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New to GPS use - got an old unknown TomTom model - many Qs
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elzar
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 02, 2009 12:45 am    Post subject: New to GPS use - got an old unknown TomTom model - many Qs Reply with quote

I am brand new to the world of GPS use so these will probably all be dumb questions. Appreciate any hints or steerage in the right direction to where I can learn how to use this device. Especially any newbie guides.


I was given an old TomTom unit by a friend. I do not know the model number and have no manual or any info for it. All I got was the device and a cord to connect to a cigarette lighter.

The first thing I want to do is figure out what model it is so I can then look around for some kind of downloadable user manual. The unit has says GO and "4D00.001" on the bottom so I am guessing that is a clue to the model. Can anyone tell me what this is and where to find manuals for it so I can figure out how to use it?

The unit did not come with any type of mounting device so I can't attach it to my dashboard or windshield or anything. Are there recommendations for where I can get some kind of mounting device that fits this, and what issues do I look for as far as what makes one kind of gizmo attachment better than another? Or is it OK to simply secure it to the dash with velcro or something similar?

The unit has a TomTom "GO" SD memory card in it. Can I assume that this is the software/database that it uses? What do I do to check this, see if it needs updating in some way, or any other unknown thing that I am unaware of???

I tried plugging the unit in and can't seem to turn it on. All that happens is the small green light next to the power button turns green. But nothing comes up on the display. Does this mean it is broken or is there something I am supposed to be doing with this b4 using it?? Did he forget to give me some other kind of sister device it needs? I don't think he had used it in years and was just clearing some old junk out, thought I could use it, so now I have it and wonder "does it even work?".

The unit has a USB port on the back. What is that for? From reading some threads here it seems like you connect the unit to your PC for some reason, but I have not a clue what for or what you are supposed to do for that.
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Oldboy
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 02, 2009 7:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
The unit has says GO and "4D00.001" on the bottom so I am guessing that is a clue to the model.
That will be the Classic GO then, IIRC. It is still going strong. Wink

TomTom produce 3 accessories for the Unit (all a bit pricey Sad ), but not a Windscreen Mount. See Here. Sometimes original spare parts become available on the Internet.

Everything goes on to the SD Card, but if it is the original one it will be too small for the latest Software and Maps. If you have a Card Reader try putting the SD Card in and see what is on it. And the size of the Card in MB.

Quote:
I tried plugging the unit in and can't seem to turn it on.
If the battery is totally flat, leave the Unit plugged in (green light ON) for at least 2 hours. The light shows that external power is applied, but you don't know if the internal components are charging the battery or not.

Without the SD Card in the slot, if you Press and Hold the ON button you should get a Black Screen appear with a load of data. One, near the bottom, gives the battery voltage in mV. This should show approx 5000 while on external power.

If the external power is removed, after 2 hours charging, what is the figure?

Once we've got over that hurdle, we can see if the Unit is working and then progress from there.
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Andy_P
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 02, 2009 10:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Without wanting to scare you, about the only thing that went wrong with these was if someone accidentally used a car charger with the wrong (too high) voltage OR the car charger failed and went high voltage output.

The symptoms of that were as you describe... the green light comes on but everything else is dead.

If you have access to a voltmeter (or know someone who has) check the voltage on the small power plug on the end of the cable when the other end is plugged into the cigar lighter socket (car engine needs to be running on most cars).
It should read 5 Volts. If it reads 12 Volts, then the charger has died and blown up the Go.
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elzar
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 1:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Test....test....test..


I am TRYING to reply to oldguy's note including quotes by him but i keep getting this error message:


"The html tags you attempted to use are not allowed

If you are trying to post images or links in the forums it is advisable to use BBCode"


I am at my wits end as I cannot figure out what html tags that I am using. Thought to try a simple test first with NO QUOTES to see what happens...
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JockTamsonsBairn
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

elzar wrote:
Test....test....test..


