HOME and Windows 7 64 bit

[john8791]

I have had quite a time with GPS's lately. I am a long time Garmin user. My 5 year old Nuvi bricked on me while driving cross country. Stopped at a Walmart and picked up a newer model. After an hour, it crapped out too. Disgusted, I decided to give Tom Tom a try and picked up a Start 50TM. It worked like a champ the rest of the trip and got me home. It took a little getting used to the differences between the Tom Tom and Garmin interfaces but I caught on pretty quick. The first thing I noticed was that the Tom Tom does not change time zones automatically. That is very annoying and would seem to be a simple thing to do.

Anyway, the reason for this post is to share my nightmare trying to update the maps after I got home. I run Windows 7 64 bit. Tom Tom HOME installed just fine, I entered my coupon codes and thought I was good to go. After what seemed an eternity, it gave an NS_ERROR. After trying a complete reinstall of HOME, a reset of the GPS unit, turning off my firewall/antivirus, it did the same thing.

I took the GPS to work where I have a Windows XP machine. The map update still took an eternity but was successful. I can only come to the conclusion that HOME is not compatible with Windows 7 64 bit. I have a support ticket in with Tom Tom and just got a response. Their solution is to run in compatibility mode, or download version 2.6. I will give it a try. This seems strange as 64bit Windows is not new.

 

[dhn]

Some with that O/S have no issues with Home; others like yourself seem to have them.

Compatibilty mode (XP) works for some. So does changing the browser.

 

[john8791]

Some with that O/S have no issues with Home; others like yourself seem to have them.

Compatibilty mode (XP) works for some. So does changing the browser.

I am going to try compatibility mode next. What would the browser have to do with it? Does HOME use a browser in the background?

 

[zengshengliu]

I have tomtom home on Windows 7 64bit with no problem.
I believe TomTom requires Microsoft .NET framework to be install in order to function (if I remember correctly).
Also, make sure you have the SP1 installed too

 

[Andy_P]

What would the browser have to do with it? Does HOME use a browser in the background?

The "MyTomTom" utility program which replaces Home for the newer models certainly does use your default browser. Not so sure about Home...

 

[john8791]

What would the browser have to do with it? Does HOME use a browser in the background?

The "MyTomTom" utility program which replaces Home for the newer models certainly does use your default browser. Not so sure about Home...

Near as I can tell, HOME is a stand alone program. When you say "newer models", that makes me think I got an end of life Walmart special. Is the Start series on it's way out?

 

[dhn]

Actually, the Start 50 is a reasonably new model that still uses Home and not MyTomTom. It's about the only newer model like that. So, it's still referred to as a 'Nav2' device.

 

[Sally_C]

Actually, the Start 50 is a reasonably new model that still uses Home and not MyTomTom. It's about the only newer model like that. So, it's still referred to as a 'Nav2' device.

My 2014 Mazda CX-5 uses TomTom Home for the NB1 device.

I don't pretend to know what it means, but someone referred to the NB1 as a Nav3 device.

Also, fwiw, I run Windows 7 64 bit with no problems.

 

[canderson]

Your NB1 is a Nav2 device, which is why it still uses Home. The more recent models (apart from Start 40/45/50/55) use MyTomTom, and we call those Nav3 devices.

 

[Andy_P]

Your NB1 is a Nav2 device, which is why it still uses Home. The more recent models (apart from Start 40/45/50/55) use MyTomTom, and we call those Nav3 devices.

This NB1 is a weird one, Chris. You may remember we've been discussing it with Sally in another topic. Create your own content for NB1

The device is definitely NAV3 from looking at the screenshots in the pdf manual.
The main "guts" is hidden away behind the dashboard and the user can only update the contents of the SD card, (which doesn't include any system files) and that does use Home!.

Where it gets interesting is that the link dhn gave to TT discussions, suggests that you can update SOFTWARE as well, by adding it to the SD card. If that's right, is this the first sight of NAV3 software that we can actually SE on a PC?

 

[canderson]

My 'magic file' indicates them to all be Nav2 units, but you are quite correct, Andy ... the manual very definitely shows a Nav3 screen layout, and firmware is at 10.814, clearly not a Nav2 build. I'll have to correct my 'magic file' as it indicates Nav2 for all of the "Fuji" (NB1) models, including both unconnected and Live (Serial DR, DP and DQ).

That said ... if this really IS a Nav3 unit, where the heck is Sally getting those directory structures she showed us the other day? It appears that the content of the SD card is 'exposed' and in a Windows FAT format, a very NON-Nav3 situation, to be sure. Your use of the word 'weird' is an understatement if I'm recalling her previous posts correctly.

