Problem with Voices

[telemike]

My 335TM has some corruption with the Voices. It says I have Dario Franchitti and Susan available even though I have deleted them from the device. IS there a file some where that I can edit to remove them from the selection menu?

Things were working fine until V870 map installed and something went wrong and it started rebooting anytime I went to navigate or browse map. I deleted all the files off the 335TM and restored a V850 backup I had on my PC.

I then let Home update to V870 maps it was working again but the voices are now messed up. I use Dave and he is working ok.

 

[dhn]

You should be able to connect to Home, manage my device (2nd page--purple folder), device tab, voices selection and remove them there.

 

[telemike]

I tried that but Home throws an error and cannot remove them. There must be a file that tells my 335 that the voices are installed and to show them in the menu

 

[dhn]

Use Explorer to go to the voices folder. You'll see 3 files for each recorded voice. I think it's the .vcf file that opens with notepad and shows the name of the voice. Find the one for the recorded voice you want to dump and then delete all associated files.

If you want to remove Susan, she is a computer voice and you need to remove the Susan folder from the Loquendo folder on the unit.

Backup your unit's contents using Explorer before doing any such deletions though. Better to be safe.

 

[mikealder]

I think it's the .vcf file that opens with notepad

Close, the file you need to open with NotePad is the one that has a file extension of .vif - Mike

 

[dhn]

Duh! Thanks, Mike. :thumb:

vif = voice INFORMATION file.

Too logical for my feeble brain.

 

[telemike]

Thanks, will give it a try tonite

 

[telemike]

The VIF file did it. Now it'sa ll cleared up. Had to reset my 335 after the V870 map update. My mapsettings.cfg file was corrupt and causing a boot loop

 

[- et -]

The VIF file did it. Now it's all cleared up. Had to reset my 335 after the V870 map update. My mapsettings.cfg file was corrupt and causing a boot loop

I have a similar problem with my XXL540. It crashed during the update to the North American 8.70 map and was fixed only after deleting and re-installing some files on the advice of TomTom support.

However, after that time my 540 will not use any computer voice. It works with recoded voices, but if I select "Susan" all sound goes away, including the drum roll at a reset start. I have since added the computer voice "Simon" using HOME, and it does the same thing with "Simon" as the selected voice.

I have looked into the ".vif" files in the "Voices" folder, and none of these list "Susan". Did you find a ".vif" file for "Susan"? If so, what did you actually do with the ".vif" file? Delete it, or ??? Or did you delete all of the files with "Susan" in the title up in the Loquendo sub-folders? Or ????

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[dhn]

The computer voices have all their files in the loquendo folder, not the voices folder.

A suggestion is to remove the application and reinstall. But make an Explorer, not Home, backup first.

But before you do that....tap the satellite bars on your unit to see what application is installed. 9.061 should be the one. You see, there is a 540 model in Europe BUT theirs does not have TTS and maybe you have the wrong app installed.

 

[- et -]

The computer voices have all their files in the loquendo folder, not the voices folder.

A suggestion is to remove the application and reinstall. But make an Explorer, not Home, backup first.

But before you do that....tap the satellite bars on your unit to see what application is installed. 9.061 should be the one. You see, there is a 540 model in Europe BUT theirs does not have TTS and maybe you have the wrong app installed.

I am aware where the files are located for the actual voices, but the advice earlier in this thread was to look for the ".vif" files. These files are located in the "Voices" folder that is found in the root directory, not the voices folder that is a sub-directory of the "Loquendo" folder.

I have deleted the "Susan" folder that is a sub-directory of the "Loquendo" folder, and all files that I could find that have "Susan" anywhere in the file title. I then used HOME to download and install "Susan" on the XXL540. The results are still that "Susan" shows up as an optional voice on the XXL540, but when that voice (or "Simon", the other computer voice) is selected, there is no sound - not even the drum roll at a reset start. When I select a recorded voice ("Lori" or "Bonnie") the XXL540 has sound and TTS - although the TTS is more limited in capability than it was when I could use "Susan".

My unit shows that it has application 9.061 installed.

FWIW, I have been making Explorer backups of all files - including the hidden files - since Day 1. I have backups of the XXL540 as delivered, as it was prior to attempting to install the map update, as the XXL540 was after the map update, and as it was before I tried deleting and re-installing "Susan" yesterday. I have used the backups of my custom POI files and the "mapsettings.cfg" file from prior to the map update to restore my custom POI files and the listing of those files after they were erased during the map update.

Any assistance in resolving the inability to access any computer voices would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[dhn]

Well, you can try a reset on the unit by holding the power button for about 10 seconds and if that doesn't work, perhaps restore to factory defaults. You'll lose all custom settings doing that, but......................

 

[Andy_P]

9.061 should be the one. You see, there is a 540 model in Europe BUT theirs does not have TTS and maybe you have the wrong app installed.

Don't know if this is relevant, but the "XL Live IQ Routes Edition" in Europe (with or without TTS - it's only available in some countries) is still on v9.058.

 

[- et -]

Loss of computer voices - problem solved

As an update on the problem I described previously, I now have computer voices back on my XXL540 - thanks to TomTom Support (US).

After trying everything I could find in the way of potential solutions here and elsewhere on the net, I telephoned TomTom Customer Support here in the US. After spending quite a while on hold, I was connected to a live human located at the TT support center in New York State. We discussed the problem and the history leading up to the loss of computer voices (a crash during a map update, followed by a major reinstall at the suggestion of TT Support.)

TT Support walked me through a series of clearly described actions as part of several attempts to solve the issue. They finally said "We'll try one more thing. If this does not work, we'll have you send in your unit for replacement." Fortunately, the last gasp attempt did work - with the use of one more step by me.

TT Support directed me to click on the My Computer command on my PC, which opens up Explorer, and to navigate to the TomTom unit, which shows up as a separate drive in Explorer. They then had me use Explorer to delete every file and every folder on the TomTom EXCEPT the map folder and its contents. After this was done, I was told to open up the TomTom HOME program, let it automatically scan for "updates", and to then tell HOME to install those files.

I noticed that HOME selected a number of voices to install, but that all of them were recorded voices, and none were computer voices. However, I followed instructions and was rewarded with a unit that appeared to work perfectly but still had no computer voices installed. A drive in my car confirmed this impression.

I then connected the XXL540 to my computer again, booted HOME, and went to the "Add voices" menu in HOME. I told the system to add and install "Susan" - one of the computer voices available via HOME. The download and install went smoothly, and when I then selected "Susan" on my XXL540 and pressed the TEST button, I was rewarded with sound. A test drive has confirmed that "Susan" now appears to work as intended.

If you encounter a similar problem, this approach may be worth trying. (Just be sure to do a complete backup with Explorer or Finder before trying this. I had done so before calling TT Support, which is why I did not hesitate to follow their instructions to do such a massive deletion of files and folders.)

With best wishes,
- Tom -

 

[dhn]

Glad you have things resolved.

Essentially, CS had you reinstall the application which includes the computer voices. I think that suggestion was made to you earlier in this thread.

Anyway, make that Explorer backup !!

 

[- et -]

Glad you have things resolved.

Essentially, CS had you reinstall the application which includes the computer voices. I think that suggestion was made to you earlier in this thread.

Anyway, make that Explorer backup !!

I recognize that.

In fact, I had previously done the application re-installation both per the instructions here and at the direction of TT Customer Support - but those actions did not get the computer voices back.

I have no idea why the procedure that finally worked was successful when re-installation had not not worked. It may be that it replaced some obscure critical file that was corrupt, or perhaps it was just random chance, but the bottom line is that the procedure did work.