Problem with palm t3 and tom tom !!

T3user · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 22, 2004 Posts: 10

Hi all

A am experiencing the following problem, I have only had my tomtom
navigation about 2 months, but every so often I turn on the palm log in etc select tomtom, and the programme opens up but no satt signal recieved, have tried unpluging power supply, unpluging gps rec.
rebooting palm, turning of tomtom and selecting another programme but nothing seems to help, its as if the programme has hung, I can put in route etc but wont work untill satt signal is recieved..

all other palm functions work, so I guess the palm is ok.

has anyone else experienced this?

Darren · Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 7:47 pm Post subject:

What GPS are you using? I don't have much Palm experience (my T3 arrives tomorrow) but a soft reset should resolve the problem when it ocurrs.
_________________
Darren Griffin

T3user · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 22, 2004 Posts: 10

I am usuing the TomTom software and their gps receiver that comes bundled in there palm kit.
have tried soft reset, but it does not seem to make any difference.

I guess the only way to solve this is to get another receiver and see if that makes any difference.

thanks for taking the time to reply.

Falkien · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 14, 2004 Posts: 48

I have the BT version and before updating to 4.12 I got problems with the GPS not connecting na dvarious lockups.

One thing that seemed to work was selecting a different GPS in the tomtom settings going bak to the GPS info page then setting the GPS back again.

To tell if your problems are hardware or software related I suggest getting a Serial teminal app for the palm. I have used 'ptelnet' in the past. Connect the GPS and open up the serial port in your serial terminal app (settings are probably 4800,n,8,1 - thats 4800baud, n o parity, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit)

You should see the GPS NMEA sentances scrolling away on your screen, if not it's likeley to be a hardware fault with the GPS

I am presuming that when you say no sat signal you actually mean that the display indicates no GPS device? If it says no valid sat signal it's likeley that your receiver can't see sufficient 'sky' to get a lock. Bear in mind that if the GPS has lost it's 'settings' it could take up to an hour to download the almanac and regain postion from satelites that are in view!

HTH

Dave

Essexboy · Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2004 7:40 am Post subject:

I had very similar problems until I downloaded the July 4.12 update from the tomtom website. Now everything works great and the T3 and tomtom bluetooth device rarely fail to make a connection. :D

Mr-B · Posted: Sun Oct 24, 2004 6:08 pm Post subject: Still problems with TT4.12

I've had my T3 & TomTom GPS receiver for several months now and throughout all the s/w upgrades, TT still has intermittent problems connecting to the GPS receiver via BT. Only a soft reset will definitely enable comms again - but it is a pain keeping on having to do that.

I think one of the s/w upgrades added two beeps on successful BT connection which is useful indicating connection attempt progress (sometimes there are no beeps after starting Navigator), but it doesn't seem to have had much help on the overall reliability.

TT support only suggest replacing the GPS receiver which I've done already with no improvement.
I then suspected Palm OS' BT support, so I tried out Mapopolis v2 (app free to download) with the receiver. I've only tested it a few times but it has connected every time so far - so I'm left thinking that this is prolly still a TT issue.
Does anyone else still have connection issues with TT 4.40?

calum · Occasional Visitor Joined: Sep 28, 2004 Posts: 6

I too have had problems with the connection between the T3 and the TT GPS receiver. The problem is resolved each time by completing a soft reset on the T3.

You know you have a problem when the TomTom software is running on the T3 but the blue light on the GPS receiver is still flashing. When it is working properly the blue light is on almost continuously with just an intermittent flash.

Calum

gilbem1 · Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2004 9:49 pm Post subject: Blue LED on TT Receiver

Calum,

So does a continuous blue LED on the receiver signify a fault with the software and not the receiver. I get a continuous blue light but an eror message in the software saying 'Waiting for a valid GPS signal' ?

calum · Occasional Visitor Joined: Sep 28, 2004 Posts: 6

Gilbem1,

If you get an almost continuous blue light with just an occasional flash on the GPS receiver then the bluetooth connection is working properly. The 'waiting for a valid GPS signal' usually means the GPS receiver is not in communication with the GPS satelliteon or is still in the process of making a connection. Make sure the GPS receiver is somewhere were it gets an uninterrupted view of the sky, either on the dashboard of the car or, if in the house, on a window sill. Sometimes it can take up to 5 minutes before a connection is established so be patient.

Calum

gilbem1 · Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 12:38 am Post subject: I think it's a dead receiver !

Calum,

Thanks for that and the time you took to reply, much appreciated. Subsequent to my post I downloaded BTSerialPro from Palmzone, and can now see the receiver talking to my PDA (well the PDA was receiving a continuous stream of 127 bytes when it discovered the receiver so I guess that means a valid connection ??)..however the flashing green light I now understand, means that the receiver is not picking up a GPS signal. The unit has been in the centre of my garden for an hour and on a car journey for 45 minutes today with still a flashing green light as the only result....it's brand new and dead, isn't it !! Sad

Falkien · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 14, 2004 Posts: 48

My observations with the TomTom BT GPS reciever

Green LED flashing : GPS signal valid

Blue LED flashing : Waiting to connect

Blue LED Continous : Negotiting connection

Blue LED continuos with brightrw flashes : Connected

Red is also seen when power is low or the unit is charging

I've found that problems connecting to the BT GPS receiver can usually be recfified by forcing the Palm to negotiate the connection again, this can be done by restarting TomTom Navigator or by breifly selecting a wired GPS in the options than switching back to the BT GPS

In the event the above fails (rare with v4.12) reseting the palm should work

HTH

Dave

GaryS · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 29, 2005 Posts: 2

I had a similar problem with my T3 communicating to the BT GPS. I had to do a soft reset everytime before the 2 devices would communicate with each other. I am using the latest version of the TT software (V4.4). I sent a message to TT support and got the following response:

"Some customers have found that shutting the solution down in the following way can improve reliability. Exit TomTom navigator first, wait a few seconds then switch off the GPS then switch of the Palm. This assists by avoiding shutting down while Bluetooth is still communicating and the application is still running."

This shutdown solution has worked great for me. My T3 and BT GPS communicate every time without having to do a soft reset.

Ruffman · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 24, 2004 Posts: 5

Spot-on GaryS.
I too have had various connectivity problems as described when the BT and T3 would not link-up. I found through trial and error the recommended solution mentioned by GaryS avoided future start-up problems.

1. Exit TomTom Nav programme (select Menu)
2. Turn off BT module.
3. Turn Off Palm
(do the reverse to start-up and you should hopefully have no more problems)

GaryS could you help on my post regarding upgrading to 4.4 :D

TL

MissyC · Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2005 10:14 am Post subject:

Hi

I experience this and I have wired GPS not Bluetooth.

I've been using the similar solution as GaryS and Ruffman of shutting down TomTom, turning off Palm, unplugging!... then the reverse to get started again.

Sometimes it takes a couple of attempts :x but get there eventually and the Palm beebs to tell me we're in.

Extremely frustrating Sad

PS I have the current version of TomTom 4.4

	PocketGPS
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