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Hello again!
We acquired a used aera 795 in perfect condition, which came with a original docking cradle and wall-charger. It seems the battery from the defect unit is just drained and after charging it with the wall charger, I can access pre-boot again and see it in the loader. I have the feeling we can save it with your knowledge. But before I mess things more up, I would appreciate step-by-step instructions from you, Butters! Thank you in advance!
Hello Ben. I'll do a detailed step-by-step and make a fresh cure fw (if indicated) for you to use. In the meantime please supply some additional info:
Is there is any change in the device's behavior? For instance: is it still boot-looping like before or does it now stick on the logo screen (*See below), or any other change since you charged the battery.
It should now be seen in Device Manager normally (while in preboot) under "GARMIN Devices" as well as seen by Updater.exe so please also say (i) how long it's staying visible for there and (ii) what happens if it disappears (i.e. bootloops or turns off).
*If it now sticks on the logo/splash screen that may indicate your last attempted loading of cure fw was successful before the battery drained. If so the device should now be able to be seen in Windows Explorer and its file system be browsed normally.
So the aera is basically behaving like before. It shows only briefly as MSM (this time as Garmin USB Device) but then not visible as MSM in file explorer. So no access.
Its quite easy to bring in pre-boot-mode and then is visible in updater.exe. Once you initiate the update it shortly disappears again (usb-connecting-sound) then comes back and update is going to 100%. Then its disconnecting again (no success message) and it shows one of the two failure messages from post #7.
If you would provide me with a cure file, I would gladly try it. We could use the SD Card though, but I have no idea what commands to give. Thank you!
I'm beginning to suspect that GarminCure3.exe is not processing some of the aera's GCD's non-standard BIN files correctly, resulting in Updater.exe not being able to properly flash some regions when 136401000560.RGN is attempted to be loaded. To eliminate that possibility let's try using QuickCure3 instead. It uses only a modified generic boot.bin as an RGN and it might work to re-enable Mass Storage Mode. It can't harm anything even if it doesn't work so it's very safe to try. Check behind the spoiler below:
Spoiler: Click
Let me know the result and we'll go further. Don't despair if Quickcure doesn't work, we can try other things still. Provided the device doesn't have a hardware failure we can fix it eventually i'm sure.
Hello Butters,
the update was successful, unfortunately the aera is still boot-looping. In device manager I can only see the drive assignment briefly.
Spoiler: attached pic
That at least narrows things down a little. It may just be that Quickcure isn't useful to re-enable MSM on your aera (it doesn't work with all devices), however maybe we're actually dealing with a hardware problem and if so there's no software solution for that.
Pressing on regardless: In cure fw the only region data patched is that for rgn14 (0x0E), which is fw_all.bin. Notably none of the other regions are, or need to be, patched. I've noticed that the aera 795 fw's has 4 "specialist" BIN files which are saved by both RGN_Tool.exe and gwf.exe without correct section ID (they show as XXXX and 1005 respectively instead of, for example, AB05 for region 171/0xAB). That may or may not be relevant, however we'll try to flash only region 14. So using the same steps in Post #44 try flashing this RGN which contains only boot.bin and cured fw_all.bin:
Spoiler: Click
It that doesn't work we'll try using some SD flash methods. It's actually concerning that it still can run commands from SD as you mentioned in Post #31. Usually if a device is soft-bricked due to an essential file being corrupt it cannot use the SD. That's because the device looks for the card AFTER successfully loading files it needed during the bootup process.
Note that if indeed this device has a hardware fault it's likely the flash chip. Flashing does place some stress on the chip and as such can accelerate its total failure so it could die at anytime if there's a partial failure. Anyway if there's such a fault, it'll fully fail eventually regardless of repeated flashings.
Erasing, Uploading 100%, Update Successful...
..but no Joy! Still booting up, showing the Garmin logo and than booting again.
In device manager the same. Showing a drive briefly and then disappearing again while boot-looping.
Could you say a little more about that bootlooping, i'd like to know just how far it's getting before it restarts. Does it show "Loading Maps", or the copyright blurb on the bottom of the screen, or is there no white writing at all there before it loops?Quote:
Originally Posted by BenBreit [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
Unfortunately it only shows the Garmin Logo and then screen goes blank and it restarts again. The Copyright blurb was initially when we took over the device, but at one point after my first attempts to cure it, it disappeared and now its basically a blank screen with the Garmin Logo like you correctly guessed.
I made a video (mp4/zip) and hope to be more clarifying:
Spoiler: Google-Drive Link
Ok thanks. Let's carry on trying with software attempts until all options are expended. Extract the ZIP file behind the spoiler directly onto a CLEAN card between 2 and 32GB size (formatted either FAT16 or FAT32), to show Garmin folder and 14.bin. Insert it into the fully OFF device and then power it on, it should show "Loader/Software Loading" or similar message on the screen. Once it finishes (you'll know as it'll either freeze on logo screen or it'll start bootlooping again, hopefully the former), remove the card and post the contents of the newly created update.log file contained in Garmin\Updater\1364 folder.Spoiler: Click
The 14.bin is a cure however i'm suspecting that it's already been loaded during previous attempts hence the change in logo screen you've reported.