I am TRYING to reply to oldguy's note including quotes by him but i keep getting this error message:


"The html tags you attempted to use are not allowed

If you are trying to post images or links in the forums it is advisable to use BBCode"


I am at my wits end as I cannot figure out what html tags that I am using. Thought to try a simple test first with NO QUOTES to see what happens...
The message is caused by the use of the less than or greater than symbols, BUT I don't see those when I quote oldboy's message!
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elzar
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

(I'm still having problems trying to post, it seems to be related to using the QUOTE option, which I want to do in order to reply conversationally to Oldguy, but I'm not sure what is going on. I suspect there is something wrong with the quote function itself, or how it works with my browser (mozilla seamonkey), or maybe something with my privileges up here in some way. I don't get it. I can use quote functions on any other forums no problem, but I can't figure out what's wrong here, why it keeps telling me that I can't use html tags, when I'm NOT using any in the first place. So I will invent my own klutzy quote system here. Hope this makes sense. Without further ado here is my reply modified to remove all forum quote options and anything else I can think of that might be intrepreted as HTML or something??????? I have tried everything and this is driving me crazy. This time I am turning on the checkboxes for DISABLE HTML, DISABLE BBCODE, and DISABLE SMILIES. Maybe something there has to do with this. Here goes yet AGAIN.....)


Thanks a ton! The unit is working now!!!!!!!!! A little bit of knowledge goes a long way :-)

I want to reply to a few things you mentioned and ask some things as well.


OLDGUY WROTE:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everything goes on to the SD Card, but if it is the original one it will be too small for the latest Software and Maps. If you have a Card Reader try putting the SD Card in and see what is on it. And the size of the Card in MB.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



I asked my friend & he told me that he had upgraded the original card that came with it, so this one will be bigger & fit more maps. I checked it out with a card reader (also I copied everything off it to my harddrive for safekeeping), and the total size of the card as displayed by Windoze is 976mb, 927mb used, and 49mb free.

Is that an OK size for storing today's maps? Or should I look to get a newer/bigger SD card?


OLDGUY WROTE:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If the battery is totally flat, leave the Unit plugged in (green light ON) for at least 2 hours. The light shows that external power is applied, but you don't know if the internal components are charging the battery or not.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


I took it with me today in the car and left it plugged in the entire time, although it was only about an hour or so of total driving. I will leave it plugged in in the car for as long as I can, every time I'm driving, to try to get it charged up more fully.

I want to ask - is there any way to charge it at home? I mean, without having a proper home DC power adapter (if there is such a thing)?

My friend said it might be able to charge it up just from plugging in the min-usb plug into my computer but he can't recall - is that true? I tried plugging it into my PC via mini-usb TO reg USB but see no power light action. If I then turn it on, the tomtom recognizes that it is plugged into PC and lets me continue with that, then I can see it on the PC just like a USB drive. I think what I am doing is browsing the SD card from the PC this way (?).

What software (if any) do I need to run on the PC to do things like upgrade the program or download new maps to it??



OLDGUY WROTE:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Without the SD Card in the slot, if you Press and Hold the ON button you should get a Black Screen appear with a load of data. One, near the bottom, gives the battery voltage in mV. This should show approx 5000 while on external power.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Awesome. That advice did the trick for me.

After doing what you suggested (removing the card) and holding power in the whole time, I got that info screen you mentioned, and it says this:

hardware: tomtom GO

bootloader: 4.86

compiled at: sep 20 2006

memory: 32mb

cpuid: (i'll leave this out in case it is a confidential type thing, relating to how to get updates or service or something)

clocks: 202 101 50

GPS type: SIRF2

storage type: SD card

storage capacity: 0 kbyte (i guess it says this since i took the card out?)

startup mode: sleep (does this mean that when plugged in it stays "off" as opposed to showing graphs etc? and that this is a setting that can be changed, but set this way to conserve power?)

device ID: (i'll leave this out in case it is a confidential type thing, relating to how to get updates or service or something)

touchscreen calib data: 205 922 92 901

keys available: yes (does this have any meaning as far as what updates can be downloaded?)

battery boot voltage: 3887 mv (is this ok for a unit charged about an hour after being off for a couple years i guess?)

RTC: 00:03:12 01/01/2000



After I got to that screen I noticed that if I stopped pressing the power button the GO changed it's screen to some kind of graphic interface and depicted a picture that basically made it look like it was waiting for me to insert the SD card so it could load it, so I did that, and then like magic it went to a bunch of screens asking me stuff like what "voice" to select. I didn't know what I was doing & somehow got through, or out of, that process. Selected a voice but can't recall what else.

