How to backup Nuvi NV (region41) with sd

Catymag,

I want to upgrade fw from 5.8 to 6.2 on my nuvi 1300, but the flash process goes into a flash-reboot infinite loop.
Neil recommended a backup then a hard reset. I'm having difficulty. (BTW does a hard reset always make a restore from backup necessary, or is this a precaution? I read a hard reset destroys all the personal data. I have backed up all the files on my nuvi onto my laptop. Will I have to copy all of it back onto the nuvi after the reset so I still have my address book?) Anyway, here's where I'm at so far.

1) I have an extra SD card, but is not empty. Does this matter. It has plenty of room. Anyway, I created a Garmin directory.
2) Inside Garmin I created another directory Updater. So far so good
3) Problem 1: I run linux and can only read my nuvi 1300 as a mass storage device on USB.
I have virtual box running xp, but it neither
connects to the web nor can RGN_tool read hwid. The usb drivers from Garmin won't install in my virtualbox xp either.
The part no from the GarminDevice.xml is 006-B0972-00.
This is not a 4 character string. How can I get the hwid for the name of the folder?
4) Problem 2: When I open the nuvi in RGN_tool, the best I can do is open the 4 .GCD files (one at a time)
in the RemoteSW folder of .System
Each comes up as external_data.bin. I can't find any other files that RGN_tool recognizes, so I can't find boot.bin
So I've read this entire thread and I saw I need GUPDATE.GCD. I run version 5.8 but do not have such a file on my nuvi.
I could grab the one off the nuvi fw thread as it has all the different versions. But how does that help, since it is registers
in my nuvi we want to grab. Why would backup be needed if we can just download the fw anytime and use it.

So I'm stuck on steps 3 and 4. Please help me get over these hurdles. I'm sure I'll have more in steps 5 and 6 if I ever get there.

1. Find a PC running Win XP OS or later [forget using Linux even with a Win VM].

2. Extract this onto a CLEAN microSD [i.e. empty]: [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]. It's made with v5.8 boot bin as ldr.bin, so it will work with your flakey 1300 [first double-check that it is definitely the non-MTK chip HWID 0972 - open the GarminDevice.xml from the unit's Garmin folder and look for <PartNumber>006-B0972-00</PartNumber> towards the start to confirm].

3. Insert the card into your nuvi 1300 and turn it on, then wait until it reboots before removing the card.

4. Check that you have 41.bin in the Garmin folder of the card and that it's not zero bytes [it should be 4096KB].

5. Copy the entire card contents to a safe place.

You only need to restore your favourites and any other personal data. Everything else with be unaffected after hard reset/clear non-vol.

Neil,

Thank you so much. Your solution worked like a charm. Backup went smoothly. Your suggestion about the clean SD card is spot on. It turns out all my trouble in flashing 6.2 was because I had a Map folder and/or other nuvi related folders/content on the same SD as the gupdate. As an experiment, I renamed all the folders by appending extra characters and making them inert to the nuvi. Then, before I reset anything, I tried the flashing with gupdate all alone in the Garmin folder. It worked beautifully. So my problem is solved. Thank you again for your help.

Hey Neil, it's me again ;D...Got a question for you, does it matter or make any differences if I use the "http://download.garmin.com/software/nuvi34xx_GCDFile__820.gcd" to do the backup instead of my 3490's "GUPDATE.GCD?" Any pros or cons to either one?

G'day. Best practice is to always use the firmware version which is running on your unit at the time to extract the boot.bin [ldr.bin]. If your current fw is v8.20 then the gupdate.gcd in .System folder will be exactly the same file as 'nuvi34xx_GCDFile__820.gcd' and so either can be used. Compare the hashes and/or file size in bytes [77,757,239 bytes].

Cool! Yep! Everything went smoothly! I'm going to do a backup on my Nuvi 50LM too now ;) Thanks again Neil!

Hi to everyone!
I have 3490 and I tried to backup Region 41 acording to the instructions, but something happend and now when I stars the nuvi screen lights but there is no logo on it and I can`t see it on PC. When I press the upper left corner it goes into preboot mode but updater can`t see it and I can`t use Cure3 tool.
Can you give me som advise or help?

Upload your pack that you use for backup region, so we can see what go wrong.

There is no pack. When I backup the region 41 the unit shuts down and there was nothing on the screen for more than 15 minutes.I tried to switch on bt it can`t I desided that it is bricked and opened it, disconected the battery and conected it again and after the powered on but there was nothing on the screen.
That`s all. Is it bricked or not?

Sorry but I find what was wrong. ldr.bin was for 3790 and not for 3490. Maybe i bricked it. Can I do something or not?