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thecerver

Garmin Montana 680t won't load past 'Loading Maps'

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Short Story:

I have a Garmin Montana 680t. Last week, I was messing around with it in BaseCamp and now it won't load. The device gets stuck on "Loading Maps" and the PC won't recognized it has a connected device. Any ideas on how to fix it? 

Long Story:

When I first loaded my California Trail maps to my Garmin, I included the hiking maps. However, I started to get annoyed by seeing a TON of trail we can't ride on. So last week after a ride, I decided to remove the California Trail map and reload it. This worked perfectly in Basecamp. I updated the maps on the unit and it said I was successful. However, when I try to reboot the unit, it won't make it past "Loading Maps".  I left it along for 6 hours in the Loading Maps state and it never moved onto the next loading stage.

(Side note: While in BaseCamp I also removed some of the "Birdseye" files from the device)

              I reached out to Garmin and they had me:

               1. Check Batteries

               2. Factory Reset by holding the top-left corner of the screen when booting

               3. Connect to PC

               When those didn't work they offered an exchange for a refurbished unit at $170. I struggle to do that since this appears to be a software issue, not hardware.

None of those worked. My PC won't recognize it as a device or drive. I tried to connect to my Chromebook in case there was a different protocol...but same issue.

I tried using my friends microSD card from his Montana. I received an error, "Invalid Birdseye File" (or something like that). It was actually nice to see something besides "Loading Maps".

Is there any way to make it boot from a microSD card?

 

Does anyone have any solutions? Should I just start using offline maps on my phone?

 

Thanks for the help,

 

Mike

 

 

 

 

 

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So is there a micro sd card in it or  not at this point? You don't need to have a micro sd card in it to boot up so if there's one in it take it out. Second remove the battery and let it sit for like 30 minutes. Then reinsert the battery and try to boot it up.

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When you deleted the birds eye file, did you get a warning message? I vaguely remember there being an issues with deleting those files, but it's been a few years since I've wasted my time with Garmin and Basecamp. Were those files on the SDcard or the Garmin? I do what Randy suggested and then insert a brand new Sdcard, connect to basecamp, and start from scratch.

 

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Removed the battery overnight and the sd card. I figured if removing the batteries for 30 minutes was good, overnight would be better. But I I had the same issue when I tried to reboot today. It gets stuck on "loading maps".

Oracle, there wasn't a warning message when I deleted the files and the files were on the Garmin itself. Unfortunately, I can't connect to Basecamp and start over because the PC doesn't see the device while it's stuck in the loading maps stage. I've tried 3 different PCs and a Chromebook. I'm going to try my neighbor's Mac tonight.

What do you use for navigation? I need to find an alternative. I signed up for Rever and I might use that with my phone.

 

 

 

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Try performing other operations that communicate between BC and the device. Try transferring waypoints back and force. That may clean up a broken link. Have you used Web Updater to update the device software? Be patient, it will clear up as you keep at it.

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Unfortunately, I can't transfer anything to the device because it's not being recognized by the PC as a device. 

I have updated the software before, but I can't use it now. Neither BaseCamp or GarminExpress can find the device when I have it connected. This is basically what I get:

image.png.16573a9ca9c49397ca9d35b57b0d1a6f.png

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You may have inadvertently changed something in settings on the device. Don’t plug it in and rummage around in the setting folder to go back to Default.

  Keep at. Take a rest, then keep at it.

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I appreciate each piece of advice. I've been at it for about 4 days now. 

Unfortunately, I can't mess around in the settings folder. The PC doesn't see it has connected and the device because won't advance past the "loading maps" screen. I've been able to erase the user data on the device but that didn't help.

Here's where it's stuck and it will stay like that all day. I have to disconnect it and remove the batteries to turn it off and start over.

image.png.e0342a0a491fdb94b8d2a8d13ed99547.png

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I had something similar happen to my 610 last year. It mysteriously cleared itself up after I set it aside for a couple of weeks. It's been fine ever since. Who knows??? Have you tried connecting to it on a different PC? Does it show up in Device Manager\Portable Devices with an error? You should see a device called "GARMIN". I'm guessing since it won't boot that it probably won't show in DM. Maybe try removing the SD card and leaving the battery out of it overnight?

 

 

 

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On my first setup it took almost 8 hours to connect. Try to leave it connected over night. I still have not been able to use the guiding function, even with routable maps downloaded.

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4 minutes ago, Mr.JAJA said:

On my first setup it took almost 8 hours to connect. Try to leave it connected over night. I still have not been able to use the guiding function, even with routable maps downloaded.

