Updating Garmin Maps

[Ingwe]

Does anyone have a problem connecting their Garmin to their computer and/or Macs, without removing all user data first?

It's really frustrating. I have a Garmin Nuvi with lifetime map updates. I do so using Garmin Express installed on both my pic and my Mac Air. However, although I keep my Garmin Express updated, when it notifies me that there are map or software updates, I can't connect my Garmin to either the pc or the Mac. I've been onto Garmin and their walk through videos but, unless I delete all user data first, I can't connect. That means deleting all my favourites, bookmarks and POIs. This is a fag.

The Garmin techie said "make a back up first". I said and how to I do this if I can't connect? "Good point" said the techie.

So now, I'm told there are 4 map updates but can't download them unless I remove all my stored sites etc.

Anyone has similar issues or got suggestions I can try? I feel my lump hammer calling from the shed!

 

[DBK]

I've got a Garmin Nuvi and haven't noticed that problem before and I've got a lot of places saved as favourites on it. Whenever I enter the coords of an aire I always save it. Usually update about twice a year before each long trip. I'm using a Windows 10 PC.

 

[Ingwe]

Thanks DBK. It might be the fact that my pc is running Windows 7xp professional. However, it has the same issue when using the Mac version of Garmin Express on my Mac Air. It's most frustrating as we also like to save the coordinates of Aires that we've found and liked.

 

[Rusty Pumper]

Very odd. Like DBK and your good selves, I’ve been updating my Garmin Nuvi via Garmin express on both Windows 10 and a Mac for years now without any major problems. Bit of a conundrum that one. Is there a Garmin Forum you can post to?

 

[TinaLes]

Last update I did from The Garmin Express on my PC, I plugged in The Garmin, followed the screen instructions and sat back....3.5 hours later the download said it was completed!
Thats on a fast fibre broadband connection also.
Cant wait to do the next one, but I had better start earlier in the day.
My Garmin also stores all my data, previous destinations etc, I would just love to know how I can copy & Paste the GPS co ords that someone puts up on one of their Aire pictures.

LES

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Ingwe]

Very odd. Like DBK and your good selves, I’ve been updating my Garmin Nuvi via Garmin express on both Windows 10 and a Mac for years now without any major problems. Bit of a conundrum that one. Is there a Garmin Forum you can post to?

I have joined a Garmin/GPS forum but not had any answers. A lot say just back up your data but if you can't connect the Garmin, whether to a Mac or PC, you can't make a back up. Interestingly, once the user data is deleted, it connects straight away. I suppose the map updates are more important and we'll have to input the user data each time. SWMBO will not be best pleased!

 

[Gellyneck]

Is your data \ poi's stored on the internal drive or an sd card on your sat nav? If it's on the internal drive it may be "full" with insufficient space to install \ replace files with those in the update? If it's on an sd card you should be able to remove that and back-up to your pc.
Can you connect your sat nav to the pc and see the contents in Explorer on Windows 7?
If your sat nav connects and you can see it in Explorer you should be able to install Garmin BaseCamp (there's both Windows and Mac versions). You should then be able to run backup \ restore in BaseCamp.
I back-up \ run an "offline" copy of the sat nav maps \ data \ poi's \ etc from a USB stick which means I can use it on any of my desktops and laptops (without the sat nav connected) running Windows (just wish there was a Linux version of it!).
I tend to load and manage all new poi's, routes, etc in BaseCamp (making it the master copy) and then transfer those required onto the sat nav.

 

[TinaLes]

Just a thought
I know our newish Garmin Camper CMC 770LMD (Or similar) edition has a card slot to increase the data storage, however because I dont use Basecamp to plan routes, POI's and other things on the PC to download before going away, I didnt consider it necessary.
So Ingwe have you put an additional memory card in the slot to increase the standard memory? That may help with your problem?
I just wish I could stop it taking pictures every time I pick it up and touch the camera button inadvertently.
LES

 

[TinaLes]

Gellyneck said it better than I ever could...nice one!
LES

 

[DBK]

My Garmin also stores all my data, previous destinations etc, I would just love to know how I can copy & Paste the GPS co ords that someone puts up on one of their Aire pictures.

LES

You can create a POI file in something like Excel with a line for each aire then copy it across to the satnav. A bit of Googling should uncover the format, it's a CSV file, TomTom and Garmin are slightly different. I've done it in the distant past.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Gellyneck]

I would just love to know how I can copy & Paste the GPS co ords that someone puts up on one of their Aire pictures.

You can do that in BaseCamp using "Locate Co-ordinates" function.

Don't ask me where it is. Just a random place in the middle of nowhere are far as I know.