At that point I noticed that it could not get a signal and tried walking around the back yard out in the open, but still no luck.

I am able to get a signal now, putting the unit in an upstairs window!! Get all the bars filled up that way. I will try more in the car next time.

And it seems like now, anytime I turn the power button on, the unit instantly wakes up and lets me explore the menus etc. I think I may have to hold the button in for a few seconds if plugged into the car power though (but I 4get right now).

And thanks to finding out the model #, I googled tomtom go manual and found my way to their site & downloaded a user manual!

I've printed out the manual and have been GOing through that and learned a lot! Set my home address, and deleted all the old favorites that were set by my friend (I wonder if this will even free up any more memory for use for anything else). Actually I think there are other things relating to them set on here that I want to delete but haven't figured out even what those are yet (for example there is a seperate directory called "Hawaii" on the SD card, relating to a trip they took there). I don't need that Hawaii thing and could erase it if I knew what I was doing...


Still have much to learn about it though and haven't read through all the manual yet.



OLDGUY WROTE:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If the external power is removed, after 2 hours charging, what is the figure?

Once we've got over that hurdle, we can see if the Unit is working and then progress from there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



After I am able to charge it up for that long I will check that. I'm not usually in my car for that amount of time during a typical day, although I will be taking some long trips in the next week or so and can get it charged then - does it charge while plugged in if it is also ON and working, or does it need to be OFF to be able to charge? I want to use it next week for my trips but can leave it off for most of the trip until I get down to the more detailed nitty gritty end of trip part.

Right now I think the best thing for me to do is to get through reading the manual since that may answer many of my questions rather than bug you guys too much.


I appreciate the help thus far.
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elzar
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

JockTamsonsBairn wrote:

The message is caused by the use of the less than or greater than symbols, BUT I don't see those when I quote oldboy's message!



Hmmm. Trying a test of quoting your message...let's see if this works.


One of the (many) things I tried changing while trying to post my comment above was to remove several dashes followed by a Greater Than symbol that I was using to say miniUSB TO USB and maybe it was doing that that then worked. I thought I had already taken that out though before I finally tried setting on all the checkboxes for DISABLE HTML, DISABLE BBC, DISABLE SMILIES which then worked.

I'm leaving those boxes off this time and let's see what happens. If this works then maybe it was that dash plus greater than that caused my posting troubles.
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elzar
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Andy_P wrote:

If you have access to a voltmeter (or know someone who has) check the voltage on the small power plug on the end of the cable when the other end is plugged into the cigar lighter socket (car engine needs to be running on most cars).
It should read 5 Volts. If it reads 12 Volts, then the charger has died and blown up the Go.


Looks like my GO is ok (see above) :-)

I did try your test with a voltmeter before I even got to what Oldguy suggested but couldn't figure out how to do the voltage testing. I plugged the charger into the cigarette lighter socket but didn't know what to test with the voltmeter. What do you attach the voltmeter black & red wires to? There is only that small open ended part on the connection end. Do you put one inside and one touching outside it? Both on the outside? What? I tried several things but nothing registered, even tried different voltage settings (should show something with V set at 20?).

Thankfully it looks like my GO is OK and is now "awake" so the power/voltage is probably alright, but I'd still like to know how to test it. Thanks!


P.S. QUOTING is working for me now. WHOO- HOO!!!
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'll let you read the manual first, to sort out most of your questions, but a couple of points I picked up from your posts..
---------------------------------------
You cannot charge the Go Classic via the USB port. More recent models you can, but not that one (or the next two ranges after that one).
-----------------------------------------
The voltage you were trying to measure would be between the outer silver barrel of the power plug (the black -ve lead on the voltmeter goes to that one) and a contact inside the hole at the end of the silver barrel. You can see where abouts it will be by looking at the socket on the Go that it plugs into. You'd probably need to poke a small piece of bare wire or a pin into it in order to make something temporarily for the red +ve wire of the voltmeter to connect to. BUT IF YOU AREN'T CONFIDENT, DON'T DO THIS.

