sorely disappointed : XXL 540 TM = brick

[BornAgainBiker55]

Hello all,
Sorry to start my membership here on a sour note and with a question that's probably answered somewhere, but four hours of resisting using my new XXL 540 TM as target practice has drained most of my patience. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I thus far don't trust any customer service to fully understand. Thanks in advance.
So here's the sequence of events:
-Purchased New XXL 540 TM (Lifetime Traffic and Maps) from Amazon.com (the actual company, not a random seller)
-Received and unpacked the shiny new unit and threw my old Garmin out
-Downloaded TomTom Home
-Plugged the unit in and let it update
-TT Home told me there wasn't enough space on the unit to preform the update.
-deleted all but one car and any other extras I could find using TT Home
-updated the unit
-screen didn't work
-updated the unit again
-screen didn't work and language was unreadable (Russian or the like?)
-Updated again
-no change
-deleted everything using TT Home
-Updated again
-Language was Afrikanis and screen still didn't work
-updated again
-screen worked
-tried to setup device to find a lack of maps and voices
-attempted to enter my promo code for free maps
-TT Home told me code was valid but unusable for my TT
-updated four more times; language changed each time, screen worked every other time.
-can't download maps, won't pay for one
-looked up info and found that the unit is using OS 9.061 and the OS is for XXL 530 S.
-emailed TT asking for help or a usable unit
-wished I'd bought another Garmin
-Wrote this

My question is basically: how do I turn this brick into a usable GPS Navigator?
I'm severly disappointed with this, as my only other TT I had for a total of a year attached to my motorbike and never once had a problem, this one has yet to work and has put a bitter taste in my mouth...

 

[dhn]

Did you happen to make an Explorer (not Home) backup prior to doing any updates?

In any event, my first thought is just return the item to Amazon for a replacement and make the Explorer backup of the replacement unit BEFORE any updates whatsoever.

 

[spider362]

Did you use a wireless connection for your downloads?
If you did, all sorts of weird things can happen.
Use a CAT5 (wired) connection.

Also be sure to plug your USB cable directly into the computer, not a hub or keyboard.

 

[BornAgainBiker55]

I'm now having tech issues with your website now (timeout issues?)
quickly:
no usable backup, tried
yes i used a wireless
tried everything tomtom had to suggest, including reinstall of both maps and app
used the posted critical rebuild from the sticky and got the app to work
tried to use explorer to install map
app crashed
rebuilt again
gave up

 

[spider362]

When you are downloading DO NOT use a wireless connection. There are too many drop-outs and too much error correction taking place for a decent download.

Use a WIRED connection (CAT5 cable).

 

[Andy_P]

Send it back, get a new one, start again.

Then you MUST do a full backup (with Windows Explorer, NOT Home) before doing any updates.