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*Actually* corrupt data on Etrex 30


cnschulz

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Gday,

 

This issue has happened twice now however I have only looked deeply at the second occurrence...

 

I have loaded one thousand or so waypoints and several hundred geocaches onto my Etrex 30 (2.80). Then all of a sudden one day the geocaches vanish from the unit. All waypoints *appear* to be OK.

 

On investigation I see that my main waypoint file is corrupt (see snippet below). Only 212 of the 1000+ waypoints load back onto my PC. I believe this may have something to do with battery replacement as the batteries were replaced in the unit just before each incident.

 

Also note that the geocaches download correctly when I import using Ozi explorer. I think this is just a load order issue (waypoints load before geocaches??)

 

Has anyone else encountered this corruption issue? This has happened twice in the 5 weeks Ive had the unit. Is my unit faulty?

 

<code>

<wpt lat="-36.0442010" lon="148.3824580">

<ele>1512.722412</ele>

<time>2005-07-29T16:28:29.280Z</time>

<name>Round Mountain Hut</name>

<cmt>Round Mountain Hut [Round Mountain Hut]</cmt>

<desc>Round Mountain Hut [Round Mountain Hut]</desc>

<sym>Residence</sym>

<extensions>

<gpxx:WaypointExtension xmlns:gpxx="http://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/GpxExtensions/v3">

<gpxx:DisplayMode>SymbolOnly</gpxx:DisplayMode>

</gpxx:WaypointExtension>

</extensions>

</wpt>

<wpt lat="-36.1138440" lon="148.2530970">

<ele>1324.051147</ele>

<time>2005-07-29T16:30:40.608Z</time>

<name>Wheelers Hut</name>

<cmt>Wheelers Hut: Old Toolong [Wheelers Hut]</cmt>

<desc>Wheelers Hut: Old Toolong [Wheelers Hut]</desc>

<sym>Residence</sym>

<extensions>

<gpxx:WaypointExtension xmlns:gpxx="http://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/GpxExtensions/v3">

<gpxx:DisplayMode>SymbolOnly</gpxx:DisplayMode>

</gpxx:WaypointExtension>

</extensions>

</wpt>

<wpt lat="-36.2171140" Da»@F•nÌÇÚ;YBÜê׸ýÛl¶DëåÐJZD¾à_@ºê.

êïÔûY:P ­^Ó"nb:sl±záPçúÐgKIwÒ¶i=>-Å

&ˆ]ÍâÚVÏ׶ED8ÖîCR¡ÁÄÿà×ÀÏôÂãDûקk­Q¤4 ª=§í@6÷ÍËj1

+ª%ca·L‰zgÄ÷ÄÆháú2úVC¹WTj%9r͹)Ö~'S#¿æÙh•<®MÔùضªz>¬êÚç/å|j²w)S6M7…yÀ ÍõB³®mŸv9O"azÀQWå“ù)ÖšKµJc{Å" ¶ÝáS§ÄV¦^¢ìuì¤,C†Úº®¸V¿rdTO'ËL`ÂöÌg˜î]‚ŠOÐ*ÉV4àdèrLLáȳ½¿K-ÎÚ¦i’/Í@òe©<kBq-“¡²[* Õutÿh]‰¼‹€Ã­

@ÆÛ- ’o˜ûc.EAOÄˤê\é‡&‘BU+äwej<‹Ô*œŒ0Ibwe8Åê¯T°€Õö<i;AfWˆ&æ©ô±.¨ÉƒI§{0®â­ó¬kÕ'^Ì

y³Í=|ÖKaìWÚhkbP<Mk³Q+Jë5îŒ×ô[ë{k¿(,¿0žÔ’H0ߊx]{ìþ bÛn èGôë©0Œb²ºŸæÎ_öl†ÈHj+¶UÃßã@pO ±I¨k

ñÛÊw!øÑI²/çÛPÑ Ô<ØÄüRòx4èë¨h<)Ë úØ ç É9Í#X4'XQØh{?›`\2¿d•ö¡Y>àLøÁ,fÔ

KÑ"Ê7毽NlyÍu

</code>

Edited by cnschulz
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I don't own an eTrex 30 but I think I can give you few things to check. The specs say that the unit can hold up to 2000 Waypoints, favorites, and locations. I didn't see anything about geocaches so I assume with limit includes geocaches. You say that you have 1000 waypoints loaded. What about favorites, locations and geocaches? If the total is more than 2000 then this might causing your corruption.

