Winchester_0 Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 (edited) I just picked up an Explorist 500 and am having trouble uploading MapSend Topo regions that have been converted with Magellan's Conversion Manager. Once uploaded I keep getting either the "Invalid Detail Map File" or "Map Security Error" message when trying to set the uploaded Detail Maps active. I have tried both large sized regions using the SD card and small regions that where uploaded directly to the internal memory completely eliminating the SD card. I have also upgraded the firmware to 5.2.03 which appears to the the latest one out there. When saving the regions from MapSend to my hard drive I used the serial number from the "Sticker" being sure to drop the first and last digits. I have been trying to comfirm the "Sticker" serial number with the software serial number but nowhere in the "About" screen does my serial number apear. Has anyone else not been able to see their serial number in the "About" screen? Thanks in advance... Edited January 25, 2008 by Winchester_0 Quote Link to comment
+embra Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 (edited) In their infinite widom, Magellan put that sticker number in the battery compartment to fool you. The number the software is looking for is available on the menu/about screen--but don't tell anyone lest they be deprived of the challenge of figuring out this enigma on their own. IIRC you can enter it as it is displayed on the 500, but if it's too many digits try dropping a leading zero as necessary to get all the rest of the digits in. Edited January 25, 2008 by embra Quote Link to comment
Winchester_0 Posted January 25, 2008 Author Share Posted January 25, 2008 That's what I'm trying to figure out... The serial number never appears in my "About Screen" and I suspect the sticker may be incorrect. Quote Link to comment
Winchester_0 Posted January 25, 2008 Author Share Posted January 25, 2008 Here's what my About screen looks like, no Serial Number... Quote Link to comment
+embra Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 I no longer have my 500, and so I am going from memory here (i.e., if anyone else can corroborate my suggestions it would be helpful). Did you recently purchase this unit? I see that you have the newest firmware version on there (one that I doubt Magellan had preinstalled). The reason I ask is that I recollect when the explorists came out, there were a number of people who discovered their units lacked an internal serial number--as yours appears to. At that time they had to return their units to Magellan CS to have the number installed. I was under an impression--easily wrong, I suppose--that this was not so much of a problem in the latter production run. So it would appear to me that you will need to contact Magellan about correcting this so you could use their detail maps. The possible/probable problem is that I don't think they're doing any repair work on Explorists any more. Maybe they'll still fix it, maybe they'll offer you a swap, maybe they'll offer you an upgrade path to a Triton, maybe you're SOL. One long shot: I can't remember if the serial number was supposed to be at the top or the bottom of the screen. Personalize your GPS with at least a character or two to see if you can drop the extra line of text in that field to see if it draws up the serial number at the bottom of the display. I suspect the S/N should be in that blank 4th line at the top, but at least this is something you can try easily. Quote Link to comment
Winchester_0 Posted January 25, 2008 Author Share Posted January 25, 2008 Last night I upgraded to 2.57 from 2.03 in hopes that it would cause my serial number to re-appear. No luck though. Quote Link to comment
+MartianRabbit Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 Where did you find this Firmware upgrade of 2.57?? The Magellan website only has 2.03 still posted, and is the same for both the 500 and 600 models. I would be very interested in what this fixes, as there are a few things that are quirky. As for the missing serial number, well, I am not sure what to do to recover that. Maybe downgrade the firmware back to 2.03. I would send that same photo to Magellan support. Quote Link to comment
+embra Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 The 2.57 upgrade was a nice one, in that it added additional screens that used to be available on the Meridians but were dropped when the Explorist was released in order to simplify the options. The screens can be toggled to appear or not as you wish. The 2.57 on the Magellan boards is for Europe, and includes a basemap that will overwrite the existing basemap. If you can download the 2.57 there (tricky because they require S/N registration, backup your basemap, and then do the upgrade, it's not hard to restore your your current basemap if desired. Alternatively (and easier), I downloaded a 2.57 upgrade that (IIRC) was briefly on the Magellan boards with no basemap. The basemap *should* be untouched--although it is still a good precaution to have a copy of your basemap backed up to PC...Explorists seem to blow their basemaps out too often as it is). If anyone wants to obtain this firmware this link will work for 3 days from the time of this posting. I think the only think users in the US will need to do after the upgrade is change from metric to miles. And pick out which screens you want It's a shame that Magellan decided to pull the plug on Explorist support before making this upgrade available elsewhere besides Europe. Quote Link to comment
