Chronic Problems Loading Garmins

[+Seawind]

I have owned two Garmin Oregons and two Garmin 62s units. All four of these have had the same ongoing problem - frequent locking up when booting after a GPX file transfer.

 

I run four Pocket Queries two times a week, unzip the results, and use Windows 7 Explorer to drag the GPX files to my Garmin. I then use the "Safely Remove Hardware" feature before disconnecting the GPS receiver. When I turn it on, about 60% of the time, it will lock during the loading process. The status bar freezes and I finally have to remove the batteries to reset it.

 

Sometimes just putting the batteries back in and turning it back on results in a clean boot, but usually I have to delete all the files on the receiver and recopy them from the PC.

 

A few times, I have had to repeat this process as many as five or six times before it finally works. About 40% of the time, everything works great the first time.

 

This same problem has occurred on two Oregons and two 62s receivers. I have called Garmin, and twice sent back units for replacements. The replacements have all had the same problem. A friend also has the same issue on his Oregon.

 

This is baffling and very annoying. I also have to check to make sure the transfer was complete. A few times, the unit has booted OK, but some of the caches I expected were not on board. Deleting and recopying has fixed that problem. But, I no longer trust that I have a good transfer, even if it doesn't crash.

 

Do I need to send back yet another Garmin? How common is this problem?

 

I have tested all sorts of theories. At one point, I was sure it was caused by attempting to boot without fully charging the batteries first, but that hasn't been consistent. Is a satellite lock needed before the transfer?

 

Any ideas or suggestions greatly appreciated!

[Moun10Bike]

This has been an ongoing problem for me with a Colorado and several Oregons. However, the issue was corrected for me a few weeks ago with the most recent firmware update for my Oregon 550t. Have you upgraded to the latest firmware release?

[+RangerR47]

My first guess is your SD card or the maps you have on it...I have a colorado and a certain card I have is like this , it will hang up when booting. Normally after the first funky time its fine, but I dont use the card anymore and have not seen the issue again. Card works fine with everything else...

 

So try to put the file on the unit itself with no card in and see what it does. Otherwise I have no clue, but I can say there is pretty much no way its just a garmin thing for all those different units, has to be something else.

[NordicMan]

What computer/OS are you using to get the files to your home? What steps do you do to get the files? There must be some sort of glitch happening in the file retrieval, as that is just too much of a coincidence that *every* Gamin GPS you've had has the same problem..

 

The root cause must be somewhere inside your PC

[+Seawind]

I usually keep up with firmware updates, but didn't have the latest, 3.60. It looks like a couple of the fixes relate to my problem. I installed the update and the unit booted perfectly. Sure hope it keeps doing so!

 

Thanks for the suggestions! If the firmware update still has problems, I will try the others.

 

This has been an ongoing problem for me with a Colorado and several Oregons. However, the issue was corrected for me a few weeks ago with the most recent firmware update for my Oregon 550t. Have you upgraded to the latest firmware release?

[+Walts Hunting]

This has been a problem with garmin for years never been fixed.

[+Cacheoholic]

I’d say you and your friend were loading a GPX file with erroneous hyper text that the GPS’s can’t figure out, causing it to choke & puke. If you are in the same area it could be the same cache causing the same problem. Some of the newer GPS software has addressed that.

 

I recommend keeping your GPX files on your external memory. Then if it doesn’t boot completely the 1st time you can remove the memory, do a clean boot, shutdown, replace memory and boot. This keeps you from having to run back to a computer to delete and replace files. It’s a life saver when you are out in the field caching away from a computer.

[+dfx]

This has been a problem with garmin for years never been fixed.

 

Actually, the mentioned firmware upgrade fixed it for my 450 as well.

[+Walts Hunting]

Still does it occasionally on my up to date Montana. I've given up on it being fixed. Not to much of a problem though just remove/replace batteries.

[+eusty]

I recommend keeping your GPX files on your external memory. Then if it doesn't boot completely the 1st time you can remove the memory, do a clean boot, shutdown, replace memory and boot. This keeps you from having to run back to a computer to delete and replace files. It's a life saver when you are out in the field caching away from a computer.

 

VERY wise information! I had this issue on my Colorado and made sure I booted it before I went out as I've been caught in the field with this problem. I do the same with my Oregon, but it doesn't seem to be so much of an issue.

[+eusty]

I've never had a unit 'hang' as described, but do know of instances where corrupt map or other files, not unnaturally, cause problems. I suspect as pointed out you either have a corrupt file somewhere or maybe something is corrupting in the download process.

 

That'll teach me ... my Etrex 20 didn't hang today, but did switch off everytime I tried to view logs or hint from a geocache. Had just upgraded to 2.50 so my first thought was 'blame Garmin' but tracked it down to a couple of corrupt geocache files. So just a lesson to all ... it's not always Garmin's fault, in fact more often than not it's something we do to our Garmins

 

The same problem with my Colorado, it would work fine UNTIL it needed any GPX info apart from the cache name...then it just powered down.

[+BeadyStu]

I have never had an issue with my 62s. There have been a coupl of bug fix software releases this year, is your firmware up to date?

[Wintertime]

I participated in a discussion thread a couple of months ago:

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=283396&st=0&p=4866196&fromsearch=1entry4866196

 

where it appeared, as suggested by a couple of people in this thread, that the HTML (hypertext) code in certain .gpx files might be confusing the GPSr. Himilecyclist, is there any way that you and your friend who's having the same problem could try a process of elimination to find out whether there might be a specific cache .gpx file that's causing your problem?

 

Patty

[+Seawind]

So far so good with the firmware update. Hopefully that was it.

 

I too have been very suspicious of GPX file problems. But, the fact is that on many occasions, the unit has crashed as many as five times in a row, but then finally booted - all without making any changes at all to the files - just removing and reinstalling the batteries. I would think that if it were a file problem it would be consistent in not working, rather than hit and miss.

 

I have also tried selectively loading various files to try to identify a bad one, but that has been unpredictable as well. I never could conclusively say a file was at fault.

 

Thanks for all the replies!

 

I participated in a discussion thread a couple of months ago:

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=283396&st=0&p=4866196&fromsearch=1entry4866196

 

where it appeared, as suggested by a couple of people in this thread, that the HTML (hypertext) code in certain .gpx files might be confusing the GPSr. Himilecyclist, is there any way that you and your friend who's having the same problem could try a process of elimination to find out whether there might be a specific cache .gpx file that's causing your problem?

 

Patty