Problems with GR-236...newbie help needed

HoudiniQ · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 12, 2005 Posts: 5

Hello all.

I've searched these forums up and down, but can't find a resolution...thus I'm adding to the 2,345,453 posts in this chaotic mish-mash of a thousand stickies and repeat posts. :D

Just received my GR-236 today! I'm extremely happy to say the least. Unfortunately, even though I can connect with bluetooth, I'm not getting any information.

First, my setup:
Ipaq 2215
Rom 1.10.07 ENG
Bluetooth version: unknown, though I have installed TT 3.07 (442).
Software: GPS Viewer (comes with the GR-236), TomTom 3.07

Here's the procedure I used;
1) Turn on Ipaq, turn on GR-236
2) Go to bluetooth settings, scan for new devices
3) Find GR-236, establish a connection
4) Select connect...connection established no problem.

5) and then, nothing. The lights on the GR-236 are behaving as per the manual. Battery light: OFF. GPS light: steady orange, then blinking orange for GPS fix. Bluetooth light: once/sec, then once/3 sec after I establish connection.

GPS viewer has a nifty little function that lets you scan the com ports to determine the device location. My understanding is that the GR-236 should come in under Com5 for an Ipaq 2215. Regardless, the program scans ALL com ports and comes up clean. I've tried all baud settings.

One note: the Ipaq seems to lose its connection after about 5-10 minutes. Could this be indicative of an error, or perhaps just a normal power saving feature of the GR-236 with no data transfer?

My suspicions lie with the GPS driver that TomTom throws in there. Unfortunately, being relatively new to the PDA scene (I'm a long dedicated GPS person, mostly Garmin.) I don't even know where to begin finding a GPS driver version. I haven't even started to muck about with the TomTom settings yet, I'm just trying to get GPS Viewer to see the BT receiver.

My questions are:
1) Where do I find the Bluetooth driver on my Ipaq?
2) Once found, should I replace them?
3) Anything I'm missing?

I've posted this here because I think the Holux experts would probably be the most helpful...and could at least get me going in the right direction.

HOLUX UK Tech · Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2005 3:02 pm Post subject:

Hello HoudiniQ,

If we try to put GPS Viewer to one side for the moment the settings you need in TomTom are as follows:

NMEA 0183v2 4800 & Bluetooth Serial Port COM8 or 5

These can be accessed in TomTom GPS on the main pull down menu or through TomTom then select GPS Status.

You will then see three tabs along the bottom left of the screen - if you select GPS you then should see a tick in a blue box to the top left and 2 long boxes to the right of that. By tapping on the blue tick box you should then be able to select the above settings from the pull down lists available by tapping the upside down triangle to the right of each of the long boxes.

That should in theory make Tomtom spring into life - tap 'Status' (bottom left) and you should see satelites popping into view.

As an additional, should that not work, you could also try deleting the bond with the 236 and re-establishing it.

The receiver sounds as if it sending data by the LED light pattern you describe but if you have any problems after selecting the settings above then post again.......

Steve
Holux UK Technical Support

HoudiniQ · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 12, 2005 Posts: 5

Thanks for the response.

Couple of clarification points.

I'm using HP Ipaq Bleutooth drivers: Widcomm 1.4.1. Build 60
The GPS drivers I've rolled back to 2.06 for testing

Ok...I've tried your settings with no luck. I'm going to power down and soft reset to give it one more go.

The BT connection status is weird:

Outgoing connection shows the GR-236
Incoming connection shows nothing.

When I go to BT status, I show 0 bytes received or sent.

My Bluetooth Serial Port setup is

enable service: checked
authorization required: unchecked
authentication/passkey required: unchecked

Inbound COM port 5
Outbound COM port 8

These are default since this is really the first time I've ever connected a bluetooth device to my Ipaq

I don't think its a faulty GR-236. Quite the contrary, it seems to behave as promised based on the light status. The lack of incoming data has me worried though.

The 2215 is notoriously tricky with bluetooth, and the BT disconnects are due to a 2 minute "no data" timer that shuts her down when data isn't present...which is what's happening here.

I just need the data! Laughing Out Loud

HoudiniQ · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 12, 2005 Posts: 5

Well Steve, I wanted to let you know that I've finally got it working.

I completely uninstalled everything: TomTom, GPS Viewer, and BT connections. I basically started from scratch.

I reinstalled TomTom from the disk, but didn't install the Holux GPS Viewer like I did last time. It immediately picked up the GPS on my outbound com port 8 (using the settings you provided, of course!) Previously, I wasn't able to select com 8, so thats probably why it wasn't working.

I'm a little afraid to add any other GPS programs for fear of it shutting down com 8 again...though I know that's probably irrational. I really wanted to give Memory Map a go, so we'll see.

One other question, for those with IPAQ's: After establishing a bluetooth connection to the GR-236, my Bluetooth Manager page didn't show a connection after approximately 2 minutes (which is the default shut off time I believe.) The GPS page on TomTom, however, was happily plugging along with data. Now, I'm not complaining...if it works, it works. Just seems a little strange.

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