Thread: New GPS - how to use old maps off of SD Card

Buy the Map if you really need it.
It's dangerous to patch a unit that is still under warranty. For that matter it is dangerous to patch any unit.
I sit @ the moment with 2 bricks.
You can also use free maps from here [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

I agreed with dasilvarsa, patching map .img is relatively safe but patching firmware is risky. If you like/use your new unit a lot, you need to invest in maps for it. If you can't afford to pay for maps update, get a unit with LTM. You pay little more at front, but the maps are free afterward (assuming you can get Garmin silly updater to work)

Originally Posted by Butters

Guys, I respectfully disagree with that. Garmin will replace a bricked device under warranty immediately. They don't raise questions unless you are silly enough to say you've been mucking around with it's firmware which does of course void the warranty.

Well, I'm the first to say that I'm no "angel" but isn't that deceptive/immoral action? It's like buying an item, and you FUBAR it when Garmin warns you before hand not to do it and then sending it back to get it fixed for free (this of course if it's still under warranty) I can see it now, a bunch of new model of Garmin unit arrive in tech support/repair group. They investigate and found firmware was bogus. They started looking around in forum and found out why. Then of course the consequences follows.

Originally Posted by Butters

If you do 'patch' a map, i.e. unlock an img file, then having it on the device might in fact cause a problem should it get sent back to Garmin under warranty or not.

Interesting, I'm not surprise that Garmin might have a counter-cracked security check or something got corrupted and your unit FUBAR because of a bad .img
But never seen one posting of that problem.

Originally Posted by Butters

Do you mean Garmin MapUpdater? It's only been left available to service older LM devices that don't have a visible file system (the region-only types without MSM). It usually won't supply the most recent maps to modern LM device but GarminExpress will. Although GarminExpress started off as a flaky bit of , it's now been refined to the point where it's quite usable and reliable but initially I reckon they released it as a deep Alpha version, at the time I had less bugs around my back porch light. In proportion, it did brick far more devices early on than Big-Bang's firmware patcher or any other unofficial manipulation ever did, although to be fair many were 'bricked' because ppl got frustrated with GE and unsafely disconnected devices while they were being updated which resulted in corrupt files, i.e. very easy to 'de-brick'.

Whatever that was needed to do a map update for nuvi765 LM; I remembered going through a lot of pain trying to do it on WinXP and finally gave up.

Originally Posted by Butters

In short: Bricking by a corrupt file (usually .img or .gpi or .vpm) is super-easy to fix. Bricking by an incorrect or corrupt 'system software' flashed to rgn14 is very easy to fix usually. Bricking by a wrong boot.bin/Ldr.bin can be permanent and literally result in a 'brick' (but not always).

Excellent info/tips. Need to be in future FAQ.

It's not the "omission" that I'm talking about. It's knowing the consequence but still doing it. Then using a policy made for quality control to fix a problem that ones had caused. While I have not worked at Garmin (I was asked by in-law just the other day if I wanted to; I said, hell no.) But I do know how support groups work (for a different product line) A "defective" item is received, it is checked (and not just blindly fixed/replaced) for the reason of the problem (because they keep track of this info). Then it is fixed or replaced (not necessary with the same original device.) Later, another group (usually Quality control) looks at the data (of the defective product if any) and if they find a reason to, they will request an investigation (then it's not hard to know that it's a hacked firmware) Company often don't ask question before replacing (if within the warranty period) because they don't want to burden the owner of the product. This doesn't mean they don't investigate why the problem exists by looking at the defective product afterward.
I believe what you are saying is investigate before replaced and what I'm saying is post mortem investigation.

I wasn't specifically referring to Garmin finding the bad .img, but whether anyone has a unit "broken" because of a bad .img (I didn't see any posts on that in the forum) Not trying to be difficult, I'm just curious.

Who knows if it's LifetimeUpdater or not. It was just a real bad experience that I just wanted to forget

Actually, I don't fully understand the "mumbo-jumbo" myself sometimes; I'm good a depth knowledge, but you seem to be good at breath knowledge. Remember, most people looking for answer are user of a (singular) product not someone who work with (or have accessed to) many different products. The problem is that even if they learned how to do it, they don't often do it enough to remember what they did if the problem occurred again. If I stop working on my codes for a couple of months, I will have a hard time understanding what I did and has to spend time familiarizing myself.

