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Fixing the 935 GToD (Garmin Triangle of Death)

I am on my second 935. I returned the first in a week as it kept on freezing - especially on sync - I'd get the Garmin Triangle of Death (GToD). Once the freeze also started happening on runs I called garmin and after trying a few fixes they told me to return it. The second watch did the same.

I have a work-around for the GToD if your 935 keeps freeing. Don't bother clearing the memory and formatting and all that stuff (didn't work for me). The only thing to work is never to connect the watch to your phone. This is a pain in the ass and it means you cannot use all the features that are sold as part of this watch, but if you have an iPhone7 or 8 (I've not tried the others) there appears to be a problem with 935xt that crashes when connected - I've tried two watches, both the same.

So I've added my work and home wifi to the watch and sync only by wifi or plugging into my computer. no more GToD. I hope a better fix is forthcoming.

Top Replies

philipshambrook over 4 years ago in reply to JohnBan +2

Hard reset as in ‘press and hold the top left button until the device power off, then restart’ Bit like rebooting a Windows computer. No data lost.

All Replies

0 chunkywizard over 6 years ago

So the GToD as you call it is the watch rebooting after a crash. It creates an ERR_LOG which is placed in the /Debug folder. If you post that here then one of the admin can flag it to Garmin and they can take a look. It shouldn't do this, my iPhone works perfectly with my 935 and I don't get any crashes. What version of firmware are you on? And what version of the app (GCM) are you running? Also what version of iOS do you have loaded?

0 philipshambrook over 6 years ago

I would suggest the problem is of your making somehow. Perhaps be a bit more explicit and detail what you have done to set the device up and what you are doing when you are using it.
Does this happen with a device straight out of the box? Do you have any extras loaded? I suggest you reset to factory conditions and try using the device as supplied first.

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

Thou it is odd that this is the second time this has happened to the OP, it doesn't necessarily mean it's from his own making. It sounds like a compatibility issue with his phone that is causing it. I have a VA3 I bought back in mid September. I had no issues with it until this past Friday when I got the "GTD". I updated to it's latest firmware on 01/04 and nothing was added, deleted or changed when it just went out on me 01/12. Sometimes it just happens.

0 philipshambrook over 6 years ago

You're right, it is not necessarily the OP's fault. However, I would suggest if it was the case of conflicts/issues with iPhone 7 and/or 8 we'd be hearing of a lot more problems. We aren't so I think we can very likely rule out the phones.
It does happen, but with two separate watches, I would suggest it is even less likely to be hardware, but likely user problems. Problems that we might be able to assist with if we know a bit more about how the device is being used and what if anything has been changed from it's 'out-of-the-box' configuration.

0 Yone over 6 years ago

I have ip7+ and at the moment... all is fine.

0 McAfee.07 over 5 years ago

All, I too had the GTD and am unable to factory restart my watch (as called out in the user manual on page 28). I tried to plug into my computer and am not able to get it to sync on any device. I am able to turn the watch off by holding the power button but am only able to get the GTD when I restart it. Not able to get a settings screen to appear when I try to factory restart. Any other way to reboot?

0 philipshambrook over 5 years ago

Try this:

Hold the light button until the device prompts "Shut Down?".
Select "Yes"
Hold the two right buttons, <Start/Stop> and <Back>, while turning the device on by pressing and releasing the light button.
Wait for an audible beep and release the <Start/Stop> button.
Wait for a second audible beep and release the <Back> button.

You will lose all your user settings and activity history. There are steps you can take to recover user settings etc, but performance stats will need to be regenerated over time.

0 B.Techno over 5 years ago

All, I too had the GTD and am unable to factory restart my watch (as called out in the user manual on page 28). I tried to plug into my computer and am not able to get it to sync on any device. I am able to turn the watch off by holding the power button but am only able to get the GTD when I restart it. Not able to get a settings screen to appear when I try to factory restart. Any other way to reboot?

I've got exactly the same problem today. Did you manage to somehow fix it yourself?

Upd: ok, after two failed attempts the factory reset worked as described by philipshambrook.
Kinda annoying still.

0 2109178 over 4 years ago in reply to philipshambrook

Perfect, it's works for me!!!

0 JohnBan over 4 years ago

Today I had also the GToD.. twice.. and I have never noticed that before..

checking the files in \GARMIN\DEBUG I found also one err_log.bak from 05/08 !!!

old fileERR_LOG_old.TXT

new fileERR_LOG.TXT

attached the old and the new log files. !!!!