Garmin 76csx SD Card fail?

[+HistDrew]

I bought a Garmin 76csx last year when I started geocaching. I also bought a 2 gig SD card to go with it. I installed some maps and a few other things, and tried to connect to the card via a cable, and the card failed. The GPS wouldn't boot up. A second card did the same. I don't remember which brands, but I tried two different types. Failure of the card manifested itself in the unit failing to boot up on powerup.

 

I put a third card in, installed the maps, and left it alone.

 

Fast-forward a year, and I'd forgotten about that. With a shiny new membership I downloaded a gpx file from a pocket query, connected to the SD card through a USB cable and the "USB Mass Storage" function, and *bam* that card failed. I tried a second card, and that too failed. I then put the card in the reader, put it in my Macintosh, and there was all the information on the card. So, in fact, the card hadn't failed. Something happened that made the GPS unable to read it. In fact, all three cards are readable on my laptop using a micro-SD adapter, but when installed on my gps keep the gps from booting up.

 

The most recent brands are 2-gig SanDisk and PNY. The SanDisk is not the type against which Garmin recommends.

 

Has anyone else had this problem, or know of a solution? Suggestions [besides install the card and don't mess with it. I'd like to be able to download pocket queries and transfer them to my unit.]?

 

 

HistDrew

[+JBnW]

Unless you're writing the GPX file as a POI (the caches as POIs) you shouldn't need Mass Storage Mode. What program are you running to open the PQ?? I use MapSource and/or GSAK to send caches to my 78CSx, just plug it in and click "send to GPS". Honestly, I've not had much luck experience with the USB Mass Storage mode, but that's probably just me. I always use a card reader when I want to write a mapset or POIs to the card, much faster that way, but you shouldn't need Mass Storage mode to send caches to that unit....unless its a Mac thing.

 

Hope this helps.

[+HistDrew]

Unless you're writing the GPX file as a POI (the caches as POIs) you shouldn't need Mass Storage Mode. What program are you running to open the PQ?? I use MapSource and/or GSAK to send caches to my 78CSx, just plug it in and click "send to GPS". Honestly, I've not had much luck experience with the USB Mass Storage mode, but that's probably just me. I always use a card reader when I want to write a mapset or POIs to the card, much faster that way, but you shouldn't need Mass Storage mode to send caches to that unit....unless its a Mac thing.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Good questions and points. Let me see if I can address a couple of them.

 

I've used the USB Mass Storage on only one occasion, which seems to have caused one of the failures. On other occasions I have used a card reader, put the SD back in the unit, and it failed at that point. In all cases I had removed the battery to make sure that no power surge could be at the root of this.

 

I'm using GPS Connect to open the files. Using the USB connection it won't send files, although it seems to think that it's connected. I haven't tried another program.

 

As noted, I'm on a Mac.

[+Viajero Perdido]

I've heard the Mac Finder drops hidden files (for its internal housekeeping) in folders, and those files have been giving Garmin units trouble. If you open the card in mass storage mode and look at the contents, it would do that.

 

Insanely stupid, to paraphrase the turtleneck guy.

 

I don't remember the details of how to work around that, but you should have enough info now to google for it. It involves deleting the unwanted files somehow, and I imagine you'd end up with good cards again. Good luck.

[+HistDrew]

I've heard the Mac Finder drops hidden files (for its internal housekeeping) in folders, and those files have been giving Garmin units trouble. If you open the card in mass storage mode and look at the contents, it would do that.

 

Insanely stupid, to paraphrase the turtleneck guy.

 

I don't remember the details of how to work around that, but you should have enough info now to google for it. It involves deleting the unwanted files somehow, and I imagine you'd end up with good cards again. Good luck.

 

You're a genius. Thanks. Turns out that the easy way to do this is to:

 

1. Insert the SD card in a card reader and connect to the Mac

 

2. Go into the terminal in the Mac and go to the SD volume

 

3. Use the "rm - r" command to remove the files with a period [.]

 

4. Remove card, reinsert in GPS.

 

5. Boot GPS

 

6. Go geocaching.

 

Thanks for the help. I appreciate it.

[+Viajero Perdido]

You're a genius.

Shucks no. I just happened to remember something I saw in the forum once, when I was wasting time on the interwebs instead of being outside in the bushes.

 

But I'm glad I could help.

 

PS: It wouldn't surprise me if Garmin fixed that behavior in a firmware upgrade.

Edited September 15, 2010 by Viajero Perdido

[+Hank30721]

You're a genius.

Shucks no. I just happened to remember something I saw in the forum once, when I was wasting time on the interwebs instead of being outside in the bushes.

 

But I'm glad I could help.

 

PS: It wouldn't surprise me if Garmin fixed that behavior in a firmware upgrade.

 

Using Garmin's mapsource software I just send the PQ straight to the device and avoid the weird card issue.

[+easytrekker]

I've heard the Mac Finder drops hidden files (for its internal housekeeping) in folders, and those files have been giving Garmin units trouble. If you open the card in mass storage mode and look at the contents, it would do that.

 

Insanely stupid, to paraphrase the turtleneck guy.

 

I don't remember the details of how to work around that, but you should have enough info now to google for it. It involves deleting the unwanted files somehow, and I imagine you'd end up with good cards again. Good luck.

 

You're a genius. Thanks. Turns out that the easy way to do this is to:

 

1. Insert the SD card in a card reader and connect to the Mac

 

2. Go into the terminal in the Mac and go to the SD volume

 

3. Use the "rm - r" command to remove the files with a period [.]

 

4. Remove card, reinsert in GPS.

 

5. Boot GPS

 

6. Go geocaching.

 

Thanks for the help. I appreciate it.

 

I do not visit often, but I am a software engineer and that command "rm -r ." means recursively delete everything in the current directory/folder and below. Do an "ls -a or ls -la" to look at the files/directories/folders you are deleting before issuing "rm -r ." . If you are in the wrong directory and have permissions allowing "rm" to work you could really set yourself back.

 

Just a warning.

Edited September 18, 2010 by easytrekker