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

Mate, you owe us nothing. We like to try to help ppl, most of us got help here originally ourselves. Our payment is simply having our efforts appreciated. You clearly appreciate the attempts, even when we are just fumbling around in the dark like i am with this problem of yours. I'm hoping others with more software moxie than myself can join in to help.

Your theory that the place to press for preboot may have changed is interesting, and i wouldn't wish to discourage you from trying all over the screen. However, even if it is now in a different spot, i don't think it will be for the reason you've hypothesized. The logo/splash screen normally seen on starting is from a PNG contained in rgn16. Both the units' PNG images have picture size 800 x 480 pixels and are identical. The 5" 3597 has proportionally better resolution than the 7" 2797 is all. Not only are the images themselves identical but so are the 16.bin dumps from 3597 and 2797, and by that i mean not only identical in size (3,145,728 bytes) but also their hashes match [MD5 70B10413696B99E0617AD78F7E289FF5]. So the logo image is not the source of the white line problem at all and nor is it responsible for denying preboot, sorry. Even a unit that has no logo image in rgn16 will still enter preboot in the usual way.

I'd keep trying over and over to reach preboot as you're doing, especially in the top LH corner, but note that just unplugging/replugging the usb won't work. The unit needs to be fully OFF each time you try. If you can see the bootloop's happening in a regular cycle you may be able to time your attempts in synch with that by holding the screen after it turns off and before it starts again but i've never tried that so don't know if it will work. I've always forced a bootlooping unit fully off by holding the power button and then re-powered it by plugging in the usb while re-pressing the screen.

Originally Posted by teenwolf

........
3) Symptoms: what's wrong in your device?..I cannot put it in mass storage when open the volume icon and press on the top right corner of the screen nothing happens i cannot configuer the mass storage to get
SYS. folder.

That does nothing in nuvi 30/40/50 even if device is not bricked. It's used in other series like 3xxxx as alternate way to enter diagnostic menu and choose between Mass Storage [MSM] and Media Transfer Protocol [MTP]. That choice isn't available in x0 which doesn't use MTP and anyway the hidden menu can't be reached in ANY bricked device because by definition they cannot start up to show any screen other than maybe the logo start screen continuously. Ergo, your device isn't bricked because it can start.

4) Does your pc sees your device ?..it does not see my device at all....but i can use updater.exe to flash the software by holding the left screen upper corner.Device Manager, Garmin Express, or the Garmin website
plugin cant see my device.

5) List all the procedures you already tried to unbrick it and their results and errors messages obtained ...I tried all the procedures in the form..non work.

6) Do you have Garmin USB Drivers installed ? yes.

7) Write down if you already read or tried GarminCure3 tool - the new way to create cure firmwares for Garmin devices
....yes I tryed this method..my computer see my device for a second then disapears

What i've shown in red of your info is contradictory, i now assuming in the following that the second info is correct:
1. If you've successfully loaded Cure firmware then the device should not not boot but remain stuck on the Logo screen.
2. If your PC sees it even for a second as you say then it CAN reach MSM.

So, it's was not bricked and didn't need curing. If it's stuck on the logo screen load the original firmware back, but if it still boots then you didn't flash Cure fw at all. Before you do anything further try to reset it or preferably clear nonvol if you haven't already done so. Back up favourites first if you wish to restore [but be aware that maybe is where the problem exists] as all user data will be deleted. [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] and [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]. If still no MSM proceed as follows:

If you haven't tried the following, do them now in this order:
1. Reload the latest [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] and then try a different USB cable, try several in fact.
2. Use another usb port on the PC, not via a hub and preferably a REAR port.
3. Check in Disk Management on the PC that it's being allocated a drive letter. If it's not add one manually.
4. Check if it's being seen in PC's Device Manager as 'Garmin Device .....' under Disk Drives.
5. Try another PC, old one running XP if possible.

Report results if you need further help.

Hi Neil

Thanks for the info.

1) I tried all what was described above..still the computer dose not see my device and I cannot reach MSM...i tried Nuvi 67 its working fine on my computer.

2) when I load the cure firmware on my Nuvi 52 the logo comes on and off and the drive shows on my computer for a second then goes off and continues like that.

3) I can flash the original firmware back by the use of updater.exe and the device works fine, but again..when i connect it to my computer..nothing happens..no drive shown and i cannot reach MSM as if the device
is not there andit is not recognized by GarminExpress.

I think most propably its a hardware problem.

thank you for your help.

nuvi 5x seem to have a problem like 14xx where the USB socket connections to the MO are prone to fail. Try taping the cable to the rear of the case to put some slight upwards pressure on the usb plug and see if the connection to the PC becomes stable. I have a 1490 like that, regardless many updates can be done using txt commands from sd.

Originally Posted by Neil

nuvi 5x seem to have a problem like 14xx where the USB socket connections to the MO are prone to fail. Try taping the cable to the rear of the case to put some slight upwards pressure on the usb plug and see if the connection to the PC becomes stable.

A more permanent but still easy to realise solution could look like this:

Spoiler: image

Before giving up try every USB cable you have