"You cannot use this map on this device” Message

[JSoapy]

I bought an SD card off Amazon two years ago as I was going on holiday to the States. It had TomTom Maps of North America v8.30 on it.

It worked perfectly fine.

My Brother is going to the States next month so I thought I would lend him my GO530 but when I try to select the USA Map it states Problem with Map. “You cannot use this map on this device”

I updated the maps on the TomTom Home a while ago. Is this were I’ve gone wrong?

The onboard Europe Map appears to be working ok.

I've just tried an Update through TomTom Home, problem still the same.

TomTom Home program has an option to Back up and Restore.

I’ve used the Restore option and it is still the same.

Any ideas.

Thanks in advance

 

[dhn]

When you say you tried an update though Home, what update did you get?

What application is on your device? (9.510 is the current one).

Was the SD card you bought on Amazon a legitimate map card from TomTom?

 

[JSoapy]

The application is 9.510.

I don't know how to find update details.

I put the GO530 into its USB cradle and turned it on. TomTom Home opened up and asked me to Select my TomTom device. It showed my device and below it the internal memory and the memory card. I clicked on one of them and it updated.

I don't know if it was legitimate but it worked fine when I used it two years ago.

I've contacted the seller and he has offered to reset it for £5 (cover his costs)

 

[dhn]

Hmmm.... may be your best best but something doesn't seem quite right to me.

 

[canderson]

Me, either. There's no such thing as "resetting" a TomTom map SD card.

Perhaps the OP just finally updated firmware on the 530, and the real TomTom (9.510) firmware, unlike what was previously loaded, refused to accept a map that belonged on another unit?

To the OP: Where did you find the 530 in question? Also a 3rd party purchase?

 

[JSoapy]

Thanks for the advice. I bought the GO530 new. Excuse my ignorance I'm no expert. I have only used my sat nav 4 times since I bought it. I've always been wary of downloading updates, TomTom updates are notorious for going wrong. I did consider downloading the USA maps from TomTom but they were expensive for a two week holiday, and somebody from my work told me about the SD card available from Amazon. In my defence the card worked fine when I needed it. I will just have to accept I have had my moneys worth. Canderson you come across as condescending. If TomTom Home had stated that it wasn't happy about my SD Card why didn't it tell me rather than recognising it but not bombing it out. I wasted a lot of my time. I've no idea what the original seller is going to do with it but for £5 I'll take the chance.

 

[canderson]

As you bought the 530 new, you can 86 my previous concerns about hacked code. We've seen any number of users bit by updating to later legit firmware on units bought from 3rd party sources (e.g., eBay), only to find that the maps they were using no longer worked.

Not trying to be condescending at all ... just taking into account all of the strange stuff we've seen happen to fellow users around here. What you reported would be consistent with what I suggested.

And still ... there's no 'resetting' a map card. I'm guessing he is trying to convey something else, but I can't imagine quite what.

The only cards I see on Amazon UK site, save one, are all 'used', so provenance is of some interest. If legit, they can be a bargain as they're typically out of date, but not by so much that the vast majority of drivers would be quite satisfied with the results. However, items like this one http://www.amazon.co.uk/TomTom-Nort...DW/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1400984119&sr=8-18 for £45.15 seem a bit overpriced unless one is a collector of antiques. The 8.15 map was released back in November 2008, so it's definitely buyer beware.

 

[Arno]

A wild guess, reinstall a 6.XXX or 7.XXX OS for the card to run?

 

[JSoapy]

Update. I've been away for three weeks. My card was waiting for me when I got back. It's working again. The only info he required was the Device Number which I found by tapping the lower RHS of the screen then tapping on the version on the bottom RHS. I don't know what he did, but it works now so I don't care.
One thing of interest, I tried fitting it into my friends TomTom which has an SD card slot and it displays the same error message as I originally had so I presume that TomTom tie it to the Device Number of the unit.

 

[canderson]

Indeed. All maps from TomTom are keyed to the serial number of the device for which the maps are generated, so there's no way to swap them between units.
Interesting that he needed your serial number for the 'reset'. I know what he's doing, but won't go into it in any additional detail here. What surprises me is that he's managed to sort the activation file.

 

[JSoapy]

Hi Canderson. Does this mean if I install it and connect it to TomTom Home on my computer it will do the same and not allow me access afterwards.
Further to your statement "All maps from TomTom are keyed to the serial number of the device" Over here in the UK there are several "Genuine TomTom Maps" for sale on Ebay.co.uk e.g. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111377199415. I was thinking of buying this one but according to your statement it isn't going to work. Can you enlighten me please.

 

[canderson]

No, I don't believe you will have problems in the future, though I would certainly make a full backup of that card AND your device onto your PC for future reference. That said, and not knowing for certain what the seller has done, I wouldn't bet money on it.

First - we need to ignore vehicle brand specific TomTom cards in this discussion - those that have been produced and say "Renault" or "Mazda" or similar right on the card. We also eliminate those created for TomTom's Rider series of devices. That leaves us with the one that belongs on your unit as described and shown below.

It's a bit tricky. Cards are not locked to a device, but cannot (technically) be duplicated - because the maps on those cards are locked to the serial number of the cards themselves. In this case, the serial number of the device is NOT relevant (there's a clue in that). There are still SD (not uSD) map cards around for TomTom devices. Your 530 slot is for an SD card. Those should be clearly marked as TomTom product (see shot below). That said, I have not seen a TomTom SD card for sale with a European map more recent than 9.10 (that's a year old), and the normal price from TomTom is £69.95. The only way to get one for less is to purchase one used that has been pulled from another unit.

Aside from that, there are downloadable maps. These maps are keyed to a unit's serial number, and may be copied to SD or uSD card by the owner as many times as desired, but will only work on the unit for which the map was specifically generated. For that, the serial number of the unit is obviously very relevant.

So you see, what you seem to have is something 'in between'. No card of the sort shown below should require a 'reset' or a unit serial number to function. No downloaded map that is copied to an ordinary SD card should work on a unit for which the map was not generated. --- and in this case, one of those isn't true.