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64s boot issue. Can't be resolved, stuck in loop.


THE_Chris

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Hi all,

I have a 3 or 4 year old GPSMap64s which was working fine up until this afternoon. Batteries got low and died, I put two new standard rechargables into it and, oddly, the unit immediately said batteries low, showing them I remember at 2 bars. Then when I scrolled the map, there appeared to be no map outside of the currently loaded tile. Got a route calculation error when I tried to navigate. I switched the unit off and tried to start it again. Since then, it will not start.

 

The GARMIN logo shows as normal and then gives the standard user message plus the first of the loading screens (GPSMap64s and some other text appears at the bottom of the screen) but only briefly before the screen flashes white for an instant and the unit switches off. It does not get to the Loading Waypoint and Maps screen. None of my usual tricks will work to get around this. If I plug the unit into USB, the same thing happens... it doesnt get far enough in the boot to connect. If I try to hard reset with PAGE and ENTER, the "Delete user data" screen comes up but only for a second and the unit switches off. It appears to still be hitting the same boot problem in the background. Holding down the arrow key and trying to force into Mass Storage doesnt work.... it connects but does not recognise and the minute I take my finger off the key it continues booting, same crash.

 

There is no SD card in the unit, I'm on the software version behind the current one AFAIK, and it booted perfectly this morning but I cannot get it to boot again and no trick I've tried can get past this sudden switchoff. The "user note" from the programmable text file does come up (albeit briefly) so as far as I can tell the data on the unit is intact. Have tried with various batteries, without batteries (just USB) and all I can think of. Does this sound bricked to anyone, or does anyone have any clues? I can't get it to connect to the computer and it will not boot at all. Any other way to factory reset or force it to try to reload the software similar to an update?

 

Any ideas? Thanks a mil.

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I've had this happen on my 62s so this may be worth a try. With good batteries do a normal boot-up, but just short of it shutting down, press and hold the power button to force a shut-off. Then do a normal boot-up to see if it worked. It may take a couple tries to get the timing right, or in case this takes more than one try. Don't give up, this can be brought back!

Edited by Timpat
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Have just given that a go, doesn't seem to work. Immediately pressing the power-off or waiting till the last instant doesn't seem to cause it to try and shut down, and then this error shuts it down itself, keeping the loop going.

I also tried taking the batteries out and using power from the USB... can pull the cable and instantly kill it but that doesn't seem to do anything either :(

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When you attempt to force mass storage mode, how long have you held the up arrow?  It needs to be a long time.

Beyond that, call Garmin.  They have additional tools to connect that we do not have and they can do it remotely as long as you get a tech that is knowledgeable enough.

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I've held it for about 30 seconds, I can hear through my speakers that it has attempted to connect, but I do not get the usual sound that it has connected. After about 30 seconds it gives up, as I hear the standard disconnected noise, and then the usual boot continues and it crashes.

I'm using my trusty old peeling GPSmap 62s, and have tried the same thing on that so I'm fairly sure its being held down long enough.

In an ideal world I'll get in touch with Garmin and they'll swap it for a prototype 66s, which I'm hoping they're currently building. But I'd say fat chance of that happening! Looks like I'll have to ring them Monday morning.

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Thanks. Tried it on my laptop as well, still no dice :( To get to the point of actually connecting to the computer after you plug it in, it has to get past the point at which it crashes, then do "save tracklogs etc" screen and then the USB connector appears onscreen and it actually connects to the computer.

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Have experimented a bit more with my 62s and the broken 64s.

 

On the 62s, holding either the down or up arrow when pressing the power button (and holding it down) causes it to display GARMIN for about 20 seconds, then it goes into USB storage mode automatically, bypassing the boot. Great!

Doing the same on the broken 64s, the button causes it to display GARMIN for about 20 seconds, then just start the normal loading screen which crashes :(:(:(

So close, I thought you were onto something there.

