TomTom XL (series30) Update problems Please help me.

[bashar20]

My friend has a TomTom XL (Series30) upon connecting to her Mac the Tomtom home software crashes.

So I took it and connected to my laptop using windows and it complained that it needed a check disk, I did that and I felt it didn?t take more than few seconds but then I was able to update the maps using map share.

Then I added some POIs from ozpoi.com. After that I tried starting the TomTom and the map was just a blank blue screen saying weak GPS. It didn?t let me tab on it to access menus and kept rebooting.

I tried removing the POIs using TomTom software and it wasn?t able to delete all of them. So I deleted them manually and It worked fine. Then I discovered the Speeding cameras were gone (they were there earlier) so I tried to add them and it went blue again.

I tried the same above, but it didn?t work this time, blue screen again. I ended up deleting the Australia and POI folder on the TomTom (as I have already taken a backup on my hard drive before making any changes). Then it was stuck on startup screen. I tried copying Australia files back, but didn?t let me copy all of them back. Then it complained that the Australia Map can?t be loaded with my TomTom and it shows a list of maps to select from which includes Australia Map only but when I choose it I get same message. I tried copying the Australia Folder back again but it doesn?t allow me to copy all files back.

Please help me am stuck. I have a copy of everything on my hard drive (manual backup) but am not able to copy all the files back as they were in Australia folder.

Is there a tool to return the device as it was from factory?
I tried resetting the device by holding the power buttoun for 15 sec several times but that didn?t work. The status now it doesn?t allow me to load Australia Maps as they are not to be loaded in the device. While its is an Austrlian TomTom that comes with Australia maps.

Please help me guys.

 

[bashar20]

My problem now is that formatting is failing towards end.

any way to force formatting the tomtom XL ????

 

[mvl]

My problem now is that formatting is failing towards end.

any way to force formatting the tomtom XL ????

Are you saying that windows format is failing to format the tomtom internal memory drive? If so, the flash ram may be dying and the unit is about to brick itself. You can try repeated formatting, sometimes that helps, but it may just be short term.

One other thought - what is the bootloader on the device? It should be 5.50x. If it's 5.51x then someone attempted to force the wrong application on the device. The newer bootloaders are known to cause memory read errors on the older devices, which may be causing your problem.

 

[bashar20]

Thanks mate.

Yes windows is failing to format the internal memory. it gives this msg when format is done. Last 2 times I attempted tp format it, it took 12-15 hours to do so. still it fails at end.

bootloder is 5.50X. and software in tomtom is just the original and its 4 months old.

I sent to service today under warranty. its gonna take 10 working days :-(

 

[mvl]

OK, flash ram was definitely the culprit, a normal 1GB format should take under 30 minutes.

Windows format unfortunately tries over and over every time it hits "bad sectors" on a drive. The tomtom flash controller probably tries multiple times per windows attempt, resulting in millions of format attempts causing your 12-15 hours.

Good it was under warranty and replaceable.

 

[bashar20]

At least windows was able to see it, when it worked.
it was crashing the mac.

so service is best option. seems like a faulty unit from day one.

Also teh speaker voice is awful, I complained to support about it too.