This discussion has been locked.

You can no longer post new replies to this discussion. If you have a question you can start a new discussion

Follow these Instructions to get a stable FR235 (Must Read)

Former Member over 9 years ago

Garmin released the 3.13beta software on November 24th and as soon as I received my FR235 on November 23rd I updated to the 3.10 that was available and experience many of the issues that everyone was talking about which I will list below. I went searching for the any beta updates and that's when I found out that 3.13 was released. What I found by trial and error is that there must be some file in the /GARMIN folder that does not get updated properly that leads to the FR235 giving all sorts problems.

Well I was able to get rid of all of these errors:

- GPS off (Run Indoor) Bug
- Heart Rate stuck at 66
- Pairing difficulty to External Heart Rate Monitor
- Random Freeze while uploading to Garmin Connect
- Sleep tracking not displaying deep sleep versus light sleep
- Connect IQ apps having issues (accuweather app not updating)

So here is what I did to get the FR235 to become stable.(Note: Certain issues still exist like the Heart Rate stay in sync during a quick tempo run or the battery life.)

I did this with the 3.13 beta update which can be found here:

http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=9920

Installation Instructions

Connect your Forerunner 235 to your computer using the USB cable.

My change to GARMIN's instructions:

Copy the entire GARMIN Folder to a location on your computer as a backup then delete everything inside the /GARMIN folder (Don't worry the Update will re-populate all these files with the same time date.) Delete the ERR_LOG.txt in the root folder.

Download and unzip Forerunner235Beta.zip. Place the GUPDATE.GCD file in the \GARMIN folder of your device's internal storage drive.

Disconnect your device from the computer, approve the update on the watch, and wait for the update to finish.

You will notice that your FR235 will be reset to factory but you will now have a fully functional device. From my findings the indoor Bike Mode was now available (You can verify this by looking at the /GARMIN/SPORTS/3CBIKE_.FIT) and heart rate monitor seems to be a lot better and the sleep tracking is working. As of right now, I can say that the FR235 is my primary device and I am somewhat happy. Garmin still needs to address the battery life and heart rate monitor quirks when you switch to a very fast pace.

Let me know how it goes for you.

0 Former Member over 9 years ago

Shame I didn't know about this before sending mine back to Garmin because of the stuck at 66 issue.

Still waiting for something to come back for them.

0 Former Member over 9 years ago

I did the upgrade. The FR235 says it has 3.13. I notice some subtle differences but not an option for indoor bike (or that file in the sports subdirectory) and still cannot connect to external HRMs

0 Former Member over 9 years ago

Shame I didn't know about this before sending mine back to Garmin because of the stuck at 66 issue.

Still waiting for something to come back for them.

Yeah, it took me forever to figure this out. I actually compared all the Files in the /GARMIN folder in terms of the file size, last modified date and other properties. That's how I was able to determine that some of the files in the GARMIN folder was not getting updated when you copied the update to the directory.

0 webvan over 9 years ago

Interesting, mine's working fine other than the unstable/spiky, worth a try I suppose.

EDIT : strange it didn't ask if I wanted to update, it just booted in the "factory reset" (still have my profile data though, VO2Max, Weight, etc...)

Anyway here is the "before", compared to an HRM 3, will try to post the "after" in a couple of days.

0 Former Member over 9 years ago

Interesting, mine's working fine other than the unstable/spiky, worth a try I suppose.

EDIT : strange it didn't ask if I wanted to update, it just booted in the "factory reset" (still have my profile data though, VO2Max, Weight, etc...)

Anyway here is the "before", compared to an HRM 3, will try to post the "after" in a couple of days.

Did you check for the bike indoor mode being available after following this method? Check for the file in the /GARMIN/SPORTs directory. If it is present you can go in the profiles and enable it.

0 webvan over 9 years ago

Nope, not there.

Now following your instructions I didn't find a "ERR_LOG.txt " to delete but I doubt that would make a difference. I do have an "AUTORUN.INF" at the root, had you deleted that too? Did you still have your VO2Max and profile data too?

0 philippe.berini over 9 years ago

Did you check for the bike indoor mode being available after following this method? Check for the file in the /GARMIN/SPORTs directory. If it is present you can go in the profiles and enable it.

Could that mean that it was possible to add any other sports profiles to the FR235 if you have that file?

0 Former Member over 9 years ago

Nope, not there.

Now following your instructions I didn't find a "ERR_LOG.txt " to delete but I doubt that would make a difference. I do have an "AUTORUN.INF" at the root, had you deleted that too? Did you still have your VO2Max and profile data too?

I did not delete the Autorun.inf. If I am not mistaken that file is always in use.

0 webvan over 9 years ago

Ok, I'm still thinking I didn't get a "clean install" because of the data still on my device and the lack of a notification update. Maybe it's required to downgrade to 3.10 first...

Also I think there's probably a hidden partition where some system files are hidden, including some that get updated by the .gcd.

0 Former Member over 9 years ago

Could that mean that it was possible to add any other sports profiles to the FR235 if you have that file?

I don't believe you can since we can't modify that file since we don't have any tool to do so.

If you want the indoor bike mode copy this file to the Garmin\Sports directory:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hwb6fjrew3ege29/3CBIKE_.FIT?dl=0