Hopefully this is in the right section, apologies if not.
Yesterday my eTrex 30 completely failed to turn on, having gone 2 and a half years without missing a beat.
It displayed the garmin logo for about 10 seconds, then went off again.
Even when I tried to do a master reset, it still did the same thing - when I held down menu and power and turned it on, same thing - displayed garmin logo for about 5 to 10 seconds then went off.
So I was completely stuck. Didn't know what to do with it.
Main issue is its reliability coming into question - I'm planning a tour later in the year through areas I won't know with potentially tricky navigation so will need it, and I can't have this happening then!
So I'm looking for clues as to what was up with it to minimize (hopefully eliminate) the chance of it happening again.
Today, I eventually discovered that I could force it into mass storage mode by holding the joystick up while connecting it to my PC. I could then browse the files on it.
I then used Garmin Express to update its software to the latest version (4.2). Initially it failed to turn on again, but after a couple of tried, I held back, menu and enter, and powered it on, and it came on and applied the update.
So - what happened to it?
Did its software have some sort of time-bomb and 'expire'? Did it absolutely have to have that update?
The only thing I did to it between it last working and this failure to turn on was put a gpx file on it, but that gpx file is fine, just a track that conforms to the schema and have put it on it since the update and it is fine with it.
Also, with the etrex 30, is its software stored as visible files on the device, or is it 'hidden away'?
In other words, if this ever happens again, but I can connect it in mass storage mode, could I simply restore all its files from a backup?
Now, however, pleasingly, it is not mute - it has suddenly started beeping after 2 and a half years of being mute! :) This is quite a step forward as it means proximity alarms will be effective on it.
