Garmin etrex Vista will not get a signal.

[+otis89]

Yet another problem with my Vista. What a waste of $150. Last time, it turned itself off right after I would turn it on. A factory reset fixed that problem. Now, it is stuck on the locating satellites screen. No matter how many satellites it has a signal from, it refuses to advance to the ready to navigate, accuracy XX feet screen. I've tried a factory reset, but I can't get it to work. Any suggestions?

[+BlueDeuce]

After a reset it has to download a lot of data. Are you giving it enough time?

 

You need a location where it can get a clear view of the sky. I find the best and safest place is to pull the car out of the garage and set the gps on the dashboard.

 

Give it a good 30+ minutes. Check it after 15 minutes as you might get an error of unable to locate sats. Just tell it to keep looking. It might take a couple tries.

Edited January 2, 2009 by BlueDeuce

[+fratermus]

After a reset the GPSr may require a very long uninterrupted view of the sky. I'd turn it on and put it somewhere with a great view (outside) and let it suck down the data from the birds. Could take more than a half hour.

 

There may be a section in the manual that discusses this phenomanon.

[+GeekBoy.from.Illinois]

After a reset it has to download a lot of data. Are you giving it enough time?

 

You need a location where it can get a clear view of the sky. I find the best and safest place is to pull the car out of the garage and set the gps on the dashboard.

 

Give it a good 30+ minutes. Check it after 15 minutes as you might get an error of unable to locate sats. Just tell it to keep looking. It might take a couple tries.

 

When my brother-in-law was having this problem with his older etrex, I also helped it out by giving the GPS a starting location (other than the default "Garmin in Kansas"). This seemed to help it get a fix as well, even though he had tried leaving it on for 30-45 minutes.

[+otis89]

I have tried to reset it, but it won't let me. Also, the owner's manual for this particular model is worthless. Nowhere in there does it even tell you how to perform a factory reset.

[+BlueDeuce]

After a reset it has to download a lot of data. Are you giving it enough time?

 

You need a location where it can get a clear view of the sky. I find the best and safest place is to pull the car out of the garage and set the gps on the dashboard.

 

Give it a good 30+ minutes. Check it after 15 minutes as you might get an error of unable to locate sats. Just tell it to keep looking. It might take a couple tries.

 

When my brother-in-law was having this problem with his older etrex, I also helped it out by giving the GPS a starting location (other than the default "Garmin in Kansas"). This seemed to help it get a fix as well, even though he had tried leaving it on for 30-45 minutes.

 

I'm not sure how to provide a starting location but that is essentially the issue. If you travel several hundred miles with your gps shut off you typically need to 'bake' the gps again to get the almanac current. At least that how I understand the older model etrex works.

 

Wiping a gps clean can take longer to update than your standard Bake.

[+BlueDeuce]

I have tried to reset it, but it won't let me. Also, the owner's manual for this particular model is worthless. Nowhere in there does it even tell you how to perform a factory reset.

 

That's because you typically don't want to do a factory reset. The main thing about the older Vistas is bake them properly and always do a compass calibration after every battery change. Otherwise you get funky readings or slow connections.

[+BlueDeuce]

By the way, what code version do you have loaded. 3.80?

 

-Main Menu page - Setup - System. At the very top is the X and to the left of that is another menu option. In there is the version option.

[+otis89]

By the way, what code version do you have loaded. 3.80?

 

-Main Menu page - Setup - System. At the very top is the X and to the left of that is another menu option. In there is the version option.

 

I'm not sure. I have it sitting out on the roof of the van. I'll go check on it in half an hour and tell you then.

[+otis89]

Half an hour later, it is still stuck on the locating satellites page. My software version is 3.80.

 

Any suggestions other than just letting it sit outside for half an hour or so?

[+otis89]

Any suggestions?

[+otis89]

And I've found another problem with this piece of junk. It thinks it's 8:40 PM on June 21, 2025.

[+otis89]

I just let it sit out on the roof of the car for 50 minutes. It said it had a signal from 8 satellites, but it would not give me coordinates and say it was ready to navigate.

 

Can I get some more suggestions PLEASE?!

[+julianh]

And I've found another problem with this piece of junk. It thinks it's 8:40 PM on June 21, 2025.

Sounds like you have the dreaded Vista Clock problem. I experienced the same incorrect date problem a year ago, but in my case, the unit worked fine in every way, apart from having ridiculous dates. (This also meant the track-logs had corrupt time / date stamps, which was a problem with MapSource, and I could not geo-tag my site photos.) I could never work out how the unit was able to find the satellites at all, if the calendar was out by years! Read about my experience here:

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...=177915&hl=

 

I was never able to get a permanent resolution to this problem, and the only fix I was able to get was to talk to the vendor who sold me the unit, and we eventually did a deal where he replaced it with a Summit HC, which has worked flawlessly.