Becker P50 - boot loop with essentially empty external SD-Card

[kilroyj]

Hi folks,

I seem to have messed up my trusty old Becker P50. I have used it a couple of years now with an external 16G SD-Card. My last map was iGO_HERE_Europe_2022.Q4.
So far so easy. I now try to install the 2023.Q4 and observe a boot loop.

Tying to figure out the problem, I meanwhile stripped down the external memory to a freshly formatted SD card - which works (my home country installed locally). There is a "device.nng" created, so I'm sure the drive is recognized.

I can create a directory structure "/addons/content" without problem. Device boots up fine and is ready to go.

But as soon as I create an empty "addons/content/map" - I get the boot loop again.

The SW core is patched and I have the license file all installed on the internal memory - as usual.

I can copy a couple of maps/POI/, ... to the internal memory but that one is limited and I'd rather have ALL of the changing content external, as I can swap the SD-Card in a fast reader instead of trickling the gigabytes through the USB2 port on the device.

SO what might be the problem?

It doesn't seem to be "the map" as the maps seem to work OK when placed on the internal storage.

There has been a Windows Software to manage the content but that one simply declares "no device found" for any OS later than Windows-7 :-(

[Boki]

The new card may be bad, if it is new. It may be inappropriate also.
Try with 8GB standard card, not UHS or similar.

I'm pretty sure you don't need ALL the content, hamster You really need the last globalcfg
Read the appropriate topic in the appropriate section, it will be clear to you

What device is Becker P50? Never heard of it.

[kilroyj]

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

The "lifetime free update" lasted two years before Becker got bankrupt, taking my updates with it...

The SD card is the same that I used for the last 6 years. It's just freshly formatted as last resort to try to find the cause for the problems. The card is fine. It must be something on the directory/file layout.

I don't mind placing maps of Russia, Ukraine or Azebeijan on the device. I have no plans to go there anytime in forseeable future. But it is more convenient to update the map with an external high-speed USB3 adapter instead of the device port at 150kb/s

So then, I try again to find and to

Read the appropriate topic in the appropriate section

[Boki]

Ah, no one ever named that device P

Lifetime maps/licenses/items do not last until the end of your life, but as long as the estimated lifetime of the device
It is the policy of all producers, understandable even though it is not to the will of consumers

If your device has original software, of course you will not be able to install new maps
Most likely this is the cause of the "problem"
Except that you may have missed the file structure, you do not have the appropriate license, which in the case of original software corresponds to - device/region/quarter

Becker software is based on iGO, so everything you need is in [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
There are all the instructions, all the scenarios, all the necessary material there, no need for further questions
First, replace the software with the appropriate one, and after that you can put whatever maps you want. And, all maps can be placed on the card and be readable without any problems

[kilroyj]

It probably was not obvious from my comments. I'm using the device with the iGo maps and patched executable for a couple of years now. Thanks to the support of friendly users here (and elsewhere).

The problem popped up rather unexpected, because it did go well several times before.

But meanwhile I have a solution, even if I cannot really understand WHY.

I was adviced by "pieter" from a different forum to change the directory structure on the SD card from

\addons\content\map
\addons\content\poi
\addons\content\...

to

\content\map
\content\poi
\content\...

and change the pointing in "SYS.TXT" from

secondary_root="addons"

to

secondary_root="content"

Funny as it sounds, it DID help. No boot loop and all SD-content listed in the info screen.

If you now think, that it was the \content\ folder that was superfluous and I just copied the structure the wrong way - it's just what I thought too. And I tried that one too to make it

\addons\map
\addons\poi
\addons\...

with the correct(?) and previous setting

secondary_root="addons"

--> no boot loop, but no SD-content either. Just that what was installed in the internal memory.

I can't say that I fully understand WHY, but the suggestion did the magic. And just THAT variant.

[Boki]

Yes, really, you should have mentioned that you are using "folk" software

Actually, you made a basic mistake. Understandable, given that today most people don't know wince like they used to
No setting in the sys file is required for the device to read the contents of the addons folder from the card. It is the basic mechanism built into every iGO exe (btw, this has been mentioned many times on the forum, even in the tutorial thread)
e.g., line
secondary_root="addons"
is absolutely superfluous, in fact wrong (because it conflicts with the built-in mechanism)