Help with garmin venture HC

[+Neverryn]

I've just bought a Garmin Etrex Venture HC second hand and I'm having difficulty's connecting it to my pc.

 

I have downloaded the usb drivers and some software but nothing will recognise the device when I plug it in. I have even done a hard reset on the device but to no avail. :-(

 

Can any one suggest any other methods?

 

Thanks in advance.

[+andyakashrek]

I've just bought a Garmin Etrex Venture HC second hand and I'm having difficulty's connecting it to my pc.

 

I have downloaded the usb drivers and some software but nothing will recognise the device when I plug it in. I have even done a hard reset on the device but to no avail. :-(

 

Can any one suggest any other methods?

 

Thanks in advance.

There are several posts on the forum about this problem, if you search you will find some information that may be able to help you.It seems that the driver has to be installed manually by pointing to the driver location when prompted by the install new hardware wizard instead of letting it install automatically.

Below is copied from one of the posts I found.

 

Yes it is kind of tricky getting it to work on an XP computer. You have to download the driver from the garmin website and you have to install it manually. Run the program you download, note where the program sticks the driver (should be C://garmin/. Plug in your Garmin. Found new hardware wizard should pop up. When it asks you if you want to search for the driver automatically choose no. It will now give you the opportunity to browse for the driver. Go to the folder where the driver is located and select it. The driver should then install and your computer should recognize the gps. I have had to redo this only once when I downloaded the firmware upgrade. Hope this helps .

[+Neverryn]

Thanks for your reply.

 

I'm running windows 8 and unfortunately when I plug the device in nothing happens on the pc. The device lights up and shows a usb symbol when you are on the menu page of the device. I have opened device manager and nothing shows up there either. :-(

[+andyakashrek]

Thanks for your reply.

 

I'm running windows 8 and unfortunately when I plug the device in nothing happens on the pc. The device lights up and shows a usb symbol when you are on the menu page of the device. I have opened device manager and nothing shows up there either. :-(

 

Try this

If a Garmin mode device will not power on or communicate with Garmin applications (i.e. WebUpdater, MapSource or BaseCamp) then it's possible the software has been erased from the device's memory or there is corrupted data in the device.

 

The Garmin Mode device has a boot block function, which forces communication between the device and WebUpdater and permits updating a device with no software. A Garmin Mode device will have a USB interface in the following series/devices:

 

GPSMAP 60-series  

GPSMAP 76-series

GPS 60

GPS 72H

eTrex

Rino 100-series

Rino 500-series

Astro 220

To perform the boot block:

 

Turn device off, if powered on

Plug device into computer

Open WebUpdater

Proceed through WebUpdater instructions until Find Device page is found

Press and hold rocker pad/joystick in Up position*

Important: The upper portion of rocker pad/joystick must be held down until software has completed. If released, update will fail and instructions will need to be repeated.

Press Power button as if turning on device

Click Find Device

If device is found, proceed through update process

Disconnect device once update is finished

The device should power on as normal and properly communicate with Garmin applications.

 

*If the device does not have a rocker pad/joystick, hold the Up button.

 

,

[+ngrrfan]

Thanks for your reply.

 

I'm running windows 8 and unfortunately when I plug the device in nothing happens on the pc. The device lights up and shows a usb symbol when you are on the menu page of the device. I have opened device manager and nothing shows up there either. :-(

If you are expecting it to show up as another drive, it won't. It isn't designed to operate that way.

If you are using a program such as Base Camp or GSAK the once you connect the GPS to the computer you should be able to connect to it via the program.

[+Neverryn]

Thanks for your suggestion

 

I've tried as instructed but my device won't power up until I've released the up toggle. Does this normally take a long time to work? Am I being to quick to give up?

[+Neverryn]

Thanks

 

I have base camp installed but that can't see the device either. Even with the usb drivers installed.

[jholly]

Thanks

 

I have base camp installed but that can't see the device either. Even with the usb drivers installed.

 

Might have something to do with this found on the Garmin site

Garmin GPS USB Drivers support Windows XP 64-bit, Vista 64-bit, and Windows 7 64-bit.

[+Neverryn]

Thanks

 

I've tried on a windows 7 pc as well but to no avail. The unit is switched on when I try to connect, It lights up and shows an icon when in the menu which suggests to me that it has acknowledged that it's plugged into a pc.

[+Huntleigh]

Thanks

 

I've tried on a windows 7 pc as well but to no avail. The unit is switched on when I try to connect, It lights up and shows an icon when in the menu which suggests to me that it has acknowledged that it's plugged into a pc.

I have a Venure HC and a (new) Win8 PC. (Previously I had an XP PC).

 

As others have pointed out these old devices don't appear as a drive but software such as MapSource; BaseCamp; GSAK; etc should be able to write to the device.

 

I connected my Venture this evening for the first time and, shock, horror, I get a pop-up message saying something along the lines of "grmusb.sys - Windows has blocked a digitally unsigned driver" Both MapSource and GSAK fail to find the device.

 

Further investigation needed. Good job I spotted this thread, I hope to use my trusty old Venture in a week or two.

[+Huntleigh]

Thanks

 

I've tried on a windows 7 pc as well but to no avail. The unit is switched on when I try to connect, It lights up and shows an icon when in the menu which suggests to me that it has acknowledged that it's plugged into a pc.

I have a Venure HC and a (new) Win8 PC. (Previously I had an XP PC).

 

As others have pointed out these old devices don't appear as a drive but software such as MapSource; BaseCamp; GSAK; etc should be able to write to the device.

 

I connected my Venture this evening for the first time and, shock, horror, I get a pop-up message saying something along the lines of "grmusb.sys - Windows has blocked a digitally unsigned driver" Both MapSource and GSAK fail to find the device.

 

Further investigation needed. Good job I spotted this thread, I hope to use my trusty old Venture in a week or two.

 

Problem solved.

 

Downloaded the latest Garmin USB driver and everything is sweet. You do need to reboot the PC for the drivers to install properly.

 

Hopefully this will solve the OP's dilemma too.

[+Neverryn]

Unfortunately it doesn't. :-(

 

I have already downloaded the drivers.

 

I think I may need to phone their help line.

[+Neverryn]

Update

 

I phoned Garmin this morning and they suggested to try a different cable or they would replace the unit for a small fee. I tried a different cable and.... It's all working well now. Yay