TomTom XXL 540M concerns

[Haligan]

I have received a XXL540M for Christmas. I connected it my laptop and did a backup through HOME. It stated my maps were out of date. So I tried to update and it failed. Well, it went into a reboot loop and I a fixed it with flashing it an reloading off laptop and downloading new maps. I read that it may have bad flash memory, so I ran scan disc on the TomTom. It gave me an error log of sectors and what it moved around. The TomTom starts up and runs and says it has the latest map pack.

Question is, should I keep it since it looks like the memory in it has a spot or bad sectors? Is there any other software I can run on it to check it out?

Thanks in advance,
Greg

 

[canderson]

There have been some issues reported with 540 "Black Friday" inventory this year. That bad sectors of flash weren't caught in final inspection surprised me a bit, but I have no idea how TT manages their inspection or quality control. I am bothered that a new flash chip is showing bad sectors that require lockout already. While not a disaster, I'd be bothered by that.

You don't say where you purchased the unit nor how long it has been since it was purchased. If it were me, and since you don't have much invested in customization that would require a lot of time to recover, I'd be inclined to see if I could return it for another unit.

If/when you do so, BE ADVISED that you will need to use a new email address to register the new unit. If you have a 2nd email you can use, that's easy. Many providers let you hold several. I created another on Comcast to add a 2nd unit. The address really doesn't even have to be anything real. TT just uses it to send out notifications of map updates, etc., and you will always find out about those sooner here than by their belated emails.

And next time, be SURE you use your computer's OS to do the backup per our recommendations here, not Home. Your chances of recovering from a problem are greatly improved that way.

 

[Haligan]

I received it for Christmas so it still should be able to be returned. It has not had anything added to it(voices,etc).

I did not see the forums or read about TomTom problems until it was stuck in the reboot loop. So next time I will backup through explorer.

But on a funny note. The day it was stuck in the reboot loop. I told the wife she had bought me a DumbDumb instead of a TomTom!

Thanks for the help,
Greg