As the charger now seems to be working, there's no need anyway!
------------------------------------------

You can delete the old favourites, but it won't gain you any appreciable amount of extra memory. However, when you get round to adding some of your own POI categories ("points of interest" - like particular shops or speed cameras for example) you'll find there will be a limit to how many of those files you can add (the exact number depends on the sofrtware version you're now running) and if you "enable" too many of them to show on the map all the time, it can begin to slow things down a bit.
--------------------------------------------

The SD card you now have is a 1 Gigabyte one (976MB is roughly a gigabyte). That will certainly be enough for a UK map, and plenty of extras, but if you want a Western Europe map you might want to go to 2GB, otherwise you will have to delete some stuff (usually some of the voices you don't use) to fit it all on.

--------------------------------------------

You can buy a mains power supply to charge the Go at home.
The proper TomTom-supplied one is still available (see HERE, but is rather expensive at nearly £20.
Any decent plug-in charger should do, so long as it can supply 5 Volts D.C with the right sized connector (positive volts on the centre terminal) and enough current (more then 500mA - say 1 Amp for safety). - That rules out most of the really small/cheap ones you see for phones etc.

---------------------------------------

Software to manage the TomTom with your PC....

There is TomTom "Home" available HERE Which can do most things. However, many people here recommend you only use it to update software and buy/install new maps.
Other functions like backing up and adding POIs etc. are better done with Windows Explorer. See the FAQs topic at the top of this forum for full details and instructions.

-----------------------------------------

On the black and white info screen you mentioned....

IGNORE the line about startup mode "sleep".
It doesn't mean what you think, and it's too early in the morning to explain it all, but it isn't a setting you can (or need to) change.

Battery boot up voltage - that figure sounds about right. Hopefully it will get a bit higher after a few charges. But the recommendation is to use the car charger all the time anyway!

--------------------------------------------

Signal strength....
Don't expect to get any signal indoors at all. If you do it's a lucky fluke.
More recent models have a more sensitive receiver and SOMETIMES pick up some usable signal indoors but that's a bonus.

--------------------------------------------

The "Hawaii" folder sounds like an extra MAP. Don't delete it unless you really need to (to make space for something else).
If it is a working map, you should see it listed in the Change preferences/Manage maps/Switch map menu.

--------------------------------------------

Enjoy!
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elzar
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 5:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks Andy. I'm slowly learning some things!

A couple quick comments/questions. I'm a quoting fool now that I see it works ;-)


Andy_P wrote:

The SD card you now have is a 1 Gigabyte one (976MB is roughly a gigabyte). That will certainly be enough for a UK map, and plenty of extras, but if you want a Western Europe map you might want to go to 2GB, otherwise you will have to delete some stuff (usually some of the voices you don't use) to fit it all on.



I'm in the USA. Although I used to travel in the UK quite a bit and could've really used one of these back then as I constantly got lost over there! If I come back over I will hopefully know enough then on how to configure it for UK maps....back to where I am now though...

Is 1gb big enough for current USA maps?


Somehow in my exploring round the device I found a screen that told me this below (I can't figure out how I got there though and can't get back there either):

device: "a bunch of letter & numbers" - is this anything confidential or OK for me to post in a public place?

app 6.520 (7690/061002) os:1387 (actually this last part may have been 05:1387 rather than OS:1387 but i can't read my writing)

29mb ram (free 3.0mb)

gpsv1.21, boot 4.86

map: usa and canada v665.1293

language: english UK


How do you tell how up to date your map or software is? Is there a list somewhere on the 'net (or at tomtom website) that I can figure out what it is that I've got from the above numbers, and what is available that is more recent?


Andy_P wrote:

The "Hawaii" folder sounds like an extra MAP. Don't delete it unless you really need to (to make space for something else).
If it is a working map, you should see it listed in the Change preferences/Manage maps/Switch map menu.


Thanks, I explored that setting and all that shows up is something called "USA and Canada". So I dunno what the Hawaii directory is. I looked in it on the PC backup and it has only a very small file in it, called hawaii-1d49238e.mac and is only 1kb big. I have no idea what it is but must be something relating to a trip my friends took to Hawaii a couple years ago. Maybe it isn't a map but something related to a place of interest or something?. I've got a lot to learn about this device!!!



