Not Getting Satellites

[DmofoT]

So I was recently given a Garmin GPS 45XL marine GPS. It came with a case, external car antenna, and cigarette power adapter. I also bought fresh batteries and downloaded the manual. After reading up on the GPS I powered it up, initialized it by selecting US-VA (I'm in the DC metro area) and let it sit in the open on a fairly clear day...and nothing. Then I went in and reset the correct time zone, but the date is still wrong and you can't change that. It says its "11 Aug 2005". Still nothing. It just sits there trying to acquire sats and never gets anywhere.

 

Now I was told the unit was purchased around 1998 or so and it hasn't been used in many years. On top of that it was last used in Maine, several hundred miles away. The only thing I can think of is that internally things might be wrong being that it's a pre 2k GPS and that is somehow keeping it from locking onto the sats in the area.

 

Am I crazy or does this sound plausible. Any suggestions for getting this thing up and running? Thanks!

 

DT

 

Edit: the software on startup says "Garmin 45 Software 3.04 Copyright 1994-1996 Garmin Corp"

Edited February 23, 2006 by DmofoT

[+park2]

I do remember something about this, though it wasn't 2000, it was the GPS clock rolling over after 1024 weeks or something.

Anyways, www.garmin.com has firmware for old units still on their site, push in the new firmware and it should work.

 

Hmmm, I just looked, there isn't anything for the 40 or 45 (though the 48 is up to v4.60), I'd suggest contacting them.

[DmofoT]

I do remember something about this, though it wasn't 2000, it was the GPS clock rolling over after 1024 weeks or something.

Anyways, www.garmin.com has firmware for old units still on their site, push in the new firmware and it should work.

 

Hmmm, I just looked, there isn't anything for the 40 or 45 (though the 48 is up to v4.60), I'd suggest contacting them.

 

Thanks for the info. I did some more research and found that there was indeed an issue with EOW (End Of Week) rollover. Garmin put out some software that was supposed to help, but all the reading said it was a temporary thing. Looked around on Garmin and couldn't find ANY software or patches for the unit. Found the .exe online somewhere and downloaded that, but can't try it yet as I don't have a data plug to attach the GPS to my laptop. So I'm pretty sure this is the issue with locking onto the sats.

 

Still not sure on how to fix the date though. Not sure if that is something that will correct itself once I can lock onto sats or not. Ok, going to radioshack to see if I can get a cable for this GPS.

 

DT

[+EraSeek]

I also have a Garmin 45xl. I remember the rollover. What you had to do to get the unit operational again was to do a master reset. I involves pushing some buttons at once. The manual may tell you how to do that. Garmin should be able to tell you how. If nothing else I think I have it writen down somewhere.

 

Anyway do the reset then take it outside to a very clear area and wait as you reaquire the sats. It takes maybe 15 mins. By the way, the 45xl is way-old and is a real pain compared to new units. Any tree cover at all and you lose the sats.

[+Rotareneg]

If nothing else works, it's possible the crystal oscillator has drifted far enough that it can't pick up the satellites anymore. After trying and failing with all other options, try warming it up to around it's maximum temperature of 158 F (without batteries installed) for a couple hours so that the circuits inside are warmed up. Then put batteries in it, sit it outside with a clear view of the sky, and let it try to autolocate while cooling off for a couple of hours. If that doesn't work, you could try the same process again, except this time cool the unit off until it's down around it's minimum temperature of 5 F.

[+Sputnik 57]

If nothing else works, it's possible the crystal oscillator has drifted far enough that it can't pick up the satellites anymore. After trying and failing with all other options, try warming it up to around it's maximum temperature of 158 F (without batteries installed) for a couple hours so that the circuits inside are warmed up. Then put batteries in it, sit it outside with a clear view of the sky, and let it try to autolocate while cooling off for a couple of hours. If that doesn't work, you could try the same process again, except this time cool the unit off until it's down around it's minimum temperature of 5 F.

I've heard of "baking" your GPSr, but I've never heard of actually heating it to help it reacquire sattelites. Can you site some science for this, or is it intended to be tongue-in-cheek. I can be a little thick sometimes.

[DmofoT]

I also have a Garmin 45xl. I remember the rollover. What you had to do to get the unit operational again was to do a master reset. I involves pushing some buttons at once. The manual may tell you how to do that. Garmin should be able to tell you how. If nothing else I think I have it writen down somewhere.

 

Anyway do the reset then take it outside to a very clear area and wait as you reaquire the sats. It takes maybe 15 mins. By the way, the 45xl is way-old and is a real pain compared to new units. Any tree cover at all and you lose the sats.

 

Well I'm not sure if it's a master reset, but I read in a newsgroup about powering up while pressing the Page button. That automatically puts it into "Searching the sky" mode and then it shows the sat screen with the title "Autolocate". Since the person who gave it to me had the external car antenna I just placed the GPS in the car and mounted the antenna on the roof of the car. I let it search all night at my house and it was still in "Autolocate" mode in the morning. I'm now in MD at work instead of VA, so I went ahead and repowered it with the Power and Page button this morning. Guess I'll see if it picks up any sats when I go out to the car at lunch.

 

Being that it's not my GPS and that it's probably only worth $20 or so now, I'm inclined not to bake or freeze this unit. I'll spend the $20 on the data cable and try to use the EOW program from Garmin I found, but if all that fails, I'll probably just give the unit back.

 

DT

[+Rotareneg]

#3 at http://gpsinformation.net/main/eowgarmin.htm

http://gpsinformation.net/main/diagnost.txt

[DmofoT]

#3 at http://gpsinformation.net/main/eowgarmin.htm

http://gpsinformation.net/main/diagnost.txt

 

Well I'll be! Thanks for all that info, interesting read and pretty much sums up the exact issue, ha. I think rather than go through that whole baking process I'll give my friend his GPS back. Seems a lot more trouble than a $20 GPS is worth. I've been looking into purchasing my own GPS for awhile anyway, it's just hard to pass up a free one...

 

DT

 

Edit: can't say the d word...

Edited February 24, 2006 by DmofoT