Thread: Drivesmart 60 doesn't get satellite lock

@Sparkydude
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]. The second method in that post (for nuvi 2xxx/3xxx) is applicable to your DriveSmart. Clearing nonvol is more comprehensive than a reset and will clear out irrelevant and possibly corrupt data from the non-vol region of the device's flash memory which may be confusing the device. Leave it outside with a clear view of the sky for to up to 20 or 30 minutes as it needs to completely rebuild the satellite data.

Thanks for the help & ideas. It has been updated a couple of times now, through Express, and on different computers, and the time is still off by about 7 hours and 10 minutes. There's no World Clock app on this unit, so I have no idea what it thinks the date is, other than the Where I've Been app will only show 11/10/20.

I left it turned on all day today while I slept (night shift worker) and now it thinks it's just outside of Olathe, KS. So not sure why it jumped to there after I changed the xml file to put it at my house in IN earlier this morning

Clear it's non-volatile memory.

I thought that I had tried that before, but realized just now that I had only cleared user data while in the diagnostic menu. After clearing the nonvolatile memory, it has put its location back to my house, but the no lock/time issue still persists.

A few weeks ago, I put it on a battery pack and left it in the middle of my hay field (absolutely no overhead obstructions) for over 3 hours and it never obtained satellite lock. Occasionally it would show that it was receiving a signal from 1 or 2 satellites, but never updated its clock or position.

At one time it was there because it keeps the last location after you shut it off and do not use it till you get back home.

He bought the unit brand new and has only used it locally around IN and on a trip to the Smokies. So the farthest south it has physically been is Great Smokey Mountain National Park, TN and over into Cherokee, NC. He didn't get to take any more trips due to the Covid pandemic, so it was completely dead after not being hooked to power for well over a year and probably closer to 2 years. I'm not sure if these units have an RTC battery that died, but I'll probably open it up to see. Maybe letting it die completely will reset the clock & maybe, if it restarts the clock at midnight, I can power it up then & get the clock correct. Still no idea if there's a way to change the date though.

If that does not work then contact Garmin do not keep trying different things only to brick it.

He contacted Garmin about a week ago and he said they wouldn't repair it and only offered him a discount on a refurbished device since he's out of warranty. So now he says he doesn't care what I do with it. I don't plan on doing anything destructive, but will probably open it up to check connections/corrosion/solder joints, which is stuff I do for my occupation anyway.

Open it and remove the battery connection to the PCB for a while, sometimes 5 minutes is enough to completely drain any residual current but leaving it disconnected overnight is certain. There's no RTC battery like in a PC however just like removing the power from a computer for a while drains the motherboard to fix some boot issues, removing power completely from a Garmin device can cure some weird behaviour in a broader sense.

Opening it up and pulling the battery will definitely be the next step. At one point, last night, I had 3 sats locked for about 20 minutes but the unit still didn't get a position lock or time/date update.