XXL 540TM White Screen and Scrolling--Two Units in a Row

[friery]

This is a review I posted on Amazon regarding my experience with a recently purchased XXL 540TM .

I bought the XXLTM to replace a TomTom One. The old unit had never given me problems. I had troubles right away when I plugged the new XXL into the computer, and had to install and reinstall the software a couple of times. But the real problems began when I unhooked the unit from the computer. When I booted up, all I got was a white screen. Then, when I reset the unit, the image on the XXL scrolled rapidly and uncontrollably. After trying all the fixes described on the Internet, I called TomTom Customer Service. They were very helpful (and apologetic), and RMA'd the old unit immediately without my asking. I'm still waiting for the replacement XXL. Fingers crossed--but I wouldn't do it again.

Update, ten days later. TomTom RMA'd the first unit. (Of course, I had to bubble-wrap the old unit and drive to FedEx to mail it back, and, of course, they wouldn't send the replacement unit until they had received the old one.) So, with an excess of hope, I opened the box with the new unit. And connected it to my computer and installed the latest software. And unhooked it and powered up. Guess what? The replacement unit had precisely the same defects as the original unit. White screen, then reset, then uncontrolled scrolling of the screen image. I suppose I can understand that the first unit was defective. But sending another defective unit in response to an RMA? That's beyond astonishing, and totally unacceptable.

So, I'm back in RMA purgatory.

 

[Rick F.]

This is a familiar complaint. The version application or 'navocore' has an error in it causing the screen to roll.

Plz read this discussion thread for possible fix:

https://www.tomtomforums.com/tomtom-one-start-ease-xl-xxl/24353-flickering-screen-rma-dilemma.html

 

[friery]

Thanks for the Reply

Thanks for your reply. I had read through the earlier threads, and did see that there was a possible cause and solution for the screen rolling problem. However, I intentionally laid off trying to fix it myself, for several reasons. First, I'm not sure that I saw complaints that the same two phenomena I saw on my unit (not only the rolling, but the white screen on boot-up) had occurred together in the earlier cases. Second, my impression from the earlier cases was that the fix that's recommended didn't always work. And that leads to the third, and most important, reason. While I'm not at all afraid to rummage around in the software for the device, I am afraid that at some point TomTom would begin to claim that I had somehow caused or contributed to the problem. And here's the bottom line--they shipped me an XXL that was bad right out of the box. They fix it. And, when they send me an RMA replacement that had the exact same problems, and doesn't work right out of the box, they fix it again.

Maybe I'll have to try your fix if unit number three poops out as well. But, again, thanks.

 

[jlunavtgrad]

I had the same thing happen to me. I updated my 540TM right out of the box and now have the white screen on boot up, and a rolling screen after a hard reset. I saw the link to a specific version of navcore, but how do I install the cab file?

I wonder if all 540s act the same way with the latest software from TT Home. If I send mine back I will definitely make a back up before trying the update.

 

[dhn]

I'd suggest sending it back........

 

[jlunavtgrad]

dhn,

You posted a link to a navcore archive in another thread. I thought that might fix the problem I am seeing. Is there no better option than to send my unit back to Amazon?

 

[dhn]

Well, the problem seems to be the faulty batch from Amazon in the first place.

The different software application doesn't seem to work in all cases.

An application not really meant for your unit but seems to work and resolves the scrolling problems is here

But make an Explorer backup first.
.

 

[friery]

I bought my first 540 XXL unit from Amazon. And it had the white screen/scrolling image issues as soon as I updated it through TomTom Home.

But the exasperating thing is that I got an RMA replacement from TomTom, and it had the exact same problems as the unit I first bought from Amazon. That's simply inexcusable.

I'm now waiting for a second RMA replacement. I'm not optimistic. I think I'll first do a full Explorer backup, charge the device, and defer on the TomTom Home update. I'm assuming the device comes pre-loaded with software. Maybe that will work.

 

[jlunavtgrad]

I got my second unit in the mail today. Amazon's exchange program is pretty nice, I haven't even shipped the defective one back yet.

I ran the back up with no problems. But I decided that I'd rather not have a GPS than have one with outdated maps, so I ran the update. The only difference is that this time I went through and selected my language and set my home address before the TTHome update. Not sure if that made a difference or not, but the new unit works just fine. No complaints so far.

I hope the OP's third one works! Good luck.

 

[friery]

Third Time's a Charm

I got my second RMA unit yesterday, and ran it through its paces today. Success.

When I first cabled the unit to the computer, I did a full Explorer backup. I then ran the unit detached from the computer, and it seemed fine. Then, I cabled it again, and opened TomTom home. There was an initial problem--TT Home wouldn't let me switch devices because I had done that once already in the past six months. (That was the first RMA unit, a week or two ago.) But a call to customer service solved that quickly.

When I finally got underway, I was a little surprised at the recommended updates. I believe the last two times, TT Home recommended I update both the maps and the firmware. There was no recommended software update this time--just maps.

My overall reaction--TT was very slow in responding to what was apparently a widespread problem. But the customer service support was terrific.

 

[friery]

BTW, the version number for the unit that finally worked is 9.061.