Garmin GPS problem

[Jim Alton]

Hi Folks...

I picked up a Garmin GPS III last fall and have spent most of the winter getting used to the unit... took it with me in the truck - testing out all the features.

A few weeks ago I saw the notice about the removal of Selective Availability and decided I'd take the GPS with me on the way to work. About an hour drive.

Even though it showed communication with several satellites it never sync'd up and displayed the current location.

The next day I put a fresh set of batteries in and put the unit in the back yard, away from the house, turned it on and let it sit there for over an hour... it showed good satellite communication but wouldn't sync up.

So I checked the manual and it said something about Almanac data sometimes getting lost and that powering the unit up while holding the "Page" button will force the unit to re-download the Almanac data from the satellite and that this may take as much as 30 minutes. Again, I left it for over an hour and it still didn't sync to the location.

I've also tried telling it to autolocate... to no avail. About 2 weeks ago I wrote an email to Garmin technical support but haven't heard anything back from them.

Does anyone have an idea as to what I could do to get this unit functioning properly again?

Any ideas or suggestion greatly appreciated.


Regards,
Jim

[Mayfly]

Jim, I needed a very small part from Garmin. Like a 10 cent part and they were no help at all. I went to Gander Mountain where I bought the unit and they fixed me right up. Gander in Appleton, Wis. has some very knowlegeable people in regard to GPS units. Are you anywhere near a Gander store? I'll bet they would help even if you didn't buy it there.

[Verna]

Did you list your home location when the unit was functioning properly? If so, have you tried entering the proper location
manually? YOUR location. Lat and Long as close as you can manage. If you don't have that info ask a buddy with another unit to bring it in and use it for the locater.
Good Luck, Verna

[Verna]

Did you list your home location when the unit
was functioning properly? If so, have you tried
entering the proper location
manually? YOUR location. Lat and Long as close
as you can manage. If you don't have that info
ask a buddy with another unit to bring it in and
use it for the locater.
Good Luck, Verna

[Verna]

Did you list your home location when the unit
was functioning properly? If so, have you tried
entering the proper location
manually? YOUR location. Lat and Long as close
as you can manage. If you don't have that info
ask a buddy with another unit to bring it in and
use it for the locater.
Good Luck, Verna

[Jim Alton]

Many thanks to those who responded...

One kind person (who I believe wishes to remain nameless) send me an email suggesting I contact Garmin directly and provided the phone number.

After posting the message here I received a response from Garmin tech support - hmmmmm, is it possible someone from Garmin reads this board?

The tech support suggested it was software problem and it should be sent in for service... I wasn't pleased with this answer as I expect to use the unit in about 8 days for a 1 week fishing trip.

Being in the computer industry and suspecting that these handheld units are little more than a micro-processor, some RAM, Rockwell GPS receiver hardware, and a program written in Java or C/C++ - I thought there must be some way to "reboot" the unit.

So I called Garmin support directly and was told the magic key combination of hold the "Menu" key down during power up and the unit will completely reset - destroying any stored data... no problem for me.

I took the unit out back and did just that - expecting to leave it for at least 30 minutes. In about 3 minutes it had locked on and completely corrected itself.

Thanks again to all.

Jim