LMS 350A trouble-need help, Pls

[Riceburner]

I put the boat away last fall with a problem with the 350A. The unit ran ok all summer, despite the common glitch of getting the "GPS module not responding" message occasionally during the fishing day. It always corrected itself and locked on within a couple minutes. However, one day I left it ON when it was taken home and backed into the garage. When discovered, it was beeping due to poor signal, and rather than powering off, the wife mistakenly pushed the red MOB button. It quit beeping-so she casually mentioned it to me a few hours later. When I tried to shut it off, and power up again, the screen showed flashing zeros, and would not lock on--no error message--just flashing zeros....Now, here's the kicker...when I took the unit over to a friends boat, it locked on, despite him having the old style 5 channel antanae. When I asked Lowrance, they said to start the unit while holding down the CLR button, I think--it will dump all the existing waypoints, and start over finding it's location. I'd just as soon not loose all the waypoints--even though I have them written down, and can re-enter them. Naturally, the wire to the antanae is pulled through the walls and compartments in the boat--so it's a pain to check the connections.....What-cha-think-???-start with the antanae wire, try a new 12 channel antanae tested right at the unit, or just restart the unit and hope that is all I need?? Any other thoughts?? Thanks.

[Larry]

When the MOB button was pushed, your unit tried to lock that point on your MOB screen but since it didn't have the present position locked in...due to signal loss at the time...it just displayed the zeros. Simply pushing the MOB Disable button should clear your problem. You said the unit worked since that time by taking it over to a friend and hooking it up to his GPS receiver. My guess is that your LMS350A is OK and you MAY have a problem w/ your GPS receiver. On the other hand, it could well be that you just need to move your rig out into the open to let it "view the sky". Another helpful test would be to follow the directions in your owners manual and do the GPS module self test feature. If you're still good up to this point, you should be back in business with nothing lost and your wallet intact. If you're still having an intermittent problem like you had during the summer, I'd check all the wiring for wear/tear and be sure all connections are clean/tight. Beyond that, you might have to open the wallet. Good luck.

[Airwave(OH)]

Sounds like you may have a module working on going out.<<<Maybe) You do know that the 350A will only lock on 5 channels no matter what module it's hooked to. When you send it in for repair you get the new 12 Channel but it is still only working on 5. They don't make the old Module anymore.

[vetspet(ind)]

something weird like this happened to my unit once in erie....i'm not at all sure if it's the same thing...my problem was my battery was low...try a fresh battery and see if this helps...steve

[Riceburner]

Thanks for your tips and thoughts.....I'll pull the boat out of the storage shed, and check a few things if we don't get that foot of new snow...ugh! I did try the unit outside several times after the "Zeros screen"---will check the connections too.