My Nav IV having panic attacks!

Ibex

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I know this is a thread for Nav V but I can't see one for Nav IV - so here I am.

On a recent trip through France, avoiding tolls etc and therefore on minor roads, the sat nav twice lost the plot and set me off in a loop around local roads. No onward route to destination was displayed, just an endless loop around the same four or five corners around a small village. Luckily it was in a small enough area to be seen for what it was or I could have been circling for days. Like Scalextric. The only way out was knowing I was roughly going south so struck out in that direction. Within a few minutes the sat nav had regained its composure and the ultimate destination was once more on the screen. It happened again on the way back, in a different place and a very much bigger closed loop was indicated, with no onward direction to the destination. I could easily have ridden 20 miles on the wrong road had I not been roughly aware of the basic geography of the area. Once again I ignored it and went the way I thought was probably right and within a few minutes of leaving the loop, the sat nav caught up and all was well. This is no b****y good for travelling in unknown areas, so have contacted Garmin. They think the unit requires replacement - and have offerred a replacement for £154 - whiuch is very attractive - but they have no idea when that replacement might come into stock! As this is a long way from being the current model I have no idea whether they will ever get "new stock" so feel I am stuck - and like every other piece of new technology, you become dependent upon it!

The Garmin website has identified that the memory on the unit is at 75% capacity. It has a 16GB SD card, but 75% still seems quite high?
Only other issue with the thing is when calling up "Custom Routes" it can take a very long time for a particular route to display. Perhaps an indication of lack of memory? Finally I had just updated maps and software before embarking on the trip.

Can anyone offer advice as to what might be wrong and indeed if there is anybody out there who actually fixes these things?:confused:
 
Plug it into a laptop which has basecamp/Garmin Express installed........

Don’t do anything - just unplug it after 10mins.

Worth a try?>
 
Were you:

(a) Running a route that you'd created yourself?

If so:

i. What software did you create it with?

ii. Did it have waypoints (points that you told the device you must go through) in it? If so, were the waypoints close to the point(s) where your device had its panic attacks?

(b) Running a route that the device had created for you, based on your preferences?

Did you have auto-recalculate on or off or prompted. If prompted, did you say, yes or no?

Were you in an area prone to possible loss of satellite signals? The Nav IV was sensitive to this problem.
 
I had a similar problem with my Nav IV, riding in the pissing rain, trying to get from the Sauerland (Dams) down to Wurzberg. Kept sending me around in larger circles. Proved to be my bad programming, just sticking in a destination along with auto-re-calculate. As the road twisted & turned through the forests, it kept seeing a quicker route. Once we found some shelter, I realised the mistake & set a custom route with waypoints.

That memory issue seems strange though. Have a look at what is on the memory card, when the unit is plugged into your PC. There must be some old crap on there, if GE is telling the truth.
 
Just did the plug in to Garmin Express for 10 minutes then unplug. I have no way of knowing whether it is fixed, but did notice that the Express website claims that my internal memory is 78% full, with only 858 MB remianing. By a process of higher mathematics that means I only have 3.9GB of memory in total - so where's the 16GB that the SD card claims? Could this be the issue? The PC also refers to "internal memory capacity". Does that mean the unit isn't seeing the SD card? Can this be checked/rectified?

As to the routing I was on when the glitches occurred, I was cefrtainly on avoidances, but only U turns and toll roads. The route itself was probably a custom route I will have programmed directly into the machine the night before, introducing a couple of waypoints to ensure I went the way I wanted to .

Thanks for your comments.
 
On a recent trip through France, avoiding tolls etc and therefore on minor roads, the sat nav twice lost the plot and set me off in a loop around local roads. No onward route to destination was displayed, just an endless loop around the same four or five corners around a small village. Luckily it was in a small enough area to be seen for what it was or I could have been circling for days. Like Scalextric. The only way out was knowing I was roughly going south so struck out in that direction. Within a few minutes the sat nav had regained its composure and the ultimate destination was once more on the screen. It happened again on the way back, in a different place and a very much bigger closed loop was indicated, with no onward direction to the destination. I could easily have ridden 20 miles on the wrong road had I not been roughly aware of the basic geography of the area. Once again I ignored it and went the way I thought was probably right and within a few minutes of leaving the loop, the sat nav caught up and all was well.

As to the routing I was on when the glitches occurred, I was cefrtainly on avoidances, but only U turns and toll roads. The route itself was probably a custom route I will have programmed directly into the machine the night before, introducing a couple of waypoints to ensure I went the way I wanted to .

From you’ve told us it’s all but impossible to say precisely what or why it happened, other than we suppose your device behaved faultlessly otherwise during the rest of your trip? If so, you are looking at one / two malfunctions on one day only, meaning that the device is probably working normally other than on one day. As we can’t replicate your problem and you haven’t shared the route / track you took with us or given us too much detail on how the route was created and then used, we’ll have to start guessing.

I suspect (guess, might be another word) it’s quite possible that you missed a waypoint. The device then recalculated the route (sending you around in a circle, as you have the device set to avoid U-turns) until you passed through it and / or you rode sufficiently far away from the point that it ‘forgot’ or skipped it. The device then continued to route you on towards your ultimate destination.
 
