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willie.harrison(at)tinyon
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 Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 3:10 am Post subject: Fix for common Garmin GPS problem |
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My Garmin 296 had an unwelcome failure yesterday - it couldn't acquire satellites. I was about to send it back for repair today but Garmin UK tech support gave me a simple diagnosis and fix for what they said is a known failure mode. Since this is likely to be experienced by other users I thought I'd pass on the details. I expect this also applies to 495 and 496 units, possibly also the 196 (I never saw it on my 295, however).
Typically, they said, the unit doesn’t acquire satellites on the second flight after long period of non-use (anything over 6 weeks) . Diagnosis was that unit hadn’t and wasn’t able to rebuild its almanac table - presumably it had been struggling with an incomplete/corrupted table during the first flight and then went on strike the next time it was powered up. Said to be a known problem. The fix is:
· Switch off
· Press and hold down “zoom out” button
· Switch on
· Wait until “I agree” dialog window comes up and press “enter” in the usual way
· Then release the “zoom out” button (the above process wipes the almanac table so the unit can restart from scratch)
· Unit goes into autolocate mode – leave it powered up in the same location for half an hour with a clear view of the sky to rebuild its almanac table (even if it locates and displays the map much sooner).
That's it. It worked for me. Seems to be a bit of a Control/Alt/Delete trick.
Willie Harrison
G-BZNY - now getting some serious wind in its feathers again...
[quote][b]
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topglock(at)cox.net
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| Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 6:22 am Post subject: Fix for common Garmin GPS problem |
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Willie,
thanks for the information. My 396 suffered the same symptoms, on
liftoff for Sun'n'fun, this year. I switched it off for half an hour,
then tried it again. Worked the second time. Glad to know it has a FIX.
Jeff - Baby Blue
William Harrison wrote:
| Quote: |
My Garmin 296 had an unwelcome failure yesterday - it couldn't acquire
satellites. I was about to send it back for repair today but Garmin UK
tech support gave me a simple diagnosis and fix for what they said is a
known failure mode. Since this is likely to be experienced by other
users I thought I'd pass on the details. I expect this also applies to
495 and 496 units, possibly also the 196 (I never saw it on my 295,
however).
Typically, they said, the unit doesn’t acquire satellites on the second
flight after long period of non-use (anything over 6 weeks) . Diagnosis
was that unit hadn’t and wasn’t able to rebuild its almanac table -
presumably it had been struggling with an incomplete/corrupted table
during the first flight and then went on strike the next time it was
powered up. Said to be a known problem. The fix is:
· Switch off
· Press and hold down “zoom out” button
· Switch on
· Wait until “I agree” dialog window comes up and press “enter” in
the usual way
· Then release the “zoom out” button (the above process wipes the
almanac table so the unit can restart from scratch)
· Unit goes into autolocate mode – leave it powered up in the same
location for half an hour with a clear view of the sky to rebuild its
almanac table (even if it locates and displays the map much sooner).
That's it. It worked for me. Seems to be a bit of a Control/Alt/Delete
trick.
Willie Harrison
G-BZNY - now getting some serious wind in its feathers again...
*
*
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Checked by AVG.
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