 

You say that you are noticing this after changing the batteries. Are you following the directions in the manual for changing batteries? Specifically are you turning the unit off before the batter gets too low. Using every bit of battery power and allowing the batteries to die in the unit can cause problems. You should be changing the batteries when the unit says that they are low. Don't rely on the unit to shut itself down. Also are you completely shutting the unit down before pulling out the old batteries. If the unit is on or in any kind of sleep or standby mode takeout the batteries can cause corruption.

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I don't own an eTrex 30 but I think I can give you few things to check. The specs say that the unit can hold up to 2000 Waypoints, favorites, and locations. I didn't see anything about geocaches so I assume with limit includes geocaches. You say that you have 1000 waypoints loaded. What about favorites, locations and geocaches? If the total is more than 2000 then this might causing your corruption.

 

You say that you are noticing this after changing the batteries. Are you following the directions in the manual for changing batteries? Specifically are you turning the unit off before the batter gets too low. Using every bit of battery power and allowing the batteries to die in the unit can cause problems. You should be changing the batteries when the unit says that they are low. Don't rely on the unit to shut itself down. Also are you completely shutting the unit down before pulling out the old batteries. If the unit is on or in any kind of sleep or standby mode takeout the batteries can cause corruption.

 

The eTrex 20/30 can hold 5000 geocaches. The manual says nothing about the need to change batteries before "they get too low." I often let my 20 self power down when the batteries are low with no problems.

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Cheers folks,

 

I have noticed that the unit seems to continually sample barometric pressure even though all profiles are set to "only when on". Im not sure if this data is just extrapolated or there is a deeper problem.

 

I am very careful to shut down the unit etc when changing the batteries.

 

PS: currently researching "favorites"... what are these??

Edited by cnschulz
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The manual says nothing about the need to change batteries before "they get too low." I often let my 20 self power down when the batteries are low with no problems.

 

The manual won't but it still good practice to not rely on the unit shutting itself off when the batteries gets low especially if you having corruption issues. The unit is programmed to shut itself off when the batteries get low to prevent data loss and corruption that can occur if the unit abruptly looses power. The unit does this by monitoring the voltage level of the batteries and shutting itself down at a predetermined voltage level. Assuming everything is working correctly then you have nothing to worry about. If there is a bug in the software/firmware or an issue with the hardware then this may be contributing to the corruption.

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wow. it just happened again! Waypoints disappeared this time.

 

Still cant narrow this down.

 

Two things in common: I removed the batteries last night to load a new map on (plugged uSD into pc) *and* I had the device recording baro pressure last night as well.

 

All gpx files appear to be in tact this time.

 

This is really frustrating as there is no recovery from this in the field.

 

Any help / diagnostics appreciated.

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I don't know if this will help or not.

 

Somewhere in the back of my mind I remember reading something about it being important to not lose power when unit is set to record baro pressure "all the time". I don't know if that was just to preserve the pressure data integrity or if it would also involve the integrity of the gpx file that the unit was trying to write that data to. The unit may keep a gpx file "partially" open or something similar when it is set to "record always".

When normal startup occurs, the unit goes thru and loads all the data from all the gpx files as a normal part of that process. Maybe the one that it tried to write the pressure data to , but couldn't, is the one that is getting corrupted.

Possibly a loss of power maybe just instantaneously when batteries were removed even while hooked up with USB. Or maybe with no batteries in it, the USB cable was bumped ,

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Yep. That's quite clear from the manual and displayed on screen when you switch modes.

 

What I am stating in my post is that the barometer seems to continue to record even when this setting is set to "only when on". Im not sure if the data is simply being extrapolated over that time.

 

Also, this is just and idea of what might be causing it.

 

Im hoping someone else might have experienced this and have some ideas for either identifying the problem or fixing it. I simply cant live with the potential for losing data in the field.

