My daughter's Tomtom Start has gone on the blink after a software update. It now no longer finds any satellites (and yes, it has been left for over an hour outside).

We've tried a soft reset via the on screen menu and also a hard reset via the hidden reset button. We've tried re-installing the software updates but that hasn't worked either. There doesn't seem to be any way of "rolling back" the software as my daughter has never done any back-ups in the past.

We've getting to the stage of returning it to Tomtom but I wonder if anyone knows any other ways of restoring its functionality? It just seems odd that it was working fine until the software update and then stopped working. I feel there ought to be some easy way of sorting this out.

Tim

On 28/11/10 09:41, Tim Downie wrote:
My daughter's Tomtom Start has gone on the blink after a software update. It now no longer finds any satellites (and yes, it has been left for over an hour outside).

We've tried a soft reset via the on screen menu and also a hard reset via the hidden reset button. We've tried re-installing the software updates but that hasn't worked either. There doesn't seem to be any way of "rolling back" the software as my daughter has never done any back-ups in the past.

We've getting to the stage of returning it to Tomtom but I wonder if anyone knows any other ways of restoring its functionality? It just seems odd that it was working fine until the software update and then stopped working. I feel there ought to be some easy way of sorting this out.

Tim

Whether it is in guarantee or not, I would phone up TomTom.

--
Tim Watts

"Tim Downie" wrote in message
...
My daughter's Tomtom Start has gone on the blink after a software update.
It now no longer finds any satellites (and yes, it has been left for over
an hour outside).

We've tried a soft reset via the on screen menu and also a hard reset via
the hidden reset button. We've tried re-installing the software updates
but that hasn't worked either. There doesn't seem to be any way of
"rolling back" the software as my daughter has never done any back-ups in
the past.

We've getting to the stage of returning it to Tomtom but I wonder if
anyone knows any other ways of restoring its functionality? It just seems
odd that it was working fine until the software update and then stopped
working. I feel there ought to be some easy way of sorting this out.

Tim

Don't know about these, but when new, my first (walker's -type) Garmin
wouldn't lock even after several hours with an "average" view of sky. In the
end I left it overnight on a roof with a "horizon to horizon" view, and it's
been fine since.

In article ,
"Tim Downie" writes:
My daughter's Tomtom Start has gone on the blink after a software update. It now no longer finds any satellites (and yes, it has been left for over an hour outside).
We've tried a soft reset via the on screen menu and also a hard reset via the hidden reset button. We've tried re-installing the software updates but that hasn't worked either. There doesn't seem to be any way of "rolling back" the software as my daughter has never done any back-ups in the past.
We've getting to the stage of returning it to Tomtom but I wonder if anyone knows any other ways of restoring its functionality? It just seems odd that it was working fine until the software update and then stopped working. I feel there ought to be some easy way of sorting this out.
Tim

I arrived at the scene of a head-on crash on a country road on Friday
evening (fortunately no one injured, which was amazing seeing the state
of the car after smashing into a large van). I was dealing with the
young couple who had been in the car, who were mentally very shaken up.
As other drivers arrived, they were trying to identify where we were on
their tomtoms to tell the police, but none of the tomtoms would work in
the low temperature. Eventually I went and got my Garmin out, and that
worked OK. (Other than that, I would say I'm deeply unimpressed with
the Garmin and wouldn't buy another one or even spend money on updated
maps.)

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On 28/11/2010 11:53, Tim Watts wrote:
We've getting to the stage of returning it to Tomtom but I wonder if
anyone knows any other ways of restoring its functionality? It just
seems odd that it was working fine until the software update and then
stopped working. I feel there ought to be some easy way of sorting
this out.

Tim

Whether it is in guarantee or not, I would phone up TomTom.

I have had a few problems with a hand held Garmin in the past and always
found Garmin very helpful. They are contactable via e-mail. I don't know
if Tomtom are equally amenable but as the market leader they should be.

On 28/11/10 13:46, Roger Chapman wrote:
On 28/11/2010 11:53, Tim Watts wrote:
We've getting to the stage of returning it to Tomtom but I wonder if
anyone knows any other ways of restoring its functionality? It just
seems odd that it was working fine until the software update and then
stopped working. I feel there ought to be some easy way of sorting
this out.

Tim

Whether it is in guarantee or not, I would phone up TomTom.

I have had a few problems with a hand held Garmin in the past and always
found Garmin very helpful. They are contactable via e-mail. I don't know
if Tomtom are equally amenable but as the market leader they should be.

Also, even if the unit is not under warranty, they might have issued
duff firmware that causes a small series of units to break - in such
cases they would probably be concerned and keen to fix - if it's
affected other units too, then they have a reputation they might be keen
to preserve.

