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CHIRP Not Recognizing Owner Pin


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I was wondering if someone could help me with a technical problem with a Garmin CHIRP. I went to reprogram the information in the CHIRP unit on my Garmin Oregon 550 and it prompted me to enter the last 5 numbers of the unit PIN. I entered them, but it is stating that the PIN is not the owner's device. My Oregon is the device I programmed it with, its the only Garmin compatible device I have and cant seem to find any information online to help me figure out the problem. Any ideas?

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Thats what I thought, but it was programmed with my Oregon 550 (my only CHIRP compatible device) and is now asking for the PIN. The CHIRP is in the parking lot where I work and Ive reprogrammed the info at least a dozen times, then suddenly two weird things happened.

 

#1) The info message became incomplete...like 1/2 of the description disappeared

#2) Now its asking for my device pin. It automatically entered the last 5 digits correctly, but the CHIRP wont accept it.

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The flash memory corrupted is more like it.... Garmin might/should have a solution for you.

Yeah, but it will mean returning it to Garmin for a re-flash. The postage back and forth these days ... worth it?

 

I was more thinking of something like a master key. Worth a shot, anyway.

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The flash memory corrupted is more like it.... Garmin might/should have a solution for you.

Yeah, but it will mean returning it to Garmin for a re-flash. The postage back and forth these days ... worth it?

 

I was more thinking of something like a master key. Worth a shot, anyway.

 

Thanks. I'll send a question to customer support and see what they recommend. I have 3 more CHIRPS, but now Im a little concerned with reliability. I'll post what comes back and my results in case it can help someone else in the future. Thanks again!

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Im a little concerned with reliability.

So am I. My 2nd Chirp has a limited range, about 15 feet, so that one's bad out of the box. The first one's fine, and I usually get 50 feet, even through walls. I haven't opened the third yet.

 

The Oregon's data bar will suddenly get slow for no reason when accessing the Chirp, even failing to load once in a while. I've wondered what could happen if it did something like that halfway through sending new data. Well, now we know. B)

Edited by kunarion
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Yeah, but it will mean returning it to Garmin for a re-flash. The postage back and forth these days ... worth it?

Hardware sent into Garmin under warranty incurs freight in, not both ways. <_<

Guess it would depend on whether the Chirp was still under warranty or not. I never saw a warranty for the Chirp on their web site anywhere. Sounds like the OP may have had this one a while - this Chirp was part of a cache that was placed in early January.

 

Good question -- does someone who has one have the specific warranty info on them? 90 days? 1 year like a GPS? What?

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Yeah, but it will mean returning it to Garmin for a re-flash. The postage back and forth these days ... worth it?

Hardware sent into Garmin under warranty incurs freight in, not both ways. <_<

Guess it would depend on whether the Chirp was still under warranty or not. I never saw a warranty for the Chirp on their web site anywhere. Sounds like the OP may have had this one a while - this Chirp was part of a cache that was placed in early January.

 

Good question -- does someone who has one have the specific warranty info on them? 90 days? 1 year like a GPS? What?

I believe Chirp hasn't been out a year yet...

 

For non-aviation products:

One Year Consumer Limited Warranty

 

Garmin’s non-aviation products are warranted to be free from defects in materials or workmanship for one year from the date of purchase.

ref: LINK

 

The Chip manual mentions how you can void your warranty.

 

Out-of-warranty repairs include return shipping in the repair price.

ref: LINK

Edited by coggins
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I went out tonight and replaced the CHIRP with another one...luckily I had 3 I hadnt placed yet. Its up and working, but I was half heartedly hoping that switching the battery would reset it somehow but obviously no luck.

 

I sent an email to Garmin Customer Service and will post their response. I got the CHIRP's in question along with my Oregon over Christmas so its not even 6 months old yet, but I definitely played with this one for a while before actually placing it. Definitely appreciate all the comments and thoughts.

 

I was wondering if someone could help me with a technical problem with a Garmin CHIRP. I went to reprogram the information in the CHIRP unit on my Garmin Oregon 550 and it prompted me to enter the last 5 numbers of the unit PIN. I entered them, but it is stating that the PIN is not the owner's device. My Oregon is the device I programmed it with, its the only Garmin compatible device I have and cant seem to find any information online to help me figure out the problem. Any ideas?

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Readily admit that I cannot help you with the technical problem, but when I had a problem with one of the first Chirp™ beacons I purchased...Garmin didn't have a real answer. I purchased 4 shortly after they were released (I've deployed 3 with no problem), but one came "bad" right out of the package. When I went to program it...there was already a "jibberish" (random characters and spaces) message on the Chirp™, and there was nothing I could do to get it to respond to a programming attempt. It wanted the PIN...and I had no idea what that PIN could have been. Queried Garmin, who had no answer except to say "Return to where purchased". Which is what I did. For a few moments I thought "Hey, what if someone familiar with the new Chirp™ technology was programming them at random while they were in shipment"? Then realized that they ship without the battery installed. If you are able to return it to where you purchased it...I'd go that route. In any event...I'll be watching this topic to see what you get as a response from Garmin. Good luck.