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I don't have an Etrex 30 (Oregon 550) but I am careful to load ALL geocaches, waypoints and sundry gpx files on the micro sd card, and I never let the batteries get low enough to cause an auto shut off. Fact is I didn't know a gps would do that.

 

One other possibility is corrupt data in one or more geocaches. For an upcoming trip I have been loading geocaches from Europe and one gc from the Czech Republic would cause the unit to freeze and a restart was only possible by pulling out a battery. I only found this out by checking out each of 50 or so geocaches to see how the the Oregon would display the data and of course it would always freeze. By the process of elimination I located the culprit and deleted the data from the gpx file I was creating. I used Notepad to look at the file and this this particular gc had funny characters that apparently when processed, caused the Oregon software to freeze.

 

I don't know if you use GSAK but with that program you can download geocaches and then download them again as waypoints. Mind you, the waypoints have very limited data but at least you have something.

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One other possibility is corrupt data in one or more geocaches. For an upcoming trip I have been loading geocaches from Europe and one gc from the Czech Republic would cause the unit to freeze and a restart was only possible by pulling out a battery. I only found this out by checking out each of 50 or so geocaches to see how the the Oregon would display the data and of course it would always freeze. By the process of elimination I located the culprit and deleted the data from the gpx file I was creating. I used Notepad to look at the file and this this particular gc had funny characters that apparently when processed, caused the Oregon software to freeze.

Thats my current thinking... I have already moved the Geocache files to the uSD card. The Waypoint file is still on the main memory. Ill move that to the uSD and see what eventuates.

 

Of note is the fact that I moved the "corrupt" waypoint file from the internal memory then rebooted. Switched unit off and moved the same "corrupt" waypoint file back to internal memory. Rebooted and all is fine. So it cant have been the waypoint GPX file.

 

Anyway, Ill move all the data off the int mem and monitor the situation.

 

Also of note is that I spoke with Garmin who recommended that I only store "20 or so" waypoints on the GPS. LOL.

 

Thanks folks. :)

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File system corruption from batteries running too low would be a severe misdesign in this day and age, period.

 

File system corruption from suddenly pulling out the power source could be seen as acceptable, but a good hardware/software intercommunication can in most cases prevent even that from wrecking too much havoc on many of the run of the mill embedded chipsets.

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I have an eTrex30 as well, and I never had problems when switching batteries out. I have had problems using Open Source maps, which corrupted my unit to the point that it wouldn't even turn on. I ended up trading it back in at REI because of the corrupt file. You are actually really lucky that your unit kept working.

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I ended up trading it back in at REI because of the corrupt file.

 

Frustrating. A problem with Garmin (and perhaps the other dedicated GPS makers, I don't know) is that they do not offer a from-PC option to completely reset the entire file system and firmware, so that every writable bit of memory becomes exactly as a new device from the box. Afaik this has been possible with most other handheld consumer electronics I've used; no hacks/third party software required.

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I had this recently happening on a friend's 30 while we were out, and the same recovery trick as on the Montana, can be applied here.

 

- save GPX-files on your external memory, not the internal memory

- first time it can take quite some time to read in the data, as it copies everything to internal (from what i understand)

- in case of file corruption, shut down the device again

- take out external memory

- switch on and do a reset and switch off again

- insert external memory and switch on and wait for reload

 

This should help out in the field.

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I had this recently happening on a friend's 30 while we were out, and the same recovery trick as on the Montana, can be applied here.

 

- save GPX-files on your external memory, not the internal memory

- first time it can take quite some time to read in the data, as it copies everything to internal (from what i understand)

- in case of file corruption, shut down the device again

- take out external memory

- switch on and do a reset and switch off again

- insert external memory and switch on and wait for reload

 

This should help out in the field.

 

Thank you, and sorry for my late reply.

 

Yes I have discovered this technique myself :-) Initially discovered by having a "corrupt" file... moving it to my PC and moving the *exact* same file back to the unit... fixed!

 

I took my unit to garmin but unfortunately it seems that i know more about the unit than they do! They didnt even know you could store gpx files on the SD.

 

sad face.

 

c.

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