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Help please, with MapSend Topo / MeriColor


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Hello All,

 

I have been using a MeriColor for a few weeks now and have enjoyed it greatly. I just purchased a copy of MapSend Topo and am being plagued by erratic performance (perhaps mine) with updloads, downloads and communication with my computer in general.

 

The symptoms:

-When I try to connect I start by going to GPS settings and doing an autodetect. The GPS is always detected if I have just rebooted my computer. If I detect the GPS on autodetect and then try to test Com1 I get a message that the Com Port is not found. Rebooting starts the cycle over again.

-I have successfully uploaded a region and downloaded waypoints and tracks, but only once or twice for each. I have not had any success recently but results always variable at best.

 

What I've tried so far:

-varying ComPort settings

-Varying NMEA settings (Magellan has conflicting recommendations on these settings on their website)

-Rebooting with GPS on or off

-Purging any startup programs that might concievably be locing up the ComPort

-I have not yet reloaded the software but will try that.

-All the diagnostics, as well as my son, say that the ComPort is working fine.

-Just loaded v4.01 into the GPS, having started with v3.1 as I recall...

 

Can anyone offer any advice? I am plumb out of ideas.

 

Thanks...

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What version of windows do you have? Do you own a palm or pocket pc device, if so it is probaly occuping the com port.

 

NEMA should not be on when using mapsend (unless your using it for real time tracking), set the baud to 19,200 or lower, 4800 should work, go higher if it does.

 

You might want to start the computer with out the GPSr attached.

 

Wyatt W.

 

The probability of someone watching you is directly proportional to the stupidity of your actions.

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I think it is your PC.

I have the same setup and have no problems at all. I upgraded the GPS the day I got it. No problems.

 

I did get a second set of COM ports so my Palm is on a different port than my Meridian Color.

 

Make sure Hotsync is off if you plug the GPS into the same port as a Palm pilot.

 

DustyJacket

...If life was fair, a banana split would cure cancer.

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Well, I'm starting to think it's my PC too. I don't have a PDA on this one and I don't think that there is any competition for the com ports, but the thing does go whacky on us from time to time. It may be just a little off.

 

I guess I'll try to get a Serial to USB adapter and load MapSend on my laptop.

 

Thanks for your help...

 

Best

 

John

 

Best,

JRH

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For what you would pay for a serial to usb adapter, you could probably buy a 64mb sd card and a reader. You will be much happier, too.

 

Wait - I guess you already have a card, or you wouldn't be uploading Topo files. Just get a reader. Much faster and bulletproof transfers.

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I have an SD cardreader but have not had too much success with it. I have been able to store tracks on the card, and read them with MapSend. I have not been able to store regions on the card using MapSend and have the GPS successfully read them, even after following the directions supplied by Magellan (cut, past, rename, etc.). When I try to load data from the card in the GPS after writing to it in the reader I get messages that the card is not formatted.

 

I've tried the card reader on a different computer and still had no luck. Perhaps my GPS is funky? It seems to work fine except for card & storage realted issues.

 

I appreciate the help & advice. Thanks,

 

Best,

JRH

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I've tried formatting with WindowsXP, and also formatting with the GPS.

 

I have a more serious problem now. My computer will not read the card at all and the GPS will not boot (white screen) with the card in place. I am starting to think I may have had a bad card from the start. I'll see if I can find another card/reader combo today.

 

Thanks

 

Best,

JRH

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The OLD firmware would not recognize a WindowsXP foormatted card.

 

I've been told the new firmware does, but I've not tried it.

The only time I formatted the card was with the GPS.

 

Also, I have "heard" there are certain SD cards that don't work with the Meridian, but I have no facts to back that up.

 

DustyJacket

...If life was fair, a banana split would cure cancer.

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Well, I have to admit that I have had problems with my sd card, also. I can read only one image file on the card at a time. It won't switch to another image - says "invalid format". If I take the card out and manipulate the files (for example renaming the image map that IS working), and put the card back in my MeriGreen, it will read another map. But if I try to change again, say back to the previous map, it will give me the same error message. even though it is obviously in the correct format.

 

Very frustrating. I am using the most recent firmware (downloaded twice), and I have formatted the card in the unit, as well as in the card reader (using both 98se and XP), have reloaded the MapSend Topo software and recreated the maps, etc. etc. ad nauseum, and haven't been able to fix it. Magellan tech support "has never seen or heard of this problem from anyone else" - you know the mantra. They have spent quite a bit of time working on it with me, to give them some credit.

 

I have just about decided that if it isn't the firmware, it must be the card (128mb SimpleTech), even though it functions perfectly in all other circumstances. I've just created a set of maps on my computer, and if I want a different one, I'll just use the reader and drop it down to the card.

 

However, the 32mb map I have in there now covers an area from Houston over to San Antonio and north to Kansas, and that's pretty much "my world".

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A card switch would be a good experiment to try. I have heard that some off-brands of SD cards (e.g., the no-name cards one might get on ebay) will not work well, and that one should stick to main brands like SanDisk.

 

SimpleTech is not all that off-brand, though, is it? Oh well, take this FWIW. In support of the "Magellan mantra," I've not heard of your particular problem, either.

 

Good luck.

 

Max

Often wrong but seldom in doubt

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I am using a 128Mb SanDisk card. I will try a card switch today. I am, though, using an off-brand reader (a LaCie hex reader) that I originally bought for my wife's Mac. It appears to work OK but I might try another readwe as well.

 

Thanks

 

Best,

JRH

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I have tried two other PCs now, one with an actual serial port and one with a USB fitted with a Belkin USB-Serial adapter. Both have functioned well in uploading regions and up/downolading tracks and waypoints. I bought a new 128Mb SD Card at Costco as the old one got fried somehow (my IT guy at work says static might have been the problem).

 

One problem I had was in uploading a 6+Mb region to the MeriColor. MapSend appeared to make the map then stalled before transferring to the GPS. When I tried using a 700Kb region it worked fine.

 

I have not yet tried reading & writing to and from the card, but I think I'm making progress.

 

I suppose I ought to try again with the first PC just to make sure, but it looks now like my problem was with a funky PC. I'll poke around some more and report.

 

Thanks all, for the advice...

 

Best,

JRH

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