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Zumo 550 map update

Former Member over 12 years ago

Hi. I seem to be having problems with my Zumo. I have had the unit for about 5 years now, but have always had no luck with updating the maps. Yesterday l signed up for the Europe life time maps. I connected the Zumo to the pc via Garmin Express and started to download the maps. After about 2 hours the maps had been downloaded but it keeps failing when it gets to the "building" stage. I have tried 5 times now to do this but l always get the same result.
I tried to format an sd card which was in the Zumo at the time, and l am wondering if l have formatted the internal drive by mistake! Is this possible?
When l turn the unit on and go to the maps all l get is a message saying "no data available"
I have contacted Garmin but this seems to have been a waste of time.

Has anyone got any ideas on how l can sort this out please!

0 Former Member over 12 years ago

Have you tried GarminMapUpdater instead of Garmin Express?

GarminMapUpdater (Mac)

0 JaVaWa over 12 years ago

Yes, it is possible, but I strongly advise you NOT to do that...
There are lots of essential files on the device; you don't want to lose them.

0 JaVaWa over 12 years ago

Find somebody with a zumo 550, copy the contents of that device to your zumo (except the City Navigator map; that won't work on yours), and try to install the CN update again.

0 Former Member over 12 years ago

FYI this is why many of us keep a backup of our device(s). If one has a copy of the device contents they can be put back.

0 Former Member over 12 years ago

I have had the same problem a complet wast of time

0 SUSSAMB over 12 years ago

I'm sure l have formatted the internal drive by mistake. Is there any way for sorting this out or does it have to go back to Garmin for repair?

Try connecting your Zumo to your computer and run WebUpdater ... that may install some of the necessary files. If still no joy you'll need to follow JAVAWA's advice. If you do get it working follow Stuart's advice and make a back up.

0 Former Member over 11 years ago

I've had the Zumo 550 since 2008 and it's great. However, the internal memory is now too small for the huge updates that you need to load when using Garmin Express. I tried following the advice from Garmin to add data to an SD card but, despite Garmins assurances, there is no SD card option available when you follow the 'how to do it' guide. Instead, after much research, I downloaded TO PC ONLY the latest maps, putting them in a folder called GARMIN directly off of the 'C' drive. Then I deleted the contents of the Zumo files that I could see via the PC. I ignored all further requests to use G Express and downloaded the latest version of Garmin Map Installer. From here I used Map Installer to update the Zumo with as much of the UK and Europe that I needed, which still left room for more data should I need it. (Much quicker than Express too)
The reason for clearing out all the old data was to replace it all with 'clean' data. I had been having issues with the voices not working properly.
Bottom line is to only add the data that you need, add your maps, update your software, add voices and cars from the garage. The less junk that you have on here, the better - and it draws much faster.
Going back to why did I download all the new maps to the PC? I've just rediscovered Garmin City Navigator NT, what a superb piece of software this is for creating local and European routes, it also detects the latest maps on the PC and gives you up to date roads and POIs.
Don't be put off by Garmin helpdesk though, I realise that they are trying to help you with todays software and fixes - sometime, the old stuff just works better!

0 SUSSAMB over 11 years ago

Going back to why did I download all the new maps to the PC? I've just rediscovered Garmin City Navigator NT, what a superb piece of software this is for creating local and European routes, it also detects the latest maps on the PC and gives you up to date roads and POIs.

City Navigator isn't 'software', it's the map loaded to either your PC and/or GPS, so I'm unclear what you mean by this? However glad you appear to have it all working. Note though for anyone else reading this downloading map files to PC then using MapInstall to put them on your GPS may miss some vital files, so not aways the best option.