Ipaq 3760 and Navman 3450

neilk · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 19, 2004 Posts: 1

I have a problem with some incompatibility between an IPAQ 3760 and Navman 3450.

History is that if from a soft reset I inserted my ipaq into the 3760 sleeve (with a CF card installed) then the IPAQ and GPS would not communicate. I reported this to NAVMAN as I suspected a hardware fault. They replace the unit with a new one. Unfortunately I had the same problem. One way round was it to insert the IPAQ to the GPS start TomTom and then insert the CF card. However I would often lose GPS communiction after 45mins, etc.

So I currently have a NAVMAN 3450/IPAQ 3760 that only really works well if I don't use CF cards.

A colleague of mine has the same model IPAQ yet his is running a lower level BIOS/ROM. His is 2.14 yet mine 2.20. HP state that there is no way to downgrade an IPAQ and NAVMAN state there is no problem. Yet it does appear that the NAVMAN 3450 has 'issues' with a 2.20 IPAQ 3760.

Does anyone out there have a 3760 with ROM 2.20 that works OK with a NAVMAN 3450?

Thanks

DavidW · Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2004 4:30 pm Post subject:

I'm no Navman expert, but this is not the first time I've heard mention of issues with CompactFlash cards in Navman hardware. I believe my fellow moderator Tim Buxton has issues with the CompactFlash slot in his Navman sleeve on one of his iPAQs.

Unfortunately the 3760 is an old model that was discontinued something like three years ago. Even more unfortunate, the 3760 has no built in storage card slot; that didn't come along until the 3800 series (though the 3800 series has a terribly slow SD slot - the design in the 3900 series is rather better). You're therefore forced to use the CompactFlash slot in the Navman pack for your maps.

It sounds possibly like some kind of timing issue to me - which may or may not be related to the ROM version of the iPAQ. It could be to do with the hardware revision rather than the ROM.

I'm afraid I have no specific information on reverting ROM versions on the 3760 - it is sometimes possible, but normally you require specific help from HP to avoid problems. Sometimes hardware revisions require a specific ROM to be used as there's no support for later hardware revisions in earlier ROMs.

I fear with a long discontinued iPAQ, you won't get a fix. A different CompactFlash card may help, but it might not.

iPAQ Expansion Packs are now all but consigned to history; the last machine that uses them, the iPAQ h5550, is apparently being discontinued in favour of the new iPAQ hx4700 which uses a much smaller form factor, and has a built in CompactFlash slot rather than the 100 pin expansion pack interface. My impression was that recently most people who bought an expansion pack did so to add CompactFlash capabilities; you can get a much slimmer machine by building that capability in. It's almost impossible to support an expansion pack and an internal CompactFlash slot, as both are vying for the same interface to the Pocket PC's processor.

One possibility may be to try to pick up a newer iPAQ that takes expansion packs and has a built in memory card slot - maybe on eBay. I'm probably not the only person who's now upgraded away from a 3800 or 3900 series machine - in my case to a new hx4700 last week. My 3970 is still in use by someone else as part of a dedicated navigation system. That said, if you shop around, you may be able to find a machine with built in Bluetooth - maybe even a Pocket PC 2003 upgrade (though if you do that, make sure you get the upgrade CD-ROM with the Microsoft licence sticker on the sleeve - there's iPAQs around with beta Pocket PC 2003 ROMs installed which aren't fully functional, which are probably not legally licensed software and which can be very hard to upgrade or downgrade).

An advantage of doing this is that the battery on your 3760 may be failing, but some of the older 3800 series machines may well have rather sick batteries now. The 3900 series has been out for over two years.

However, beware of paying too much for an old machine. Whilst the older top end iPAQs were very expensive when new (I paid 560 pounds for my 3970 in September 2002), you have to remember that there's some excellent more modern machines for under 250 pounds.

I wouldn't pay much more than 100 pounds for an iPAQ 3970 with an official HP Pocket PC 2003 upgrade and a good screen protector like a WriteSHIELD having been used all along - which is a description of my 3970.

It seems 3970s are going for a fair bit more than a hundred pounds on eBay at the moment without the (expensive in the UK at around 40 pounds - and soon to be discontinued by HP) Pocket PC 2003 upgrade. The one that particularly baffles me is an auction for a 3970 new in the box - if it really is new in the box, the battery may be dead as Lithium Ion batteries don't like being left run flat, and that battery may well have been sat for well over a year. The internal battery on a 3970 is not trivial to change and the part at full price is something like 60 pounds.

Another alternative would be, on the basis of your hardware failure, to negotiate with Navman to see if they'd upgrade you to a Bluetooth based Navman product - then you could buy a new Pocket PC to go with it. However, this probably only makes sense if you want to upgrade anyway; it's not going to be cheap.

David

Tim Buxton · Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2004 5:32 pm Post subject:

Saw my name mentioned so I thought I'd chip in my two penn'orth. My 3970 running PPC2002 behaves impeccably with my Navman SE sleeve using either CF or SD card and SmartST V2. When using my 555, I had problems when using the CF slot, but have no such problems using SD! I have no idea why; one rumour was that the 5555 had a bigger current draw, leaving less for add-on accessories. I think that Navman don't recommend iPAQs upgraded from PPC2002 to WM2003 and when I asked I was discouraged from making the switch, though I'm not sure if this wasn't just for the BT receiver.
_________________
Tim

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