Quote Originally Posted by askelly View Post
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1) loaded quickcure3 (disguised as 097201000630.rgn) and was able to 'see' the garmin in device manager identified as a Garmin device and 'working properly'. But could not find it within File Explorer to be able to actually look at the file structure. It did not show up anywhere and after 15s or so, device manager would disconnect it anyway...
Not good. QC3 hasn't done anything at all if it appears in Device Manager but not subsequently in Explorer or at least in Disk Management. The nuvi is still in preboot mode when it's showing in Device Manager, if cure fw was genuinely flashed it would show in Explorer/Disk Management. Did you check if it's shown in Disk Management but without a drive letter allocated?. Without a drive letter Explorer doesn't show it until you manually allocate one to it in Disk Management. But i doubt it's only a case of an unallocated drive letter, it seems the intended flashing is not working at all.

2) I also tried the file you attached (the cure3 tailored 0972 firmware). Started off promising - thought I had it but... after it appears to update successfully, then it says "Erasing.... (this may take a few minutes)" and I get the unable to program the requested memory region error...
That message is not good also. You didn't say whether the error also appeared when you used QuickCure but i'm assuming it didn't and only appears when using full Cure fw, right?

The device actually says on its screen 'software loading', then it flashes white, and I see the Updated error about unable to program memory region.
Again, not good and not the expected device behavior after 'loading software' goes off the device screen.

.... At that point the device is still recognized in device manager. It doesn't disconnect until after I get the error message about Erasing.
It certainly should show in Device Manager when it's in preboot mode and disappear after the flash is finished (whether that's successful or with error). At the same time its details will disappear from Updater's GUI too. However if the flash was successful, it should then have Mass Storage Mode enabled and show in Explorer/Disk Management as said above.

So is the Erasing message because of a failed write of the firmware and it backing out? It indicated that the write was successful, it's like it is the erasing (of what?) that fails..
Those messages in the order you state are conflicting and not typical or expected. It's erasing the main firmware region 14, or trying to do so but failing. We'll try to erase/re-write another way with SD text commands but that may not be possible either if there's indeed flash damage which involves sensitive regions.

Edit: I removed the SD card before I did any of this - does that make any difference?
Best not to have a card inserted while using Updater.exe unless it's for running text commands from an SD card which we'll try later.

Edit: In GarminCure3 - after I make the 'firmware' file (set on CURE), there is a temp folder made which houses the new rgn file made. My understanding is that the new rgn file must be located in the directory with the Updater software (so it can find the file). I copied the new rgn file to the folder that houses the Updater software but the Updater software gives me an error saying it can't run when i press the Updater button But it still creates the rgn file. So... I run Updater (as administrator) from the folder.
You can run Updater.exe by dragging and dropping the RGN onto it. That way there's no problem of Updater having to 'find' the RGN file. Using Cure3.exe as Admin may cause some issues however once you locate the created RGN in the temp folder it's best to simply drag it onto Updater.exe which eliminates any likely buggy behavior possible when using Updater within Cure3's GUI.

I know that the cure RGN in the kit i posted works properly as i successfully tested it. Also the copy of Updater.exe i included is the latest official version. If you're getting the same errors with both my RGN in the kit and the cure RGN you made we can safely rule any file error out of contention.

Before we try more fixes please answer the 2 queries in bold.