Windows not recognizing device

[marillion2k]

Hi everyone,

Glad I found this forum. Since I have a legacy One XL device I will have to look at tech forums to ask any questions. I have a really annoying problem that I can't figure out. Maybe you guys can provide some insight.

I have a PC that runs Windows 7 x64 and I have never hooked up my TT to it before (well I did years ago when I had a different version of Windows).

I downloaded and installed myTomTom and proceeded to hook up the TT only to find that windows doesn't even recognize it as a mass storage device or anything.

Tried different cables, low and hi power USB ports. Nothing. Nada, Zilch.

It doesn't show anywhere in the device manager, don't hear any 'boing' sounds when I hook it up. The powerlight on the TT comes and the device itself will power on but no messages on the screen or anything.

Tried a device reset a few times as well as setting the TT to factory default settings. Didn't do the trick.

Other USB devices (such as external HDD's and webcam) work just fine in this windows installation.

Am I missing something? Is my device just broken and I am just out of luck?

Any insight is definitely appreciated!
Thanks
Rudy

 

[alfie67]

Hi marillion2k and welcome to TTF!

You've said you installed MyTomTom to use with your One XL.
Try TomTom Home and NOT MyTomTom.

If you still have problems, let us know . . .

 

[Andy_P]

Yes, you need TomTom Home, not MyTomTom, but if Windows isn't recognising the unit at all, that's all a bit academic....

I'd say the first thing to try is a different PC, just so we know where the problem lies. Is that possible?

We just need to see it appearing as a new disk drive in Windows Explorer or Device Manager.

Does anything here help, especially in the third section "Device not recognised by computer"

 

[marillion2k]

Thanks, still not recognized

Hi and thank you for your response. I went ahead and uninstalled myTomTom and installed Tomtom Home 2 instead. I still have the same issue. Nothing happens when I connect the device via USB. Device manager does not show anything under disk drives and I don't hear the familiar sound connecting a USB device.

I have tomtom home open (which I started in compatability mode for windows xp sp 3) and it just says no device connected.

Could I have some sort of USB conflict or something? It is driving me nuts!

Thanks for your help, it is appreciated!

 

[marillion2k]

And Andy_P, yeah I tried those steps, to no avail

 

[Andy_P]

We as I said, it could be a problem either with the TomTom itself or the PC, and the quickest way to find out which, is to try it on another PC.

Normally a USB conflict would show in device manager (a question mark next to the device)

(BTW, I've not had a sound effect when connecting a USB device for years....)

 

[marillion2k]

OK, I tried on two different PC's and it didn't work. Then I tried a third USB cable and now I get an unrecognized device error so I guess both USB cables I tried are toast. Which is a little weird because the ac power connected led lit up on the tomtom with both cables. Now with this cable that doesn't happen but I get an error in Windows 7 that the USB device is not recognized.

 

[marillion2k]

A bit more analysis shows me that the device is listed under the Universal Serial Bus controllers as an unknown device. Trying to update drivers now using windows update.

 

[marillion2k]

OK so that did not work. Windows says that the 'unknown device' is up to date. Tried a different USB port, same issue. So all in all, seems like I'm making a bit of progress but still having trouble.

 

[canderson]

You should not need a driver to recognize that device. Windows should manage it as an external storage device as it would for a thumb drive or similar device. Which brings us back to what you've done so far and might want to try.

There are two basic versions of the ONE XL. One of them has no internal memory at all and must be run from the SD card, and the other has internal memory but also has an (from the factory) empty SD card slot. Since you are in the USA, I'll assume you got the unit here, in which case your unit should have 1GB of internal memory and the SD slot.

Do you have a backup of your unit somewhere on a PC from back when it was working?

 

[marillion2k]

I do not unfortunately. Yes I purchased the device in the US and it came with an empty SD card slot.

 

[marillion2k]

What the error actually says when I connect the device and turn it on is

"One of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it."

The error message's recommendation is "Try reconnecting the device. If Windows still does not recognize it, replace the device."

Right.

 

[marillion2k]

What I also noticed when I turned the device on is that the green led on the front of the device blinks a few times and then turns off. Does that indicate anything?

 

[canderson]

Yes .. when the green light goes off, it indicates that the device isn't detecting power from the PC through the cable. I am beginning to wonder about the connection in all respects...

Device USB connector reliability
Cable reliability
Computer connector reliability

There is one other possibility. Has this device been out of service for a considerable length of time, and is just now being put back into service? I'm wondering if your battery situation is so dire that it's pulling down the entire 5V supplied to it by the PC. Some PC's will even fuss at you with a pop-up when this happens -- depends upon the BIOS and OS specifics.

 

[marillion2k]

Yes, I have a suspicion in that direction as well. One more tidbit of info that I had forgotten to mention. When I use the car charger on the device it apparently is not charging the battery because when I unplug it from the car charger the device dies within 1 or 2 minutes. And that could be after having it plugged up to the car charger for at least an hour or longer. I have a feeling the USB connector on the device is toast. Computer USB ports work fine with other devices and it was displaying the same behaviour yesterday when I tried it with this cable on a different PC.

 

[canderson]

Again, it could be that it's your battery and not the connection. We've seen cases where a totally toastified battery would cause the unit not to operate. If you have no green light when plugged into your PC, it isn't going to be recognized, either... the unit itself isn't alive.

If you like this unit a lot, you might consider performing your own battery swap on it. Again, was it out of service for a considerable time?

Here's an option. I believe I've selected the right one for your device, although you'll be able to compare easily once you have the unit open. At $19, it may be worth it to you to give this a try before binning your unit.

http://www.batteryship.com/htmlos/htmlos.cgi/batteryship/catalog.html?item=F724035958

 

[marillion2k]

Good point! I will definitely try that. It seems 19 dollars would be a good investment to get this unit operational again. Let me try that and I will let you know whether that fixed my issue. Thanks again for your help!

 

[marillion2k]

And to your question whether or not the unit was out of service for a long time. Yes it has been. I have only sporadically used the unit since i purchased it in 2008. So that seems very plausible.

 

[Andy_P]

One minor point from a previous post...

...now I get an unrecognized device error so I guess both USB cables I tried are toast. Which is a little weird because the ac power connected led lit up on the tomtom with both cables.

There are four wires in a USB cable, two carry the power and two carry the data, so asa general rule it's quite possible for the power side to work and the device still not to be recognised.

But I think we've gone beyond mistrusting cables now and settled on the battery as being the likely culprit.