Garmin Etrex 30 Lost All My Caches

[+JL_HSTRE]

A week ago I loaded some GPX files onto my Etrex 30. Then Friday I loaded an additional file and another on Saturday. Each time my GPS worked fine and saw the new geocaches.

 

This morning I did some geocaching then turned off the GPS to save battery life (as usual) while I biked between some trails. But this time when I turned the Etex back on it ran through the load screen like it does the first time I turn it on after loading some new caches. When it finally finished "loading" it told me I had no geocaches loaded?! Turned off, turned back on - still no caches!

 

Oddly, in the Waypoint Manager, all the waypoints are still listed. When I got home, I hooked my GPS up to my computer and all the GPX files are still there.

 

Now that I'm hope, I deleted all the files off my GPS and sent a new batch via GSAK and everything seems okay now. But what might have caused my GPS to stop seeing everything in the first place? I've had my GPS for a year and never had something like that happen before...

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Gremlins ......... Nasty little critters that get into your things and disrupt whatever they can.

Always lurking about looking for trouble, they have really been going berserk since the advent of electronic devices.

----------------

Outside of that, we're clueless!

----------------

 

They mess with us also. The auto-navigating feature on our unit works great -- most of the time. Upon occasion however, it just plain refuses to function. Later on, it works fine again.

[+Cacheoholic]

Your GPS searches for new GPX files during startup and adds any new files it finds into an internal inaccessible file system. The paperless Garmin GPS’s continue to suffer from random Alzheimer’s and forgets the GPX files it had registered internally. The GPX files have to be changed for the GPS to recognize them as new and reload them. There are a few ways to correct the problem.

 

1) Connect GPS to computer and change GPX file name or date.

2) Connect GPS to computer, remove all GPX files, startup GPS, shutdown GPS, replace GPX files, startup GPS.

3) Keep GPX files on external memory. Shutdown GPS, remove memory card (removes GPX files), startup GPS, shutdown GPS, replace memory card, startup GPS.

 

The moral of this story is to keep your GPX files on your external memory so you can fix this issue easily in the field.

[+Atlas Cached]

Your GPS searches for new GPX files during startup and adds any new files it finds into an internal inaccessible file system. The paperless Garmin GPS’s continue to suffer from random Alzheimer’s and forgets the GPX files it had registered internally. The GPX files have to be changed for the GPS to recognize them as new and reload them. There are a few ways to correct the problem.

 

3) Keep GPX files on external memory. Shutdown GPS, remove memory card (removes GPX files), startup GPS, shutdown GPS, replace memory card, startup GPS.

 

The moral of this story is to keep your GPX files on your external memory so you can fix this issue easily in the field.

 

Exactly!

 

Keep all of your data on the uSD card, so when this happens (almost always when you are nowhere near a computer), you can do as Cacheoholic suggests, and continue your trip without further interruption!

[+JL_HSTRE]

Strange followup to my original post:

 

I went on a trip last week and loaded 3 files on my Etrex 30. Everything worked fine for the first few days. Late Monday, my GPS did the same 'suddenly long load time then displays zero caches' problem as before. Fortunately, I was staying at a hotel which had a computer. I hooked up my Etrex, removed all 3 files, put them back on, and tried the GPS again. It seemed to load them properly, but later that day when I tried to use the GPS at a cache I found that only 1 of the 3 files had actually loaded properly!

 

I continued my trip in frustration with no further computer access. On Thursday, I turned on my Etrex in the middle of a hike and it gave me the long load time again. When it finished, it now saw the geocaches from all 3 files again! It worked fine for the remaining days of my trip.

[+JohnCNA]

My eTrex 30 does the same thing. Completely maddening. Usually, a power cycle (or two or three) corrects it. I try and keep the number of caches loaded on it to only where I am heading that day. That seems to help.

[+Walts Hunting]

This is a well known issue on almost all Garmins and is why you should keep your caches on the micro sdcard. That way when it happens halfway through a twenty mile day you can fix it.

[+GeoTrekker26]

This is a well known issue on almost all Garmins and is why you should keep your caches on the micro sdcard. That way when it happens halfway through a twenty mile day you can fix it.

 

WH is absolutely correct. I've had my e20 since it came out and have had this happen 2 or 3 times. If you are using the micro SD card the fix is simple. Remove the card, power on which will be quick since there are no caches, power off, insert card, power on again. The last power on will take several minutes as the unit builds the internal database but several minutes is better than waiting to get to a computer.

 

Just as an FYI, this is from the Garmin site in reference to the e20 and e30:

"It is recommended a standard speed card, no larger than 32 GB, be used in order to get the best performance from the device. Class 4 to Class 10 is considered standard speed."

[+BAMBOOZLE]

This is a well known issue on almost all Garmins and is why you should keep your caches on the micro sdcard. That way when it happens halfway through a twenty mile day you can fix it.

 

WH is absolutely correct. I've had my e20 since it came out and have had this happen 2 or 3 times. If you are using the micro SD card the fix is simple. Remove the card, power on which will be quick since there are no caches, power off, insert card, power on again. The last power on will take several minutes as the unit builds the internal database but several minutes is better than waiting to get to a computer.

 

Just as an FYI, this is from the Garmin site in reference to the e20 and e30:

"It is recommended a standard speed card, no larger than 32 GB, be used in order to get the best performance from the device. Class 4 to Class 10 is considered standard speed."

 

The problem is a lot of us prefer the City Nav maps on the MSD card. I don't know if a GPX file can be loaded to it......I'll have to try it.

[+GeoTrekker26]

Does Garmin let you copy the card to another SD card as a backup? If so, I'd try it adding the GPX file to the copy!

[+GeoTrekker26]

Well you can copy it as a back up but it won't work

 

The maps are locked to the card, and will only work if they're on the original card.

 

I knew they were locked to a GPS but didn't know they are also locked to the card. Thanks for the info.

[+GeoTrekker26]

Got it! It's purely academic for me as I use OSM, but it's good info to have. Thanks for leading me out of the darkness!

[+CacheHownds]

2) Connect GPS to computer, remove all GPX files, startup GPS, shutdown GPS, replace GPX files, startup GPS.

 

I do this all the time when loading a new pocket query on the Dakota 20 or our Etrex 30. I Haven't lost a cache yet since doing this method.