Just did the plug in to Garmin Express for 10 minutes then unplug. I have no way of knowing whether it is fixed, but did notice that the Express website claims that my internal memory is 78% full, with only 858 MB remianing. By a process of higher mathematics that means I only have 3.9GB of memory in total - so where's the 16GB that the SD card claims? Could this be the issue? The PC also refers to "internal memory capacity". Does that mean the unit isn't seeing the SD card? Can this be checked/rectified?

As to the routing I was on when the glitches occurred, I was cefrtainly on avoidances, but only U turns and toll roads. The route itself was probably a custom route I will have programmed directly into the machine the night before, introducing a couple of waypoints to ensure I went the way I wanted to .

Thanks for your comments.

Your PC (My Computer) should see the device as well as the memory card. The internal memory is insufficient at 4GB to store full European mapping, so your 3GB of internal memory use will be some very basic raw mapping - try it & see if you can plot a detailed custom route; I doubt it.

My suspicion is that something, possibly corrupted updates, have messed with the memory card. If your PC can't see it when residing in the device, which seems strange, can it see it when it's in a card reader slot? Assuming you haven't got a cheapo memory card, the idea is to format the card, FAT32, stick it back in the Nav IV, then plug in to GE & get the mapping updated. There are details on Garmin's website that leads you through the process should you come across anything strange on the way.

Otherwise, I reckon Wapping has probably identified the routing problem, if you didn't hit a waypoint precisely enough. It's easily done.
 
Thank you Wapping - the logic is inescapable. I once fell foul of that on my first run out with my very first GPS, circling a city block in Brussels because the device had not recorded me actually passing through the point it regarded as the destination. I should have ridden right up to the check in desk...

OK - so maybe it did have reasons of its own - and I can't remember the detail other than to say the route was simple point to point programmed directly into the satnav- and it has worked fine since - but I still dont understand why it appears unable to recognise the fact that it has a 16GB SD card in the slot - which I assume could well have some bearing on its general speed of operation, which is not brilliant in my opinion?

On my phone I can store things on internal memory or SIM card (bear with me on this remarkable revelation - I'm old enough not to know this stuff!). Is there a way I can ensure that this sat nav is actually utilising the SD card other than just going to buy a new one?:rob

Dave
 
What? I thought I mentioned what to try, in post 7.

I can assure you it works from personal experience, nothing to lose if the device can't see the memory card anyway, but try a fresh card if you are more comfortable with that. I still recommend you interrogate the existing card directly via your PC first though & see what is on there.

The Nav IV is old tech, so best not try to compare it to a modern smart phone.
 
Thank you for the advice regarding checking out my SD card and whether the sat nav was actually seeing it properly, I have now gone through the process as directed. In fact I found updates available for my Garmin Express, then went on to reformat my SD card to FAT32 and finally reloaded the latest map data. The unit no longer tells me it is 78% full with only 850Mb remaining - instead it says it has used 2.0GB of a possible 3.9GB - so it still isn't seeing the 16GB card. However the Garmin Express helpline points out that you can only use the "load direct to SD card" option when the internal memory is inadequate to accomodate the latest update. So maybe in clearing the thing and starting anew I have removed old data such that the new stuff is only 2GB - and thus comfortably within the internal memory?

Just to throw a spanner into the works however, Garmin have just come back to me this morning to say that they can provide a new replacement for mine after all(for £154) on 8th October. Tempting. Mine is ten years old anyway and seen a lot of use in my role as a car delivery driver, so it would appear too good a chance to miss - whether I have fixed this one or not?
 
Sorry that should have read 2.09GB free from 3.9GB. This is from the "This PC" display. The Garmin Express now says 43% full with 2.26GB remaining.
 
I'd take the new replacement device for £134 over a 10 year old device that you are not entirely happy with.

But, before that I'd try just putting in a brand new, fresh out of the box SD card (which are very cheap) just to see what happened. If nothing else, you'll be able to use it in your replacement device.
 
I'd take the new replacement device for £134 over a 10 year old device that you are not entirely happy with.

But, before that I'd try just putting in a brand new, fresh out of the box SD card (which are very cheap) just to see what happened. If nothing else, you'll be able to use it in your replacement device.

+1.

The mapping the OP has will just be raw stuff, main routes, I suspect.

Am I correct in thinking your PC 'My Computer' still only sees the NavIV device & not the 16GB available on the memory card when plugged into a USB port? If so, it doesn't bode well TBH, but try a fresh card as suggested. If your PC can't see that, then it seems like you have a fault, leaving the Garmin offer the best option.

Good luck.
 
Thanks chaps, I very much appreciate your advice. I think the new one has got to be the way to go.

Regarding what my computer currently sees in "My Computer" it actually lists the BMW Navigator 4 as a drive and the values I quoted are are against that entry. Nowhere can I find any reference to a 16GB card. Worth buying a new one for peace of mind anyway - as it will always come in for the new sat nav. Thanks again!
 
Strange one!

Get a 32gb card - the largest the unit supports. cheap as chips.

And format as Fat32
 


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