XXL540 Will not start

[Joe M.]

And I just tried 2 new USB cables and the same, green light on, not recognized. THW, this is a new Dell laptop about 1 month old and it was used for the last upgrades and connection was fine then.

 

[canderson]

See other thread. We're tracking this in one too many places! I see here that Win8 does recognize that a device has been connected, though it isn't sure just what. Now, let's move to the other thread.

 

[Arno]

Did map update today and completed install ok through TomTom Home

GPS Will not start

GPS was working fine before this update

This is the second one of these that I have had the same issue and it was replaced by TomTom support

Let's go back to square one.

I presume you purchase a map update from TomTom via their web page and you had problems after installing.

You say that the device has been replaced by TomTom.

What did Customer Service say when you contacted them after having the same problem with the replacement device?

 

[Alex.F]

Thank you Arno & canderson
I'm not using TOMTOM cable & does not look like I have a back-up since my TomTom HOME 2 folder is only 68MB.
Some of the folders are nearly empty as I was attempting to delete files & the second screenshot exemplifies the problem.
Thanks again.

 

[canderson]

Thank you Arno & canderson
I'm not using TOMTOM cable & does not look like I have a back-up since my TomTom HOME 2 folder is only 68MB.

Well, THAT'S ugly! So you're saying sometimes it looks normal and sometimes you get the scrambled looking data? If so, the cable (or USB port) really is suspect.

The good news .. your backup info, if you have it, is not i the HOME2 folder.
Look in My Documents / TomTom / HOME / Backup. With any luck, you'll find content there.
If you've ever downloaded a map, look in My Documents / TomTom / HOME / Download / complete / map

With luck, you'll find a map set in one of those locations, and can afford to wipe the unit and start fresh if necessary.

 

[Arno]

Also, right click the USA_Canada_and_Mexico folder, then Properties and post the size and number of files listed there.

 

[canderson]

@Arno
Expand that thumbnail and have a look! He may not even be able to figure out what folder it is if it continues to behave that way! It does (to me, having experienced this before) look a bit like a USB comm error.

 

[Arno]

Expand that thumbnail and have a look!

I did, it clearly shows the USA_Canada_and_Mexico folder (even without expanding).

It does (to me, having experienced this before) look a bit like a USB comm error.

Yes, I experienced that Thursday two weeks ago.
The PC would not recognise the drives of the Nav3 or my cell phone or the SD cards in the reader.
I searched all over Google and with friends, nothing doing.
I finally, on the 5th day, suspected that it went awry after the weekly Microsoft security update. Checked the Recent Update list and deleted all.
Two days later, after the update it was still working OK. This lead me to the assumption that MS screwed up and silently reversed what they had done with this update else they would have installed the 'missing' one and my problem would have started over again.

Had a similar but permanent problem two years ago when my HP4P (the Mack Truck of printers) ceased functioning.
HP does not make drivers for that parallel port printer but I got a USB/parallel cable for 7 bucks and downloaded the lowest PCL5 printer driver I could find. Worked perfectly for 9 months on Win7 64-bit Ult.
Ended up buying a used SFF XP machine for $ 25.00, networked it and now flow through when I am printing.

 

[canderson]

I did, it clearly shows the USA_Canada_and_Mexico folder (even without expanding).

No, the thumbnail! It's not the same at all as the one embedded in the post. All files and folder names are reduced to garbage! That's what looks like a comm error of some kind. Either that, or the directory on that unit has 'crashed'.

 

[Alex.F]

Thank you Arno & canderson
Apparently I do have back-ups & this a TM, so I figure TOMTOM would give me a map anyway.

Here is the whole story:
The unit was working fine, I connected to update the map, was informed that I do not have enough space, used Home to remove map of Europe, got an error from Home, attempted to delete the map using Explorer, most files were removed, but I few remained, attempted to remove US map (don't remember how I got to that point, was pretty frustrated by that time) with the same result.

Unless you guys advise another course of action, at this point, since I'm convinced FAT is corrupted,
I would be happier with wiping it & doing a new install, is that a possibility?
I was attempting to format the drive, but Explorer wouldn't do it & DOS doesn't see the drive.

Here are the screenshots:

Files in this folder cannot be deleted

Thanks again

 

[Alex.F]

Miraculously at least some errors were able to be fixed!

Definitely a divine intervention here!

 

[canderson]

Go ahead and FAT (full, not Quick) format the unit now, and then use Home to restore your previous backup if possible. If so, we can start the map update issue again (with caution!). If not, we'll have Home reload firmware, and then we can get a map copied from Home back to your unit. Heck, Home might even offer to install it for you after the format and reload of firmware.

 

[canderson]

Say -- I see that's a 4GB XXL540 (serial number starting with RZ). You should be in better shape for space than most 540 owners.

 

[Alex.F]

Thanks canderson, I jumped the gun & started map restore before I had a chance to see your post & yes it is RZ with 4 G.

 

[canderson]

So you already restored the firmware when Home asked you to do so? Did it bring you up to 9.510 version?

Will be out of the house for the next 5 or so hours ... Christmas and all that!

 

[Arno]

No, the thumbnail! It's not the same at all as the one embedded in the post. All files and folder names are reduced to garbage! That's what looks like a comm error of some kind. Either that, or the directory on that unit has 'crashed'.

Ah, yes, I sit corrected!
That does look nasty, indeed.

 

[Alex.F]

No. All I did after the FAT was fixed is to restore US map from back-up. The unit appears to be working, however I'm still confused by this:
Drive shows 3 G & .8 G free

All the select all properties shows only 2 G is used, which is what I expect:

Is there an invisible partition here?

Also, thanks a million & M E R R Y C H R I S T M A S !!

 

[canderson]

First, "No. All I did after the FAT was fixed is to restore US map from back-up. The unit appears to be working, however I'm still confused by this:
Drive shows 3 G & .8 G free" I'M confused by the first sentence! Restoring ONLY the map after the backup would leave a non-operational unit (nice map, but no brains). Somewhere along the line, you must have allowed Home to restore the firmware, or it was restored along with the map. What action did you actually perform?

 

[Alex.F]

Hi canderson.
My apologies for being sloppy in my reply.
What I meant was:
"So you already restored the firmware when Home asked you to do so? Did it bring you up to 9.510 version?" - No. All I did after the FAT was fixed is to restore US map from back-up.

"Restoring ONLY the map after the backup would leave a non-operational unit (nice map, but no brains). Somewhere along the line, you must have allowed Home to restore the firmware, or it was restored along with the map. What action did you actually perform?"

Before my attempt to update the maps the unit was in the working order, during the update process Home informed me that have insufficient space, I then used home to remove the map of Europe, the removal failed, I then attempted to remove it using windows, that failed as well, I then decided to remove the map of US, with the same result.
It was at that point that I realized that FAT was corrupt & attempted to fix it using windows, windows failed to repair FAT.
The unit at that point would still work turning on with "No maps found" message. It is then, thinking that I need to re-format & re-install because I couldn't repair FAT , that I started asking for help.

On Christmas day when I tried it again Windows was miraculously able to repair FAT & I was able to delete maps manually.
Then I & restored US map from backup using Home & was back in business & able to perform the map update to the current map.
The unit appears to be working fine now, the only confusing thing is the space discrepancy described above.

Once again, many many thanks for your help & Happy New Year!

 

[canderson]

Ah - FAT was 'repaired', and no reformat was done.
I note that during the 'repair' that all of the errors that could be attributed to specific items were all related to your map folder. So perhaps just overlaying the old map was all that was needed after the repair.
Wonder what clobbered it to begin with?