IMPORTANT! If you want HELP in case of a bricked Garmin device, please follow this

Good afternoon, hope you can help me and avoid buying a new unit...

1) Bricked device GARMIN DRIVE 61 LMT-S , Firmware version 6.00 , ID 3963XXXXXX

2) Why and how the device got bricked.
After leaving the car for a service for a couple of weeks (I noticed the car battery had been disconnected as the dashboard clock was reset). I have the GPS permanently mounted in the car.

3) Symptoms: what's wrong in your device?
When connected to external power the GARMIN logo appears during 4-5 seconds, the unit turns off, reboots and the same process again and again.... If only with battery, after pressing the power button the logo appears during 4-5 seconds and the unit turns off.

4) Does your pc sees your device ?
No, except sometimes if I search device with Webupdater. Explained below.

5) List all the procedures you already tried to unbrick it and their results and errors messages obtained.
Tried to hold power button pressed for a minute or so.
Tried to connect to Garmin Express with no luck
Tried to force a reset by pressing power button + screen right lower corner. It appears the word System scrolling downwars above the logo and after a few seconds it gets "frozen". Sometimes the word Loading appears, but then the unit turns off.
Tried to connect to Webupdater and sometimes detects the unit if i search for device just when the powering on with the previous method and the word System is scrolling. If detects the unit and "allows" to reload the same version of the software but it gets stucked (I guess that it has only communication with the device for a very brief time).


6) Do you have Garmin USB Drivers installed ? Garmin: USB Drivers Updates & Downloads
Yes

7) If you don't know HWID get it by Use program G7ToWin to retrieve your HWID
It does not detect the unit.

8) Write down if you already read or tried GarminCure3 tool - the new way to create cure firmwares for Garmin devices How to unbrick a nüvi - step by step guide
Yes, but Updater does not detect the unit.


9) Can you reach preboot mode? If no ,have you followed this? Garmin devices preboot mode
Yes, with no luck as explained above.


10) Probably no , but do you have NV backup?
No

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Originally Posted by acarper [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

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Tried to force a reset by pressing power button + screen right lower corner. It appears the word System scrolling downwars above the logo and after a few seconds it gets "frozen". Sometimes the word Loading appears, but then the unit turns off.
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That's indicating it's attained preboot mode. Updater.exe should detect it but you must be very quick to load Cure fw because these modern devices retain preboot only for a matter of seconds. Once it exits preboot mode it becomes 'bricked' again. Try this:
1. Load Cure fw (either full GarminCure3 or QuickCure3) to Updater.exe, select the radio button next to "USB Device" and leave the GUI visible on your desktop.
2. Plug a USB cable into a rear port of the PC. With the device fully OFF, hold the screen and power it on by plugging the miniUSB plug into the device.
3. Immediately you see the device detail populate the window to the right of "USB Device" click "OK" on Updater or hit the Enter key on your keyboard. Don't hesitate or it will drop preboot. Don't release the screen until Updater finishes.
4. If Updater completes and reports success then don't disconnect from PC, the device should become visible as a Mass Storage device allowing you to properly format it. Try to get a backup of existing files first however.

Let's know how you go.

Thank you very much for your prompt reply.

I was able to load a Cure fw with GarminCure3 following your instructions. It was not easy as I had to try many times until Updater discovered the USB Device and loaded the firmware.

Then I could see the device as a disc unit in the PC. As I could access to all directories and there was not any sympton of corruption, I preferred not to modify anything.

Also, when the device booted with the Cure firmware, Garmin Express detected the device and asked if I wanted to update maps. I went through this process with no problem.

Finally, I created an original firmware with GarminCure3 and uploaded with Updater. It took again a lot of attemps until it was able to get the device detected but finally I could load the original firmare and .... IT WORKED!!!!

So, thank you very much for your valuable help and hope this post can help anybody with a similar problem.

Then for sure the previous detail map file was corrupt and therefore causing the device to shut down when it got to "Loading Maps" in the boot cycle. By enabling MSM which GarminExpress uses exclusively (many earlier softwares such as WebUpdater and MapInstall use Garmin Mode) you've been able to overwrite the faulty map. Sometimes there may be a small corruption in the data inside a map IMG file which doesn't cause a problem immediately but the device will be 'soft-bricked' by that at some later time.

