Garmin GPS Nuvi 200W USB Connector Issue

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Bigglez
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Garmin GPS Nuvi 200W USB Connector Issue

Post by Bigglez »

I connected a Garmin Nuvi 200W GPS to my PC using the mini-USB
to USB cable from a third party. To my frustration the Garmin
cycles and beeps and the PC doesn't recognise the USB device.

As an experiment I moved the USB cable to a rear port on the
same PC (it has four, plus two more on the front) and all is well.

Can anyone shed some light on this problem.

I see that different appliances with standard 5 pin min-USB jacks
manipulate the fifth pin to signal battery charging, etc. Also, there
is a current limit in the USB port spec (5V, 500mA), so I'm wondering
if my particular PC has a lower rating on the front USB jacks?

Another example of two steps forward and one step backwards!

The cable connection is needed to register the device
with Garmin, and download firmware updates. I'm in the middle
of that process, and apparently I qualify for a free map download.
(It warns this will takes several hours to download and should
not b attempted on a dial-up modem - Oh, Boy!). I'll kick this off
later, to run during the night.
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haklesup
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Re: Garmin GPS Nuvi 200W USB Connector Issue

Post by haklesup »

Some USB ports are powered and some are not. Check the Device manager in the coltrol panel (or My Computer Properties) for more details about your actual hardware.

Check out ppcwarez.org for lots of PNA files
reloadron
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Re: Garmin GPS Nuvi 200W USB Connector Issue

Post by reloadron »

You may want to give the following a read:

Windows XP will not recognise Garmin

The most common problem is forgetting to first begin the driver install and then when prompted connecting the device. The procedure is much like installing many printers. Additionally to be sure and get the latest and greatest drivers for your unit I would download them from Garmin.

Ron
Bigglez
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Re: Garmin GPS Nuvi 200W USB Connector Issue

Post by Bigglez »

reloadron wrote: The most common problem is forgetting to first begin the driver install and then when prompted connecting the device. The procedure is much like installing many printers. Additionally to be sure and get the latest and greatest drivers for your unit I would download them from Garmin.
Thanks for that link! I didn't find it when I was googling for
help over the weekend. Also, as I had a third party USB
cable I assumed I had a hardware problem, not a missing
driver.

Your post is very timely, as I'm uploading the new maps to
my GPS as I type. To get the maps I had to download
a huge file from Garmin (can you say one-point-nine-two-gigabytes,
everybody?).

Then my 2GHz Pentium PC nearly gagged uncompressed it
and now it's formatting the new maps and sending them over
the USB link to my Nuvi.

So far so good! Yesterday on my way to work I found lots 'o
new icons along the route, so the update to the basic
software has been done. The North America street level
map is the next, and hopefully final, upgrade for a while.

Thanks Again, I'd be lost without your help!
Bigglez
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Re: Garmin GPS Nuvi 200W USB Connector Issue

Post by Bigglez »

haklesup wrote:Some USB ports are powered and some are not. Check the Device manager in the coltrol panel (or My Computer Properties) for more details about your actual hardware.
Nice feature, it's reporting the consumption of each USB
port! Not sure if that's really a gas (milliampmeter) guage
or an estimate of current read from the connected device's
firmware profile. When I get a chance I'll do some testing.

There are four tabs in the Device Manager, more ports
than the hardware that I actually have. They all appear
to be powered.

I have the usual junk on my USB ports; keyboard, wireless
mouse Rx, Webcam, iPod, GPS, AVR ISPmkII, Nikon coolpix
(not all of them were plugged in when I took these
screenshots).

Image
Image
Image
Image
reloadron
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Re: Garmin GPS Nuvi 200W USB Connector Issue

Post by reloadron »

Glad things are working for you. I don't even own a GPS but have setup several fro friends and neighbors. I keep telling myself "one of these days" and have yet to get around to getting one. The things are incredible.

Ron
Bigglez
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Re: Garmin GPS Nuvi 200W USB Connector Issue

Post by Bigglez »

reloadron wrote:Glad things are working for you. I don't even own a GPS but have setup several fro friends and neighbors. I keep telling myself "one of these days" and have yet to get around to getting one. The things are incredible.
One of our vehicles has a dash board LCD navigation system,
which uses GPS and a gyro (!!). Very cool. Every year the
deater sells a new DVD data disk, currently north of $100 each.

I used a Garmin nuvi while in Manhattan last year, came with
a rental car, and as it had batteries we used it on foot, too.
When the retail price of that model dropped below $200 including
tax I jumped in. I can use it in the next rental car without paying
the $5 to $10 per day fees.