Also, I looked in the voices folder and it is only about 16mb big. So maybe I won't recover much space by deleting some of those. Although I don't speak japanese, chinese, portugese, italian, spanish, etc etc etc - or even Australian! - they are kind of fun to have (for now anyways).


Thanks for all the info in your post. More good stuff. I have so much to learn I am a bit overwhelmed with everything. I had no idea GPS's were so complicated!
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elzar
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 6:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Andy_P wrote:

Software to manage the TomTom with your PC....

There is TomTom "Home" available HERE Which can do most things. However, many people here recommend you only use it to update software and buy/install new maps.
Other functions like backing up and adding POIs etc. are better done with Windows Explorer. See the FAQs topic at the top of this forum for full details and instructions.

-----------------------------------------



Thanks I just downloaded that. I want to ask - will installing that add any crapware/bloatware to my PC? I've had some annoying experiences with some other types of software that gets bundled together and am hesitant to install anything I don't know more about. It seems like these days many makers of official software (or hardware) sell their souls to whomever cares to pay them to include all kinds of worthless junk along with whatever it is that you actually want or need.

Also do I need to know any license keys or anything like that to run it, or have the original software CD? My friend is still looking for his original CD to give me. And I didn't ask him about any license type stuff yet, although the TT has stickers on it with long gobbletygook letters and numbers that must be some kind of license thing.




Also something entirely different to ask regarding how to mount the TT in the car. I looked at some things on the TT site and also ebay and I am more confused than ever. Seems like most everything mentions models like "one XL classic" or has model numbers like GO 720, 630, 920 etc but nothing simply says "for GO classic" or something like that.

Plus I wonder if I am missing any parts - the bottom of my TT is, how shall I say it, empty??? That is, it is an open thing, kind of circular shape, with all the writing visible, serial number, has what look like some kind of connection slots, another kind of DC connector. Shouldn't there be a cap over this, or maybe some kind of cradle that fits over it, or something like that, that I would also need to even fit it INTO a mount of some kind?? The manual mentions a "docking connector" that looks like an extra piece that would fit here. Do I need that?? I guess I need to bug my friend some more to see if he forgot to give me something but thought I'd ask here first.
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

elzar wrote:

Is 1gb big enough for current USA maps?


The easiest way to find out what's available is to go to TomTom's MapShop
http://www.tomtom.com/products/maps/select.php?D=18&M=297, enter your model in the drop-down box and select the map you want.
For example the "USA & Canada" v8.35 download is 834.1 MB or there are various cheaper regional maps too.

One thing to be careful of though. In the past, people could download a larger map version intended for a different machine (less compression of detail), on the assumption they could put it on a large SD card, but for reasons best know to themselves, TomTom have stopped you installing the "wrong" version of a map.



elzar wrote:
Somehow in my exploring round the device I found a screen that told me this below (I can't figure out how I got there though and can't get back there either):


Tap the satellite strength bars, then tap the small box with "Version" written in it, to get to the info page.

elzar wrote:
device: "a bunch of letter & numbers" - is this anything confidential or OK for me to post in a public place?


Best not to....

elzar wrote:
app 6.520 (7690/061002) os:1387 (actually this last part may have been 05:1387 rather than OS:1387 but i can't read my writing)


That's quite out of date. Use 'Home' to update to v7.903 (9183)
Try doing this with the version of Home you have got already, but you might need the older version of Home (v1.6) first - update as far as you can with that and then install Home v2 and update any further.

Both versions are available on
THIS PAGE (v1.6 is BELOW the download button for v2)

elzar wrote:
How do you tell how up to date your map or software is? Is there a list somewhere on the 'net (or at tomtom website) that I can figure out what it is that I've got from the above numbers, and what is available that is more recent?


I keep an up to date list on another forum here:
Map Versions Release History
It's possibly a bit "Europe-centred" but I've included all the information I have found or been given.

Take a look at the TomTom FAQs on this forum and also the How to... Section section of that other forum too, as we've written a lot of guides for the often-asked questions.

The TomTom MapShop will also tell you the latest map version number when you select a region.


elzar wrote:
I dunno what the Hawaii directory is. I looked in it on the PC backup and it has only a very small file in it, called hawaii-1d49238e.mac and is only 1kb big.


