Tomtom stuck on tomtom screen

[[email protected]]

Can anyone help with this. My tomtom is stuck on the tomtom screen - black background, red logo with tomtom and the hands. I know the live update is working, as it flashes up occassionally but the device then goes back to the tomtom screen and just stays there.

I am away on holiday (and need to get home!). I do not know which version I am on and have no software loaded on my PC for it.

Can anyone help?

Thanks

 

[dhn]

You can try resetting the unit by holding the power button about 15 seconds till you hear the drum sounds (unless your model has a dedicated reset hole on the bottom).

 

[Andy_P]

Can you give us ANY idea of what model it is? That info WON'T be written on the label, so don't bother with anything like "Canada 310" as that's not relevant).

If not, tell us the first two characters of the long serial number directly under the Barcode and we can find it from there.

 

[[email protected]]

Thanks for your help. The bar code is R15220K01819 (sorry not sure which are zero's or o's if you see what I mean).

For info: I have tried re-setting it numerous times over the last couple of days. I have let the battery run down and then I have re-charged it and turned it back on but the result is always the same - back to the tomtom screen.

 

[dhn]

That's RI not R1 and it points to this device: XL LIVE IQ Routes - 2GB

 

[Andy_P]

OK that's great... it's a model we can get "into".

Try all of the steps outlined in these two topics (they are in order of simplest first)

Tomtom Acting Up? -Part 1 - First Steps In System Recovery
Tomtom Acting Up? - Part 2 - How To reinstall *fresh* Software using Home

 

[[email protected]]

Great thanks - I will start working through this and will let you know.

 

[[email protected]]

Hi - I have tried most of what was suggested in your two articles, but it is still not working. However, I am not great with PC's, so there is a chance I got it wrong. Any chance of some more help?

I can operate the unit via tomtom home, no problem.
When the unit is turned on, it is just cycling back and forth tbetween the tomtom XL Live update screen and the tomtom screen. It is regularly doing live updates at which point it changes the screen, shows that it is getting the update and then goes back to the black tomtom screen. If I switch it off, I now get a green screen for a short while as well.

What I did was:
- run the backup as directed.
- tried the simple re-boot - no change.
- tried running the device via tomtom home and adding a new favourite - works fine, including our beloved Darth Vader voice! Disconnected, turned off and on again - no change.
- tried Replacing the "MapSettings.cfg" file with a fresh copy. Disconnected, turned off and on again - no change, just my favourites that have now gone from the version I am running in tomtom home.
- tried 4. Using The Clear Flash tool - no change. Any way that I can check it ran, other than the steps you described.
- tried to do 5. Windows Disk Error Checking but could not do it. I get an error saying that it cannot check while the device is in use but of course when it is not in use it does not show in my windows explorer - so not sure how to get past that one.
- did not do 6. DOS disk checking, as to my shame I cannot find start...
- tried 7. To perform a Factory Reset and a battery reset: - I can click on this option in tomtom home only, but nothing happens. I click on it and it then flicks back to a different option after about 10 seconds.
- then tried Tomtom Acting Up? - Part 2 - How To reinstall *fresh* Software using Home. The only thing here is that I could not find a program to delete, in My Documents\TomTom\HOME\Downloads\complete\program, as instructed, so I could not delete it. I did however, then go into tomtom home and get it to do an update.

I look forward to hearing from someone. I need to get back from the south west of France to London on Saturday and it is going to be hideous without my beloved tomtom.

 

[dhn]

What operating system do you have on your computer? I assume it is Windows but is it XP, Vista or Windows 7?

In any event, if you click 'My computer' on the desktop with your device on and connected to the computer, please take note what drive letter Windows has assigned to the tomtom device under the Removable Storage section. Probably E: or F: but take note.

Now then, the Start button will be at the bottom left of the computer screen on the task bar.

So, if you go through these steps:
1. Start-->Run-->type 'cmd' a window should appear.

2. In that window, type this: chkdsk X: /f (where X: should be replaced by the drive letter you saw for the tomtom in My Computer. As well, notice there is a space in what you need to type after the colon and before the / symbol)

The above essentially does what you listed as steps 5 and 6 in your post

 

[[email protected]]

Hi - thank you for your help. The bit I was missing was the run statement...

So I have done that step of running the chkdesk etc. The first time it ran and said that 2 files were recovered. I ran it a second time and it says that there are no problems at all.

Is there anything I can try next? Again, it still works on tomtom home but the unit is still not getting as far as the normal menu. So near and yet so far...

 

[dhn]

Unless you want to:
1. Make an Explorer backup (again)
2. Format the unit, Don't use quickformat
3. Connect to Home and install the application offered Close Home but leave the device connected to the computer
4. Copy back the specific map folder from the backup to the device (using Explorer)

See if it is better.

If not, sorry, I don't know what else to suggest.
5.

Disconnect

 

[[email protected]]

Hi - thanks for your suggestion.

Please can you or someone else explain how I "format the unit"???

Thanks
Isobel

 

[[email protected]]

Hi again. I have figured out how to format the device, which worked. I am now waiting for the re-install to finish. I will let you know what happens, probably tomorrow morning.

Thanks again.
Isobel

 

[[email protected]]

To anyone who has followed the string this far and for those very, very generous people who helped me work this out. The good news is that my tomtom finally came back to life on Saturday morning, an hour before we were due to leave!

I did the format and the re-install and finally after a breathless moment where it seemed like it was not going to work...it came back to life. I think that I should clearly have done the format and the re-install earlier in the week, it would have saved some bother.

Thanks again.

 

[dhn]

Good news. Thanks for the feedback.