And yes, perseverance is key to getting a modern device to flash using Updater. You need to be very fast but once the flash is initiated the device will hold preboot. Miss the window of opportunity by a fraction of a second and you have to start again. I had one stubborn bricked device which took dozens of tries to flash.

1) garmin nuvi 44LM device, version 4.0, HWID 1613
2) I formatted the device without knowing what to do :bătaie:
3) lights up, but stays locked with the Garmin logo
4) the pc_ does not recognize it only if you press and hold the on button and the screen in the upper left for only 10 seconds and then it disappears
5) I installed garmin usb drivers. I downloaded Garmin Express, garmincure3, Webupdater
Will he take his life again if he is at this stage?:bătaie:

@nickus
Welcome to GPS Power.

This should be an easy fix, it's just a matter of getting the device to be recognized by a PC so that you can re-format it correctly. You may have formatted it in NTFS or in a form of FAT32 that Garmin operating system doesn't like. First step is to load cure firmware to it so that it can again have Mass Storage Mode (MSM) available. It's not suitably visible in it's current condition, i.e. when you hold the screen in the upper left corner and power it on it starts up in preboot mode (Garmin mode) not in MSM so although it's being recognized by the PC it's not seen by Windows Explorer, only seen and recognized in Device Manager. There's very little you can do with it in that mode which is why we need MSM to deal with this. Your next moves:

• Go back to the [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] and follow kunix's directions to make the specific cure firmware for it or preferably just use his universal "QuickCure" which should work for you (see base of his initial post).
• Once you have MSM again then use RMPrepUSB with the recommended settings to properly format it.
• Reload latest original firmware, device should now boot.
• Connect it to GarminExpress (GE) so you can load most missing files and detail map entitlement.
• GE won't give you a basemap so get V5.01 from [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] and load it into the device's hidden .System folder named only as gmapbmap.img. Read [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] how to make .System visible.

If unsure of anything post again for clarification.

first of all I want to thank you for the quick response I received.

With your help I managed to revive the garminul.:classic: Thank you for that !!!!!!! .....:kiss1::good::good2:
please guide me to put the maps, if I have just started !!
my respect for everything you do!:bere:

My question is: at the moment when I brought a device can I upload any map?

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Originally Posted by nickus [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

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please guide me to put the maps, if I have just started .....

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If you connect it to GarminExpress it should offer to re-install the latest version of the detail map (main navigation map) to which the device is entitled. Also accept all other files offered by GE which you want to use (Voices, Vehicles etc.). Look again at my post above for how to get the necessary basemap (you'll have problems navigating without one installed and GE won't offer it to you so it must be done manually).

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My question is: at the moment when I brought a device can I upload any map?

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I'm unsure what you're asking there. If you mean can it use mapping for other areas outside it's OEM entitlement the answer is yes provided they are either legally purchased from Garmin or are unlocked. Your device doesn't have MSV/GSV protection in its firmware. If you're asking something else post again clarifying.

Can you tell me how can I delete the files from System volume information? (I mistakenly copied them here and it takes up a lot of space, more precisely I downloaded maps and it occupies about 4 GB). Another question: where can I download another language for the device?
Question: I can change the language at the menu interface (in settings I only have English)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nickus [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

Can you tell me how can I delete the files from System volume information? (I mistakenly copied them here and it takes up a lot of space, more precisely I downloaded maps and it occupies about 4 GB).

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If you can see .System (see previous Post #149, last point) you can easily delete any unwanted .img files.

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Another question: where can I download another language for the device?
Question: I can change the language at the menu interface (in settings I only have English)

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That's because you haven't accepted the required Voices offered by GarminExpress. Without the relevant .vpm files you will only have the default EN voice. Connect to GE again after re-reading my post #151. i.e., this: "Also accept all other files offered by GE which you want to use (Voices, Vehicles etc.)". Once you have the required Voice file you can select it in settings.