Recovering Maps on Go 710

[beefcake18]

I saw my friend had a Tomtom at his place, and asked him why he didn't use it and he said it was broken. Well I've got it powered up and everything, trying to fix it. I used the software to back the SD card up and then formatted the card. The problem is when I recover the data I backed up it goes back to the same problem I initially had, where the GPS would come on and it would just stay at the screen where it shows a picture of a Tomtom GPS. I cant manually drop the US and Canada maps folder over onto it manually and make it work either. Here is a screen shot of my US and Canada maps folder. Can anyone look at it and tell me if it looks like it has all the needed files for it to work correctly?

 

[dhn]

I'm not acquainted with some files you list there (such as the one with a .mms extension) and all the maps I have include a file called <map>.meta.dct which is vital for the map to be recognized by the unit.

That said, I don't have a map for that version so am not sure if your list is correct or not.

Click on the file with the extension .pna. That will show you the version of the map installed (the third line).

Report back.

 

[beefcake18]

ID=USA_and_Canada.pna
978028380
650
build=1072
id=42833

 

[mikealder]

It looks like "USA_and_Canada.mid" is missing from the folder, as I recall this is the activation code for the map, otherwise all the contents look to be in place and correct to me as I have compared what you have in the screen shot to a v650 USA map I still have on the PC.

Does your mate still have the product code card that will have been supplied with the device, it looks like a credit card with some numberes embossed in to it , if you can find that it will be possible to activate the map.

I think something else is wrong though as the device should boot up and state no maps found, can you tell us what the device type is and grab a screen shot of the files in the root of the device as I think this is more probably the area at fault preventing the unit from booting up - Mike

 

[beefcake18]

I'll ask him about it later, although I'm sure he doesn't. I wanna say he told me it was given to him second hand by hid dad or grandfather. I've got it telling me that there is no maps now. At first format, I installed only the application back to the device, and it told me that there were no maps. Then I did a restore from the data I backed up originally, which put me back in a frozen state. Then I formatted again, installed only the application, and manually moved the US map folder over, and it froze again I believe. Formatted again, installed only the application, then installed the update to the application, which is where I'm at now, and it tells me there are no maps installed. This is why I was asking about the contents of the folder, it seems that the data seems to put my device in the crap state. I'm about to leave for my brother in law's graduation from college, so I won't be able to check the forum for some hours, so don't think I gave up when I don't respond for a few hours. I look forward to any help you guys can give me when I return.

 

[mikealder]

With the new application software (Navcore) the device won't be able to read the file containing previous destinations etc so it needs to be deleted, in your "USA_and_Canada" map folder locate the "MapSettings.cfg" file on the device and delete it.
Now boot the device without being connected and see what it does, the constant crashing/ freezing is a known problem when going to the newer Navcores if you have old MapSettings.cfg file as the data format within the file is very different - Mike

Edit to add, I should have also said not to worry about this file being missing as the device will look for it when it boots up and if its not present it will create a new MapSettings.cfg file in the correct format - Mike

 

[beefcake18]

Okay so I deleted the configuration file, put the map folder on the device, disconnected from my PC, and booted the device. It sees that there are maps there I assume, because I've never seen this screen that tells me "Warning: There are no voices available. You will not hear and spoken instructions." I didn't update the voices because it would be a waste of time unless I could have the maps working. So I hit continue and it asks me to agree to the legal notice. I hit agree, and it takes me to the no voices available warning screen again. I click continue on that once again, and the continue button lights as if it were just pressed, and it stays there. No further loading occurs.

Edit: I take it back, it did reboot after a minute or so where I thought it was freezing up. After reboot, it goes to the warning screen again and then freezes for a bit and reloads again. So it appears i'm stuck in some loop.

 

[dhn]

Connect to Home. Use the emulator (Operate my Unit). Manage Favourites and add one, edit one, delete one, it doesn't matter.

Now disconnect the unit properly from the computer. Restart the unit. Does that help?

 

[beefcake18]

Cannot use the emulator because I don't have the first code it asks for. Also the box that my friend has this unit in is a GO 510 box, and the software is calling it a GO 710, isn't that kind of weird?

 

[beefcake18]

I got it to the point where I was able to get everything working and it would just tell me that I had no maps. I was able to set left or right handed, voice options, and time. So I guess I just need to figure out how to get some maps now.

 

[dhn]

I saw a weird solution that somebody said worked for him........Worth a shot.

Connect your unit to Home. Now use the Emulator (Operate my unit) and preferences--> My TomTom Account. If it asks if you have an account, say yes and delete the email address showing and retype it.

Once done, close the Emulator and disconnect the unit properly from the computer. Use the device disconnect icon.

Restart the unit. Does that work?

 

[beefcake18]

Ill check it out when I get home from vacation. I'm visiting relatives for Christmas. Sounds interesting, and if it works that will blow my mind.

 

[dhn]

Mine too!

 

[mvl]

If nothing else works, try this.

1) Format the SD, make sure it's the original SD that was used (maps may have been SD-locked back then).
2) Copy your USA&Canada folder onto the SD, then delete the mapsettings.cfg file again from the Tomtom.
3) Use winrar to extract the contents of this file onto the SD
4) disconnect, and try to boot up the Tomtom
5) if it crashes or freezes, do a pin reset and try to turn it on again.
6) If you have voices issues, go to "add voices" in HOME and install one. It may prevent the crashing.

And don't worry about HOME calling the device a 710. It probably says 710 if you look at the serial number. The 510 is a US flavor of the European 710. Identical device except it came with a 1GB SD card only.

 

[beefcake18]

Tried the above solution, not enough space on my 1 gig sd card to fit all of that onto it. What next folks?

 

[mvl]

What's the total space on the SD? If it's significantly under a gig, the card may have worn out (they "shrink" instead of showing bad sectors).

You can see if you can copy to another SD, I don't know if the preinstalled maps were locked to the card or to the device. If locked to the device, then they should work on any card stuck into your Tomtom.

Just note that the 510 can only read SD cards, not SDHC.

 

[beefcake18]

The card has like 963 mb, don't have it plugged up right now so I can't tell you exactly

 

[mvl]

My USA & Canada v650 folder from my old 510 backup has 922 MB (967,103,950 bytes).

The downloaded file I linked has 14.7 MB (15,480,414 bytes). So that should (barely) fit on 963mb.

Is there anything else on the SD that may be taking up space?

 

[beefcake18]

Ok so its 959 mb.

USA and Canada is 920mb and the file is 60 mb from what I see

 

[beefcake18]

So maybe I used the wrong Navcore. I'll install the one I was supposed to.