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Download Errors On Garmin 'x' Models


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Been using my trusty Vista C for about two years now. Only real complaint has been the limited map memory when going on longer trips. (Northeast maps devour memory. Adding the Boston Area for example means I have to remove half the rest of the state.)

 

So, when the new models with the microSD cards became available, I saved up and got one. Since I like the eTrex Vista C, I got the Vista Cx version.

 

Now I've hit an issue that I've gone back and forth with Garmin on for a week plus.

 

Downloading mapsets fails. Somewhere in the download, I get a messge on the screen that there was a communication error and the unit is stuck in the 'transfer' mode requiring a power off and on. Naturally, I find that no data has been transferred to the device. If I use the older saved mapsets that fit into the original 24 meg of the Vista C, they work. In fact, I can successfully load up to about 40 meg before the failures start.

 

Garmin swapped out the original microSD card. No effect

Garmin swapped out the unit. No effect.

I bought another card locally. No effect.

 

I installed my MapSource onto my laptop. No effect, in fact, the communication errors were even worse.

 

Then I started playing around with USB ports.

 

Found that the downloads ONLY work with motherboard mounted USB ports. Front panel ports that use short wires from the MB fail. Docking stations fail. USB hubs fail. Only three ports on two computers have succeeded. Two are the rear USB ports on the desktop that are mounted on the motherboard. I hate using these because they were dedicated to my printer and film scanner and annoying to access. The other is the lone USB on my laptop that is accessable while the laptop is docked. (I have not tried the two rear ports on the laptop that are covered by the docking station.)

 

Has anyone else seen this kind of thing? I suspect that there is a severe issue with the Garmin USB drivers that needs to be solved. I sent Garmin an e-mail documenting my findings, but naturally the result was just as productive as if I had just printed it and tossed it out the window.

 

I can't believe that they have not been swamped with tech support issues on this as I have never had a USB device fail like this.

 

Anyone else see this happening?

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I haven't heard of this, but there seems to be a simple solution. You have 2 from the back of your PC that work fine now. Plug your GPSr into one of the (suggest to get a simple 3ft extender cable for easier access) and plug a USB hub into the other one for everything else.

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Been using my trusty Vista C for about two years now. Only real complaint has been the limited map memory when going on longer trips. (Northeast maps devour memory. Adding the Boston Area for example means I have to remove half the rest of the state.)

 

So, when the new models with the microSD cards became available, I saved up and got one. Since I like the eTrex Vista C, I got the Vista Cx version.

 

Now I've hit an issue that I've gone back and forth with Garmin on for a week plus.

 

Downloading mapsets fails. Somewhere in the download, I get a messge on the screen that there was a communication error and the unit is stuck in the 'transfer' mode requiring a power off and on. Naturally, I find that no data has been transferred to the device. If I use the older saved mapsets that fit into the original 24 meg of the Vista C, they work. In fact, I can successfully load up to about 40 meg before the failures start.

 

Garmin swapped out the original microSD card. No effect

Garmin swapped out the unit. No effect.

I bought another card locally. No effect.

 

I installed my MapSource onto my laptop. No effect, in fact, the communication errors were even worse.

 

Then I started playing around with USB ports.

 

Found that the downloads ONLY work with motherboard mounted USB ports. Front panel ports that use short wires from the MB fail. Docking stations fail. USB hubs fail. Only three ports on two computers have succeeded. Two are the rear USB ports on the desktop that are mounted on the motherboard. I hate using these because they were dedicated to my printer and film scanner and annoying to access. The other is the lone USB on my laptop that is accessable while the laptop is docked. (I have not tried the two rear ports on the laptop that are covered by the docking station.)

 

Has anyone else seen this kind of thing? I suspect that there is a severe issue with the Garmin USB drivers that needs to be solved. I sent Garmin an e-mail documenting my findings, but naturally the result was just as productive as if I had just printed it and tossed it out the window.

 

I can't believe that they have not been swamped with tech support issues on this as I have never had a USB device fail like this.

 

Anyone else see this happening?

 

Yes, I have a Map76CSx and it will only connect to my PC if I use the direct USB 2.0 port on the back of my Pc (USB 2.0 4 port card). If I attach it to my 2.0 hub, the GPSr is not even recognized. Got me, I just stick to using the direct USB connection now. On my laptop I only have two direct USB ports, they both work fine.

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What system are you running on your computers?

 

You may need to reload the latest USB drivers for that system. They can be found on the Microsoft web site, if your using a version of Windows. Then, after reloading those, you would need to plug the Garmin into one USB port and reload the Garmin USB drivers.

 

I have no problems using front panel USB ports with my Garmin 60cx. I have both Asus and Abit mother boards.

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The ports on my desktop are 1.1 USB on an Intel motherboard. The Dell laptop is a 2.0 USB. All drivers and Garmin SW is up to date. Yes, Win-Doze machines. Both are running McAfee Firewall and Anti-Virus. MapSource sees the unit on everything but the hub. The hub is built into the Dell flatpanel display for the docked laptop, so I can't move that to the desktop. The cost for a hub, or a 2.0 card for the desktop is about the same. Still, I don't want to have to access REAR connections (I use the same cable for connecting to the PC as I do to power the unit in the truck.)

 

From the way it looks, the driver or transfer software chokes on small errors caused by either timing or distance (basically timing) issues. The protocol needs to be more robust. Especially since there is a lot of older hardware out there that works just fine.

