Good Grief Garmin

[Beeezer]

Ok so here's my story:

 

Been a long time user of Garmin and still own an eTrex HC and decided to finally upgrade to the eTrex 20 (I did months of research so I knew what I was getting into!)

 

Found one used on Amazon for $70!

 

I received it today, worked fine turned on and went through the menus-no hangups.

 

There was nothing on the device yet.

 

The batteries, as far as I know are perfectly fine.

 

I connected the device to my computer to look at the folders to poke around (just like owning a car, you want to press all the buttons!) I did NOT delete anything or move off/on any of the files!

Now here's where things go sucky.

 

After disconnecting the device, the USB symbol on the eTrex 20 continued to stay on. I thought maybe firmware, but it wasn't showing anything to suggest it was installing an update.

 

With the menu screen with the USB symbol still showing (now stuck) I took out the batteries and turned it back on.

 

Now all it does is go to the loading screen (LOADING wavepoints, tracks, etc.) and won't go any further. My computer (OSX 10.6.8) doesn't seem to recognize it anymore nor does the master reset work (in fact, the reset menu froze!)

 

I will try with different batteries, but after finding out that I can load an SD card-can I install firmware via the card to fix this? Is this something fixable?

 

Please help me, I really don't want to find out that I have a lovely orange paperweight and I'm out $70.

[insig]

Power it on while holding MENU, ENTER (in on the click stick), and BACK. Remember to release the power button after it turns on. That should do a hard reset without asking you first.

[Beeezer]

Does not seem to recognize a hard reset (tried it the first time and it kinda worked, after that, nothing)

[insig]

With it off, press the stick UP and plug it into the USB cable connected to your computer. It will come on and look like it's doing nothing. After 30 seconds, it should force itself into mass storage (USB) mode. Remove any GPX files in the Garmin\GPX folder and see if it will work after that.

[Beeezer]

Ok did that.

 

I finally got my laptop to recognize it as USB MASS STORAGE, and found an old gpx. route file. I deleted that and turned it back on, still in the same boat as before. In the folder CURRENT inside .GPX there seems to be a bunch of random gibberish as files, is this normal? I've not seen such sloppy management filewise and wonder if it's corrupted? If not, ignore me-it may be Garmin being stupid.

 

UPDATE: Ok, so after going back into USB Storage mode, I looked around and in the .GPX folder the folder Current seems to be corrupted. (It did say it was last modified October 15th 2022 and all the files inside are messed up with some saying "last modified March ?? 1908"

 

Is this a firmware issue, or can I just delete the Current folder with no repercussions? I hope I'm getting somewhere with my problem.

Edited November 26, 2013 by Beeezer

[insig]

The only thing inside the Current folder should be Current.gpx -- if there are a bunch of random files in there, that might be a symptom of something bad. If all else fails, copy off the important stuff like the basemap, timezone map, and language files... then reformat the whole thing. Use that as a last resort, though.

[Beeezer]

Deleted the Current folder inside .GPX still nothing.

 

Guess I'm out of $70 for now, maybe it was too good to be true?

 

My (fairly new) eTrex 20 is sadly bricked for the time being, hopefully some of the grizzled old veterans can help me out-otherwise I'll go back to my HC

[+GrateBear]

Did you call Garmin? They might be able to help. If not, you could try and return it to the seller. Worth trying.

[Beeezer]

Ok wow, UPDATE: For some reason, and I mean SOME REASON?!? My eTrex did a master reset (why? I'm not sure.) it now seems to work. I have contacted the seller just to get some feedback on this issue, and I will update you guys with my progress. Everything seems to work for now.

[Fangamon]

If you had bought a new one you would have probably avoided all this hassle.

[+Red90]

With OSX, make sure you empty the trash after deleting files. OSX leave the files on the device and the unit will still find them.

[+Woodstramp]

Title of this thread cracks me up.... implies that it was Garmin's fault that you bought a used unit that was probably file damaged by the third party you got the "deal" from.