+kwcahart Posted October 29, 2012 Posted October 29, 2012 I know this topic was on the forum but I couldn't find it. I was just wondering what those of you that use an Oregon 450/450T are using? Just recently I started having problems with the pointer just freezing up when I was looking for a cache. I've never had any problems with this 450T until a couple of weeks ago and it started. I can be walking to a cache and all of a sudden no matter which way I turn the pointer arrow goes with me instead of pointing to the cache. Any help or suggestions? Quote
+Walts Hunting Posted October 29, 2012 Posted October 29, 2012 the last time you put batteries in did you recalibrate the compass? I had that problem on my 450 and recalibrating seemed to clear it up. Quote
+AndyT1 Posted October 29, 2012 Posted October 29, 2012 According to the Oregon Wiki ver 5.50 is the best working one - http://garminoregon.wikispaces.com/message/view/home/56714778 Quote
+kwcahart Posted October 29, 2012 Author Posted October 29, 2012 Walts and Andy, thanks for the response. Yes, I did recalibrate the compass and I'm going to do it again just to make sure. Thanks. I may load up 5.50 to see how it works. Quote
+kwcahart Posted October 31, 2012 Author Posted October 31, 2012 Uh oh. 5.50 is what I'm running on my 450T. No where to go I guess. I'm on Windows 7 on my computer. One thing I have noticed is that when I try to eject the Garmin using the little "safely remove hardware, blah blah" button on the bottom right, I guess on the task bar, that the Garmin stays on and is still in mass storage mode. But when I go to "my computer" from the start button, and eject it from there it turns the Garmin off and it actually exits mass storage mode. I'm wondering if I might have some corrupted files?? Any guesses from you guys that know stuff like that?? Quote
MtnHermit Posted October 31, 2012 Posted October 31, 2012 I'm wondering if I might have some corrupted files?? Anything is possible but I never "eject" my 450. I either pull the USB plug or turn off the PC which ever is more convenient. Never had a problem. My sole interest is tracks and waypoints, not caches. I'm running 5.50, had serious problems with 5.7 & 5.9? FWIW. Quote
+Driddy Posted October 31, 2012 Posted October 31, 2012 On several occasions over the past 2+ years my Oregon 450 has begun to misbehave in various ways (such as refusing to load any caches or locking up when displaying the Description). In each case I found that reinstalling the software cleared up the problem. Quote
+AndyT1 Posted October 31, 2012 Posted October 31, 2012 I have been using ver 6.0 since the day it was released and had none of the issues described by other users in the thread that I linked to. I do not use the compass to navigate to caches so unfortunately I cannot report on that. Quote
+kwcahart Posted October 31, 2012 Author Posted October 31, 2012 So, what do you use Andy to navigate to caches? Map? Quote
+AndyT1 Posted October 31, 2012 Posted October 31, 2012 Yup, I use the map view only - just follow the pink line ...... Quote
+lodgebarn Posted October 31, 2012 Posted October 31, 2012 On several occasions over the past 2+ years my Oregon 450 has begun to misbehave in various ways (such as refusing to load any caches or locking up when displaying the Description). In each case I found that reinstalling the software cleared up the problem. You shouldn't need to do this. Have caches on SD card. Remove SD card and start device cache list will be empty. Put back SD card all caches should be fine. Interestingly I have been runnning 6.0 ever since it came out and have had zero lock ups since that point. With Garmin's record this will probably change in 6.1 . Quote
+AndyT1 Posted October 31, 2012 Posted October 31, 2012 I agree - mine used to lock up when looking at the description in the additional waypoints, not the cache itself. Now no more lockups with 6.0 on anything !!! Having said that I have probably now gone and jinxed myself .... And ditto - caches only ever get loaded to the SD card. Maps too for that matter. Quote
+Dr.MORO Posted October 31, 2012 Posted October 31, 2012 Domo!!! I just posted in another thread "Oregon x50 Software Version 6.00" about my experience, and also importantly how I fixed my 'Lock Up'. Also posted within a thread at "Garmin Oregon GPS Wiki by GPSFix". Basically, "Delete the /Garmin/GPX folder from the handheld's mass storage. Update the handheld's software via WebUpdater and reboot the handheld. Reconnect the handheld to a computer and transfer your data back to the handheld." Good Luck & Cache On! ~ Dr.MORO Quote
+Driddy Posted November 1, 2012 Posted November 1, 2012 On several occasions over the past 2+ years my Oregon 450 has begun to misbehave in various ways (such as refusing to load any caches or locking up when displaying the Description). In each case I found that reinstalling the software cleared up the problem. You shouldn't need to do this. Have caches on SD card. Remove SD card and start device cache list will be empty. Put back SD card all caches should be fine. Interestingly I have been runnning 6.0 ever since it came out and have had zero lock ups since that point. With Garmin's record this will probably change in 6.1 . No, that would not have cleared up the problem I was having. I am familiar with the issue of freezing during loading and the various ways to fix that. I was talking about situations in which the unit boots all the way, displays all of the caches that were loaded onto it but frequently locks up when you try to display a cache description. That problem was not cured by the means you described. Quote
