Gps Stops Tracking Satellites

[+Prairie Dog]

I own a Magellan Sportrak Map. Yesterday the thing stopped tracking satellites. It worked fine in the car while driving then later in the day I fired it up and all it would tell me is “tracking 1st Sat” and it would just hang there. I turned it on and off several times, I changed out the batteries, I even reinitialized it twice. Nothing. I waited a few hours and tried it again. Still nothing. Now I am back home and it seems dead, Jim.

Yesterday I was in Athens, Georgia during the GA vs. AUB football game. I thought maybe because of all the cell phones and TV stuff going on there might be interference.

Anyone know what would cause a GPS unit to stop tracking satellites?

Is this a good excuse to ask Santa for a new unit? Sigh…

[+embra]

The drill for such oddities, following the first with the next (etc.) if not sufficient.

 

1. Reinitialize and let sit outside with a clear view of the sky for 15 minutes.

2. Clear memory/all and steps in #1 (might want to jump right to this one).

3. Reload firmware, #1.

4. Time to call Magellan (or Santa).

 

With only a little luck, you may just need a corrupt almanac replaced.

[+Prairie Dog]

Thank you Embra for the troubleshooting checklist. Today at lunch I took it outside and left it on while I ate.

Guess what...? It works! Oh, happy days again! <doing a Snoopy dance>

[+jacques0]

Is this a good excuse to ask Santa for a new unit? Sigh… 

You mean you need a good excuse to ask Santa for another gps?

[+Kerstin76]

It appears that it is a common problem with Magellan I had the problem twice with my Meridian Color and on my post here, several people were reporting similar incidents. It just stops working for a few hours and then it is fine again... And I haven't figured out any cause or strategy, only time helped.