That sounds like an activation file for a map that no longer seems to exist on your machine (each map is "locked" to a particular unit when you download it).




Re 'Home'....

elzar wrote:
Thanks I just downloaded that. I want to ask - will installing that add any crapware/bloatware to my PC?

No... there doesn't seem to be any nasty stuff installed with it (unless you want to call Home crapware itself! - It's not the best-written piece of software ever)

elzar wrote:
Also do I need to know any license keys or anything like that to run it, or have the original software CD? My friend is still looking for his original CD to give me. And I didn't ask him about any license type stuff yet, although the TT has stickers on it with long gobbletygook letters and numbers that must be some kind of license thing.


No, Home does all the new map activation stuff automatically now.

If you do a full backup with Windows Explorer then it will have everything you need. Do one NOW! (if you haven't already)

The original CD didn't actually have a backup on it, usually just an outdated version of Home and a copy of the manual in .pdf format.
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Had a quick scan through all these posts.

Have you been told to do a backup? If so, forget this, but you should make a copy using Windows Explorer NOT Tomtom Home. Just open the SD card and copy the contents to a folder on your PC.
The original GO was the only model that came with a backup of the map on a CD. Have you got this? If you have a newer map than v390 then you won't have a backup of it. And a map is the only thing you can't download for free from Tomtom. System software and updates can be downloaded at any time The map is the important bit.
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks again for your help! Mucho good info there.

I am slowly assimilating things!!

I want to ask about this, think I am understanding but want to be sure. Remember I am coming into all of this just as of like 2 days ago and up to now I have zero experience with the world of GPS, or TOMTOM itself.

Andy_P wrote:

That's quite out of date. Use 'Home' to update to v7.903 (9183)
Try doing this with the version of Home you have got already, but you might need the older version of Home (v1.6) first - update as far as you can with that and then install Home v2 and update any further.

Both versions are available on
THIS PAGE (v1.6 is BELOW the download button for v2)



OK, I think I understand. Let me make sure I've got it....

TOMTOM "Home" must be the software that you run on your PC and that is currently version v2, which I had already downloaded, but there is also an older version available to download called "v1.6" that I need to use.

And the device itself has software that runs on it and you use the HOME software to update the TOMTOM device software. And the device software is up to version "v7.903 (9183)".

And that my TOMTOM is running "6.520 (7690/02/2002)"? Which is what I should try updating to v7.903 (9183). But you don't look for and download updates for the device, you look for the HOME software, and it is only RUNNING that HOME software that you are able to update the DEVICE software, that somehow the HOME software accomplishes that task.

So (if I am correct), and following further your advice, to update my TOMTOM device software I should install the old HOME v1.6 software first on my PC and let THAT try to update the DEVICE. THEN I should uninstall that v1.6 HOME software on my PC and install the newer v2 HOME software and then let THAT update my DEVICE some more.

THEN after all that, I can figure out what new maps I need/want and to load those you have to buy them from TT - and it is the HOME software that somehow does the device update for the maps (?).

Is that right?
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elzar
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Joined: Sep 02, 2009
Posts: 31

PostPosted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

sgould wrote:
Had a quick scan through all these posts.

Have you been told to do a backup? If so, forget this, but you should make a copy using Windows Explorer NOT Tomtom Home. Just open the SD card and copy the contents to a folder on your PC.
The original GO was the only model that came with a backup of the map on a CD. Have you got this? If you have a newer map than v390 then you won't have a backup of it. And a map is the only thing you can't download for free from Tomtom. System software and updates can be downloaded at any time The map is the important bit.



THANKS! Yes, I have done a simple copy/paste backup of the SD card, and learned about that either in this thread or some other things that I've been reading. Definitely good to mention that again though, especially if other newbies are reading this.

I don't have the original CD yet, but can get that from my friend that gave me the unit eventually (provided he finds it). I'm thinking now after reading more & more that I probably won't need it for anything though - i have my SD card backed up with a map on it, and I think I have the HOME software now that I can use to load the program bits. (I'm still not 100% clear on that but I am getting there).

Thanks for clearing up something that has had me a bit confused though as far as the program updates go. Up to now I have not been sure if the program updates are free or not. I understand the maps aren't.
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