+Team TeeKay Posted April 6, 2006 Share Posted April 6, 2006 Hi, I have been trying forever to do the firmware upgrade on my Explorist 500 and it is not working. I have been following all the posted instructions to the Tand it won't work. Any ideas? I think the problem is coming on step 13. Once the upload is complete the unit should restart and then power down again within a minute and it is not doing this. I am getting extremely frustated with this and would appreciate any help or ideas! Thanks Team TeeKay Quote Link to comment
+Team TeeKay Posted April 7, 2006 Author Share Posted April 7, 2006 Anybody? I even called Magellan Tech Support and they were like talking to a brick wall. Spent many hours today with no results. Quote Link to comment
+embra Posted April 7, 2006 Share Posted April 7, 2006 Am I correct in assuming that you are successful in connecting your 500 in data transfer mode and the upgrade program appears to do the transfer...but it seems to never finish? Are you clearing memory to start? The only other thing I can think of is to download another copy of the firmware upgrade...maybe something was left out in the first download. Perhaps trying another computer? You're sure the cable is good? I'm grasping at straws; haven't heard of anyone else having this sort of problem. Quote Link to comment
+Team TeeKay Posted April 7, 2006 Author Share Posted April 7, 2006 Thanks Embra! I first cleared the memory, even did a "hard" erase using the goto+out+power. I exchanged the file I downloaded more then a dozen times and even downloaded the one for the 600 (which is the same file for the 500. Baffled!!!! It is going through the whole process and even says that the firmware upgrade is complete, the GPS unit however never does restart or shut down on its own as stated in the instructions. I thought about the USB cable and tried transfering my latest GPX. query to the unit with no problems. I am out of ideas and hope that Magellan tech support gets back to me as the said they will when they find a fix? I was looking forward to the firmware upgrade, mostly for doing projections and the other good worthwhile upgrades it has. I'll continue trying. Quote Link to comment
+munro290 Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 Hi, I have been trying forever to do the firmware upgrade on my Explorist 500 and it is not working. I have been following all the posted instructions to the Tand it won't work. Any ideas? I think the problem is coming on step 13. Once the upload is complete the unit should restart and then power down again within a minute and it is not doing this. I am getting extremely frustated with this and would appreciate any help or ideas! Thanks Team TeeKay I too am having the very same problem and I am kinda gettin fed up! I had no problem downloading the firmware on my 400,but this is somethin else. Have you foun anything else out? Quote Link to comment
+embra Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 Ah, Team TeeKay, you were the one I was remembering was having a hard time with this. I just suggested to munro290 that if the - GOTO + OUT + POWER didn't do anything to try - GOTO + IN + POWER (hold 10 sec). That is supposed to be a hard reset for an XL, but it might do something for a 500 as well. Quote Link to comment
+Team TeeKay Posted April 14, 2006 Author Share Posted April 14, 2006 Ah, Team TeeKay, you were the one I was remembering was having a hard time with this. I just suggested to munro290 that if the - GOTO + OUT + POWER didn't do anything to try - GOTO + IN + POWER (hold 10 sec). That is supposed to be a hard reset for an XL, but it might do something for a 500 as well. Embra, Thanks, tried that one too. I had all the secret menu codes and tried the majority of them (that were safe) and none worked. The techs from Magellan attempted to help me out and they were stumped too. They requested that I send it in for work. They were about to give me a RAN until they realized I live in Canada. They then gave me the Canadian number to call and it is just a recording service. So, I have the names of the supervisors from Magellan who authorized the Return and the case number and I am sending the unit off too Ontario on Tuesday morning. A little disappointed as geocaching time is back again!!!!! I don't like caching in the elements, I seem to slowly melt! Team TeeKay Quote Link to comment
+ceecee7 Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 Did anyone ever sort this problem out? I'm having exactly the same problem updating firmware in my Explorist 500. I'm totally stumped! (I have two different units...same model...one I borrowed, until mine arrived). I've tried updating the firmware for both...from 3 different o/s (home has vista, work has XP, friend has Mac). Nothing works. Anyone figure out this puzzle? Thanks, CC7 Quote Link to comment
+Walt Jabsco Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 Make sure you watch the screen on the gps itself during the upgrade. It restarts itself very fast, it doesn't go through the 5 second delay cycle like normal. And I don't remember, but I don't think it shows the start up screens either, I'm kind of fuzzy on that one. I updated my 400, and I was like wow, I'm glad I was watching the gps screen, or I never would of saw that it power cycled. It does it right right before it comes up with the Update completed message on the pc. After that, You're supposed to physically power down, then bring it back up. Go to the About screen, and see if the version changed. Good luck! Quote Link to comment
+SuperDave_GPS Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Yes. The screen does NOT show the splash-screens during its reboot, but even so, the firmware continues to show it almost 3 year old firmware version. I am the one who CEECEE7 (above) gave her 2 500's to to try to update. Still, no luck. I also spent about 1 to 1.5 hours on the phone with Magellan (I also found out that i was talking to Magellan in INDIA)... I work in an IT environment, so computer troubleshooting and peripherals are nothing new to me. Yes, the USB cable works fine. Yes, I'm following the posted step-by-step instructions from Magellan's website. Yes, I cleared the memory first before attemting the upgrade. Yes, I've tried more than one computer to try the upgrade. Yes, I've tried a different operating system. It really sucks when the user knows more about the unit than the manufacturer's own Customer Service. I'm not ready to give up quite yet, but so far, it's not looking very promising. SuperDave_GPS Quote Link to comment
+Bismuth Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 I was hoping to find an answer to this problem by the time I got to the end of the thread. Has anyone come up with a solution to the problem of upgrading the firmware? Thanks Quote Link to comment
+Jim McDonald Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 Have come to the conclusion that if you have a newer Rev. (Apr 24 07 for example) and a serial # beginning with 133, You are out of luck!! I tried twice to upgrade using informationgps.org/perry/magellan, with no results. If there is a work around, I'd like to know about it! Quote Link to comment
+Larry&Wesley Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 I was just about to mention about the SN, but Jim beat me to it. This is a link to a thread with a lot of info on the Magellan GPSr's and upgrading firmware to fix the loss of receiving WAAS signals. http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...185052&st=0 The conclusion is that to upgrade to the European firmware version 2.57 your unit SN must start with 118 and have a green circuit board under the battery. The 133 SN units won't take the European firmware. I haven't seen a fix for that issue anywhere. I recently bought another Magellan 600 new in the box, but it must have been on the shelf for a while because the firmware was at version 1.67. I was able to upgrade it to the European firmware, but it has the 118 SN and green circuit board. From what I have read if you have a 133 SN you can only upgrade to the latest US version of 2.03. I have been fortunate not to need to contact Magellan support, but from what I read it is usually a waste of time. Some folks are saying support is offering a free Triton 400 to those calling about the WAAS problem. You might try that approach and see if they will do that for you. Good luck! Quote Link to comment
+Team TeeKay Posted May 31, 2008 Author Share Posted May 31, 2008 After two years, I still can't upgrade the firmware, regardless of version or how I attempt to upload. It is a shame because I really like the Explorists 500. The menu system on it is easy to use and understand. Bought a Colorado to replace, but the sad thing is that the Explorist even without WAAS apperently not working is still more accurate then the Colorado???? Go figure? Magellan should have just stayed with the Explorists line and done overhauls and tweaks then change to the Triton line (IMHO). TeeKay Quote Link to comment
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