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Posted: Mon May 29, 2006 11:20 pm Post subject: Resetting the i3's date
Does anyone know how to restore the i3 to its out-of-the-box settings?
I've got problems with the automatic daylight savings and the odd hours the i3 chooses to switch between day and night mode. The daylight savings doesn't add the hour when set to 'auto', and the night mode behaves like it's the middle of winter (i.e. daytime is between 9am and 4:15pm or thereabouts)
Well, I delved into the diagnostics, and found that the internal clock is reading 12 January 2026. A bit out, I think.
This explains the above problems, but I'm having a hell of a time trying to get it back. I've tried resetting it, and keeping it indoors so it asks the 'are you indoors / moved 10 million miles / is it 12 Jan 2026?' questions but even if I say 'no, you're twenty years out, you fool', I still can't get the correct date.
Oh, this all happened when I upgraded to version 3.0, the i3 had the most almighty of wobblers, and it's been a utter shambles ever since. Before v3.0, the i3 had behaved perfectly. Nice one Garmin for releasing half-baked software, and more fool me for not waiting and reading other people's woes.
So - any clues on how to set the date manually, or to do a complete reset so that it looses the date and time?
I'll have a few more cracks at it then it's going back to Garmin.
Joined: Jan 18, 2006 Posts: 422 Location: Wild and Windy SW Scotland UK
Posted: Tue May 30, 2006 12:16 am Post subject: Re: Resetting the i3's date
JinnanTonnix wrote:
Does anyone know how to restore the i3 to its out-of-the-box settings?
I've got problems
Well, I delved into the diagnostics, and found that the internal clock is reading 12 January 2026.
Oh, this all happened when I upgraded to version 3.0, the i3
utter shambles ever since.
Nice one Garmin for releasing half-baked software,
I have checked the diagnostics on mine and the only date reference i can see is for defraging is this what you are refering to
I have had every firmware version going on my system apart from the widely reported problems encountered i have upgraded and downgraded from various versions without any of the faults encountered by yourself.
Try the following
unit switched off complete reset press left button hold centre wheel hold and finaly right hand button select complete reset.
Now unit switched off press left hand buttton hold and right hand button go into diagnostics and on the various screens on the top line an option to clear is available on some of the screens select this and clear the reports and non-vol memory .
Are the problems still present if they are use the webupdater to take the firmware up to 3.10 and contact garmin nothing you or i can do will make any difference.
Hi Timber,
The date is in the 'Shutdown' area of the Diagnostics menu. This is where it holds the crash logs when it goes wrong. My date shows 12 Jan 2026.
When I hide the i3 from the satellites by keeping it indoors, it asks me the usual 'are you indoors, moved the unit' but then it goes on to say 'is the date 12 Jan 2026?'. Of course, I say 'no', but it just chugs along, and when I take it outside to get a satellite lock the date still shows as 12/1/26 from within the dignostics.
I've tried going back as far as firmware 2.5, but I think I'm on a loser here.
Quite a pickle, I'm sure you'll agree....
Joined: Jan 18, 2006 Posts: 422 Location: Wild and Windy SW Scotland UK
Posted: Tue May 30, 2006 1:19 am Post subject:
JinnanTonnix wrote:
Hi Timber,
The date is in the 'Shutdown' area of the Diagnostics menu. This is where it holds the crash logs when it goes wrong. My date shows 12 Jan 2026.
Ok now I know where your seeing the date
When I hide the i3 from the satellites by keeping it indoors, it asks me the usual 'are you indoors, moved the unit' but then it goes on to say 'is the date 12 Jan 2026?'. Of course, I say 'no', but it just chugs along, and when I take it outside to get a satellite lock the date still shows as 12/1/26 from within the dignostics.
This is unusual as the time and date are picked up from the satellites the settings allow you to manipulate this data
I've tried going back as far as firmware 2.5, but I think I'm on a loser here.
Quite a pickle, I'm sure you'll agree....
Please try what i suggested along with removing the batteries for say 30 mins which may clear an area of memory that can't be seen in the diagnostics.
What i am trying to obtain is a direct comparison to what i currently can see in front of me on my I3 so that i can offer best advise.
You are not alone others have had various faults occuring after firmware upgrades the problem is that they are isolated and don't seem to make sense .
Lastly for the benifit of others are the maps on the internal memory (latest I3) or on a card (original)
The difference between 13/1/2026 and 30/5/2006 is 7168 days, or 1024 weeks. This is a 'magic number', as far as GPSs are concerned. There's no difference between today (30/5/2006) and 31/1/2026 as all GPS systems roll-over every 1024 weeks.
Nick: The GPS works perfectly no matter how long I leave it in view of the sats, sadly it doesn't care that it's set 1024 weeks in the future.
Timber: It's an early i3 with the card.
I've sent this to Garmin. Let's see what happens. If I get a reply suggesting a firmware upgrade or reset I shall vomit toads.
Support question to Garmin:
---------------------------------
Hello. This is a specific problem that is not resolved by a firmware update or resetting the unit. Resetting
the unit or upgrading the software to any version does not fix the problem.
Symptoms:
1. The automatic daylight savings adjustment does not work
2. The unit changes between day and night mode at the wrong times
Cause:
The internal date is incorrect. Currently, the i3 reports the todays date (30 May 2006) as 13 January 2026.
No, I'm not joking.
What I've tried to fix it:
1. I've tried resetting the unit using the three-button trick.
2.I've cleared the non-volotile memory from within the diagnostics.
