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WARNING FOR OREGON 550 OWNERS!


*mouse*

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Deliberately posting in the UK forum as many of you will not read the Technical Forum.

 

A warning for others who own Oregon 550. Do not update your unit with the latest software update 3.8

 

Keehotee and I both tried to upgrade our units this morning and both are now totally useless and will not boot.

Looking at the forums we now realise that this is happening to lots of other people and there seems to be an error with the latest software upgrade.

 

Personally not impressed - between us that's five failed units in 10 months. It's the weekend so no caching now and as we've been through this before and know the reality is they will have to be sent away for repair and we'll be without for another week or so at least.

 

Plus then there's the cost of new zag screen protectors, postage, etc... which is about £20 quid a pop so this will cost us £100 now because of faulty units.

 

Thinking it's time to call it a day with Garmin TBH......

 

*rant over!*

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I updated mine last night and it seems fine?

Was it the 550? The different versions of the Oregon have different software loads. They don't all use the same one. The 450/450t and 550/550t use different software to the 300/400/400t.

 

I may just hold off upgrading for now B)

 

Thanks for the warning Mouse!

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books

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I updated mine last night and it seems fine?

 

As yours is brand new it might be that it came loaded with a newer firmware version. Apparently having the last beta installed will mean it loads properly - but if you don't, it'll fail B)

All I know is we went independently to MyGarmin, ran their webupdater - and both now have unuseable (and unrollbackable) GPS's

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It's the weekend so no caching now

No, no. Make the most of your Garminless state and visit a few caches armed with nothing other than a map and some notes. Feel the freedom! I much prefer going to single caches, or doing very short series, without the electronics.

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It's the weekend so no caching now

No, no. Make the most of your Garminless state and visit a few caches armed with nothing other than a map and some notes. Feel the freedom! I much prefer going to single caches, or doing very short series, without the electronics.

 

Been there/done that a few years ago.

Unfortunately the sort of cache I'd find without a GPS is precisely the sort of cache I'd rather not look for. :D Thanks though :D

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OK.... I took the chance and updated my 550. It was previously on Software version 3.40 and GPS version 3.70. I had not loaded the Beta

 

I first deleted all the GPX files and waypoints stored. Updated it using the web updater. Before unplugging it I 'ejected' it from Windows. Powered it up and it seems OK. Software version 3.80 and GPS version 4.52.

 

Now to put some GPX files in it.

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books

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OK.... I took the chance and updated my 550. It was previously on Software version 3.40 and GPS version 3.70. I had not loaded the Beta

 

I first deleted all the GPX files and waypoints stored. Updated it using the web updater. Before unplugging it I 'ejected' it from Windows. Powered it up and it seems OK. Software version 3.80 and GPS version 4.52.

 

Now to put some GPX files in it.

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books

 

Was that with the standalone webupdater Chris?

Ali and I used the MyGarmin site - but haven't heard from anybody else that did the same. Perhaps that's the problem?

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OK.... I took the chance and updated my 550. It was previously on Software version 3.40 and GPS version 3.70. I had not loaded the Beta

 

I first deleted all the GPX files and waypoints stored. Updated it using the web updater. Before unplugging it I 'ejected' it from Windows. Powered it up and it seems OK. Software version 3.80 and GPS version 4.52.

 

Now to put some GPX files in it.

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books

 

Was that with the standalone webupdater Chris?

Ali and I used the MyGarmin site - but haven't heard from anybody else that did the same. Perhaps that's the problem?

 

 

Tim i'm sure your probably already aware of this but when i was researching around many oregon FAQ sites I found out you can backdate the software version of your GPS via the main GARMIN website. Maybe try putting the software back to how it was and then update it via the webuploader?

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OK.... I took the chance and updated my 550. It was previously on Software version 3.40 and GPS version 3.70. I had not loaded the Beta

 

I first deleted all the GPX files and waypoints stored. Updated it using the web updater. Before unplugging it I 'ejected' it from Windows. Powered it up and it seems OK. Software version 3.80 and GPS version 4.52.

 

Now to put some GPX files in it.

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books

 

Was that with the standalone webupdater Chris?

Ali and I used the MyGarmin site - but haven't heard from anybody else that did the same. Perhaps that's the problem?

 

 

Tim i'm sure your probably already aware of this but when i was researching around many oregon FAQ sites I found out you can backdate the software version of your GPS via the main GARMIN website. Maybe try putting the software back to how it was and then update it via the webuploader?

 

Been trying to do that all day Liam. :D:D

 

The underlying problem now is we cannot get either GPS past the Garmin splash screen when you turn on. So connecting to the 'puter is now possible (if not easy) - but updates and rollbacks are having no effect at all, and software is not updating as the GPSes aren't booting properly to finish the updates.

 

Just for comparison (and I've asked this "on the other side" too) - has anybody that's done a successful upgrade to the latest software (3.80) done so through the my.garmin.com website - or have they all be done via Webupdater?

