Garmin e-Trex 30 cable

[+Gill & Tony]

I recently left the cable which came with my e-trex 30 at my daughter's house. I have a similar cable at home and have tried using that one to plug the GPS into a USB port on the computer. This doesn't want to work. Most times, at least 4 out of 5, this comes up with a Windows error "USB Device not recognized".

 

I'm running W10 on both my main PC and my netbook and get the same error with both machines and on all USB ports I have tried.

 

It is, of course, possible that the cable is defective but before I go and buy a new one - does anyone know if the Garmin cable is in any way "special"? Are there length restrictions? Do I have to use a Garmin branded cable?

 

Advice would be appreciated

 

Thanks

 

Tony

[+Qbar]

Hmmm....I just use whatever cable is handy. I was surprised when I came across the labelled Garmin cable recently, didn't remember having one. Its a pretty common end, maybe you can find another one in some drawer. Don't know if it's relevant or not, but I run windows 7, not 10.

 

Do you have anything else you could try the cable on...old phone, vehicle gps, backup battery? But I think your first theory is right and the cable is defective

Edited June 7, 2016 by Qbar

[+Mn-treker]

Once in a while I have that trouble with Delorme. I have found that it is the cable.

Loose wire, broken maybe. In your case a different style than mine but most likely

Same issue. Bad cable.

[+MartyBartfast]

No there's nothing special about the Garmin cable, any full spec cable will do. But not not all cables are made equal, some come with only the power pins wired in for charging devices and these won't work for data - does your other cable work for other data devices?

[+on4bam]

All (there are always exeptions) USB cables should work unless they are USB powercables.

Some thin (or long) cables can have voltage drop that can make the GPS switch off but if it's a standard USB and thick enough there's no reason it shouldn't work unless it's broken, but then it won't work on anything else either.

[+Gill & Tony]

Thanks for all the advice

 

The replacement cable is long and thin and may well be power only. I'll pop out and get a new cable this afternoon - as short and fat as I can find.

 

Cheers

 

Tony

[+Gill & Tony]

Bought new certified data cable and all is now well. Old cable consigned to back of cupboard.

 

Cheers

 

Tony

[BFG99]

Yeah, older units can be very sensitive to which USB cable they're plugged into. My eTrex Vista HCx can't use the stock cable - it resets or doesn't acquire satellites anytime I use the stock cable. I have to use a different one. I think the GPS chip might be starting to go...