 

[Sally_C]

My 'magic file' indicates them to all be Nav2 units, but you are quite correct, Andy ... the manual very definitely shows a Nav3 screen layout, and firmware is at 10.814, clearly not a Nav2 build. I'll have to correct my 'magic file' as it indicates Nav2 for all of the "Fuji" (NB1) models, including both unconnected and Live (Serial DR, DP and DQ).

That said ... if this really IS a Nav3 unit, where the heck is Sally getting those directory structures she showed us the other day? It appears that the content of the SD card is 'exposed' and in a Windows FAT format, a very NON-Nav3 situation, to be sure. Your use of the word 'weird' is an understatement if I'm recalling her previous posts correctly.

What is a Nav3 screen layout? Sorry for my ignorance but this is the only TomTom I've ever owned. I don't know what you mean by "Fuji" either. I believe this is a Sanyo head with a TomTom plugged in via a USB in the rear.

Not that it matters, but I'm at 10.817. Here's a pic from my Settings info. Maybe it will give you more info to work with.

 

[canderson]

Edit:

Time out ... am reviewing several documents at once.

 

[canderson]

OK... We are getting messed up with NB1 Mazda manuals here. Andy, I need to go back and see what the heck you were pointed to. Here are a couple that I have for these devices:

Manual Mazda-USA-NONLIVE-RG-en-us.pdf
This device is definitely a Nav2 device. The screen shots are all Nav2, and updates are referenced to the use of TomTom Home.
Andy -- that was the 2nd manual you referenced in the other thread. Take another look at it.

Mazda-NB1-EU-LIVE-RG-v3-en-gb.pdf
This device is definitely a Nav2 device. The screen shots are all Nav2, and updates are referenced to the use of TomTom Home.

Andy's first manual was
Mazda-NB1-6G-Guide-en-gb.pdf
That device also references the use of Home.

I don't see from any of these manuals that ANY of these NB1 units are Nav3 devices.

 

[Sally_C]

Ha! I doubt if I can straighten you out about anything, but I do know it is an NB1. At least that's what Mazda calls it here (when you click on Navigation System Owners Information) and TomTom here.

It's not a standalone though, and that may be where the confusion comes from. The NB1 integrates into a Sanyo head unit. I've attached a pic of it.

So then maybe Andy's right - it's a Nav3 that uses TT Home? I guess I'm confused if a Nav3 is defined by which software it uses (which I've heard) or by its screen layout (which I've heard). I'm still not sure what the defining screen layout is though.

Anyway, does this shed any light on the subject?

 

[Andy_P]

@Sally_C.... Sorry if we have gone off into jargon-land!

Basically, all the OLD TomTom models had software in them that TomTom themselves call "NAV2"

Their screens look something like this:

NAV2:

While the newer "NAV3" models look like this:
NAV3:

The biggest difference between them is that NAV2 models are recognised by a PC as a new disk drive, and you can see all the files and folders on them; but on NAV3 you can't. They are recognised as a Network adapter by the PC, and most of the internals are hidden.

The interesting thing about your N2 (to us geeks!) is that it seems to be a hybrid between the two.







.

 

[Andy_P]

@canderson.
When I've asserted it's aNAV3 device, I'm basically going from
1. all the screen-shots (both in the manuals I found and Sally's pictures (eg post #12 above)
2. The software versions

It looks like the "Hidden behind the dashboard" bit is NAV3, but the SD card is formatted to FAT so Home can read it.

 

[canderson]

Yup, that's what I see as well. Nav3 screens with a Nav2 based SD card that Home can access as though it were a Nav2 device. Alternately, it could be a real Nav2 device with new menus that they were working on in preparation for Nav3. Or perhaps it's a VERY early Nav3 before they were using a Unix file system on the SD card? Who the heck knows? As you say -- looks like some kind of hybrid.

The important thing (in the other thread, anyway) is understanding how Home will interact with the card. We've suggested moving files directly to the card on the assumption that we knew what the heck we were doing. I wonder if Home is bright enough to build a better file structure than we did? If so, if Sally installs the SD card into her PC reader, fires up Home, and tries to use Home to copy a custom POI or something to the card, I wonder what it will do? I'm headed back to that thread now.

 

[Sally_C]

The screen definitely looks like the Nav 3 model.

 

[canderson]

We sorta hijacked this thread, Sally. I moved back over to the other NB1 thread. Thanks!