3.I've started up the GPS indoors, waited for the 'are you indoors' question. I said 'no'. At the 'Have you
moved hundreds of miles' question, I replied 'no'. At the 'is the date 13 January 2026' I said 'no', hoping
that it would obtain the correct date from the satellites. I hear that their dates are quite accurate,
certainly within 20 years or so. Then I moved the GPS outside so it obtained a satellite fix.
Alas, this did not fix the problem; the date is still showing as 13/1/2026.
The i3 was working PERFECTLY until I made the foolish mistake up upgrading to firmware version 3.0. During a
journey, the i3 malfunctioned spectacularly, and since then the daylight saving and auto day/night mode has
not worked properly.
I've tried re-installing firmwares:
2.50
2.70
2.82 beta
3.1
but none of these cures the problem.
Question:
I need to reset the date of the i3 or reset the i3 to its out-of the box settings such that it does not
'know' what the current date is.
Is there a way of doing this?
Timber:
I tried leaving the batteries out, but I remember reading a technical review of the i3 and I know that there's a little watch-type battery inside which I think holds the time and date for faster start-ups.
There's four mini Torx screws on the case, but I'm so cack-handed I know I'd break it and ruin any chance of a warranty fix, so I'm not going to risk opening it up to disconnect the little battery.
Joined: Jan 18, 2006 Posts: 422 Location: Wild and Windy SW Scotland UK
Posted: Tue May 30, 2006 1:19 pm Post subject:
JinnanTonnix wrote:
Timber:
I tried leaving the batteries out, but I remember reading a technical review of the i3 and I know that there's a little watch-type battery inside which I think holds the time and date for faster start-ups.
There's four mini Torx screws on the case, but I'm so cack-handed I know I'd break it and ruin any chance of a warranty fix, so I'm not going to risk opening it up to disconnect the little battery.
Firmware 3.0. What was I thinking?????
Jinnan,
I have been giving your problem some serious thought and have narrowed it down to one or possible more of the following
Are you located above a Nuclear Waste Depositary
Rayon Gas
Global Warming
Located within a drought area
Abducted by aliens while using your I3 taken into the future and then returned with your memory of the event wiped clean only your I3 knows the truth
I prefer the last option keep us up to date with your support request to Garmin
Timber:
I tried leaving the batteries out, but I remember reading a technical review of the i3 and I know that there's a little watch-type battery inside which I think holds the time and date for faster start-ups.
There's four mini Torx screws on the case, but I'm so cack-handed I know I'd break it and ruin any chance of a warranty fix, so I'm not going to risk opening it up to disconnect the little battery.
Firmware 3.0. What was I thinking?????
Jinnan,
I have been giving your problem some serious thought and have narrowed it down to one or possible more of the following
Are you located above a Nuclear Waste Depositary
Rayon Gas
Global Warming
Located within a drought area
Abducted by aliens while using your I3 taken into the future and then returned with your memory of the event wiped clean only your I3 knows the truth
I prefer the last option keep us up to date with your support request to Garmin
That made me smile!
I think I can discount the first options but the last option intrigued me, and come to think of it, I can't remember the next 20 years, so there's certainly a precognition gap there. Yes, that must be the only explaination.
Anybody want to buy a time travelling i3?
Sadly, it's not aware of the the next twenty years of lottery numbers, but it's very handy for knowing when the sun rises and sets in January 2026.
And if I get any revelations from Garmin, I'll post it here.
Joined: Oct 25, 2005 Posts: 111 Location: Nottingham
Posted: Tue May 30, 2006 8:13 pm Post subject:
If I send you my postcode and house number would you be so kind as to confirm my house still exists...... _________________ -----------------------------------
Enjoy? WTF?
(S)ad
(A)nd
(P)roud
-----------------------------------
i3, V8, V2.7, WAAS EGNOS.
Audio V2, Simpsons Voice File
-----------------------------------
I took the batteries out for the evening in the hope it would discharge the little internal battery, but no dice.
My temporal anomalies seemed to have aroused some curiousity though.
Quote:
If I send you my postcode and house number would you be so kind as to confirm my house still exists...... Question
Sorry buddy, a bypass in 2018 going straight through your pad. You had a nice payout though, and bought a boat.
Quote:
does it have the next 20yrs of updates for the speed camera database?
I forgot to back it up before I reset it. But for the driving experience of 2026 though, just think 'boing, boing, boing...' before you even get out of the drive.
After some emails to and from Garmin, my 'time travelling' i3 had to go back for repair. When it returned, the job sheet said 'software crash' and they sent me a replacement unit which looked brand new. Perhaps it could not be fixed?
The replacement had firmware 3.1. I was going to go back to the trusted 2.7 version, but I thought I'd try it out first. To my surprise, everything seems OK. I can't explain this but on my old i3, firmware 3.1 was bad, with slow screen updates and occasional 'white-outs'. It's still early days, but this new i3 seems much better and a lot quicker. The maps are fine, the speed of response is fine and the recalculations are all as fast as I could have hoped for.
Does anybody know if the later i3s have been tweaked or run a bit faster? I wouldn't have thought so, the product life is so short they don't usually modify the spec during the manufacturing run, but I'm at a loss as to explain the discrepancy.
Joined: Jan 18, 2006 Posts: 422 Location: Wild and Windy SW Scotland UK
Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 3:09 pm Post subject:
JinnanTonnix wrote:
Update!
The replacement had firmware 3.1. I was going to go back to the trusted 2.7 version, but I thought I'd try it out first. To my surprise, everything seems OK.
Does anybody know if the later i3s have been tweaked or run a bit faster? I wouldn't have thought so,
Hmmmmmm.......
Did they send a like for like replacement as your original had the map on the card does the replacement as garmin have said to another poster that the new version without card uses the more up to date audio version (2.50) and uses other software.
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Firmware 3.0. What was I thinking????? 
