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ETREX 20 lost geocaches twice now


whereto

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I bought a eTrex 20 and it works alright. I've loaded about 900 caches on it and twice they have simply disappeared. No reboot, no new batteries help, I have to reload. All I get is a message saying no geocaches found visit geocaching.com etc blah blah blah. I haven't used it enough to know if it's me or something wrong with the GPS. I don't think it's me as there should be a verification screen to delete anything and I know that hasn't appeared. I updated the firmware when I got it. What was really annoying today is we where 30 miles into the desert and it failed. Fortunately I had my old yellow etrex and had loaded the caches in it otherwise it would have been a waste trip. Everthing else works on the GPS just the caches disappear. Any one else had this problem or have any advice or insight

Thanks

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Was the data loaded to the internal memory or the optional microSD? If it is to the microSD I would check to see that the card hasn't come loose. On my 60CSx the card has come loose a couple times in the past 5 years. Now when I fuss with the batteries I always make sure the card is seated properly.

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I believe but am not certain that the first time it did it I had not put an additional card in yet. I have put a card in since and so the second time there was a SD card in place. OK, now I just turned it on to find out where the caches where stored and low and behold everything is back. To tell you the truth I don't know where everything is stored and I'm not sure how to find it. Do I have a choice or does it just fill the internal memory and then start using the SD card. Sorry for my ignorance!

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Well Duh!! I just took out the SD card and everything is still up and running so everything is stored internally.

The SD card is used to store maps. It can also be used to store other caches BUT the GPs won't see them until you move those caches to the main memory.

 

?

 

I just got done loading 800+ caches onto the SD card (from Basecamp) on my etrex20 and can see them fine. I've also got maps on there. I keep a handful of waypoints for work in the main memory and don't want to mess with it, so I've been loading caches onto the card since day one.

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The SD card is used to store maps. It can also be used to store other caches BUT the GPs won't see them until you move those caches to the main memory.

What do you mean by moving caches to the main memory? As near as I can tell, both caches that I load onto the Garmin and caches that I load onto the micro-SD card show up automatically when I ask the eTrex to display nearby caches.

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Did you put it into your gpx folder?

 

And have you upgraded to 2.40, earlier software versions were having similar problems.

 

I used a GPX folder and the first thing I did when I got the Gps was to upgrade to 2.40. I did see the thread about the problem Garmin had with 2.3 and they then came up with 2.40. I didn't order the GPS until that seemed to be behind them.The strange thing is that the caches disappeared for several hours and then when I tried at home later they where there and are still there. I've turned the GPS on and off several times now and it's fine. The first time I lost them they maybe would have reappeared as well but I just assumed they where gone for good and reloaded them.

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help.. i am trying to set up an etrex 20 for someone and using gsak.. but to load about 450 caches.. but i can't see um after the load.. I am using gsak because i am trying to load from 4 locations in nh and maine.. any suggestions would be appreciated.. after i load, and unplug it shuts off. then when i start it just says it is loading maps and wps for ever..

 

thanks

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help.. i am trying to set up an etrex 20 for someone and using gsak.. but to load about 450 caches.. but i can't see um after the load.. I am using gsak because i am trying to load from 4 locations in nh and maine.. any suggestions would be appreciated.. after i load, and unplug it shuts off. then when i start it just says it is loading maps and wps for ever..

 

thanks

ok me again.. it appears they are in there as wps with new names the gps made up.. so you have to ask for wp serach.. how do i get it to give cache names?? and show as geocaches not wps with flags and parking icons

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Check for file system corruption. The eTrex 20 I have seems fairly "un-robust" (is that a word???) and I've had to run chkdsk (Windoze) or fsck (Linux/UNIX) twice now to fix the file system ('course, it IS vfat...so "robustness" is certainly not its strong suit).

 

THANKS.. though i have no clue what you are talking about.. :( not very tech savey .. any possibility you could walk me through this?

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Check for file system corruption. The eTrex 20 I have seems fairly "un-robust" (is that a word???) and I've had to run chkdsk (Windoze) or fsck (Linux/UNIX) twice now to fix the file system ('course, it IS vfat...so "robustness" is certainly not its strong suit).

 

THANKS.. though i have no clue what you are talking about.. :( not very tech savey .. any possibility you could walk me through this?

 

ALL FIXED.. GLONCH'S PRIDE GOT IT DONE!

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What a mess. Initially, my Etrex 20 had no problem showing geocaches. I use pocket queries to add them via basecamp to ALL DATA (send to etrex device).

 

I have a 2gb card but haven't used it for maps or for gpx files. No need yet.

 

I loaded in excess of 4,000 geocaches on the unit. The system didn't have any problem at first. All the caches showed up perfectly. Then, 5 days ago it gave a message stating I had too many caches and they all disappeared!

 

Why wouldn't basecamp limit this when copying files? Did it die because it hit the limit? If so, why would everything still work and then disappear later - makes no sense.

 

I have the latest system updates on the unit.

 

This whole issue would go away if the eTrex could simply synch geocaches at wi-fi spots instead of having to load them in each time we travel to a new city or state.

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