vagabond Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 Ser.# on my 500 is right below the rev#, right above property of Quote Link to comment
+cwhlam Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 Two suggestions. First, look in the battery compartment, there should be a serial number there. Delete the first and last digits and use the trimmed number to generate a map. Second, with the Explorists connected as an external disk, there is a file "UNIT_ID.DAT" in the directory "USBTRANS". It contains both the SW version number and the serial number. The "USBTRANS" is at the root level, and has the attribute of SH. You have to ask windows to "Show hidden files and folders" before it will show up. Clement Quote Link to comment
Winchester_0 Posted January 26, 2008 Author Share Posted January 26, 2008 Looks like my UNIT_ID.DAT serial number field is corrupt... I've replaced the mysterious characters with the serial number from the sticker (less the first and last digits) and saved the file. However upon restarting the unit the UNIT_ID.DAT reverts itself to the corrupt serial number characters as in this picture... The unit must rewrite this file upon startup... Quote Link to comment
Winchester_0 Posted January 26, 2008 Author Share Posted January 26, 2008 Tested uploading Waypoints/Routes/Tracks they function just fine. Of course you are being prompted for the serial number when creating these files. Quote Link to comment
Winchester_0 Posted January 26, 2008 Author Share Posted January 26, 2008 This is a long shot but does anyone know the hex address in the MapSend generated .imi files that where the serial number is stored? I can't seem to find it by searching for the serial number as a Text String in my hex editor. I'd like to blow away the serial number from the .imi file and see if my Explorist will accept it... Quote Link to comment
+MartianRabbit Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 Alternatively (and easier), I downloaded a 2.57 upgrade that (IIRC) was briefly on the Magellan boards with no basemap. The basemap *should* be untouched--although it is still a good precaution to have a copy of your basemap backed up to PC...Explorists seem to blow their basemaps out too often as it is). If anyone wants to obtain this firmware this link will work for 3 days from the time of this posting I tried the link, but it says the maximum downloads has been reached. Do you have to register on this site to get it? If I can send you my e-mail address via your profile, you can send it to me if it is no trouble. My mail servers don't have any limits. You can send the file uncompressed if you want. Thanks in advance! BTW, nice to meet you. I have ready many of your posts! MR Quote Link to comment
+cwhlam Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 This is a long shot but does anyone know the hex address in the MapSend generated .imi files that where the serial number is stored? I can't seem to find it by searching for the serial number as a Text String in my hex editor. I'd like to blow away the serial number from the .imi file and see if my Explorist will accept it... You should look into Yahoo!'s mobilemapper2 group. There is also some discussion here: <http://www.msh-tools.com/exploristmsend.html>. Clement Quote Link to comment
+embra Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 I tried the link, but it says the maximum downloads has been reached. Do you have to register on this site to get it? If I can send you my e-mail address via your profile, you can send it to me if it is no trouble. My mail servers don't have any limits. You can send the file uncompressed if you want. Thanks in advance! BTW, nice to meet you. I have ready many of your posts! MR Sorry about that; it's a free account on a large file transfer service web site. I knew they had time limits for downloads, but I wasn't aware that they capped the number of downloads as well. By all means, if you (or anyone else still interested backchannels me, I'd be happy to email it directly. I'm on my laptop right now so I can't check the size, but as I recall it was under 3MB. I'd like to blow away the serial number from the .imi file and see if my Explorist will accept it... Winchester, I don't know that such a strategy *wouldn't* work, but (FWIW) I doubt it, or I think someone would have reported it as successful. It's entirely possible that no one has yet tried that particular strategy. But I think lots of people have probed the various copy-protection strategies that Magellan has used with their programs...some because they want to avoid legitimate user fees, but many because the schemes are so annoying. I'm just sayin' so you don't knock yourself out trying. The only solution I have ever heard for this is getting Magellan to burn the number into the unit at their facilities. I've not followed Explorist conversations in the last year, so my knowledge has holes in it. Another good source of knowledgeable people to check in with would be the Yahoo Explorist Users group. Quote Link to comment
