Vista working, then screen blank - what gives?

[+TDTN4fun]

I had my Vista plugged into the car on the way home from caching today and all of a sudden the screen went blank (except for a solid vertical line about 1/3 over from the left edge). GPS would not do anything. When I got home I removed the batteries and reinstalled (same ones) and it seems to be working again. Has anyone else experienced this before?

[+EraSeek]

Yes, a few times on very rare occasions, but never when plugged into the car. The solution has always been pull the batteries out and put them back in, and restart.

 

ps. this has happened to me on more than just one model. I wouldn't be concerned unless it happens alot.

Edited January 7, 2008 by EraSeek

[+TDTN4fun]

Thanks Era, I was hoping someone else experienced it and hopefully it won't happen again anytime soon!

[+card4outdoors]

I had the same thing happen with my Vista. I sent it to Garmin in December, they replaced it with a new (probably refurbished) unit, which did the same thing on the second or third power up. I e-mailed the support crew, who replied thus:

 

Thank you for contacting Garmin International.

 

Re: KMM1934070I10971L0KM

 

I am a happy to help you with this. This issue has been coming up from

time to time, it is not a problem so much with the Vista but with WAAS.

There has been some changes with WAAS satellites have been causing the

units to freeze up from time to time. Garmin is working on a firmware

update to correct the issue. In the mean time you can simply access the

main menu -> setup -> system, and disable WAAS. This will resolve the

issue, and not cause any problems with you GPS accuracy.

 

I'm hopeful, but not getting my hopes too high.

 

Bob

[+TDTN4fun]

Hmm - interesting. Come to think of it I just Enabled WAAS before all this started happening. Thanks for the reply!

[Smac999]

I find it funny that garmin just stated that WASS doesn't effect the accuracy of the units...

[+3 Hawks]

I've only had this happen twice with my ETrex Legend. Once, I was not even able to turn off the unit and I had to pull the batteries to shut down even though that is not recommended. The other time, I just turned the unit off and let it sit for 15-20 seconds before restarting.

[+EraSeek]

I had the same thing happen with my Vista. I sent it to Garmin in December, they replaced it with a new (probably refurbished) unit, which did the same thing on the second or third power up. I e-mailed the support crew, who replied thus:

 

Thank you for contacting Garmin International.

 

Re: KMM1934070I10971L0KM

 

I am a happy to help you with this. This issue has been coming up from

time to time, it is not a problem so much with the Vista but with WAAS.

There has been some changes with WAAS satellites have been causing the

units to freeze up from time to time. Garmin is working on a firmware

update to correct the issue. In the mean time you can simply access the

main menu -> setup -> system, and disable WAAS. This will resolve the

issue, and not cause any problems with you GPS accuracy.

 

I'm hopeful, but not getting my hopes too high.

 

Bob

 

Yes this is a possible cause, though it may have more to do with a testing signal than WAAS. I refer you to a previous post: (by the way I agree that useing WAAS inherently improves you accuracy of position)

 

"embra Sep 19 2007, 06:16 AM Post #5

 

Too Much Magellan Man

 

Group: Charter Members

Posts: 4,235

Joined: 7-March 02

From: Gettysburg, PA

 

 

This is *probably* something different, but I recall several years ago that there was something in the Magellan firmwares for Sportraks and Meridians that caused them to shut down in response to a particular signal emitted from the positioning satellites (I forget the nature of the signal, I think it was related to some testing protocols). Magellan had to update the firmwares to get things happy again.

 

I doubt very much anything like this was happening for you, since it didn't affect all units. But it was reminiscent enough I thought I'd mention it."