 

[TinaLes]

Gellyneck I Need to go to night school now, do The Basecamp Course, I have known for a few years now that those that have taken the time to master it,think its great and use it all the time for pre planning routes on the continent especially.
Thanks
Les

 

[Gellyneck]

Gellyneck I Need to go to night school now, do The Basecamp Course, I have known for a few years now that those that have taken the time to master it,think its great and use it all the time for pre planning routes on the continent especially.

Let me know if you do go down that route (no pun intended) and I'll try and give you some pointers. Not an expert but the way I use it seems to work for me.

 

[Ingwe]

Some excellent advice here. Yes, I have a 8gb card for added storage. I don't know whether the user data i.e. POIs, coordinates, favourites etc are stored on the internal memory or the card as it doesn't ask to choose when saving these.
When I connect my Garmin to the pc or Mac, it does show the connection on the Garmin screen (sometimes grey and sometimes orange/gold) but the Garmin Express shows that the Garmin is not connected. I've tried the quick fixes such as, with the Nuvi disconnected turning it on. When it is loading, select volume and holding your finger on the top right of the screen, for a few seconds, brings up some menus. Selecting 'MTP' options gives you the option to select automatic mtp, mtp storage device, or mpt storage device for one session only. Choosing the second option usually lets me connect but not before I've deleted the user data.
How would I back up the micro card to my pc (or Mac for that matter)? To what would I plug the micro card into? Sorry my technical descriptions are not very precise.

 

[Clarky]

Been using a Garmin Camper 760 for several years now and never had a problem downloading updates or backing up.
I use Garmin Express on a fairly old IMac and a Mac Book Pro. Both work well.

Richard.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Gellyneck]

I don't know whether the user data i.e. POIs, coordinates, favourites etc are stored on the internal memory or the card as it doesn't ask to choose when saving these.
How would I back up the micro card to my pc (or Mac for that matter)? To what would I plug the micro card into? Sorry my technical descriptions are not very precise.

Using BaseCamp lets you choose internal \ memory card when transferring routes \ pois \ etc to the sat nav.
Google for sd card reader (it'll come back with thousands!). I've used this one for a while and it's excellent - Amazon product ASIN B00LFIXC8I
It does both sd and micro sd cards however others also support various other formats.

 

[Sandancers]

Gellyneck I Need to go to night school now, do The Basecamp Course, I have known for a few years now that those that have taken the time to master it,think its great and use it all the time for pre planning routes on the continent especially.
Thanks
Les

One of the most User Hostile bits of software I have ever encountered !!

 

[Flamenca]

Ingwe I had difficulties in the past and also run Windows 7 Pro and have lots of personal POI sets on my Garmin Nuvi. The procedure I take to load new maps is as follows:


Loading New Map on Garmin

When a new map is released load it on to Garmin using the following method:

Check Garmin Express on desktop computer is latest version.

To see all map files using Windows Explorer go to Control Panel/Folder Options/View and uncheck ‘Hide protected OS files’. After finishing map update return and check ‘Hide protected OS files’.

Connect Garmin to desktop computer and run JaVaWa (the program does not function fully on my 64bit laptop). Scan Garmin.
Remove the previous version of installed map. This might be in two parts eg gmapprom.img and D6210070A.img for North and South Europe
After the existing maps have been removed there will be free space on Garmin. In my updates the free space has been as follows:

Free space on device after removing maps 17/10/19 = 3.78GB + 7.39GB on SD cardGB

Use Garmin Express to load new map direct to Garmin device
New map size (2020.20) 7.89 GB

After loading 2020.20 two map files exist. All North on Garmin and All South on SD card. Free space on Garmin 1.38 GB and on SD card 5.18 GB.



I then connect Garmin to laptop and open Garmin BaseCamp.
The new Garmin map should automatically load to BaseCamp direct from Garmin device. If not use Garmin Express to load new map to laptop computer only.

Most recent map on Garmin is version 2020.20 (Both ALL SOUTH and ALL NORTH) installed on 17 October 2019


I hope this might be of some help

 

[Ingwe]

By way of update. I found that i had a card reader that would take the 8gb micro sd card. however, when I opened the files all the folders had file extensions that weren't recognised and even after searching the web for the required program it wasn't clear. In any event, it wasn't identifiable, to me, which were the files to back up. I chickened out of experimenting further, so opted to delete all user data. Lo and behold, it connected straight away. So now downloading map updates with 42 minutes to go and only14.8% complete.

Thanks for all the tips, advice and suggestions.

 

[Gellyneck]

From memory it's a gdb file that stores the routes, waypoints, pois, etc. Possibly named alldata.gdb?

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Ingwe]

From memory it's a gdb file that stores the routes, waypoints, pois, etc. Possibly named alldata.gdb?

what programme opens gdb files?nothing called all data.gbd. i'll try and do a screen shot of what files are on the SD card. It'll be awhile as I'm still downloading the map updates and its only 75% complete. still says another 15 minutes.

