Warning: xl325se + Home = Brick

[mvl]

Found that app update listing here. Can anyone help regarding the base verion of the XL325SE? It appears to have the same things as the XL340S. The reason I ask is if this is indeed a rebrand then we can use the app update (9.xxx) and then in turn get the firmware updates that are needed?

The 340S is based on the Tomtom 2009 hardware platform and is very different from the 2008 platform 325SE. The 340S has twice the ram, so it can handle IQroutes/lane guidance/reality view, etc. And it has twice the flash space so it can handle lots more points of interest.

The 340S is a much much better model than the 325SE. I know people who are new to GPS may be enticed by the 325SE's price, but the quality of a 340 will make it well worth the cost if you plan to use your GPS more than a couple times a month.

 

[Dark_Wizard]

What do you think of the XXL530S? Target has them on sale as do alot of other places. Is this a 2009 edition? Also I can't find the link to compare units would you mind posting that again?

Thx,
Bob

Edit: found the comparison link

 

[mvl]

The 530S is built on the 2009 platform. It has IQroutes which makes it a far better device than the 325SE. The 530S and 540S are the most stable Tomtom's I've seen to date.

Just note that the North America 2GB map on the 530S has the mid-range POI file, you can go here for the high end file. And the 530S has no lane guidance like the 540S does.

 

[fotyfoe]

My second XL 325 SE has been rock solid. Zero problems with it. I use the Home software & update it daily without any problems. The only thing I updated on it was the map version.

Thanks for posting. So after you got the second one from Wal-Mart, it worked fine? Meaning, Home recognized that you need to upgrade from map 835 to 840? And after the update, no problems? This is the dilemma I face. I have my second (exchanged) unit from there, but have been reluctant to hook up to the PC.

 

[PhilH]

Thanks for posting. So after you got the second one from Wal-Mart, it worked fine? Meaning, Home recognized that you need to upgrade from map 835 to 840? And after the update, no problems? This is the dilemma I face. I have my second (exchanged) unit from there, but have been reluctant to hook up to the PC.

I had to call TomTom & have them remove the old unit from my Home account and add the new unit. Since TomTom had already authorized me to have the new map 840, it was authorized for the new unit as well. When I ran update my xl in Home the new map upgrade was offered. It downloaded & installed without any problems. I have been downloading & installing the daily mapshare upgrades without a hitch.

I have changed the splash screen, exit screen & added car icons & sounds. No problems with anything.

The only problem I ran into is everytime I connect to Home & update, my unit loses my map color preferences. It's really no problem. Just reboot the unit & change them back. Only takes a minute or two.

Phil

P.S. Make sure you make a Windows Explorer backup of your unit just in case anything goes wrong. Do this before making any changes. You'll be glad you did if anything goes wrong. You can recover your unit from just about any problem that a bad update will cause..

 

[fotyfoe]

When I ran update my xl in Home the new map upgrade was offered. It downloaded & installed without any problems. I have been downloading & installing the daily mapshare upgrades without a hitch.

This is encouraging news (yours). I just got off the phone with cust service. We agreed that we would do the updating of my now second device together over the phone to see if anything goes wrong. I had a question for them before trying this, and they confirmed to un-install tha Home application first then re-install as it has linked itself somehow to the previous device. I will make a complete explorer backup of this one before it ever tastes Home for the first time. With any luck, hopefully it will work. As I don't know how much longer that Wal-Mart store will have any left.

 

[PhilH]

Let us know how it goes. Good or bad.

 

[fotyfoe]

Let us know how it goes. Good or bad.

LATEST UPDATE: I will try to briefly summarize. Plugged in second (exchanged) device to Home for first time. Software said device is up to date with current map. Not true. Device had map 835 on it. CSR said to turn off Home. Connect to pc with only windows explorer. Open folder "United States" on device and delete it. Also delete "maps.dat" in root directory. Then TomTom had to "credit" a new map 840 into my account as if I was buying a new map (free of charge though). After they did this, and I deleted above mention files and folders, hooked back up to Home. Software said a new map was available and proceeded to download. Download took about an hour. Confirmed on device that it now has map 840.xxxx on it. Road tested last night driving around town. All seems to be OK so far no problems. The new map is now recognizing some new roads in our area that the previous map did not.

