My explorist GC seems to have the same problem, it cannot connect to PC in normal mode, even the device doesn't know it's connected to pc...the only way to connect it is via safe mode...
It was like this on 1.0, I updated it via safe mode to 1.7 and then again via safe mode to 2.15. The problem seems to persist, it just can't connect to pc...I've been in contact with Magellan but sadly not solution yet...it's weird, because if USB was faulty I would not see the device via safe mode...
//EDIT: I bought a new USB cable and now it works as intended
