Having touble with my virb being recognized by my computer

Former Member over 11 years ago

Hi everyone....
I just got my Virb basic and am having an issue connecting it to my PC...
Plugging in the virb via USB to the PC, the PC recognizes it and the virb powers up, green light comes on, then the virb powers off....computer of course loses it just as if you had unplugged it from the computer....
I can take the micro SD card out of the virb, put it in its card adapter, plug it in to the PC and it recognizes it and operates as it should...with the virb edit software, I am then able to upload the videos from the memory card.....

It will just not recognize and keep the Virb on power via USB cable when plugged into the computer. I should be able to plug the Virb in and upload the videos without having to take the card out of the unit...

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME OUT WITH A SOLUTION???
THANKS in advance for any help someone could provide...

Oh yeah, if you want to see a video of exactly what mine is doing, please look on youtube for a poster named Brad Herder...his video is Garmin VIRB Connect to PC Problem
This is exactly what mine is doing too....

Thanks, Chris

0 Former Member over 11 years ago

I am sorry to hear you are still having issues with this. I am not sure what might be going on.

The best way would probably be to call product support and see if they can help you out.

0 Factory-fit over 11 years ago

Got it working-but only just

Found the small white button and connect mini USB caused it to turn off after a few seconds, so tried turning on the big 'Record' switch and the PC then recognised the VIRB. Update then went as smoothly as any other Garmin product.

Also 'Setup' is NOT sequential as per the manual by scrolling left/right, but hidden above another menu, and appears apparently at random.

Be a while before I trust it completely, having had Garmin products (Auto GPS, Aviation GPS, Motorcycle GPS) since 1993 this is the first encounter with something not wonderfully user-friendly from them.

My son is casually competent with IT and even he couldn't find setup, it now is appearing after the update, possible flawed original software?

Cheers

Kevin A UK

0 Former Member over 11 years ago

Unreal. Garmin sent me a new unit because they had no idea why it was doing just as described by most of you. I found this thread and decided to shove the mini USB plug into the VIRB as hard as possible. It finally went in all the way and made a click sound when it did. PC now detects VIRB.

WOW!!!!!!!!!

0 Factory-fit over 11 years ago

Suggestion for Garmin?

Had you turned on WiFi, by any chance? That causes the setup menu to disappear, probably indicating the designer's intention that you should set the camera up through a connected WiFi device.

*Good point well made, it was only after a deeper check on the manual that this was found; WiFi off and the setup menu appears but not reliably. In the end the unit locked up and would not Master Reset so was replaced on advice Garmin UK, second unit is very smooth so far and reliably goes into setup now, although I lost some wonderful footage above cloud when the Android app froze the camera and it had to be powered down for reboot.

A suggestion for Garmin; some devices are fixed or updated by downloading a file, loading it onto the micro SD card and then going into a setup routine on the gadget itself; my Panasonic Camera is like this IIRC. If an owner is going nuts trying to connect and thus cannot get hold of a firmware update, could it be setup so the required update files are made available for download and installation via the card even if PC connection isn't available?

Just a thought

Kev A, UK

0 atlas_cached over 11 years ago

A suggestion for Garmin; some devices are fixed or updated by downloading a file, loading it onto the micro SD card and then going into a setup routine on the gadget itself; my Panasonic Camera is like this IIRC. If an owner is going nuts trying to connect and thus cannot get hold of a firmware update, could it be setup so the required update files are made available for download and installation via the card even if PC connection isn't available?

Just a thought

Kev A, UK

GCD Update

0 Former Member over 11 years ago

Not trying to hijack the tread, but wanted to follow up for anyone who was having trouble with their Virb. My issue turned out to be a non-issue--I apparently had an extremely stiff port/cord combo and I wasn't getting the USB mini end fully into the plug on the Virb. Once I got the cord all the way in, it started working fine :p

I feel like an idiot, but I've honestly never had a cord that took THIS much force to fully insert. I thought it was in as far as it would go before, but I guess not.

Ha!!!!! Guess what.... me too!!!! Don't worry, you're not the only one! ;)

0 HEIDELBIKER over 11 years ago

Just a hint - as I had a similar Problem (Virb not recognized) in Windows 7. The PC has besides Default USB, also some USB Hubs installed - which worked fine for other devices connected. E.g. my EDGE 500 is working and was recognized from the beginning. The VIRB did not Show up at all.

The solution was to go to "Device Manager" and delete the USB devices (at least the ones until the mouse and Keyboard failed to work). Then rebooted the PC. This forced a re-install of Drivers (and seems also to clean up some parts of registry.

After that both Edge and VIRB where properly recognized. The posts look like there are different Problems - with different Solutions. So take it as another way trying to fix the "VIRB not found" connection Problem.

0 fuji_racer over 11 years ago

I have had issues with USB 3 ports in the past, but that does not apply to you. Sounds like you will need to call Garmin and let them troubleshoot for you over the phone.

Is there anything in particular you did for your issue with USB 3 ports?

0 Former Member over 11 years ago

Just had the same problem, was nearly going to send it back.

0 fuji_racer over 11 years ago

Just had the same problem, was nearly going to send it back.

Nearly?
Did you fix it and if so how?
Mine is still messed up / won't work.