My Oregon came up with "System software missing" all of a sudden. I tried the various tricks recommended on the web, no luck. Called Garmin tech support, they e-mailed me an updater exe and an rgn, and after some struggle I was able to start the update and then it said something like "100% done" and just sat there; I waited and waited, and then my fingers got too tired and I let go of the power button (I had no batteries in the unit since that's what many of the web postings recommended and the Garmin support gentleman gave no instructions as far as how long the update would take etc; the software itself said nothing about not powering off, just that something was "100% done"). Now the unit will not connect over USB at all (when the power button is held) - I've tried different USB cables and 4 desktops and 2 laptops, none will recognize the Oregon as an USB device. So I called Garmin again and this time I was told that if the update didn't finish properly, the software is corrupted and I need to send it in and pay $110 to get a replacement unit (the Garmin support gentleman on this second call apparently got sick of talking to me and hung up on me before I could ask more questions). Now, it so happens that I'm a software engineer and I used to work on cell phone firmware / flash update software, and the idea of an update failing like that seems unthinkable - in real life cables get accidentally disconnected, power fails, etc, and surely in this day and age it's not reasonable to incur a $110 cost (not to mention the hassle of waiting for the replacement unit, and re-installing all the maps since a replacement unit would apparently come with no maps and a different serial number - this is made much more difficult because I have a bunch of Garmin Europe maps which can't be registered on the US site and may or may not unlock with a new unit etc), all of this just by Garmin's update software failing to handle a simple disconnect / power failure (presumably). Long way of saying that I sincerely hope that Garmin (or someone else) has software that will connect to the device and install the rgn file (or whatever) even though it's not recognized as an USB device using the "normal" path (the screen shows the logo and knows how to say "System software missing" so surely there has to be a way of flashing it) - can anyone please help?
Thanks in advance!
PeterK