 

[Ingwe]

incidentally, attached is a screen shot of Garmin Express after downloading the updates. I went to 'Utilities' and found the screen that shows how much of the device's capacity is avaialble and also that of the 8gb SD card. The device (Stella) is 98% full and the Sd is only 32% full.

Is there a way of reducing the data stored on the device by trnasferring it to the SD card? I suspect, as Gellyneck helpfully pointed out, maybe the device is too full and that is why it isnt connecting to Garmin Express until user data is deleted? Just a thought.

 

[Gellyneck]

Ingwe
What model number of Nuvi do you have?

 

[Portland]

I updated my Garmin nuvi, it took approximately 4hrs. I set out on my annual travelling and everything was good. Crossed to Cite Europe and after a good night's sleep tried set the next days destination NOTHING!!!??.
Continued to Spain and when we had good WiFi I repeated the process the result is that now all is fine?

 

[Ingwe]

here are screen shots of the files I can see on the SD card.

Ingwe
What model number of Nuvi do you have?

3598LM

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Ingwe]

Sorry, don't know where the screen shots disappeared to!

 

[Rusty Pumper]

Forget the Garmin Forum - there are enough members here on MHF who have kindly replied, which will hopefully will get to the bottom of the problem. I hope so...

 

[Gellyneck]

Ingwe
Clutching at straws a bit here but........
As you can see from the the screenshot of Garmin Express above your internal storage is 98% full so there may be an issue with space availability for copying and overwriting update map files. Basically, insufficient space to receive the files before updating them.
You'll also see there's 5.36Gb of free space on the sd card.
A number of Garmin sat navs will request permission to install updates to the sd card (some don't - don't know about your model) if there is insufficient space on the internal storage. However, and this is where I'm "guessing (even more!)" it may look at the card to see if there is sufficient space to take the full download before deleting (you may have to do this manually - I do on the computers I run BaseCamp on) the current version.
I think the latest update (2020.2) is 5.38Gb so if you only have 5.36Gb there's not enough space for the full download.
So, what can you do? You could either delete all the files on your sd card thereby freeing up space to 8Gb or get another sd card. I think your model may support up to 32Gb but you'd better check with Garmin.
A new card would be the option I would chose as you'd still have the original to fall back on if something goes wrong. As you know it definitely supports up to 8Gb you should be able to pick one of these up for £6-7 but you can get a 32Gb for the same price here - https://www.mymemory.co.uk/samsung-32gb-evo-micro-sd-card-sdhc-uhs-i-u1-adapter-95mb-s.html
Worth trying I guess.
As another option, and I've not tried it so......, is that there's a map install function in BaseCamp where you use Garmin Express to install the map update to your computer only and then use BaseCamp to install to your sat nav. Might be worth a try if the bigger sd card option fails?

 

[Ingwe]

Ingwe
Clutching at straws a bit here but........
As you can see from the the screenshot of Garmin Express above your internal storage is 98% full so there may be an issue with space availability for copying and overwriting update map files. Basically, insufficient space to receive the files before updating them.
You'll also see there's 5.36Gb of free space on the sd card.
A number of Garmin sat navs will request permission to install updates to the sd card (some don't - don't know about your model) if there is insufficient space on the internal storage. However, and this is where I'm "guessing (even more!)" it may look at the card to see if there is sufficient space to take the full download before deleting (you may have to do this manually - I do on the computers I run BaseCamp on) the current version.
I think the latest update (2020.2) is 5.38Gb so if you only have 5.36Gb there's not enough space for the full download.
So, what can you do? You could either delete all the files on your sd card thereby freeing up space to 8Gb or get another sd card. I think your model may support up to 32Gb but you'd better check with Garmin.
A new card would be the option I would chose as you'd still have the original to fall back on if something goes wrong. As you know it definitely supports up to 8Gb you should be able to pick one of these up for £6-7 but you can get a 32Gb for the same price here - https://www.mymemory.co.uk/samsung-32gb-evo-micro-sd-card-sdhc-uhs-i-u1-adapter-95mb-s.html
Worth trying I guess.
As another option, and I've not tried it so......, is that there's a map install function in BaseCamp where you use Garmin Express to install the map update to your computer only and then use BaseCamp to install to your sat nav. Might be worth a try if the bigger sd card option fails?

View attachment 348313

Wow, Gellyneck, that's really interesting. Thank you very much. SD card said are very cheap. Do you think that, if I get a 16gb or even a 32gb SD card ( if the Nuvi will work with a 32gb card; my Leica camera won't work with a 32gb card) I can delete the maps on the device and then put the new card in and download all the maps onto the SD card from scratch? I think that's what you're suggesting. I would like to do this if possible.

 

[Ingwe]

Re-reading Gellyneck's post I can get the 32gb SD card and don't have to delete anything. Just update as and when. Have ordered a 32gb SD card.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}