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I had these problems with my 62 series and once on the 64 series.  First thing is avoid removing the GPS from the computer without properly shutting it down.  Your compute should have a way to remove devices properly without simply pulling the plug.  Second, when you are downloading/copying files wait for the system to say the operation is complete. I have left screens before the system tells me it is complete with results similar to what you describe.  So be patient and wait a few extra seconds for the complete or OK message.  Thirdly, keep your files on an SD card not on the GPS internal memory. If a future problem develops then you can simply remove the SD card to resolve the problem. 

So, once you get the GPS into mass storage mode, delete any .gpx or .img file that you recently added. Master reset will not usually solve this problem.  You have to force the unit into mass storage mode.  I borrowed this from another cacher's post about forcing mass storage mode.  Please give it a try.  If this too does not work, call Garmin.  In any event the practices I outlined above will hopefully reduce the likelihood this situation in the future.  Best Regards,  PeoriaBill ::>)

Follow these steps to recover

1. Press and hold the "Up" arrow on the 4-way button

2. Attach the GPSMAP to your computer via USB cable while continuing to press "Up"

3. Continue to hold down the "Up" button for 30 seconds while the GPSMAP boots.

4. The GPSMAP should enter USB mass storage mode

5. From your computer remove or rename any gpx, map files (.img or .kmz) files that were recently added

6. Unplug the GPSMAP and power on to see if this remedies the problem

 

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Thanks for the help, but I've already tried that and it just doesn't work.

On my working 62s, trying these exact steps WILL work. The unit will go into mass storage mode after the 30 seconds which is perfect.

On the broken 64s, after the ~30 seconds the unit tries a normal reset instead of going into mass storage mode and hits the crash point.

 

The problems started when the unit was on, thats what I don't understand. I don't think it was anything I did while turning the unit on/off/etc :(

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The problem could be that an important boot file somehow got corrupted and that's preventing the unit from even connecting into mass storage mode or properly re-installing system files when you attempt a master reset (because it never gets that far).

However at this point I'm more likely to suspect that there has been some sort of hardware failure that caused permanent damage. Maybe a capacitor on the mainboard got overloaded during the battery change. Or maybe a connection somewhere became loose and created a short. Maybe the onboard flash memory is failing. I can't say for certain, but after reading all of your attempts to fix this, I say it's a good thing you have a 62s as a back-up. You could try contacting Garmin for a repair/replacement, but being that it's 4 years old and out of warranty, you might have better luck just looking for another 64s on sale or waiting until the next model in the series is released.

You won't get a prototype from Garmin unless you are one of their field testers. All companies like to keep their products a secret until it's time to announce a release.

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Thanks. I'm going down the hardware failure line too as all of these ideas have not got me past that single boot issue and given that it failed during use, I suspect something melted or went bang. Ah well.

 

Trusty, peeling GPSMap62s it is for now anyway, may your terribly low waypoint limit be forgiven for now!

 

I've emailed Garmin about the 64s anyway, we'll see what they come back with.

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No reply back from Garmin Ireland after several days.

But does anyone want to hear something ridiculous?

 

The broken 64s has been sitting on my table while I've been using the 62s in its place. Occasionally I've tried to power it on, and the same problem. I've tried to force mass storage more times than I can remember but no luck doing that at all either. Same problem. I finally gave up. I opened up the 62s and correctly set my number of found geocaches in the Trip Computer page. That was it. Quitting trying.

I somewhat absent mindedly plugged in the 64s immediately after and tried to force mass storage. Same process as before only this time... it actually worked. It went into mass storage mode. Nothing was different about the way I did this... maybe a hot component cooled down in the past week? I dunno. A mystery of mysteries. Everything (including lunch) was dropped as an emergency backup of all waypoints and all files on the 64s was taken.

And then I popped some batteries in it and powered it off.

 

It booted perfectly, albeit taking a bit longer.

 

Its back in action.

 

I still have no idea what happened. It seems to be working perfectly but suffice to say the 62s will be ready to go and in my backpack at all times for now.

Thanks for all the help here, I've learnt a lot about how these things work over the past week. But I'm still none the wiser about what actually went wrong with the thing or why it suddenly decided to work again (for now anyway.........)

 

I'm putting it down as "one of those things".

Edited by THE_Chris
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