

Good Luck
_________________
Mike
TT GO6000 (Europe); iPhone and iPad Pro with iOS TT GO & MyDrive + CamerAlert

mike_harding · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 05, 2008 Posts: 8

Mike,
Thanks for the additional pointers. I agree that the screen on the 980 is what might be expected and from what I can tell by ‘exploring’ the 980 storage card from my pc a limited amount of dialogue is going on between the pc and the 980. However, I long since deleted the content manager on my PC in an attempt to start again with a clean install. That, with 20-20 hind sight was one of my early mistakes because now I get in to a vicious circle with the set up programme stalling at the point where it wants to communicate with the 980 but thinks I still have to connect to it. Whereas in reality the sync centre has a green tick saying connected. So the installation is waiting for some sort of communication from the 980 before it can move on to the next stage of the install. Another early mistake was resorting to the various methods of ‘resetting’ the card as I cannot get much further with the install on my XP machine either!
I have been working through early posts. There are many where similar problems have been encountered and all sorts of remedies have been tried. After one recommendation I searched the files and deleted all I could find that mentioned Michelin as that cured the problem for one poster. Most though seem to have resorted to communicating with the help desk. I am now of the opinion that I shall talk to the helpful people in France on Monday morning. I will post the outcome so those interested can be aware of the conclusion – happy or otherwise.
Thank you all for assisting.
Kind Regards
Mike

mike_harding · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 05, 2008 Posts: 8

The helpful and astute person on duty on the Via Michelin help desk this morning very quickly confirmed that I had destroyed the relationship between the SD card and the 980 device such that the installation software on my PC was not getting the necessary or recognisable handshakes to allow installation to continue. As to how I had achieved this – it was pretty much as I had expected. My casting about impatiently trying to resolve the problem on my own led me to take some hasty and inappropriate actions (spurious resetting and uninstalling software etc) I would have done better to wait till today and contacted the help desk before trying to sort out the problems un aided.
There is apparently a patch for Vista installation – spoken of by others in many earlier posts on this forum. VM are going to send me details.
The unit is now on its way to Scotland for repair under warranty which I thought was generous bearing in mind my own ham-fistedness contributed to t he problem..
I was most impressed by the efficiency and responsiveness of the person I spoke to and feel that VM are living up to their undertaking to honour their commitments to existing customers despite having taken the decision to retire from the market. I am confident that I will receive a reinvigorated device in due course.
Kind Regards
Mike Harding

Gee-Pee · Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 6:29 pm Post subject:

It's very reasssuring to get comments like this, when the majority (?) of posts are very negative about GPS manufacturerers and the help offered to customers. Well done VM - you should have stayed in the market. Wink

Of course there are many thousands of happy customers out there, but it is only human nature to air complaints rather than offer an occasional compliment.
_________________
Gee-Pee
Lifetime member PGPSW - time rapidly decreasing

mike_harding · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 05, 2008 Posts: 8

Just to close out this thread. I sent my 980 for repair (in Scotland) last Monday. It was returned by courier on Thursday morning (09.30). The package I received contained my original equipment and a new SD card and New DVD.
I still had problems installing it but with some detailed assistance on the phone from the VM help desk between us we were able to identify a bit of software Vista had left behind from a previous effort of mine to install the thing (I thought I had got rid of all previous legacy software but clearly had failed). Having removed the errant software I was able to undertake the installation process and I now have a functioning X980T New Edition. The VM people were as helpful as before and I am most grateful for their persistence in identifying my problems and for their assistance in rectifying them.
Mike Harding

	PocketGPS
	Web