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Tim

I just connected the 550 to my laptop, ran the webupdater program and followed the steps. That's how I've always done it. I've not used Beta versions where you do it manually. When done, the 550 reported loading new software then came up OK.

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books

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Tim

I just connected the 550 to my laptop, ran the webupdater program and followed the steps. That's how I've always done it. I've not used Beta versions where you do it manually. When done, the 550 reported loading new software then came up OK.

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books

 

I hadn't even heard of webupdater until today - we've always updated through the web site. Oh well - 2 more for garmin on monday :D

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Tim

If you get a browser that works :D would the GPS power up connected to the PC? If so it might be worth trying the Webupdater to see if it can 'see' the GPS and perhaps reinstall the software update?

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer - geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources http://www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books http://support.Groundspeak.com//index.php

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Tim

If you get a browser that works :D would the GPS power up connected to the PC? If so it might be worth trying the Webupdater to see if it can 'see' the GPS and perhaps reinstall the software update?

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer - geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources http://www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books http://support.Groundspeak.com//index.php

 

I've tried all sorts Chris - I can get the PC to see the GPS's now, and I've run the software reboot patch (the DOS/cmd line one), I've run webupdater - I've even run some of the standalone beta .exe's. The trouble is the GPS's now won't go past the Garmin splash screen, so although all of the above say they've successfully loaded the new software, the GPS itself isn't rebooting properly to finish off the installation.

 

It wasn't the browser - I was using Chrome (as I always have previously) on my laptop, and Ali was using Firefox (ditto) on hers. Our only common point was the connection - but we didn't run the upgrade at the same time.

 

It seems that the upgrade was corrupted at my.garmin.com, so off to Garmin with 'em is our only option now :D

Edited by keehotee
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I guessed you had tried everything. Bad luck in the end. Oh well, you'll have to use a 'smart' phone for caching until you get the Garmins replaced :D

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books

 

:D:D I've just totted them up, and ignoring the two Oregons, we've still got 7 or so working GPSes in the house - although my original 1997 Magellan Meridian suffers from serious Y2K issues :D

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I don't think you say anywhere in this thread but I assume you have tried a 'master reset'?

 

"Turn off the Oregon, press and hold the upper left corner of the screen and power the unit on. You will eventually be asked if you want to reset user data. If you answer "Yes" the unit will be master reset."

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I don't think you say anywhere in this thread but I assume you have tried a 'master reset'?

 

"Turn off the Oregon, press and hold the upper left corner of the screen and power the unit on. You will eventually be asked if you want to reset user data. If you answer "Yes" the unit will be master reset."

 

First thing we tried :D

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I just updated to 3.8 using the web updater on my mac and no problems. It looks like it may be a bug on their site. I imagine that you have tried already and I know the Oregon is a more complex unit than the etrex but I had issues with my etrex and couldn't get it too boot no matter what I did. I called garmin and they walked me through a couple different things until we got it to boot. They already had heard about the issue so already had a few things that had worked so there was less guess work.

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Don't confuse the Oregon *00 software with the Oregon *50 software...

Two different softwares!

 

My 300 works fine on the new 'full' update. (After doing very nicely, thank you, on the beta!)

Multi's here I come...

(only needs a way to save the multi waypoints and finals*, to make it a good update.

 

* For proximity cases, and proper mileage/county/etc for GSAK stats!)

Edited by Bear and Ragged
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Hello everyone :-)

 

I'm glad I found this thread by luck, because now I see, I'm not the only one having a problem with this update.

I've the same issue as described by *mouse* and keehotee.

 

On Saturday I wanted to update the firmaware of my Oregon 550 via Webupdater from 3.50 to 3.80.

The download of the update was successfull and it was copied to the GPSr. But afterwards the installation on the GPSr didn't succeed. Now the GPSr doesn't boot correctly anymore. It doesn't get past the the screen showing "Garmin" at the beginning. So there's no chance to undo or repeat the update.

To switch off the device, I have to remove the batteries.

 

Unfortunately there is no response by Garmin from Sunday untill now.

 

Best regards

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I used WebUpdater to go from the Beta 3.74 to the Release 3.80 on my 550 without any problems. Been using the GPSr since then and it's worked fine. I'm wondering what the differences must be between those 550's that worked doing an upgrade and those that didn't? My unit is a 550, running Discoverer mapping from the SD card and with a New York city map installed on the unit itself. I didn't delete my GPX files prior to the upgrade, or indeed remove the SD card. There is also plenty of free space on the unit itself. Wonder how that compares with others that have failed?

 

Jon.

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I used WebUpdater to go from the Beta 3.74 to the Release 3.80 on my 550 without any problems. Been using the GPSr since then and it's worked fine. I'm wondering what the differences must be between those 550's that worked doing an upgrade and those that didn't? My unit is a 550, running Discoverer mapping from the SD card and with a New York city map installed on the unit itself. I didn't delete my GPX files prior to the upgrade, or indeed remove the SD card. There is also plenty of free space on the unit itself. Wonder how that compares with others that have failed?

 

Jon.