--
Tim Watts

"Roger Chapman" wrote in message
...
On 28/11/2010 11:53, Tim Watts wrote:
We've getting to the stage of returning it to Tomtom but I wonder if
anyone knows any other ways of restoring its functionality? It just
seems odd that it was working fine until the software update and then
stopped working. I feel there ought to be some easy way of sorting
this out.

Tim

Whether it is in guarantee or not, I would phone up TomTom.

I have had a few problems with a hand held Garmin in the past and always
found Garmin very helpful. They are contactable via e-mail. I don't know
if Tomtom are equally amenable but as the market leader they should be.

You obviously haven't tried to get any support from them....

On 28/11/2010 14:39, kraftee wrote:

I have had a few problems with a hand held Garmin in the past and
always found Garmin very helpful. They are contactable via e-mail. I
don't know if Tomtom are equally amenable but as the market leader
they should be.

You obviously haven't tried to get any support from them....

Not yet, but I did wonder about their marketing strategy when I
discovered that the new swan neck mounting for deeply sloping
windscreens was the best part of £30 for something they would have had
made in the Far East for pennies.

"Roger Chapman" wrote in message
...
On 28/11/2010 14:39, kraftee wrote:

I have had a few problems with a hand held Garmin in the past and
always found Garmin very helpful. They are contactable via e-mail. I
don't know if Tomtom are equally amenable but as the market leader
they should be.

You obviously haven't tried to get any support from them....

Not yet, but I did wonder about their marketing strategy when I discovered
that the new swan neck mounting for deeply sloping windscreens was the
best part of ?30 for something they would have had made in the Far East
for pennies.

Should have tried EBay...

"Tim Downie" wrote in message
...
My daughter's Tomtom Start has gone on the blink after a software update.
It now no longer finds any satellites (and yes, it has been left for over
an hour outside).

We've tried a soft reset via the on screen menu and also a hard reset via
the hidden reset button. We've tried re-installing the software updates
but that hasn't worked either. There doesn't seem to be any way of
"rolling back" the software as my daughter has never done any back-ups in
the past.

We've getting to the stage of returning it to Tomtom but I wonder if
anyone knows any other ways of restoring its functionality? It just seems
odd that it was working fine until the software update and then stopped
working. I feel there ought to be some easy way of sorting this out.

Tim



Tim

Try posting the question on sci.geo.satellite-nav

I have always found the lads over on that group extremely knowledgeable and
helpful in the past

Arfa

"Tim Downie" wrote in message
...
My daughter's Tomtom Start has gone on the blink after a software update.
It now no longer finds any satellites (and yes, it has been left for over
an hour outside).

We've tried a soft reset via the on screen menu and also a hard reset via
the hidden reset button. We've tried re-installing the software updates
but that hasn't worked either. There doesn't seem to be any way of
"rolling back" the software as my daughter has never done any back-ups in
the past.

We've getting to the stage of returning it to Tomtom but I wonder if
anyone knows any other ways of restoring its functionality? It just seems
odd that it was working fine until the software update and then stopped
working. I feel there ought to be some easy way of sorting this out.

Tim

Try these ngs which are also used by the yanks:

sci.geo.satellite-nav

alt.satellite.gps


--
Michael Chare

Tim Downie wrote:

Tomtom Start has gone on the blink after a software update. It now no longer finds any satellites

Do you have the option to preload the almanac data (QuickFix) via USB?

In message , Tim Downie
writes
My daughter's Tomtom Start has gone on the blink after a software
update. It now no longer finds any satellites (and yes, it has been
left for over an hour outside).

My TomTom One has been reasonably good, but I had problems downloading a
new map a couple of months back. TomTom have an email support service
which I found completely useless - they ignored my specific questions
and kept on using the same boiler-plate answers which didn't answer my
questions. After about 5 questions and non-answers I got annoyed enough
to phone them up, and the phone support guy was actually quite helpful
and he almost solved my problem. Your mileage may vary, of course.

I've since found some on-line forums which would have helped a lot at
the time: try www.tomtomforums.com or possibly www.gpsinformation.net

The disadvantage of cheap mass-market appliances is that support by the
manufacturers is often extremely poor - the advantage is that there's a
good chance some other poor use has the same problem as you, and might
even have posted something about on the web somewhere.

--
Clive Page

On Sun, 28 Nov 2010 09:41:09 -0000, "Tim Downie"
wrote:

Have you connected with TomTom Home and updated QuickGPSfix ?

On Nov 28, 3:37*pm, Roger Chapman wrote:
On 28/11/2010 14:39, kraftee wrote:

I have had a few problems with a hand held Garmin in the past and
always found Garmin very helpful. They are contactable via e-mail. I
don't know if Tomtom are equally amenable but as the market leader
they should be.

You obviously haven't tried to get any support from them....

Not yet, but I did wonder about their marketing strategy when I
discovered that the new swan neck mounting for deeply sloping
windscreens was the best part of £30 for something they would have had
made in the Far East for pennies.