 

I think my desktop is pushing 5 years now. Was bleeding edge at it's time. 2.8ghz Pentium 4, 1gig of Rambus memory, 15,000 RPM SCSI drives, etc. When Doom 3 came out and most people were rushing for upgrades, I was saying "Finally, something that uses all this".

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I have a 4-port hub I use for transfering data to and from my GPSr and for downloading the pictures from my cameras. It works great.

 

However, when I was looking into updating the firmware for my Olympus 5060 camera, the instructions specifically stated they would not guarantee results if you used a hub. They said to connect the camera's USB cable directly to the USB port on the motherboard.

 

This doesn't solve your problem, but it does the suggest the fallibility of hubs . . .

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The ports on my desktop are 1.1 USB on an Intel motherboard. The Dell laptop is a 2.0 USB. All drivers and Garmin SW is up to date. Yes, Win-Doze machines. Both are running McAfee Firewall and Anti-Virus. MapSource sees the unit on everything but the hub. The hub is built into the Dell flatpanel display for the docked laptop, so I can't move that to the desktop. The cost for a hub, or a 2.0 card for the desktop is about the same. Still, I don't want to have to access REAR connections (I use the same cable for connecting to the PC as I do to power the unit in the truck.)

 

From the way it looks, the driver or transfer software chokes on small errors caused by either timing or distance (basically timing) issues. The protocol needs to be more robust. Especially since there is a lot of older hardware out there that works just fine.

 

I think my desktop is pushing 5 years now. Was bleeding edge at it's time. 2.8ghz Pentium 4, 1gig of Rambus memory, 15,000 RPM SCSI drives, etc. When Doom 3 came out and most people were rushing for upgrades, I was saying "Finally, something that uses all this".

 

I had two Abit mother boards purchased about 5 or 6 years ago and both had intermittent problems with the front panel USB ports. Never did get a resolution on the problems. The one that was having the most problem was not using a shielded cable to the front panel USB ports. I got 2 new MB's about 6 months ago and no problems since then. I replaced the USB cable in the case that was having the most problem when I swapped out the MB's.

 

ABIT had a hard time getting their front panel USB ports implemented right. My latest is an IS7-E2 board and it sometimes fails to initiate the front panel ports on startup. I have to do a restart to make them work when that happens.

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As an FYI, I was having trouble with USB ports and a device awhile back and in conversation with a tech, he indicated that on many machiness, the front USB ports are unable to supply the same power as the rear thus the reason some things work on one and not the other.

 

I would think a GPS just might draw enough power to make this an issue. That would also explain why an unpowered hub might not work as it is also drawing power from the port then you add on a GPS.

 

This was not the source of my problem so I can not verify it but it does sound reasonable to me that it might occur.

 

Jerry

 

The ports on my desktop are 1.1 USB on an Intel motherboard. The Dell laptop is a 2.0 USB. All drivers and Garmin SW is up to date. Yes, Win-Doze machines. Both are running McAfee Firewall and Anti-Virus. MapSource sees the unit on everything but the hub. The hub is built into the Dell flatpanel display for the docked laptop, so I can't move that to the desktop. The cost for a hub, or a 2.0 card for the desktop is about the same. Still, I don't want to have to access REAR connections (I use the same cable for connecting to the PC as I do to power the unit in the truck.)

 

From the way it looks, the driver or transfer software chokes on small errors caused by either timing or distance (basically timing) issues. The protocol needs to be more robust. Especially since there is a lot of older hardware out there that works just fine.

 

I think my desktop is pushing 5 years now. Was bleeding edge at it's time. 2.8ghz Pentium 4, 1gig of Rambus memory, 15,000 RPM SCSI drives, etc. When Doom 3 came out and most people were rushing for upgrades, I was saying "Finally, something that uses all this".

 

I had two Abit mother boards purchased about 5 or 6 years ago and both had intermittent problems with the front panel USB ports. Never did get a resolution on the problems. The one that was having the most problem was not using a shielded cable to the front panel USB ports. I got 2 new MB's about 6 months ago and no problems since then. I replaced the USB cable in the case that was having the most problem when I swapped out the MB's.

 

ABIT had a hard time getting their front panel USB ports implemented right. My latest is an IS7-E2 board and it sometimes fails to initiate the front panel ports on startup. I have to do a restart to make them work when that happens.

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FWIW, I have a VistaC, and I've noticed a similar behavior. A powered hub and one cable works ok for powering the GPS, and usually works fine for waypoint/track/route transfers. However, map transfers were generally unreliable here, but became much more reliable with a different cable/port combination.

Keith

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The USB cable that comes with your GPS unit also takes over keeping the unit powered, it acts as a power cord as well as a data interface cable. My company makes ATMS and our latest product relies on USB for communication between devices. We have some devices that require a powered USB hub so that the voltage level doesn't drop. When that level drops, comms become unstable and fails. If you get an external USB hub make sure it has the ability to be plugged in to get it's power from somewhere other than the USB port.

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The USB cable that comes with your GPS unit also takes over keeping the unit powered, it acts as a power cord as well as a data interface cable. My company makes ATMS and our latest product relies on USB for communication between devices. We have some devices that require a powered USB hub so that the voltage level doesn't drop. When that level drops, comms become unstable and fails. If you get an external USB hub make sure it has the ability to be plugged in to get it's power from somewhere other than the USB port.

 

True. The front USB ports are generally not usable for devices that require a powered port. My daughter's IPod will not charge or download from a front USB port, but works fine from a motherboard direct port.

 

Rick

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