Troubleshooting Garmin 1450, with 8 gig microcard

**max_clif** · 27th January 2011, 08:41 PM

Hi,

My unit is a nuvi 1450, and tends to freeze up with an 8 gigabyte Micro SDHC card inserted (Kingston Class 4 8gigs [made in taiwan]). It tends to freeze up randomly: on the road after 10-20 mins on the unit's default North American maps (maps on SDHC cards arent actively used but are enableds since I am not outside of N. America). It also freezes up 20% of the time when I plug in the unit to the computer (the progress bar just freezes up at 5%-20%)

I have many maps enabled on the card itself - more than 6 maps and the Garmin technician indicated there is no known limit to the number of maps one can put onto the card and that same technician also used an 8gig Kingston card with no issues.

What I have tried:
- Newest firmware (nothing is newer I can see)
- Replaced the 8gig Kingston card but both cards still freeze up the unit
- Master reset
- Formatted sd card many times: tested 4k and 32k cluster sizes
- Did chkdsk /R on the Garmin (no errors)
- Did chkdsk /R on the Kingston (no errors) and also read-verified the map files against source (no errors)

Other notes:
- The unit almost never freezes up when I do SIMULATION run through the plotted course.
- My Kingston 2 gig card doesnt freeze up my unit with the China and Europe maps enabled
- Garmin technician says 1450 can use up to 16 gig micro card and he's using a 8gig Kingston card (probably same model as mine).
- No freeze ups without an SD card inserted.

Is there a known issue with Kingston 8gig cards on the 1450 that I should know about, or is my unit just plain defective (unable to read more than 2 gigs of data reliably).

Any suggestions I should try (since my retailer wont exchange the unit for me)?

**tli** · 28th January 2011, 02:48 AM

Originally Posted by max_clif

...
I have many maps enabled on the card itself - more than 6 maps and the Garmin technician indicated there is no known limit to the number of maps one can put onto the card ...

What are these maps? Their file sizes? Overlapping geographical regions? Try testing all these maps individually with your 2GB SD card to verify that they all do indeed work?

Originally Posted by max_clif

...
- Formatted sd card many times: tested 4k and 32k cluster sizes

What app was used to format? FAT or NTFS?

Should use [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] if you didn't.

**max_clif** · 28th January 2011, 07:15 AM

Ok thanks for replying - i was afraid nobody would bother..

I have narrowed down the problem. The map that is giving me issues is the Hong Kong/Macau/Guandong one. If that one is enabled there is a 20% chance when the garmin's plugged into the pc it'll freeze during the progress bar. If that map is disabled within the unit, I have not seen a single freeze up in over 20 connects to the computer (I probably killed my battery doing trying this).

Perhaps one of the moderators could tell me if the Hong Kong/Macau/Guandong map is some hacked version pieced together from several Garmin sources. I find it rather odd nothing else causes grief with my unit except for that one map enabled.

Now, I havent tested using the garmin in the car yet with this map disabled or completely deleted from the memory card. I'll do that soon.

To answer your questions:
- All the maps I have are from this forum so absolutely nothing is over 3 gigs in size for any file, I formatted to Fat32 using Win7 and the maps are recognized in the Garmin.
- I just notice that I have City Navigator SE Asia that features Hong Kong and Macau but not Guangdong. There is no official City Navigator for Hong Kong/macau/Guangdong together. Would overlapping maps (of I suppose different versions) cause freezeups?

**tli** · 28th January 2011, 02:03 PM

Originally Posted by max_clif

...
- All the maps I have are from this forum ...

The reason for testing individually is that the maps could have been corrupted during downloads and/or transfers.

Originally Posted by max_clif

... I formatted to Fat32 using Win7 ...

The OS formatter is designed and intended for use with 'spinning disc' medium. The tool mentioned previously is specifically designed for use with SD cards.

Originally Posted by max_clif

...
- I just notice that I have City Navigator SE Asia that features Hong Kong and Macau but not Guangdong. There is no official City Navigator for Hong Kong/macau/Guangdong together. Would overlapping maps (of I suppose different versions) cause freezeups?

Absolutely, as the GPS get confused and it doesn't know what to do when there are different and/or conflicting map info. Thus, possible lockups and/or other anomalies.

**max_clif** · 28th January 2011, 04:07 PM

Ok fun fun stuff LOL. It's good to know there is some hope this gps isnt somehow defective. Thanks for the comments. I'll post you all on the results of my testing over the next few days.

Until I drive test this thing minus the hongkong/macu/guandong maps for an hour without freezeups, I cant be convinced of anything.

I'll also be using that SD Formatter 3.0 - thank you for that! I didnt know there was a special program that could be better than the default formatter for windows!

**tom1807** · 29th January 2011, 04:51 AM

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
This map covers HK, Macau and Guangdong.
U have to decide which map u wanna use, overlapping maps give always trouble

**max_clif** · 1st February 2011, 08:07 PM

Looks good so far, but still some unexpected shut down by the unit when planning a route sometimes. Dont know if it is due to this firmware or not.

aekhong · 2nd February 2011, 04:42 AM

Originally Posted by max_clif

Looks good so far, but still some unexpected shut down by the unit when planning a route sometimes. Dont know if it is due to this firmware or not.

Try with other maps ==> result ?
Try with other f/w version ==> result ?

**max_clif** · 2nd February 2011, 05:06 PM

If the shutdown happens while route-planning again, then I will have to start testing it with 1 map at a time. There has been 2 unexpected shutdowns so far, and doesnt happen often.

As for firmware Im using the latest one. I'll only downgrade firmware if the shutdown problems keep occurring even without the additional maps added.

Question: The official Garmin maps:
City Navigator® Middle East NT
City Navigator® Middle East & Northern Africa NT

have overlapping countries. If these 2 have different versions of the same country should I be concerned?

**tli** · 2nd February 2011, 11:25 PM

Originally Posted by max_clif

...

Question: The official Garmin maps:
City Navigator® Middle East NT
City Navigator® Middle East & Northern Africa NT

have overlapping countries. If these 2 have different versions of the same country should I be concerned?

Originally Posted by tli

... Absolutely, as the GPS get confused and it doesn't know what to do when there are different and/or conflicting map info. Thus, possible lockups and/or other anomalies.

Originally Posted by tom1807

... overlapping maps give always trouble

The answer to your question is still the same.