 

We used the my.garmin.com interface , NOT webupdater. That seems to be the biggest difference...... :)

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I used WebUpdater to go from the Beta 3.74 to the Release 3.80 on my 550 without any problems. Been using the GPSr since then and it's worked fine. I'm wondering what the differences must be between those 550's that worked doing an upgrade and those that didn't? My unit is a 550, running Discoverer mapping from the SD card and with a New York city map installed on the unit itself. I didn't delete my GPX files prior to the upgrade, or indeed remove the SD card. There is also plenty of free space on the unit itself. Wonder how that compares with others that have failed?

 

Jon.

 

We used the my.garmin.com interface , NOT webupdater. That seems to be the biggest difference...... :)

 

Hmm... I expect both to just put a copy of the firmware update file on the GPSr and then request you unplug/restart it. It's the GPSr that does the upgrade, not the download tool. I wonder if we could get a copy of the update file that is on WebUpdater and the one that is applied via my.garmin.com and do a binary compare? Could be a corruption in the file or maybe they got the wrong file and it's applying x00 firmware to the x50 unit? Have there been any cases of successful x50 updates via my.garmin.com?

 

J

Edited by Dakar4x4
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Have you tried forcing the Oregon in to mass storage mode.

Adam had to recover his Oregon after this happened with the 3.74 beta.. (from Oregon Wiki site)

  1. Attach the Oregon to your computer via USB cable
  2. The Oregon will power on and start to boot, immediately power the unit off while still connected
  3. Power on the Oregon and continue to hold down the power button for 30 seconds
  4. The Oregon should enter USB mass storage mode

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Have you tried forcing the Oregon in to mass storage mode.

Adam had to recover his Oregon after this happened with the 3.74 beta.. (from Oregon Wiki site)

  1. Attach the Oregon to your computer via USB cable
  2. The Oregon will power on and start to boot, immediately power the unit off while still connected
  3. Power on the Oregon and continue to hold down the power button for 30 seconds
  4. The Oregon should enter USB mass storage mode

 

Yes - but that method didn't work for ours. We couldn't power down without pulling the batteries.

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After the Update to Firmware 3.80 my Oregon 550t didn't work anymore.

 

Yesterday I got an answer by Garmin-Support. They sent me an updater.exe, a rgn-file and instructions how to do a downgrade to Version 3.40.

 

Before downgrading, I deleted the old gcd-file from the device. Then the downgrade to 3.40 worked fine.

 

Afterwards I made a masterreset and started the update to 3.80 via webupdater (without masterreset the update from 3.40 to 3.80 didn't work and the GPSr hung again).

Now all works fine :-)

 

Best regards

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My Oregon did the same thing, I was able to recover back to Ver 3.40.

Question: After doing this master reset, what user data gets deleted? Do pictures, maps, waypoints, or geocaches get deleted?

 

I guess this does not matter as I will just back up the data before doing it..... :laughing:

Anyhow I would still like to know.

Thanks!

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My Oregon did the same thing, I was able to recover back to Ver 3.40.

Question: After doing this master reset, what user data gets deleted? Do pictures, maps, waypoints, or geocaches get deleted?

 

I guess this does not matter as I will just back up the data before doing it..... :laughing:

Anyhow I would still like to know.

Thanks!

If it's anything like doing a 'hard' reset on a Garmin iQue then (as opposed to a 'soft' reset by pressing the Reset button) all user data is removed as well as any customer installed software. The unit is reset to the state it was in when it was first purchased.

Edited by Pharisee
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My Oregon did the same thing, I was able to recover back to Ver 3.40.

Question: After doing this master reset, what user data gets deleted? Do pictures, maps, waypoints, or geocaches get deleted?

 

I guess this does not matter as I will just back up the data before doing it..... :laughing:

Anyhow I would still like to know.

Thanks!

If it's anything like doing a 'hard' reset on a Garmin iQue then (as opposed to a 'soft' reset by pressing the Reset button) all user data is removed as well as any customer installed software. The unit is reset to the state it was in when it was first purchased.

 

I did a master reset on the Oregon and to be honest I struggled to see what changes it made. All customised settings remained.

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I would love to do a master reset on mine but for some stupid reason it just won't play.

Only wanted to reset the odommeter to zero.

Oregon 550 - Settings - Reset - Reset Trip Data - Are you sure? - Yes.

 

Odometer etc back to zero :laughing:

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books

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I have just successfully updated my 550T. I removed the SD card before starting which also removed my OSM map and any waypoints, track etc. I then used webupdater to painlessly do the business and as smstext says I used the icon to safely eject the hardware.

 

regards - ayepee

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I would love to do a master reset on mine but for some stupid reason it just won't play.

Only wanted to reset the odommeter to zero.

Oregon 550 - Settings - Reset - Reset Trip Data - Are you sure? - Yes.

 

Odometer etc back to zero :D

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books

 

Sorry I should have added that it is the 300. I can reset the trip Odometer but not the master Odometer using that method, to reset that requires a Master Reset. (press top left corner while powering on. Yup but it don't on mine) Have decided that I just can't be bothered.

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