Go Premium X (ZT) constant restart

[BFG]

Fully charged on known good battery, with USB power connected.

Fresh drumroll start. System boots, briefly shows the "Menu" button for about 2 seconds, then screen goes blank. After 10 seconds, menu shows again. Repeat forever.
I expect this is the mydrive sync problem, but I can't get to the menu to disable it, or get to the settings menu to factory reset the device.

Occasionally it will add "shutting down" into the sequence, and then the unit restarts and goes through this wider loop endleslly.

I've been in touch with TomTom support and they've tried to help.
Soft boot (drumroll) ineffective.
I can get to the recovery screen on the TomTom, and on connecting it to a PC running MyDrive Connect, it starts a recovery. The recovery climbs from 0% to 100%, then, MyDrive Connect closes without a status update (looks like it's crashed).

Ineffective. On booting the device, it goes back into the loop. TomTom said they will escalate to technical team last week but I've heard nothing since.

On other hardware devices there would be a reset button you can stick a paper-clip into, or some solid non-software way to do a factory reset. Does anyone have any advice on something to try? I've even tried connecting to a linux system to see if I can delete files, but it doesn't register as present with USB.

 

[Willy875]

Do you think your battery is well charged?

If you cannot turn on your GPS you cannot know if the battery is fully charged.

Have you tried charging your GPS with another cable?
In my opinion it's a battery problem. It's not a problem with Mydrive.

 

[BFG]

Thank you for checking. Yes, I'm very certain it's fully charged on known good battery.
You can know if it's charged, because the 'bios' screen shows charge level.

Early in the repair attempts, I too thought it was a battery problem, so I replaced it a few days ago with a brand new maxell battery. Charged for 24 hours, with original TomTom cable from high power usb charger.

There was no change in firmware behaviour before / after the replaced battery.

 

[Willy875]

Does it seem like the problem is more serious?
To reset the device to factory values, you must be able to turn it on, go to settings then system.

 

[BFG]

It's serious enough that none of the usual advice / methods / procedures are effective. I'm spent many hours reading and objectively testing.

I can only find the method to factory reset the system via the software interface after it boots. The menu is not working, and so this is impossible. I need an alternative way to force the system to factory reset, or to force it out of the loop.

The recovery process also does not break the cycle. I have tested on 3x PCs, and also verified with another PND device: Go 5000, and that is working perfectly, and I used that to test the recovery set-up on my PC, and the recovery cycle works. At least it asks to reinstall recent updates already done, indicating it has been set back to an older instance. SO the PC setup seems reasonably solid.

 

[Willy875]

In my opinion you should send it for repair to Tomtom
Only Tomtom can enter your GPS system.

Question if you connect your GO to Mydrive connect is it recognized can you add content?

 

[canderson]

Thank you for checking. Yes, I'm very certain it's fully charged on known good battery.
You can know if it's charged, because the 'bios' screen shows charge level.

Though not necessarily a consideration in your case, the bios screen does not show anything but the current voltage of the battery. It's capacity is another thing altogether. Even a nearly dead battery may be able to be charged to a nominal voltage, but then not be able to hold anything close to that under load for very long.

To test whether it's the MyDrive sync issue, just assure that your device is nowhere near any of its known connected devices during your testing. If there's nothing familiar to which it can connect, that will break this cycle if that's the issue. However, your symptoms sound more severe than the usual sync reboot issue.

 

[BFG]

The bios screen on my Go Premium X shows the charge percentage. Also on my Go 5000. It's useful.

For me, it is not the battery. Details in previous posts. I realise that "it's always the battery" and I welcome the advice, but I have already exhausted all the reading material on this site and others, which led me to replace the battery. I bought two batteries for redundant diagnosis. All before posting my OP.

The charge percentage on the bios screen was useful as part of testing the new battery, I charged for 24 hrs and then removed charge and observed a slow decrease in % for over an hour.

I also of course eliminated its ability to connect to any wifi, as it was much documented in usual advice / methods / procedures. Ineffective.

Relaying all this to TomTom, they said to send it in for repair, but I am determined to find a DIY solution and if so I'll post here to share with others who might have this obscure problem.

Latest is an old trick with electronics with storage is to freeze them. It now in the freezer at -28C.

I'll keep updated.

 

[canderson]

Latest is an old trick with electronics with storage is to freeze them. It now in the freezer at -28C.

I'll keep updated.

Whatever you do, don't charge the thing again until it's back to room temperature - internally. Which means you'll need to leave it for some hours before making the attempt. Absolute limits of 0C ~ 45C battery temperature when charging are typical from any manufacturer.

 

[Willy875]

I don't think this is a problem with Mydrive

If you think it's a problem with Mydrive it's just an idea
go to Mydrive web is on the Mydrive phone application disconnect yourself from the Mydrive account and try your GPS.

 

[BFG]

Yep, ruled mydrive out early on.


Biggest risk re freezing is condensation. Best alleviated by opening the case. This has to be done before it goes in the freezer, as the clips become too brittle. Of course while it's open, we take the battery out anyway
Then after a good 24hrs, we let it come to room temp as slowly as possible. Leaving the case open with innards facing up.

Mine is all back and reassembled, but results inconclusive. Initially still in a boot loop, and failing to complete the recovery properly. Same pattern as in OP, connecting it to a PC running MyDrive Connect, it starts a recovery. The recovery climbs from 0% to 100%, then, MyDrive Connect closes on the PC without a status update (looks like it's crashed). Back into the loop.

On the 3rd go, I did something different. I wanted to try yet another PC, and pulled the USB cord from the back of the tomtom while the % of recovery was climbing. I think it was about 40 or 50%.

... and it went to the normal map screen and displayed the menu without rebooting! I was then able to finally reach the factory reset option. And now it's back to good working order.

My money is on deliberately interrupting the recovery process being the effective item here. The freezer thing I mention for completeness, but it's unlikely to have been the fix.

CAUTION for anyone in the same position. If you pull your USB cord during a recovery, you strongly risk completely bricking your unit. I had reached a point where I had nothing to lose.