G600 PROBLEM.

[johnwales]

I have recently had problems with my 11 month old G600 in that it will not react to accepting a new destination. This has been easily resolved by turning the tom tom off and then restarting.

However last week end I was in Kent and wanted to go to Faversham; and every time I entered the name of this town, the keyboard went frazzled and the machine turned off. Repeated attempts failed, but entering the post code for Faversham was o.k. I further tested the machine when I arrived home, and found that all destinations starting with the letters 'FAV' had the same result. As a matter of interest I do not think any other places spelt FAV exist in the U.K., and my tests were conducted on French names.

I bought this tom tom on the 25/11/14 in Halfords Aberystwyth, but have unfortunately no record of the purchase. I only know it was this date because a friend of mine also made a similar purchase on the same day, and kept their receipt. Has anyone any ideas please, as said before I have tried several times re setting the machine without any success.

Many thanks, John

 

[canderson]

When you say you have "tried several times re setting", do you mean that you have held the power button down for 20 seconds until the logo and drums appear to reboot it?

 

[johnwales]

No Sir... I tried that a couple of times as advised by Halfords; but later entered the systems sector of the tom tom, and reset it according to the instructions. Repeated a few times, and of course all stored destinations were erased, but still no solution to the problem.

One good thing is I have actually found the original receipt; it was purchased on the 14th. March last year, and I guess is now out of warranty; but will confirm on line. Thank you canderson for taking the trouble to reply.

 

[canderson]

Too strange. And the problem, as far as you can tell, is exclusively related to locations that start with "FAV"? I wonder if the firmware has some really odd quirk that is concerned that you are about to type 'favorites'? That's the only link that comes to mind between your symptom and how the device operates. To be clear, you go to the Search and begin just to type "F-A-V" and that's the conditions under which things explode?

If the problem is solely related to the "F-A-V", it needs to be reported directly to TomTom. What firmware version and map version are you currently running on your 600?

 

[johnwales]

Canderson, you were pretty close to the solution when you asked what map version I was using. I consulted the retailer where I bought the unit earlier ( Halfords ) and they were very helpful. The suggestion was that I downloaded a new version of the European maps. I have always been very reluctant to do this as my computer once crashed when I was updating a fairly new Garmin, and all the maps got fried beyond repair !! However, this action seemed to be the only option left for me, so I tried it. Much to my surprise it solved the problem, and has of course saved me the cost of buying a new unit. I do in fact use two G.P.S. simultaneously, a built in Garmin and the Tom tom. Fortunately they broadcast instructions at different distances; and it gives me the option when instructions differ of making a decision on which route to follow. Garmin have improved immensely in recent years, and by a very narrow margin they are probably the better of the two; but every now and again they falter, and Tom tom comes to the rescue.

Thank you Canderson for your help on this matter, kind rregards and seasons greetings. John

 

[canderson]

The way TomTom has finally set up their map situation, it's much safer to do map updates than it once was. The older generation required that either the map on your unit remain 'unbroken', or if not, that you had retained a copy on your PC to replace it. These days, the TomTom server knows what map you are owed at any given moment, so even if you were to run into a situation where your unit's map was wiped and the original download on your PC lost, it would be waiting for you to download anew from TomTom's server.

Interesting that it turned out to resolve itself with a new map. Makes one wonder about the integrity of the original mapl. Granted, Faversham isn't an everyday destination for most of us, but it's certainly well enough known, and yet we never heard here (or on the official TT board) of issues when attempting to enter F-A-V. Just for future reference, do you know what firmware and map version was on your unit prior to this update?

Ditto for firmware updates being much safer than before, only because the recovery process - which was also possible on the older generation - is a bit easier now and one can't get tangled up between two pieces of firmware as was once possible (the bootloader version needed to match the operating software). If things get totally into a ditch, there is a procedure whereby these newer units can be instructed to start from scratch for firmware AND map.

 

[johnwales]

Sorry Canderson I have no idea what version map was on my Tom Tom, but what I can say is that the new version is awesome, and appears to have features available that were not present before.

 

[canderson]

Yes - many complaints about the maps growing, but when you start to look at what's been added, it's pretty nice.
The days of trying to go to an office park and being dumped off on the verge of an interstate that's closer than the businesses address street are going away. They've done a TON toward getting parking lots mapped.