Thread: Garmin Oregon 700 Will only boot to GArMIN Screen

G'day Pat.

Unfortunately, that's all indicative of an intermittently failing flash chip. It may eventually 'hard-brick' completely.

When it stalls on the splash screen is there any message displayed or specific print on the lower part of the device screen?

Umm. Is there anything showing just before freezing on the splash screen, e.g. "Loading Maps" or the © information? Has "System Software Missing" message ever showed?

That IOU error is ubiquitous and can mean many things, most are benign and easily corrected, see here:

Code:

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What Garmin doesn't mention in that article is that it can also be caused by physical flash damage or corrupted memory regions on the device itself. My suspicion of an intermittent flash chip problem is heightened by your mention of the Unit ID changing in Updater.exe from "0" to its actual 10 digit number.

You've mentioned removing the GPX and SQL folders so it seems it's still recognised by a PC in File Explorer. Do you have access to Mass Storage Mode when you connect it to the PC even when the device has stalled on the splash screen?

Almost certainly it's a failing flash chip given the described intermittent symptoms but if you want to try a software solution make a complete file and folder backup of it and then reformat with [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]. Place an empty Garmin folder on it and see what happens on the next attempted boot.

There's no solution for a failing flash other than to replace and reprogram it, requiring specialist skills and equipment.

I'm assuming after the format it will request a boot image?
If it fails to boot after reformat, its then bricked isnt it?
................

ah, having looked into it a bit..
Format the device, load a "cured" firmware to enable Mass Storage Mode, followed by running webupdater to re-install the OS

Originally Posted by patjetta

I'm assuming after the format it will request a boot image?

No, that's not how Garmin ARM-type devices work. A re-format only affects one device-dependant region of the flash memory, either 48 or 83, where the visible file system is stored. Regions holding the main system software and other regions (i.e. the firmware, kernel etc.) remain completely unaffected by a re-format. Many Garmin devices will boot with the file system region completely empty provided the system format is correct, some require a Garmin folder on-board at least and a very few might require some other additions. Read kunix's brief explanation under "The typical curing algorithm...." in the initial post here: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]. Powering on a healthy device involves it rewriting the GarminDevice.xml into the Garmin folder (which it may or may not be able to also re-create itself).

If it fails to boot after reformat, its then bricked isnt it?

The only reason for not booting other than a soft-bricking is a potential hard-bricking which is what i'm strongly suspecting. Many eventual hard-brickings are preceded by intermittent adverse behaviour where the device will sometimes boot and sometimes not. Soft-brickings are nearly always consistent where the device will consistently either (i) freeze at the same point on the splash screen during start-up; (ii) spontaneously power itself off; or (iii) continuously boot-loop. It will consistently be one of those 3 things. One the other hand, a bad flash chip may die without warning where the device will be completely unresponsive to power-on attempts, or experience the 'death of a thousand cuts' and act up randomly. It's commonly the latter.

So, long story short, if we eliminate any possibility of there being a file system corruption (either bad file or bad format) it only leaves a hardware problem. Whatever we try is totally at your risk of course regardless.... however i absolutely don't think attempting software solutions can make it worse and if it's gonna die, it's gonna die anyway.

PS: Just seen that you added some info:

Originally Posted by patjetta

........
ah, having looked into it a bit..
Format the device, load a "cured" firmware to enable Mass Storage Mode, followed by running webupdater to re-install the OS

Loading Cure fw enables Mass Storage Mode immediately as it by-passes loading files at boot. If your Oregon exhibits the same problem with cure fw procedure completed it's definitively not a corrupt file or other software/firmware problem. Cure fw can't boot the device, its SOLE purpose is to stall the boot so MSM is re-enabled so bad files can be removed and/or re-format done .... but in your case the device sometimes boots and then has MSM mode anyway.

You're thinking of Garmin devices being like an x86 computer. They're not like that at all. If you format the system drive of a PC you need to re-install the OS. The "OS" of your device is completely separate to the visible file system. You've already re-installed the firmware previously (v6.00 and v5.90) attempting to correct the problem.

hm...
I cant enter the preboot mode for some reason.
Plug the usb in, immediately press and hold the power button
Nothing shows up in updater.
Tried with Garmin Serial and Garmin spanner.
Downgraded to 5.90
No Preboot, just splash screen
sigh..
......................
PS
Loader doesnt load from GarminCure either..
......................
Oh my word..
Updater doesnt load from GarminCure either
Merged posts - please use EDIT function rather than make consecutive posts

You took out the batteries first to ensure it's completely off i assume. Try this:

• Batteries out, no external power source
• Connect the Oregon to a PC computer with a "known-good" USB cable (use only a REAR USB2 port on a desktop with Garmin USB Drivers loaded - avoid a hub, front port or USB3 port)
• Just as it powers up immediately press and hold the power button