XXL same old same old

Joined
Sep 30, 2010
Messages
13
Last year I took my working XXL to Britain. It had all the UK maps. I tested the device before leaving home. When I got to Britain i connected to my little PC and it said it need to update it. That killed it. I spent hours trying to reformat the drive etc etc. all to no avail. Tried hilding down the power key and got the dreaded X. Nothing would shift it passed that screen.

When I cam home I bought another unit and then rang the help line in Australia and the guy there fixed it somehow so I sold the new one.

Fast forward to this year and exactly the same thing happened I was in France and when I connected it to a computer it said to update the device so I did and it killed it AGAIN. Nothing I could do with it.

I bought another one and used it for a month.

Now I am home and I connected it to my Mac and reformatted the drive and Home saw it, installed all my stuff and I thought, great. Home says it is all okay. Now it starts up and all I get is the TomTom screen. Nothing else.
Holding down the power key just turns it off but nothing else.

Any suggestions
 
Too much missing information to know what was happening to you in Britain and France, but let's work on the fact that the unit is dead now and we can discuss the 'foreign updating' business later.

OK.

I assume you formatted to the FAT32 standard with the Mac.

You say "Home saw it, installed all my stuff...". When a freshly formatted unit is connect to Home, unless you used a restore function, it ONLY loads firmware via its 'update' function. It doesn't typically install any maps on your device, nor does it offer any unless you happen to have an active map subscription.
Please advise whether you used Home to 'restore' a previous backup, or whether all that was done was to connect and allow Home to do what it does. "All your stuff", which I would assume to also mean favorites, POIs and whatever else, can only be restored if you have caused a backup to exist on your Mac's disk drive. Neither the backup nor the restore operations are passive. Both require a request to occur.

Have you ever made a backup of the unit either with Home or (better yet) manually with Finder so we can be assured your 'home' map from NZ exists somewhere where we can find it later?
 
Sorry for missing info. In the meantime I have spoken to the support in Australia and we are working on a solution. I did not use the Restore function knowingly. I didn't select that option in Home. Home just said it needed updating and I let it do it. Part of the problem might be that sometimes, like at home, I use the Mac, but on holiday I have a pc with me. Yes I did format it as a fat 32.

Home says everything is on the unit so I assumed I could disconnect the device and restart it. That is when I get the tomtom drum sound, followed by the tomtm flash screen and then it hangs.

Thanks for the help, I will continue of with the Australian help line and let you know what happens.
 
OK. Well, we could get you running IF you have ever backed up your unit. By formatting, you got rid of the KEY element here -- your map folder. THAT is again, your KEY problem. When you connected to Home, all it did was place firmware on your unit, and even then, you may well have to perform that update one or two more times to bring you all the way back up to 9.510.

UNLESS either a) you have ever manually backed up your unit with Finder or Home, or b) had taken advantage of the latest map guarantee when you bought your unit, or c) ever purchased a map update or subscription, then...
You're going to need to beg Aus tech support for a map for your unit. Sometimes, they are quite obliging about this, but not always.

Formatting your unit with no backup -- bad idea for the future!

As SOON as you get this unit operational again (and fingers are crossed), please make a manual backup using this procedure >>> https://www.tomtomforums.com/thread...-to-the-computer-and-how-to-restore-it.17864/

If you have a full backup of your unit, there aren't too many ditches we can't get you out of unless the hardware itself fails!
 
Thanks again for these comments. The problem is that if I go to Home and try to do a backup or restore, Home tells me it is not available for this device. I have go several folders with maps that I own, but I don't think I can Finder copy them to the device, can I.

Regardless of any of this, at the moment, everything appears to be on the device, but the device won't startup passed the flash screen.
 
I have just noticed that I can't even "Operate my Device" from Home either. When I click of that icon and or the restore/backup icon Home tells me the feature is not supported on this device. There has to be something else cursing the problem.
 
I suspect you are seeing maps on your computer that were there from other devices.

Connect to Home-->Manage my Device-->Items on computer-->Maps, what does it say? And, items on Computer-->maps, what does it say there? And, if it does show maps, do any of them say something like 'can't use on device''?

Try this.......

1. Make the manual backup using Finder. Link on how to do so is in canderson's post #4.
2. In Home, Manage my Device-->items on device-->application. Select to remove. Items on computer-->application, select to remove.
3. In Home, update my unit. An application should be offered. Install. Disconnect the unit properly from Home using the Device Disconnect icon.
4. Restart the unit. Again connect to Home and see if further applications are offered. If so, repeat update process till no further updates are working.

Is device any better?
 