+MartianRabbit Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 Sorry about that; it's a free account on a large file transfer service web site. I knew they had time limits for downloads, but I wasn't aware that they capped the number of downloads as well. No Problem embra! Winchester_0 sent me a copy. It is less than 2 megs zipped. I can also post this on my website if there are no legal ramifications. I did some massive google searching, and most of the references point to Maggie's website which are completely gone now. I can even post it on my website, but not make it publicly accessible. Anybody got some feedback on this? I would like to hear some. MR Quote Link to comment
+embra Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 It's a gray area. I think Magellan likes to control it, because it holds down the number of support calls they are apt to get if someone tries an upgrade and they run into problems. If you put it up but keep a low profile, I doubt that anything would ever happen. And if they ever do contact you and "ask" you to take it down, that would be the end of it. I also try to keep a somewhat low profile on these kinds of things because I don't think our hosts want a reputation for being a venue of illicit activity. So I try to respect that as best I can, while still sharing legitimate information that doesn't cost business interests lost sales. Quote Link to comment
+hukilaulau Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 I am not technically savvy so it could be that i don't know what I'm talking about but here is my experience for what it's worth: I bought a 500 with directroute mapping. Without too much trouble i got it to work just fine. Then, I lost the gps. Since I liked it so much I called Magellan tech support to ask "If I bought a new 500, can I transfer the serial number to the directroute maps?" They said yes, and after they did whatever they do I was able to enter the new serial number and load maps to the new unit. Then... I found the original unit! Out of curiosity I tried loading maps into the original unit. I was able to complete the process, but when I tried to look at the maps, I got one of the error messages you mentioned. So it would appear that your topo maps have been assigned to another gps unit. And the only way you'll get it to work with yours is if maggie will cancel the number for you. And that's really all I wanted to say... Quote Link to comment
+MartianRabbit Posted January 27, 2008 Share Posted January 27, 2008 It's a gray area. I think Magellan likes to control it, because it holds down the number of support calls they are apt to get if someone tries an upgrade and they run into problems. If you put it up but keep a low profile, I doubt that anything would ever happen. And if they ever do contact you and "ask" you to take it down, that would be the end of it. I also try to keep a somewhat low profile on these kinds of things because I don't think our hosts want a reputation for being a venue of illicit activity. So I try to respect that as best I can, while still sharing legitimate information that doesn't cost business interests lost sales. Completely got you here. I will keep it low profile. I don't understand then if the firmware works, then why can't the NA market get the features, and benefit? I didn't read any reasons why it would have been pulled. All I read was good news about the later version. I was checking the end of life and apparantly the end for the eXplorist line is January of 2008. They soon will most likely not have tech support either, so they are off the hook for the extra calls. Anyway, if anyone wants it, I will send it as I have for one person already. Yeah the gray area... To me I have the bundled software "as is" from the Vendor without warrantee or modification. With the 4 magellan Units I purchased $1,400.00, the interconnection hardware $250.00, two complete bundles of software $300.00, I think I paid for it some where along the way "My Opinion of couse". Besides all the firmware upgrades they have ever posted were free. So, I suspect your are right, they didn't want the support calls, as they were dumping the line, and there must have been a problem with it. Anyway, thanks for the feedback! MR Quote Link to comment
+geowizerd Posted January 27, 2008 Share Posted January 27, 2008 I no longer have my 500, and so I am going from memory here (i.e., if anyone else can corroborate my suggestions it would be helpful). One long shot: I can't remember if the serial number was supposed to be at the top or the bottom of the screen. Personalize your GPS with at least a character or two to see if you can drop the extra line of text in that field to see if it draws up the serial number at the bottom of the display. I suspect the S/N should be in that blank 4th line at the top, but at least this is something you can try easily. Here is a screen shot of my eXplorist 400's about screen: Quote Link to comment
+MartianRabbit Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 I performed the upgrade, and went flawlessly. New screens working fine, Serial number in the unit is fine, all detailed maps are loading fine. Base map stayed in place. Seems to be a bit faster in the menu functions. Listing and paging through waypoints and caches is faster too. Glad I made the upgrade. Thanks for the tips, tricks and firmware! It looks just like all the screens the Meridian and the Sportrak have. Makes the unit complete! Thanks Magellan! MR Quote Link to comment
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