ATTENTION GARMIN OREGON 550 OWNERS! Help! I may have "killed" my Garmin Oregon 550!

Try checking for updates with Garmin Express, or looking at the Tools section of GE, perhaps there is a function for downloading missing files.

If not helping, then have a look at the folders c:\ProgramData\Garmin\CoreService\Downloads\PrimaryFirmware\ and c:\ProgramData\Garmin\CoreService\Downloads\Firmware\ (if it is a Windows computer). If you used GE previously, the file could be there.

A moderator will probably delete your post - as it is no an inReach device - when the sun comes up in their area.  In the meantime try posting here https://www.gpsrchive.com/Discussion/viewforum.php?f=9 as well.  Assuming the Oregon operates OK in other respects, try a free third party map such as those from https://alternativaslibres.org/en/index.php  A very good map site and I've gratefully donated.  The map help at GPSrChive may also be useful: https://www.gpsrchive.com/Oregon%20x00/index.htm  All the best.

KiwiGPS;

Thank you for the heads up.

Oh, I HAVE tried third party maps from various sources, to no avail. It would seem that, without the basemap in place in the root directory of the device’s internal storage, the Oregon 550 cannot see the maps in the /Garmin/ directory on the microSD card external storage. I have spent hours trying various maps and having no luck.

The OEM Garmin basemap is something like 50 MB on the internal storage which is only 850 MB in size. All of the available third party apps are well in excess of 1 GB and will not fit on the internal storage space.

Unless I can find someone to provide me with a copy of the original Garmin basemap from a compatible Garmin device, I am pretty much out of luck. So far, I have not been contacted by anyone currently in possession of such a device.

DAP

I've uploaded a Garmin World Basemap - the file is dated 2011 and may well have been off an Oregon 550 but more likely whatever 6x series handheld was current at the time.  Size is 49,808KB.  The link is:  drive.google.com/.../view

The file is renamed to "World Base Map Do Not Delete.img" as I installed it on a unit where a customer had accidentally deleted it. 

If I can find a later version I'll upload it too.  The map I have on a 62 is exactly the same size and on the 78s it is very similar.  On the current model 67 it is dated Aug 2023 and is 47,632KB.  It is here: drive.google.com/.../view   On an Alpha 300i it is the same size.

Thank you kindly, KiwiGPS. I will say a little prayer that this works for me as well.

I have downloaded both files onto my iPad and will give each a try in the morning and get back to you with the results. Let us hope that one or the other will give me back my trusty Oregon 550. Let us also hope that I will be more careful and manage to avoid such foolish mistakes in the future, 

I cannot tell you how grateful I am that you have taken the time and trouble to do this for me.

DAP

This isn't an Express issue but I'll let this thread run for now. I assume you didn't ever make a backup of your Oregon? If you did you can simply restore the missing file from there.

Thank you for the leniency in this matter.

Truthfully, I did not know where exactly to put this post. If you can recommend a different area of the forum, one that would be more widely seen, I would appreciate it.

And, no, I did not have the foresight to make the backup of the internal memory. As I stated, I am a consummate fool!

I DID go looking on the Garmin website and elsewhere for the last firmware update, thinking that I could maybe flash the file back into existence, but, though I did find a page describing the firmware update, there was no link to the actual firmware update file.

Sadly, this does not look like it will end well for either me or my old companion, my Garmin Oregon 550.

DAP

I did not check them, in all honesty. Are you referring to the folders under the actual Garmin Express program folders, or some of the other Garmin folders that were installed to my HDD?

But, I will do that now.

Many thanks.

Yikes!

I just took a look at those Garmin program folders. There's a lot there and I have no clue as to what, exactly, I am looking for!

Would a firmware file for Garmin be a standard ".bin" file?

Looks like I have my work cut out for me.

DAP