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Nuvi 1490T Bluetooth problem

Former Member
Former Member over 14 years ago
Hi all,

I've had a 1490T for some time now and like it a lot. Unfortunately, lately, it has started doing weird things, coinciding with the installation of the latest firmware (4.30). It won't stay paired to my phone (RIM BlackBerry Bold 9700) after it (the nuvi) has been shut off. The "Friendly Name" on the nuvi is erased (blank) every time I check, and it doesn't remember my phone (the button is "Add" instead of "Change"). Disabling/re-enabling Bluetooth does nothing. Adding the phone again works about 10% of the time, if I delete the nuvi's profile from my phone first. To boot, when it is having this problem, there is no sound (voice or keypress tone) from the nuvi. Rebooting it may make it work in 1 time out of 6 or 7 tries. I've checked the diagnostics pages (accessed via the speedometer) and other than "Abnormal Powerdown" reported a few times, there's nothing I can really see that jumps out at me.

On the About page, in Software Versions, I have GPS ver 4.30, Text ver 4.20 (American English), Keyboard ver "Unknown", Audio ver 2.60 (American English-Jill), and Bluetooth ver "Unknown". Doing a reboot (holding down the power key until it goes off, restarting so the Garmin splash screen comes up) - over and over until I get a beep from pressing "Agree" - when I go back into "About", I get still Keyboard - Unknown, but Bluetooth - 1.73. At that point, going back to the Bluetooth setup page, it still has forgotten my phone, but the proper "Friendly Name" is back.

My email to technical support received a less-than-helpful reply. I got exquisitely detailed instructions on how to download and run WebUpdater to make sure I have the latest version of firmware - despite the fact I mentioned in my email that I already have the latest firmware, and wanted instructions on how I might download/reinstall it, and perhaps the Bluetooth firmware as well. I was also told that my phone may be too new to be compatible with the nuvi. Well, true enough, it's not shown on the website as being compatible, but it's been working with the device day in and day out for months prior to the latest firmware update.

I thought that WebUpdater used to allow you to reinstall the existing firmware if there was no new update to be had. I tried running it just now, and all I get is "There are no new updates. Press Next to look for other updates like voice and text" etc.

Anyone got any advice? Either 4.30 is badly screwed up and needs a bugfix (and judging by the frequent reboots going back to the normal map from the traffic map, this is probably true) or I need to reinstall 4.30 and/or the BT firmware. I'd love to do it, but I can't find a way to do so.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 14 years ago
    Is there no way to go back to a previos firmware?
  • 0 over 14 years ago
    Is there no way to go back to a previos firmware?


    I don’t believe so…
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 14 years ago
    Now I know why Garmin has no Automotive forum here. It would be overwhelmed by complaints of faulty workmanship.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 14 years ago
    The thing that really frustrates me is that Garmin does not seem to grasp the importance and value of the support forums. Not only could they use it to let their users know about the status of issues, but they miss the opportunity to use it to assess the severity and exposure of problems that users are complaining about.

    Rewind back a few months when this issue first surfaced on these forums. From that time until very recently, Garmin's response went something like this:

    1) must be a user problem, users don't know how Bluetooth pairing works; one customer service rep demonstrated a complete lack of understanding about Bluetooth pairing by suggesting that you have to manually re-pair after every power cycle.

    2) User's phone isn't on their compatible list of devices. That might be a valid response for advanced features such as voice commands but surely not for the most basic speakerphone funcitonality. This response probably made some users "just go away". Others (like me) actually bought a new phone hoping to make the problem disappear.

    3) Reset your Garmin, reset your phone. As if that were an actual root cause or fix! If a reset fixes it, then there is some other bug/problem present that the reset is masking or prolonging the time-to-fail. No device is ever "fixed" by resetting it. It just makes the problem go away for a while.

    4) Issue an RMA and send the unit back. While I can understand their desire to get a failing unit in their hands, I cannot help but wonder if the returned units were simply retested with their standard testing process, which apparently let the bug escape in the first place. No wonder the issue continued to exist.

    Now here we are, a LOT of time has gone by during which Garmin was oblivious to the magnitude of the issue. Making its users mad, possibly losing customers. This is a downward spiral for a company. To fix the gap requires some acknowledgement of the problem and then the fortitude to do something about it and make changes to the process.

    Disregarding the core bug in this case for a moment, the way Garmin handles its customer support and its sustaining engineering needs fixing my my opinion. A good place to start is to assign a small team to actively participate in the support forums - both ways - listening and talking. Look for trends. Once you have more than a couple people talking about the same problem, it's a trend. Couple that with a tighter interface between their engineering teams and their technical support groups and things can turn around for them.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 14 years ago
    Bluetooth and blackberry tour

    It appears I am having the same problem as everyone else. I just bought the Nuvi 1490T last night and while it pairs with my phone, sometimes I have contacts download and sometimes they don't. If I receive a call or an email (it thinks that is a call) then I get the Answer/Ignore screen and it completely locks up. I also cannot initiate a call from the nuvi, whether I dial the number or use contacts it will not dial anything. I wish I had read this forumn before I bought this unit. I think I will take it back and try the magellan, it was cheaper anyway with pretty much the same functionality. Has anyone heard of problems with the magellan?:mad::rolleyes:
  • 0 over 14 years ago
    Link to the older firmware (3.60) for 13xx and 14xx: http://mirgarmin.com.ua/content_files/SD%20Firmware%20nuvi%2013xx%2014xx%20v%203%206.7z

    Extract GUPDATE.GCD file from archive and move it to the Web Updater icon. This helps for me.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 14 years ago
    Nuvi 1490T Bluetooth problem

    I've been reading and testing with the previews firmware versions (4.0, 4.1, 4.6 and 4.7), and it seems that the problem is with the Bluetooth Driver 1.73 (I have that one on my garmin 1490t), my father and a friend of mine has the same unit but with the Bluetooth driver 1.71 and they have no problem at all.

    The update to the Bluetooth Driver v1.73 seems to be the problem

    Garmin tech support, you should be reading this, if you are, you should reply to us, we are paying your salaries ;)

    Heres the link of the 1.71 change log:
    http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=4983
  • 0 over 14 years ago
    How can i downgrade bluetooth driver?
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 14 years ago
    Nuvi 1490T Bluetooth problem

    I don´t have the bluetooth driver, maybe the garmin tech support guys can give it to us, but, if you want to downgrade the firmware of your device (currently I´m using the 4.2 and works better, not ok, but better) you can download them from here:


    Ver4.1
    http://www.garmin.com/software/nuvi13xxand14xxseries_regionfileonly__410.gcd

    Ver4.2
    http://www.garmin.com/software/nuvi13xxand14xxseries_regionfileonly__420.gcd

    Ver4.4
    http://www.garmin.com/software/nuvi13xxand14xxseries_regionfileonly__440.gcd


    Ver4.5
    http://www.garmin.com/software/nuvi13xxand14xxseries_regionfileonly__450.gcd


    Ver4.6
    http://www.garmin.com/software/nuvi13xxand14xxseries_regionfileonly__460.gcd

    Just download the file and drag them to the WebUpdater icon with your garmin connected and follow the instructions.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 14 years ago
    Link Broken

    This link is broken - they have moved (or removed) the file...

    Ver4.2
    http://www.garmin.com/software/nuvi1...eonly__420.gcd