My Garmin is my 1st Sat Nav (got in 2008). I'm curious as to their
strategy as well, as AFAIK the maps update costs £70, which is damn
close the cost of a new unit - not neccessarily a Garmin !

artleknock wrote:
On Sun, 28 Nov 2010 09:41:09 -0000, "Tim Downie"
wrote:

Have you connected with TomTom Home and updated QuickGPSfix ?

Been there, done that etc...

I think we've now exhausted all software options (including deleting the
navigation application, installing it again with and without the latest
updates). Nothing seems to work.

I think my daughter's going to phone Tomtom today.

Tim

Tim Downie wrote:

My daughter's Tomtom Start has gone on the blink after a software update. It now no longer finds any satellites (and yes, it has been left for over an hour outside).

We've tried a soft reset via the on screen menu and also a hard reset via the hidden reset button. We've tried re-installing the software updates but that hasn't worked either. There doesn't seem to be any way of "rolling back" the software as my daughter has never done any back-ups in the past.

We've getting to the stage of returning it to Tomtom but I wonder if anyone knows any other ways of restoring its functionality? It just seems odd that it was working fine until the software update and then stopped working. I feel there ought to be some easy way of sorting this out.

Tim

Sorry to hear of your problems.

I have a TomTom One, which when new I enthusiasttically used to keep
up-to-date. That is, until an upgrade took away all my settings, the
new version giving far less options for warning signals and no options
for the3 boot-up screen, followed by another upgrade that caused the
unit to fail, just like your daughter's has. It was resolved by
search-engining for the fault - the cure for which was to delve into
the TomTom's files and delete several.

After that it worked just fine. I deleted the TomTom software from my
computer and have never updated the device since. At least it's
stable, and I'm saved a chore and possible associated grief.

I'm sure you'll resolve the problem - whether your daughter chooses to
keep updating her device is a choice for her...

TF

Jethro wrote on Nov 29, 2010:

On Nov 28, 3:37*pm, Roger Chapman wrote:
On 28/11/2010 14:39, kraftee wrote:

I have had a few problems with a hand held Garmin in the past and
always found Garmin very helpful. They are contactable via e-mail. I
don't know if Tomtom are equally amenable but as the market leader
they should be.

You obviously haven't tried to get any support from them....

Not yet, but I did wonder about their marketing strategy when I
discovered that the new swan neck mounting for deeply sloping
windscreens was the best part of £30 for something they would have had
made in the Far East for pennies.

My Garmin is my 1st Sat Nav (got in 2008). I'm curious as to their
strategy as well, as AFAIK the maps update costs £70, which is damn
close the cost of a new unit - not neccessarily a Garmin !

£70 will get you coverage of all of Europe. I think you'll find most of the
cheapo units on offer will have the UK only installed.

I think it's a reasonable price if you consider that it covers every town and
village in Western Europe down to street level. If you tried to buy paper
maps covering the same area with the same amount of detail, it would cost you
far more than that.

--
Mike Lane
UK North Yorkshire
mike_lane at mac dot com

On Nov 29, 11:38*am, Jethro wrote:
On Nov 28, 3:37*pm, Roger Chapman wrote:

On 28/11/2010 14:39, kraftee wrote:

I have had a few problems with a hand held Garmin in the past and
always found Garmin very helpful. They are contactable via e-mail. I
don't know if Tomtom are equally amenable but as the market leader
they should be.

You obviously haven't tried to get any support from them....

Not yet, but I did wonder about their marketing strategy when I
discovered that the new swan neck mounting for deeply sloping
windscreens was the best part of £30 for something they would have had
made in the Far East for pennies.

My Garmin is my 1st Sat Nav (got in 2008). I'm curious as to their
strategy as well, as AFAIK the maps update costs £70, which is damn
close the cost of a new unit - not neccessarily a Garmin !


£70 for lifetime updates via Numaps Lifetime

"Tim Downie" wrote in message
...
artleknock wrote:
On Sun, 28 Nov 2010 09:41:09 -0000, "Tim Downie"
wrote:

Have you connected with TomTom Home and updated QuickGPSfix ?

Been there, done that etc...

I think we've now exhausted all software options (including deleting the
navigation application, installing it again with and without the latest
updates). Nothing seems to work.

I think my daughter's going to phone Tomtom today.

Well best of luck, she may have needed it, but there are a couple of good
guys there answering the phone.

"Terry Fields" wrote in message
...

Tim Downie wrote:

My daughter's Tomtom Start has gone on the blink after a software update.
It now no longer finds any satellites (and yes, it has been left for over
an hour outside).

We've tried a soft reset via the on screen menu and also a hard reset via
the hidden reset button. We've tried re-installing the software updates
but that hasn't worked either. There doesn't seem to be any way of
"rolling back" the software as my daughter has never done any back-ups in
the past.

