Montana 680 does not acquire satellites

[+MaliBooBoo]

I am hoping someone can help me. Since I can't remember when my Montana refuses to acquire satellites on the first start up. On the satellite page there are many bars for satellites that show up but the number below each one just flashes and it never acquires a lock. I often have to reboot several times, sometimes by pulling the battery before finally it will acquire a lock. I have never experienced this type of behaviour in any of the many Garmin handhelds that I have had over the years so my fingers are crossed for an easy fix. Has anyone else had this happen to them and/or have any suggestions on how to fix the issue? I have tried these things:

 

• tried both with Glonass on and off
• WAAS on an off
• tried with alkalines rather than the rechargeable one thst it comes with
• pulled the map microSD card

 

None of the above has had any effect. Please help!!

[+Atlas Cached]

A. See the troubleshooting page here.

B. What firmware version is your Montana 680 running?

C. Did you place the unit outside, away from any obstacles and/or buildings in clear view of the sky for >15 minutes?

D. What are your GPS settings? GPS? GPS+GLONASS? WAAS/EGNOS?

[+MaliBooBoo]

40 minutes ago, Atlas Cached said:

A. See the troubleshooting page here.

B. What firmware version is your Montana 680 running?

C. Did you place the unit outside, away from any obstacles and/or buildings in clear view of the sky for >15 minutes?

D. What are your GPS settings? GPS? GPS+GLONASS? WAAS/EGNOS?

A. Took a look. I guess what that is telling me is to do a master reset. I will give this a try.

B. Software Version 3.3

C. While having these issues I place it in view of the sky. Previous units would have to trouble locking in much more challenging situations. I have it outside right now and will leave it there for >15 minutes but it likely won't lock if it is acting like it typically does.

D. My preference is GPS+GLONASS plus WAAS however I have changed those settings and tried to see if that was what the problem was with no success.

 

Thanks for your response. I appreciate the help!

[+Atlas Cached]

9 minutes ago, MaliBooBoo said:

A. Took a look. I guess what that is telling me is to do a master reset. I will give this a try.

B. Software Version 3.3

C. While having these issues I place it in view of the sky. Previous units would have to trouble locking in much more challenging situations. I have it outside right now and will leave it there for >15 minutes but it likely won't lock if it is acting like it typically does.

D. My preference is GPS+GLONASS plus WAAS however I have changed those settings and tried to see if that was what the problem was with no success.

 

Thanks for your response. I appreciate the help!

 

I have heard some stories about some users having Satellite reception trouble with GLONASS enabled, so turn that off and go straight GPS and leave it in clear sky view for >15 (maybe even 30) minutes....

[+MaliBooBoo]

I did the master reset and for a long time I thought it was even worse off: it didn't seem like it would ever lock onto satellites again. But then it did. Once. I am now trying to start it up over and over again to see if I can get it to lock. Not ideal. Having GLONASS and WAAS turned off clearly makes no difference for this unit.

 

Any other suggestions?

[+MaliBooBoo]

Happily, I figured out what the issue was. Not sure why it was causing the problem, but when I pulled out the 32gb microSD card, it started with GPS locking every time. What was on it was 7 maps, 2 GGZ files, bunch of GPX files and 14.7gb worth of Birdseye files.

 

I wonder what about this microSD card made the Montana not want to get a lock? Weird.

 

In any case, I am relieved to have my GPSr back!

[+Atlas Cached]

That is peculiar. I would like to test that uSD card....

 

PM Sent

Edited January 8, 2019 by Atlas Cached

[+Atlas Cached]

Huh, my Montana 680t started doing the same thing this morning....