I am ready to throw this heap away. I have spent hours, taking files off, putting them back on. I have read all the advice carefully and followed it to the letter. I have reformatted the drive after doing a Finder copy. I have reinstalled using the Finder. It still won't get passed the splash screen and won't therefore ask me do I want to connect it to the computer.

In desperation I plugged it into the PC and thought I would reformat it on it, Windows 7 says it can't format the drive?? Oops now it just has, so I let it take an hour to do it. Then I ran up Home and it couldn't see the device. I unplugged it and reattached it. The computer sees it. It appears under the control panel

I really appreciate your efforts but it seems I can't do it. Is there anywhere close to New Zealand where I can send it to be sorted out.
 
Thanks. I spent almost an hour on the phone being shoved from one department to another. One guy said they were not interested because it was out of warranty and they didn't service out of warranty devices. I pointed out that under New Zealand law it is covered by the Consumer Guarantee Act and the manufacturer's warranty is irrelevant. Which is true. The problem is there is not repair service available to New Zealanders. One person in the Sydney based repair centre gave me a New Zealand agent so I rang them and they are not interested even if I was will to pay, unless I had an official service number which I can only get from Australia.

Where do I go from here. Home sees the device and updates it every time I connect it to the computer. I disconnect it after this and it starts up but gets to the screen after the green screen, then the picture of the device followed by the yellow update bar that runs across the bottom of the screen, then the Flash logo and that is where it stops loading.

Do I throw it away?
 
Unfortunately, our board software prevents us moderators from seeing the email address of members here. I need it as I'm going to try to reach out to a contact at TomTom to see if she can help. No promises but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

So, can you provide your email address here, please. I'll delete it as soon as I have it.
 
This is the response from my contact:

Thanks for forwarding
16x16_smiley-happy.gif
I've had a look in the case and it's kinda sparse of information
16x16_smiley-sad.gif

The mac seems to be the issue from what I can see from the case, so I suggest he do the troubleshooting on his PC.
I can see the customer has NZ map, UK and ROI and Western Europe maps at his disposal, all of them compatible with his XXL.
Follow the steps in this FAQ: http://au.support.tomtom.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8623/locale/en_NZ
Please let me know how it goes
16x16_smiley-happy.gif

So, let us know............
 
How can you say there is kinda sparse information. I assume dhn is in Sydney and must have access to the complete file, which dates back at least two years with the same problem. Excuse me, the Mac is not the issue. Last time this happened I was able to get it going with the help of someone in Sydney, on the Mac, not the PC. It has happened twice when connected to the PC when overseas, that the device has failed. In both cases it has got halfway through the update process that it has come up with a connection problem which has resulted in a complete failure, me trying to get the drive reformatted to start again. On the recent trip to France, I connected it to the PC at my brothers house. It told me it needed to upgrade something and like an idiot I gave it the go ahead. It failed to complete the upgrade. I was left with a dead device. In Edinburgh I found a small PC shop and the owner reformatted the drive and I then tried to reinstall everything. It seemed to work and Home says everything is okay and all the files appear to be there. BUT, it starts up, and get to the TOMTOM splash screen, the one with the globe and two hands, and that is it.

I have been through all the advice contained in that link and nothing has helped it.

Doe that give you a fuller picture. All I am asking is that I send it somewhere to get TOMTOM to look at it. There appears to be no one in New Zealand prepared or able to do so. So much for TOMTOM support.

Please look back at the history I have had with you. I assume it is available to you.
 
Whoa.......don't mix up who you are talking to and where.

This forum has NOTHING to do with TomTom other than being an UNOFFICIAL forum of users, such as yourself. You can, or should be able to see, my location in my name section. I'm in Canada. I have no access to your experiences with TomTom. That feedback I provided WAS from a TomTom employee in the Netherlands. Did you click on the link she provided in the quote?
 
If you care to look at the info to the left of his post, you will find that dhn is not on the shores of Lake Macquarie but in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
dhn, like you, is a private individual on this peer-to-peer list and has agreed to help as a moderator.
He is going out of his way to help you and passed on information he has received. Please do not shoot the (volunteer) messenger.
He has no access to your files at TomTom. He is trying to help you but that does require some cooperation from you.
 
Sorry, I thought that message was from Australia so I apologise to you and appreciate your help. I should have noticed that you were in Canada.

Yes I have tried everything in that link. For some reason I jumped to the conclusion that you were talking to Sydney. Put it down to frustration and my age (76)
 
Arno, I have already said I am sorry for jumping to a wrong conclusion. What more can I say. I am in full cooperation mode here.
 
That is part of the problem, There is no New Zealand support except through Sydney. I may take it back to the shop I bought it from and claim under our legislation. I didn't want to do that because I am sure it is a software issue rather than there being anything wrong with the unit itself.
 

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