We've getting to the stage of returning it to Tomtom but I wonder if
anyone knows any other ways of restoring its functionality? It just seems
odd that it was working fine until the software update and then stopped
working. I feel there ought to be some easy way of sorting this out.

Tim

Sorry to hear of your problems.

I have a TomTom One, which when new I enthusiasttically used to keep
up-to-date. That is, until an upgrade took away all my settings, the
new version giving far less options for warning signals and no options
for the3 boot-up screen, followed by another upgrade that caused the
unit to fail, just like your daughter's has. It was resolved by
search-engining for the fault - the cure for which was to delve into
the TomTom's files and delete several.

After that it worked just fine. I deleted the TomTom software from my
computer and have never updated the device since. At least it's
stable, and I'm saved a chore and possible associated grief.

I'm sure you'll resolve the problem - whether your daughter chooses to
keep updating her device is a choice for her...

Sounds a little like the experience I had with my Go 920, bought
specifically because it could transmit the directions (plus music from my
IPod) onto the FM band.

Then they took that facility away because it was illegal, yet they still had
their reps on various TV shopping channels using it as a selling point and
eventually after getting a bloody patch on the front of my head (banging it
against their brick wall called customer service) they eventually revived
that service again with no explanation why, seeing it was illegal just
months before...

kraftee wrote:

my Go 920 [..] could transmit the directions [..] onto the FM band.
Then they took that facility away because it was illegal, they
eventually revived that service again with no explanation why, seeing it
was illegal just months before...

Because 50nW FM transmitters were legalised by OFCOM a couple of years ago.

On 29/11/10 16:21, Mike Lane wrote:

£70 will get you coverage of all of Europe. I think you'll find most of the
cheapo units on offer will have the UK only installed.

I think it's a reasonable price if you consider that it covers every town and
village in Western Europe down to street level. If you tried to buy paper
maps covering the same area with the same amount of detail, it would cost you
far more than that.

True, but who would want that coverage at that detail? Over the years I
have acquired a large collection of maps for the bits of Europe that at
that time and at that scale was of interest. Some of them I have used for
years, but more often I find when I need it again it is rather to old to be
relied on. Having the whole of Europe or even just GB on hand is very nice
but most of it will not be used.

--
djc

In article , Tim Downie
writes

I feel
there ought to be some easy way of sorting this out.

Give her an AA Road Atlas for Christmas. In the remainder bins for a
quid. No batteries and updated once a year, and she gets to learn to
read a map. It's a win-win.

--
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

in 1004884 20101130 063253 Mike Tomlinson wrote:
In article , Tim Downie
writes

I feel
there ought to be some easy way of sorting this out.

Give her an AA Road Atlas for Christmas. In the remainder bins for a
quid. No batteries and updated once a year, and she gets to learn to
read a map. It's a win-win.

Heresy ;-)

Mike Tomlinson wrote:
... and she gets to learn to read a map.

Maps are easier to turn upside-down too... ;-)

Mike.
--
If reply address is invalid, remove spurious "@" and substitute "plus"
where needed.

djc wrote on Nov 29, 2010:

On 29/11/10 16:21, Mike Lane wrote:

£70 will get you coverage of all of Europe. I think you'll find most of
the
cheapo units on offer will have the UK only installed.

I think it's a reasonable price if you consider that it covers every town
and
village in Western Europe down to street level. If you tried to buy paper
maps covering the same area with the same amount of detail, it would cost
you
far more than that.

True, but who would want that coverage at that detail? Over the years I
have acquired a large collection of maps for the bits of Europe that at
that time and at that scale was of interest. Some of them I have used for
years, but more often I find when I need it again it is rather to old to be
relied on. Having the whole of Europe or even just GB on hand is very nice
but most of it will not be used.



Well I do for one. Of course I don't need all or even most of it; but I can't
predict which bit's I will want in the future. But that applies to any map. I
don't buy an A to Z because I want to visit every road. The point is that the
information is there when and if you want it

--
Mike Lane
UK North Yorkshire
mike_lane at mac dot com

"Andy Burns" wrote in message
o.uk...
kraftee wrote:

my Go 920 [..] could transmit the directions [..] onto the FM band.
Then they took that facility away because it was illegal, they
eventually revived that service again with no explanation why, seeing it
was illegal just months before...

Because 50nW FM transmitters were legalised by OFCOM a couple of years
ago.

This was after that fact......

On Tue, 30 Nov 2010 10:09:44 -0000, "Mike Coon"
wrote:

Mike Tomlinson wrote:
... and she gets to learn to read a map.

Maps are easier to turn upside-down too... ;-)

Mine (TomTom GO710) turns the map continuously to keep 'ahead' at the
top of the screen. You can chage it to north at the top if you want.

Do make sure you have the latest 'HOME' s/w as well as the latest
downloads.

Phil