Since the last software update my Garmin Descent MK1 does not record distance

Your activities are private, we cannot view them.

I have changed to the settings to make the activities public, I think... Thanks

The privacy settings are set to everyone, is there something more I need to do?

The change applies to activities done after you modified the settings, only. You have to adjust the visibility on each of the past activities manually - click the padlock symbol up right on the screen of the concerned Activity 

Update: I did one hike after changing the settings so it should be visible. For the first 30min of the hike the watch showed inaccurate information, it should a 5 sec time even after 30min and a .2km distance, then at about the 30min mark it suddenly caught up and starting showing current information. However, the online log did not show a straight line for that period and it appears from the map that it was actually recording.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/5702056257

But, in the end the information did not coincide with Strava

https://www.strava.com/activities/4218801715

Now your Strava Activity is private too. So while we can access the activity in GC, we cannot compare it with Strava. The screenshot you posted seems to show the same map as GC, so it is hard to tell what is wrong.

6102806 said:

For the first 30min of the hike the watch showed inaccurate information

What exactly is inaccurate? I see nothing suspicious on the Actiivtity page on the first 30  minutes. You wrote about distance in the OP, but I see the distance changing on the map, and in the grpahs normally. On the other hand, I do not know what was the reality.

The only odd thing I see, is the sudden skipping of a bigger distance at ~1:24, but it looks like you paused the activity (or perhaps it lost the GPS signal) for a while. That pausing may perhaps also explain the discrepancy between the total distance reported by Garmin and by Strava - while GC won't add any distance when the Activity is paused (or having no GPS signal), Strava may add the skipped distance to the total value too. There is an option Correct/Reverse Distance in Strava, when you click on that field, so you may try toggling the feature, to see what impact it has.

6102806 said:

it should a 5 sec time even after 30min and a .2km distance, then at about the 30min mark it suddenly caught up and starting showing current information.

I am sorry, but I do not undestand the sentence at all. What exactly means "it should a 5 sec time"? Are you telling the first 30 minutes were in fact 5 seconds long only? Or vice versa? After 30 minutes, the Activity page shows some 2.5km, which seems to be all right, and also the distance before that time point is changing continuously - I see no irregularities there. 

That is why I put the screenshot up.

For the first 30min of the hike the watch showed 5seconds elapsed time and 0.2km distance (my should, was intended as a "showed")

On the final map the only discrepancy between Garmin and Strava is the two straight legs in the upper left of the map that go down and then back. Those never happened. As mentioned above, the final map showed the route mostly accurately but the watch showed the incorrect information, I mentioned above, for the first 30minutes.

OK, I understand now. So, in fact the problem is not what the title tells - the title claims the watch does not record distance, whcih it apparently does, since both Garmin Connect and Strava show the map and the distance correctly. In fact the problem seems to be that the watchface froze and did not show the information in real-time, if I understand you correctly now.

When it happened, did you try changing the screen - scrolling up or down to other screens, going back to the main screen (by pushing the BACK button) and then back again to the activity? Do you use the default screens and watchfaces, or customized ones? Do you use any ConnectIQ apps? Did any value change on the screen during the first 30 minutes, or was it completely frozen? Haven't you limit the screen refreshing in the battery saver settings? Wasn't the watch low on power? Is the issue reproducible every time you start an activity, or did happen ony once?

Sorry for the confusion, I didn't completely understand the problem in the beginning.

I did try scrolling to different screens, no effect. I don't recall trying the Back button. I don't recall if I am using default screens; when I got it I went through and modified some of the activity screens but don't recall on this one. No Connect IQ apps. I didn't watch the face continuously, but do recall seeing it change twice during that 30 minute. I did not limit screen refreshing in the battery saver settings, that I recall. I don't recall seeing or being aware of those settings. It was not on low power. It has happened at least several times on Hike mode, and since then I have switched to Walk mode to ensure it works, so I will have to do further testing.

Thanks