Garmin Connect (mobile) F3 ID FAILED

Tried the other way round

Following the HINTS here: https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?315542-Known-Issue-Fenix-2-Sync-Failures-with-Version-2-13

Removed pairing from phone's Bluetooth, cleared all GCM data, including cache.
I have done the pairing procedure with GCM again (phone and F3 are not paired anymore now).

Procedure ends the same way.

Top of the screen says Setting up device.

Details show the problem lies with Requesting Device Identification File failed.

I hope GCM developers are working on this because as people are forced to do the reset, all will be lost and without GCM correctly set, the notifications and the live tracking won't work. Better work around the clock on a patch because there's bound to be a wave of complaints.... if I can't make it work, I don't think anyone else can so it's a problem on your side, guys.

Has anyone come up with a solution yet?

I had similar issue - GCM can't receive ID file from the phone. It's not up to the watch, it is a problem with general BT handshaking functioning.

Unpair the watch from the phone, remove anything about the watch from GCM, power cycle the phone. Turn off, and then on BT on the watch, and then start up the pairing procedure from scratch. I first pair the watch with the phone, and then again select "Pair Mobile Device" on the the watch and pair it with GCM.

I even uninstalled and reinstalled GCM.

Now I paired F3 with the phone and when I try to pair it with GCM which I just reinstalled, the 30" timer ticks to the end and "Device Not Found" pops up.
Unbelievable, I've been trying to fix this the whole morning...

Did you select "Pair Mobile Device" on the the watch when you tried to pair it with GCM?

Also, you can tr different tactics - unpair the phone, clear all the connections, and then try to pair it with GCM first.

Yes, I have already tried that.
In the last 20 minutes I've been looping with GCM pairing with the F3.

It appears that when you turn off and on the Bluetooth on the F3, the procedure starts and the error displayed by GCM is OTHER_FATAL.

If you do the Pair Mobile device (F3 is already paired with the phone), the procedure starts and the error displayed by GCM is Requesting Device Identification file failed.

I have tried clearing the GCM cache and data, I've even tried uninstalling it and reinstalling it. I don't know how many times I've rebooted the watch and the phone... and I honestly don't think it's something on my side. It's got to be something with GCM and 4.3. If you DELETE your device on GCM and try to put it on, you'll see, I am confident you will not be able to add it again. (So, don't do it).

It means whoever did the hard reset this morning or whoever did not read the forums before doing the firmware update is going to have to go through all this I am doing now.

And Garmin gives no answer... nothing.

Z-74: I have exactly the same problem :)

Actually I did remove the watch from GCM because I did a factory reset on the phone.

Did you try to remove F3 from GC on the web?

Now that is a thing I had thought about but I kept insisting on the device ID on GCM because I thought that they were experiencing problems (too much traffic) due to the high number of unfortunate souls who had to go through the hard reset.
Yet as I kept going and going and still taking that failure this idea was jumping on and off my mind and I started rebuilding the data screens figuring it would be more useful and less dangerous (I feel like throwing the watch off the window).

What you mean is to go to Garmin.com (not Garmin Connect) and unregister the F3, right?

I'm gonna do it as soon as I complete the MTB data screen settings. If we manage to fix the issue, I'm going to post my settings. I have them ALL on XLS and it will save lots of time to everyone else (also useful to share and build a common knowledge on how to best use the F3).

I feel like throwing the watch off the window

Been there, done that ;)

One more thing... Why don't you try to reinstall 4.30 firmware? I did that and it didn't mess up the activities again.