Wishing the best of luck to those who bought the xl325se from Wal-Mart. Hope you don't experience what I did. But hopefully others can post their issues with this device as well, good or bad.

 

[dhn]

Good news......finally!

Now, make that Explorer backup!!

 

[fotyfoe]

Again thank you to dhn and mvl and all others who provided their input and assistance with this matter. Much appreciated.

 

[PhilH]

Glad it worked out for you..

 

[fotyfoe]

Just another info tidbit here.My mother-n-law is in town for the holidays. Yesterday she, my wife and I went out to do some shopping and ended up driving around out in the country in lower Alabama to look at Christmas lights and other holiday activities.

Anyway, she has a Garmin Nuvi 750. So just for kicks I stuck them both on the windshield side by side next to this TomTom 325 and off we went.

As we drove, the TomTom picked up every single side road and correctly identified it ( even dirt roads ). The Garmin only showed maybe 3 out of 50! I was quite surprised at the huge difference. I also feel the TomTom displays more useful info on the screen. Yes, the Garmins graphics do look better and smoother, and can be seen in bright sunlight better as well. But I must say the TomTom was much more impressive in my little test than the Garmin when it comes to finding rural streets.

 

[dmullig]

My wife bought this for me on Black Friday as well. It worked great, installed HOME, did a HOME backup, etc. In the box, as you know, it was version 8.082.

Eventually, HOME updated it to 8.083. Soon, I had problems. It couldn't find any Satellites one day, until I did a hard reset. It stopped being able to do Voice directions. I went through the FAQs, did everything in there it told me to, step by step. Usually, after a reset, I could go to Change Voices and listen to and change voices. Once I left the screen, whether I updated the voice or not, I was never able to hear another voice until I reset again.

Finally, remembering I did a backup when it was working, I restored it, and noticed it was back to 8.082. I haven't had a problem since.

Version 8.083 sure seem like the culprit, at least for the problems I'm having.

 

[mvl]

Thanks for the info. If you're feeling brave, what happens if you re-upgrade to 8.083 now?

8.083 permanently updates the Tomtom's USB drivers to one that doesn't have brick-inducing data loss (you'll see your boot number irreversibly move from 5.5128 to 5.5136). I'm wondering if you got a corrupted install of 8.083 because of the bad 8.082 USB drivers as it was being loaded, and now that you have reliable drivers I'm wondering if the re-install will be reliable?

HOME didn't offer that upgrade earlier, I'm glad it's offering it now, as the brick-reports seem to have died down lately.

 

[dmullig]

I'll brave the upgrade when I get the chance. Spent too much time trying to get it working to mess with it now; I sort of neglected other minor things, like work, cleaning, family, friends, eating......ok, maybe not that much.

 

[dmullig]

OK. I decided to plug it in and see what happens. It automatically checks for updates, and it did not suggest to update the Application. I went to Manage my ONE, clicked on Applications and then More Info. The current application is 8.082, not 8.083. I wonder if they realized there were problems with it, and put 8.082 back out there.

 

[mvl]

There a bug in HOME where it doesn't always offer application updates if you already downloaded them. Go to "Manage my XL, and on the "Items on computer" tab, remove app 8.083 from the computer. Then go to Update my XL and it might offer it again.

Or you could be right, Tomtom may have pulled app 8.083. Something's changed because we've seen very few 325 brick posts lately, we used to see tons on Black Friday.

 

[dmullig]

I went to Manage, and 8.083 was there. I deleted it. I tried to update it, but there were no updates. So I disconnected it, closed HOME, and reconnected the 125SE. Still no updates. Either they removed it, or I'll see the update on a future attempt....like maybe I need to completely shutdown HOME first. Don't know.

Hmmm....I could have updated to 8.083 manually off of the computer, but I just deleted it. Oh well; it's working fine now.

 

[mikealder]

Look in the folder on your PC where Home stores downloads, can you find a file with an extension of .toc for the 8,083 download? If so you can open this file with NotePad on the PC and it contains the actual direct URL for the download from the server at TomTom - Mike