Interesting. What routable map are you trying?

 

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I will hook up my Montana later and send a screen shot.

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1 hour ago, PbdBlue said:

Interesting. What routable map are you trying?

 

Randy, You helped me out but it never worked.

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2 hours ago, PbdBlue said:

... Have you tried connecting to it on a different PC? Does it show up in Device Manager\Portable Devices with an error? You should see a device called "GARMIN". I'm guessing since it won't boot that it probably won't show in DM. Maybe try removing the SD card and leaving the battery out of it overnight?

 

 

 

I've tried it on 3 PCs and a Chromebook but I still can't see it. 

I looked in the Device Manager section and I can't find it. I even went to the command prompt and tried to navigate to the D directory...nothing.

One recent change was holding down the power button on start for 1 minute should do a factory reset (on some models). I tried it before for 1.5 minutes and nothing happened. This time I held it down until it went into "loading maps" and it didn't load past the "waypoint and routes" stage. At least that was something different. 

I left it on that stage for 2 hours. I even took it outside in case it was trying to communicate with the satellites. 🤪 It stayed at that stage and never progressed.

I'll keep trying different things. Hopefully, something will work one day.

Thanks to everyone for the help!

 

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How about the cable. Have you tried another? They go bad frequently. 

I converted from Garmin/Basecamp to a ruggedized cell phone with Gaia. Life is so much easier. 

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I have sworn an oath to never ever open base camp again. 
what’s great is that I don’t have to. There are better option for getting tracks on and off the device. Not to mention easier planning tools. 

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3 hours ago, Oracle said:

How about the cable. Have you tried another? They go bad frequently. 

I converted from Garmin/Basecamp to a ruggedized cell phone with Gaia. Life is so much easier. 

Yup...I tried my buddie's cable. He has the same model. No luck.

Is your 'ruggedized cell phone' your main phone or did you dedicate a phone specifically for GPS?

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On 4/15/2021 at 8:15 PM, thecerver said:

Yup...I tried my buddie's cable. He has the same model. No luck.

Is your 'ruggedized cell phone' your main phone or did you dedicate a phone specifically for GPS?

It's a dedicated phone for GPS only. No cell service. The apps available these days make cell phone based GPS navigating much easier to use then stand alone units...no need for Basecamp ever again. You want to upload a track to your phone. One click and it's done. Want to share tracks with friends, click on track, click share, send. Want to see what "public" tracks are in the ara you are riding...one click. Want to download satellite view for an area you are going be in....drag a box around the area and click download...bam. There are several brands of ruggedized phones that are made to military specs...water proof, heat proof, drop proof...etc...for $150. Buy Giai or Rever or any other GPS app for $25 and your life just got a lot easier. There is a full on thread about it in this forum if you want to read more.

 

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Thecerver, did you ever get your Garmin up and running? If so, how?

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From thecerver: 

Unfortunately I wasn't able to fix it. I went to Moab and used two old phones I had. I tried Gaia, All Trails, Google Offline Maps, and Rever. I feel Gaia worked the best, but battery life on my old Samsung was too short and it was difficult to see the phone versus a GPS unit.

I'll put some batteries in the Garmin tomorrow and see if there's a miracle.

 

Good luck.

I put new batteries in and it is still broken...which makes sense. Someone in the group said to turn it off for a bit and turn it back on, thinking it would fix itself. Didn't happen.

It still gets stuck on "loading maps".

Garmin offered by a refurbished unit for $170 but I'm so frustrated with it being a software issue that I won't pay that.

Good luck

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Hmmm...... it sounds like one of your map files may be corrupted. If the maps are loaded into the main memory there's probably no way to delete them since it won't connect. I've been keeping all of my map files on the sd card so I can just remove it if something happens to them. Then create a new sd card image offline. A coupe of possible causes come to mind. One is disconnecting the GPS usb cable without unmounting the device in windows first. The other is too many map segments are loaded. Not only is there a limit on memory but more importantly there's a limit on the number of map segments stored. For instance City Navigator contains ~190 map segments while Topo 100k has ~550. The Topo24K series maps contain many more and you can easily exceed the max which is around 4000 map segments. Once you do weird thing happen. Most often it starts truncating the maps but I suspect it may also cause loading issues. In your case not sure what happened or what can be done. Did you ever try completely removing the SD card? It doesn't need one installed to boot up.

 

Untitled.thumb.jpg.afcc35f9d0f961fcaa232fd24a02a318.jpg

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