Quote Originally Posted by GerryK View Post
1) Bricked device MODEL, Firmware version, HWID.

Garmin DriveSmart 50 LMT-D unit is s/n 4ff020111 made in Taiwan .
I think the internal pcb is s/n 01A01Q368L22202,
Firmware ver unknown,
HWID not known and not accessible via USB and pre-boot.
The fact that it's model is Suffixed with "LMT-D" indicates to me that it's a UK or EU localized device with DAB+ traffic capabilities. As far as i know the "LMT-D" was only used for the UK/EU marketed devices however all Western devices (US/EU/AU etc) have the same HWID for Drive/DriveSmart 40/50 series and therefore it should be HWID 2267. I respectfully disagree with the implied absoluteness of your statement that it's "not accessible via USB and preboot", more on that later.

3) Symptoms: what's wrong in your device?

Wont boot
More info please, e.g.: (When powered) Does it stick on the 'Garmin' splash screen? Does it briefly show the splash screen then shut off completely? Does it constantly boot-loop, i.e. blank screen to splash screen unilaterally?

4) Does your pc see your device ?

No, it sees a small activity during 'system' stage
Specify this 'small activity' please.
By " 'system' stage " do you mean the word 'system' shows on the screen briefly while attempting to connect in preboot?

5.3) My laptop does not recognize it via usb.
This seemingly conflicts with what you stated about 'small activity' above and later in your post about your laptop giving 'bleep' recognition. I guess you mean that it's not seen in Device Manager where it should show as "GARMIN Device" even briefly if it does connect in preboot mode.

5.4) Powering on and pressing above the G for Garmin I do get into 'system' and then 'loading' modes.
That's preboot being accessed. In modern devices that's available only for mere seconds. More on that below.

But nothing loads.
The device eventually powers off.
Does it show anything else on the screen before leaving 'Loader' message then powering off? Like a calibration screen with white dots and a grid?

When the device is in 'system' mode i notice my Win 10 laptop bleeps to say it did recognize some usb port activity however it never registers as a connection
on the laptop 'device manager' usb ports list.
Look in the alphabetic list for "GARMIN Device" when you hear the Windows connect tone, albeit briefly.

7) If you don't know HWID get it by Use program G7ToWin to retrieve your HWID

I don’t know it
I cannot get it as Pre-Boot does not complete and usb port is not recognized on win10 laptop.
If it is showing in Device Manager briefly as "GARMIN Device", it will also show in G7ToWin but will be held in preboot once G7ToWin properly recognizes it and exchanges data packets with it. Similarly to it being held in Updater.exe only after a flash is initiated.

8) Write down if you already read or tried GarminCure3 tool - the new way to create cure firmware for Garmin devices
How to unbrick a nüvi - step by step guide

Yes I read it .
My understanding is I need to have a successful Pre-Boot and I don’t !!!
Maybe you do, it's just a very brief preboot connection however.

My guess is there is some sort of flash/prom/ram which has a bootstrap , accessed via the 'loader' which has gone bad/inaccessible.
Of course, some hardware failure might have happened too . But I checked the pcb under a microscope and could not find any bad joints, smells,
hot components, damaged looking components etc . I did clean the pcb a little as there were a few small solder splashes. But this did not help.
It may be a hardware failure, most likely a faulty flash chip to display that kind of behavior however it's much more likely to be a software bricking. That opinion is because simply the coincidence of your friend updating with GarminExpress and simultaneously having a hardware failure is unlikely. Therefore it's far more likely to be a 'soft' than a 'hard' bricking so let's run that to ground first.

I also tried remove and re seat the screen/digitizer ribbon cable, but this did not help.
Unsurprising as it already had output to the screen.

I am a worldwide electronic and software tech SupportLine eng so understand the value of this feedback
If the onboard loader is corrupt i wonder is there any way to load it via some software bootstrap on an sd card ?
or any other advice other than give up the chase and buy a replacement device.
Yes, there is a way to attempt loading from a card. However if indeed preboot isn't available then it's most unlikely text commands will be read on a card because the boot needs to proceed further than the splash screen to read from a card. Updater.exe flashing cure fw using preboot is what we need to do here (trust me on that).

I appreciate that you are very skilled in electronics and software generally, however Garmin stuff is unique and while 'a little knowledge is a dangerous thing' in the world of electronics generally, it's essential to have some insight into Garmin's little tricks which attempt to keep us mere-mortals out of their 'closed-shop' world. Preboot mode is not meant to be used by outsiders, so they've made it harder and harder over the years to access preboot and then to have it available long enough to initiate a flash from Updater.exe. What started as 30 to 60 seconds availability with earlier mass-storage devices has reduced to a few seconds. When you see 'Loader' on the screen it's in preboot, when that disappears it's dropped preboot. If you see "GARMIN Device" listed in Device Manager it's available to flash but ONLY for those brief seconds.

So, on the fairly-safe assumption that the device has HWID of 2267, please download "DriveandDriveSmart40_50_590.gcd" from the link below:
Code:
Please Login or Register to see the links
Then make the Cure fw as detailed in the [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]. GarminCure3 will auto name it "226701000590.rgn", that's a safe-naming so please do not change it. Updater.exe queries the device as to it's actual HWID and then compares it to the file name of the RGN. If there's disagreement it will report "No updates available for your device". If the HWIDs match it will start the flash automatically. Changing the file name even by removing one of the zeros will direct Updater.exe to skip that step of matching the HWIDs.

Post with more information if you're still unable to flash Cure fw.