Mac/Windows Software

Garmin Express Windows Garmin Express Does Not Recognize SD Card

This discussion has been locked.

You can no longer post new replies to this discussion. If you have a question you can start a new discussion

Garmin Express Does Not Recognize SD Card

Former Member over 8 years ago

Hi all, new to this forum but not to Garmin. For quite awhile now I have been having a problem updating my Nuvi 50. When I plug it in it shows connected and says I have a map update. I tell it to update and it goes to "Preparing Device" for a few minutes. Then it tells me that it needs to be put on an SD card and that I need to install one. There is already one installed and has been for probably over a year now.

If I hook the Nuvi up to my wife's computer with Garmin Express the update goes normal. This indicates to me that it is not the Nuvi but something about MY computer. Possibly a corrupt file or something. I have uninstalled and reinstalled Express a couple of times with REVO uninstall and have done a search for everything containing Garmin and deleted them but still have the problem.

I know I can just continue to update it with my wife's computer but it is driving me crazy on why it won't work on my computer. Any help is appreciated. CC

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

I have the same issue while still using Express 4.2.0

I took out my old 4GB card (which worked on my device but may not have enough space) and transferred everything on it to an empty 16GB card placed into the Nuvi 1300 slot. My PC instantly recognizes the 16 GB card (it also recognized the 4GB card) in my Nuvi 1300 and can read/write to it, but express 4.2.0 does not find the card. Spent many hours trying to troubleshoot but no luck at all. Express tells me that I need to put in a card with at least 3 GB of available space, but of course there is one in there with 12 GB of empty space. It searches for the card and does not find it. Very frustrating. Next time I will consider skipping Garmin products. A glitch like this is a fundamental issue!

0 SUSSAMB over 8 years ago

This could be a number of issues. First check the card is formatted FAT32. It should be but if its not Express won't see it. Second, run Express with your nuvi connected and without the card installed. Only add the card when Express tells you to do so.

I've never had an issue with Express detecting my card over the last couple of years in three separate devices.

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

Trying once more

Now I am reformatting the 16 GB card. It was and will be FAT32. Then I then will treat the card as "new" and wait for Express 4.2.0 to request it and see if that does the trick.

Thank you for replying and will let you know the results.

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

I've tried this with my 3590 device, even reformatting the 16GB SD card - FAT32 - in the device via Windows file manager (which manages to see the card) but still no joy. Obviously a bug somewhere in the Express s/w. Once new maps are installed on the computer and then transferred onto the device and SD card via "Mapinstall" all is well.

Come on Garmin - sort it out!

0 SUSSAMB over 8 years ago

Have you updated Express? There was apparently an issue with some devices that was resolved in v4.2.0

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

Garmin Express 4.2.0.0 issues with 765T

Hi all,

I had very similar issues with a Nuvi 765T in July of this year when updating the maps. Despite the card having been installed in the unit and used for several years without issue, the Garmin Express software would no longer "see" it.

Hopefully the solution below may work for others too and the information may help those trying to troubleshoot.

With my Scandisk Ultra 8GB card (FAT32) installed in the unit and connected via USB to the PC (Windows 10) I could access the card and write to it using Windows file explorer, however Garmin Express would not recognise it. Garmin support were not very forthcoming, but did suggest to try it on a different PC.

I dug out my old Windows Vista PC, updated the virus protection and found that the version of Garmin Express that was still on the PC successfully updated the unit with the full European map set:D

Fast forward to Nov 2016 - I had bought a new 16GB (FAT32) SDHC but still had exactly the same issue when trying to update the unit on my windows 10 PC with Garmin Express 4.2.0.0, which I guess was no surprise. Dig out the old PC again! Although all looked good initially with the old PC / version of Garmin Express, I quickly found that the Garmin site would no longer tolerate the use of an out of date version of Garmin Express and this forced me to accept an update. Accepting the update in order to proceed, resulted in a download of Garmin Express 4.2.0.0 and this led to the same issue as described above :mad:

IMO the evidence above indicates that there still is a SD card compatibility issue with Garmin Express 4.2.0 and the nuvi 765T despite this update aiming to address this very issue for some models. Judging by the number of hits this thread is attracting, I suspect other models are also impacted.

However it looks as though Gamin may have recently resolved my problem with the issue of Garmin Express 4.3.

From within the Garmin Express 4.2.0.0 programme on my old PC I manually selected an update to the programme to see if it would have any effect. After downloading and installing Garmin Express4.3 I tried running the map update again without making any other changes (same lead, usb port, card etc) Garmin Express 4.3 recognized the card - so I went for an update! Too early to say if it's a success yet as it is a slow process 4-5 hrs! I will post an update on what transpires, if it works I will upgrade to 4.3 on Windows 10 PC.

My thanks to all of those who have posted help on this topic and for flagging that a new version of Garmin Express was available.

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

Garmin Express 4.3.0.0 short lived

Just a few hours after upgrading my old PC to Garmin Express 4.3.0.0 I decided that I would do the same for my current Windows 10 PC. It was little bit of a surprise to find that 4.3 is no longer offered, things have already moved onto 4.4.0.0, so I have downloaded this. Meanwhile the update to my Nuvi 765T via Garmin Express 4.3.0.0 on my old PC appears to be grinding on OK - fingers crossed.

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

Garmin Express 4.3.0 reconizes SD card on 765T

Just to confirm that the download of full European maps to an SD card installed in my Nuvi 765T completed successfully using Garmin Express 4.3.0 where as it would not work with 4.2.0

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

Most helpful. I'll give it a try later today and report back. FYI my device is a Nuvi 3590.

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

Just to confirm that this has now also worked for me on my Nuvi 3590. As described above I updated Express to the latest version and Express recognised my SD card and carried out he somewhat lengthy upgrade. (Why does it take so long to download the new file it only seems to use a fraction of my bandwith?)

I can't help feeling that the initial problem stems from the Express updater leaving lots of "dirty" files behind each time it does an update?

Either way - thanks Garmin