+lodgebarn Posted November 1, 2012 Posted November 1, 2012 On several occasions over the past 2+ years my Oregon 450 has begun to misbehave in various ways (such as refusing to load any caches or locking up when displaying the Description). In each case I found that reinstalling the software cleared up the problem. You shouldn't need to do this. Have caches on SD card. Remove SD card and start device cache list will be empty. Put back SD card all caches should be fine. Interestingly I have been runnning 6.0 ever since it came out and have had zero lock ups since that point. With Garmin's record this will probably change in 6.1 . No, that would not have cleared up the problem I was having. I am familiar with the issue of freezing during loading and the various ways to fix that. I was talking about situations in which the unit boots all the way, displays all of the caches that were loaded onto it but frequently locks up when you try to display a cache description. That problem was not cured by the means you described. I was not talking about freeze during loading but exactly the scenario you mention. I reckon the device just gets bad pointers to cache data. It would always be resolved by this process since it forces all caches to be reloaded. Doesn't work if any caches are on the device itself they have to be on the card. Anyway to re-iterate since 6.0 I have had none of these issue at all. Quote
+kwcahart Posted November 1, 2012 Author Posted November 1, 2012 Okay, you all have convinced me. I'm going to delete everything on the SD card, load 6.0, then load all new PQ's to the SD card. Maps also. Thanks. Quote
+Walts Hunting Posted November 1, 2012 Posted November 1, 2012 I have the problem of locking up on descriptions occassionally on my Montana. Clears up when I reexport from GSAK for a few times. Annoying but not terribly problematic. Quote
+kwcahart Posted November 2, 2012 Author Posted November 2, 2012 Well I did it. I cleaned all the GPX files, extra maps, etc off the SD card and the 450 internal memory. I then loaded software 6.0 and did two boots. Looks like that went okay. Then I put some PQ's back in the internal memory and a Txtopo11 from gpsdepot back onto the SD card. So far so good, I will ride my bike to a couple of caches tomorrow to see how it goes. I prefer the maps on the card, and the GPX files on the unit because I use different map cards (garmin g2) and swap them back and forth. Anyway, thanks for your advice, I do appreciate it. Quote
+kwcahart Posted November 5, 2012 Author Posted November 5, 2012 Well the navigation pointer still locks up. Anyone have some simple steps for me to go back to 5.50, I would appreciate it. Quote
+kwcahart Posted November 17, 2012 Author Posted November 17, 2012 I just got the 450T back from Garmin, it is a totally different unit, and it seems like it is going to work. They loaded it with 5.80 and 6.0. One thing I noticed different is that it now has Grand Canyon Grid maps on it, which was not on the one I sent in. Anyone else have that experience? I just got it back tonight and got some caches loaded on it, hopefully I can go do some caching with it this weekend. Thanks again for all your good advice. Quote
+phlatlander Posted November 17, 2012 Posted November 17, 2012 FWIW, what are you using to load your caches? Occasionally "bad" characters can be in caches. GSAK (for example) has a pretty good filtering process but even then some "stuff" gets through. Oregon 550: I was in Europe recently and had previously loaded a few historical geocaches with considerable description in Czech and English (considerable as in 100+ lines of text). Every time I selected a certain cache and began to scroll down the description the unit froze. I loaded the cache via notepad and by the process of elimination found a questionable line, deleted it, and all was well. Apparently one of the Czech characters would not display correctly so eventually I deleted all the Czech descriptions in several caches, just in case. Mind you, in this case I had created my own gpx file and had not used GSAK. Anyway it sounds like your problem is solved using the replacement technique, a usually reliable method. Quote
+kwcahart Posted November 20, 2012 Author Posted November 20, 2012 I use geocaching PQ's, and I believe you may have nailed it. The 450 just worked perfect for a year, then one day it didn't, just like that! Of course after several weeks of frustration I did not remember if it started just after a PQ download, but I would almost bet a PQ corrupted some other software in the unit. Right now it looks good, but we shall see. Friday my geobuddy and I are going all day, so I will find out then. By the way, anyone familiar with Grand Canyon Grids? The replacement unit came with that on it. ??? Quote
+Atlas Cached Posted November 20, 2012 Posted November 20, 2012 By the way, anyone familiar with Grand Canyon Grids? The replacement unit came with that on it. ??? They all ship with demo GPX and demo BirdsEye files pre-loaded to give users an idea of what the unit is capable of. They can be safely removed if you do not wish to see them. Quote
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