GarminDevice.xml - what a difference!

I had some trouble figuring out why the watch face I recently updated ate the battery at a higher rate than I originally recorded.

As a last resort I deleted GarminDevice.xml file. The battery charge hasn't moved from 100% since this morning on my little VA4. (I usually lose about 10% a day, on a good day)

What exactly is going on there? Why would removing this xml file improve battery life so dramatically?

Shent-Aurkhan (SHN) over 4 years ago

Have you tried to reboot the device ? That will fix this

Joe Berger over 4 years ago in reply to Shent-Aurkhan (SHN)

yeah. It didn't. Only removing that xml file made a difference. A huge difference!

Shent-Aurkhan (SHN) over 4 years ago in reply to Joe Berger

I talked about Stuck At 100%

Abiut battery draining after an update, either soft reset or uninstall réinstall the app solved thé issue for me

Shent-Aurkhan (SHN) over 4 years ago

Have you tried to reboot the device ? That will fix this

Joe Berger over 4 years ago in reply to Shent-Aurkhan (SHN)

Oh, no, I wasn't talking about battery stuck at 100% as an issue :) I actually quite like it this way... Although now that you mentioned it - it could be an issue, ha ha :)

jim_m_58 over 4 years ago in reply to Shent-Aurkhan (SHN)

Typically with new FW a do a reboot. It can solve a bunch of odd things.

On the va4, press the upper button until the watch turns itself off and then back on. I'm thinking that might also rebuild the xml. but never looked.

Joe Berger over 4 years ago in reply to jim_m_58

Sorry, I should have been clearer in the original post. What made me curious is why would deleting GarminDevice.xml file dramatically improve the battery life?

jim_m_58 over 4 years ago in reply to Joe Berger

Deleting it probably forces a reboot to rebuild it or something. Unplugging from a pc/mac might also force a rebuild of the xml.

Joe Berger over 4 years ago in reply to jim_m_58

Yes, unplugging from computer is rebuilding the file. I am going through that old file that I copied before I deleted it - I don't see anything that could impact battery so badly. There are some references to preinstalled apps, I thought maybe there's a "dangling pointer" there, but impossible to tell. The only big thing is Modulus of a Store Key - but I can only imagine what that is :)

I just did a diff between old file that I deleted and the new, recreated file - they are identical. 0 differences. I am completely baffled.