I do have a question: You mentioned when a unit "bricked" it goes into preboot mode. I thought (from what I read) you have to press certain region of the screen for a specific amount of time (or plug/unplug USB connection at right time) depending on what device it is. Not a trivial thing to do or remembered.
Another question: I had to charge nuvi760 and nuvi200 with USB cable, why can't I turn the units off while it's charging?

Dealing with your second para first: It's actually quite common to find devices bricked because of a bad map. The logo splash screen stuck on 'Loading Maps' message is an indication of a faulty img file that cannot successfully load. If the img is on a card then removing the card lets the device boot normally. Otherwise it has to be 'cured', by loading a modified firmware like kunix's Cure3/QuickCure firmware or one that's individually made by modding it in hex editor to change .img to .xmg; .gpi to .xpi; etc. to bypass loading them. That allows the device to be browsed in MSM but it still won't boot of course with Cure3/QuickCure loaded. The offending file(s) can then be deleted, or the internal file system gets properly reformatted if necessary. For the device to then be able to boot normally the original firmware is loaded along with only 'known good' files. That process by definition will technically void the warranty also but it's done regularly by knowledgeable users all the time rather than suffer returning a device to Garmin for warranty replacement. So what Garmin loses on the merry-go-round they likely more than pick up on the hurdy-girdy. I've personally saved them from numerous warranty claims by curing devices and I've never once sent back a device bricked thru my own fault. They are quite likely aware that a percentage of warranty claims are caused by user mis-adventure via clumsy firmware manipulation however may also be aware of efforts by more skilled users to save them other claims.

Back to the 'moral' question of not disclosing that a device was bricked by clumsy firmware modding, I think we're on the same page or at least on adjoining ones in theory. Also you're correct that they'll look after the event but I believe only if there's a strong suspicion about the cause. My point too is if they don't ask for all the details upfront it's probably because they are prepared to accept a small percentage of 'fake' claims, much like an insurance company will because it's not commercially viable to chase down the dud claims as to do so thoroughly they'd need to investigate all claims and that's costly. What I think Garmin and other large firms do is look for repeated faults in the same or related products. If they have a systemic problem they want to move quickly to sort that out. Every now and again they'll accidentally release a faulty firmware version which might make devices misbehave or even freeze. When they identify that they'll remove the bad firmware from their servers and issue a replacement. You can see that's likely happened by viewing Change Logs, when a jump in firmware versions shows e.g. say V3.50 is issued but is quickly replaced by V3.60, the history then shows 3.40 followed by 3.60 and all reference to 3.50 disappears quietly. Just as quietly they'll replace or fix the problem devices with 3.50 on-board, no big fanfare at all in fact not even a public announcement or apology usually.

I do have a question: You mentioned when a unit "bricked" it goes into preboot mode. I thought (from what I read) you have to press certain region of the screen for a specific amount of time (or plug/unplug USB connection at right time) depending on what device it is. Not a trivial thing to do or remembered.

No, what i said was only in regard to a device which shows 'System Software Missing' and it's an indication that a wrong or corrupt firmware has been flashed to region 14 (the main system software which is fw_all.bin component of a firmware file). The device will then usually default to preboot mode by design. In any other case, such as stuck on logo because of a bad file not loading, you need to get it into Mass Storage Mode and firstly need to load cure firmware to attain that. To load the cure firmware you need preboot and that won't be defaulted to (other than in very old 'region-only' devices which don't use MSM) so you have to hold the screen in the proper place while turning on. Your 760 would have been a b*tch to get into and hold preboot, the position to hold the screen is different to most and they stay in preboot for only about 10 seconds then move to the white calibration screen if a flash isn't commenced. Fortunately if not bricked they can enter preboot by holding the battery symbol for ~6 secs to access a hidden menu with 'SW Ver' as the first page. In that state preboot not MSM is the default connection mode for all 7 and 2 series and many others like 1xxx etc. and it's held perpetually while the device has charge. If then connected to PC it shows only in Device Manager under 'GARMIN Devices' and is seen by Updater.exe normally.

Another question: I had to charge nuvi760 and nuvi200 with USB cable, why can't I turn the units off while it's charging?

You mean connect it to a PC with a data cable to charge? In that way it's connected in MSM with the PC tower symbol showing as well as being charged. You can force it off by holding the power slide to the left for ~10 secs but it'll turn right back on so it's effectively a restart. If you use a charging-only cable with no data wires it may try to go to MSM briefly then boot up normally. There are ways to make a USB cable that acts like a Garmin car charger. A couple of threads for you (you're welcome :
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