 

Bill

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Well, as to be expected...Garmin Tech support replied giving me the basic information describing that the CHIRP could only be programmed with the original device or by entering the original device's PIN. They described how to get the PIN, etc. I responded explaining that I was using my only CHIRP programmable device and got the 'Return it to where you purchased it' routine.

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Came across a neat app for programming chirps, called ANT+ plugin sampler, it will download all the stored data including the serial number of the device used to program it. If you like you can even reprogram it with your cell phone.

 

So what do you need, Can't speak for iPhones as the app is for android, but I used a Samsung Galaxy S6, I believe HTC also support ANT+ and will work

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On 12/30/2016 at 11:01 PM, McCutchan Cache Clan said:

Came across a neat app for programming chirps, called ANT+ plugin sampler, it will download all the stored data including the serial number of the device used to program it. If you like you can even reprogram it with your cell phone.

I place a Chirp cache in 2015.  I programmed it in the prescribed way with a Garmin GPSmap 62s and everything was fine for a while.  Then I ran into a similar problem to what everyone else has described in this thread.

There are about 30,000 geocaches in my state and only about ten use the Chirp, so I did it just for the novelty.  Even among the most serious geocachers, not everyone had a GPSr that would read the Chirp. I knew that would limit the number of finders, which was fine.  For a while people were teaming up in groups to find the geocache.  Then I started to hear that people were finding it with an Android app.  A while later, I discovered that the instructions for the geocache had been erased and I could no longer fix it with my Garmin.

I think what probably happened was that someone experimented with their app and erased information without meaning to.  Technology has moved along over the last few years.  Now we're at the point where anyone can casually take ownership of a Chirp, even by accident.  It's impossible for me to stop that and I don't own an Android device so it's very difficult for me to fix it when it happens.

 

It seems like the Chirp never really took hold as a product.  Now the technology has moved on and made it even more problematic to own one.

Edited by Blue Crow Expedition
I softened the tone of the last paragraph a bit.
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Nine months have gone by and I found a way to fix my Chirp. 

 

I bought a device called an ANT stick which plugs into the USB port on my Windows laptop.  It cost about twelve dollars.  ANT is the wireless network protocol that the Chirp uses.  It's sort of like Bluetooth except it's much more focused on conserving battery power.  I downloaded a free developer tool called SimulANT+.  It allowed me to erase the data on the Chirp and reset the PIN to match the one on my GPS unit.  I had to register as an ANT developer to download the software, which didn't cost anything.  I just had to promise that I would adhere to a set of standards if I developed products using the ANT protocol.  SimulANT+ required the Microsoft .NET framework version 4.0 as a prerequisite.  It turned out that I already had that on my laptop. 

 

This was all a lot of trouble and it took me hours to do.  I don't recommend it unless you already have a lot of computer experience.  The software was just friendly enough that I could reset the Chirp and use my GPS to program it again.  If I had wanted to program the Chirp using this software then I would have had to read 200 pages of documentation about the ANT protocol and done some work in binary.  I am not kidding.  It really almost would have required a bachelor's degree in computer science.

 

It would have be easier to just buy another Chirp and start over.  The trouble is that the same problem could have happened again.  I thought I had better find a way to fix the Chirp instead of buying a new one each time it ran into trouble.  The good news is that now I can take my laptop out to the location where the Chirp is hidden and reset the Chirp without taking it from its hiding place.

 

I think it would be possible for an Android developer to create a smartphone app that makes it easy to program Chirps or reset them if they run into trouble.  There are a few problems, though.  One is that there are so few Chirps it's probably not worth the trouble.  Another is that it wouldn't run on every Android device.  Only certain kinds of phones and tablets have the ANT hardware.  Finally, I'm not sure I want it to be any easier for people to reprogram Chirps that don't belong to them.

 

If you are having trouble with a Chirp and your GPS won't program it anymore then you'll have to consider how much effort you're willing to put into it.  It's possible to fix the problem but it's not easy and the same thing might keep happening.  I am going to keep my Chirp in the field for a while longer almost like a museum exhibit but it already feels out of place now that people have been geocaching with smartphones for the past decade.

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I too had a chirp that was programmed with a Garmin device I no longer own. So I downloaded SimulANT+ and figured out how to clear the chirp. I had to buy a USB ANT stick for about $49 bucks. I know the chirps are less than that but I like the challenge to see if it could be done! YES, I now have a chirp that I can re-use!!! :)

Cache-ON....

 

I don't know if the chirp is actually outdated, just another way of setting up your cache... I like anything electronic... more toys to play with!!!

 

MegaMoog

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