A couple of years ago we rented a Garmin transportable GPS
in the 'states and carted it to Italy. The maps were in Italiano,
but the voice commands were in US English. Very Handy!

Next holiday I'll load this nuvi with local foreign maps and English
databases.

BTW, in an idle wait for immigration and customs I used the GPS
to prove to my self that the Canada-US border near Seattle is
indeed at 49deg 0mins 0secs north!

Gotta run, my Garmin has just finished the new map update,
I can finally unplug it and find my way to the local Home Despot
to finish a home plumbing project.

Version 5.00, Audio Version 2.30, GPS SW Version 2.55b
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haklesup
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Re: Garmin GPS Nuvi 200W USB Connector Issue

Post by haklesup »

Next holiday I'll load this nuvi with local foreign maps and English
databases.
With Garmin, that will cost an arm and a leg and still you may need a european unit to run them on. The GPS (PNA) field is rife with copyrighted IP.

I like Garmin as a company and their Topo enabled GPS recievers can't be beat but they are the top priced brand and the software is as closed as an old Apple/MAC. Most of the other brands run on a windows mobile platform and customized Igo software. By modifying one file on the SD card, you can unlock the player and install other windows mobile programs, connect to the PC using microsoft ActiveSynch etc. In nthis arena, The low priced off brands offer the best flexibility if you want to hack into the S/W and get unlocked versions of the programs so you can load maps from any region. For example I use mine to watch MP4 movies even though the software it came with didn't have the audio codec, I was able to download and use CorePlayer which plays just about all formats and is feature rich.
Bigglez
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Re: Garmin GPS Nuvi 200W USB Connector Issue

Post by Bigglez »

haklesup wrote: With Garmin, that will cost an arm and a leg and still you may need a european unit to run them on.
So, last trip we rented the Garmin GPS unit in the USA, and we had
no trouble using it in Italy. I don't understand why that
can't be repeated using the new Garmin and the maps for
the destination (if outside the USA)?
haklesup wrote: I like Garmin as a company and their Topo enabled GPS recievers can't be beat but they are the top priced brand and the software is as closed as an old Apple/MAC.
So by your judgement I bought the wrong brand?
haklesup wrote:The low priced off brands offer the best flexibility if you want to hack into the S/W and get unlocked versions of the programs so you can load maps from any region.
So you're advocating breaking a security barrier to use pirated materials?
haklesup wrote: I use mine to watch MP4 movies even though the software it came with didn't have the audio codec, I was able to download and use CorePlayer which plays just about all formats and is feature rich.
I bought the Garmin to (a) use it as a GPS, and (b) no longer pay GPS rental
fees for business trips and holidays away from our own vehicles.
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haklesup
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Re: Garmin GPS Nuvi 200W USB Connector Issue

Post by haklesup »

So you're advocating breaking a security barrier to use pirated materials?
My comment was more of an FYI. I didn't post links to such material or specific instructions
So by your judgement I bought the wrong brand?
Not necessarily, if you intend to only use it for GPS, that's cool. I just like the "Easter Egg" quality of finding new applications I didn't expect. I found several Shareware/freeware apps that were fun to try out for my PNA. Garmin makes a lot of different models, I really don't know the limits of yours.
So, last trip we rented the Garmin GPS unit in the USA, and we had
no trouble using it in Italy. I don't understand why that
can't be repeated using the new Garmin and the maps for
the destination (if outside the USA)?
Maybe you can. The GPS market place is complicated by the fact that most receivers are sold and priced with specific map sets. It may be that the place you rented it from purchased a more expensive unit with worldwide maps already paid for or purchased the map CD upgrade at full price and pre-installed on their rental units destined for origins you specified or it may be that they modified the software with unlocked maps without your knowledge. If the box says USA/Canada maps included that's probably all you get. I would expect to pay over $100 for a set of Western European maps. In general up to 50% of the purchase price accounts for the cost of the map IP. Garmin uses TeleAtlas maps same as Google uses presently

I'm not sure about Garmin specifically but many PNA units sold in USA cannot be upgraded with maps purchased elsewhere due to license locks linked to the name of the unit burned into its ROM. If you purchase the U/G maps in the USA or from the Garmin USA website (or authorized dealer) it should work. This prevents you from say, coping your friends maps when you visit them in another country. If that unit does not have an SD card slot, you may find it difficult to add more maps without first removing some. I think Garmin combines maps into a giant regional file while other brands break out the maps (for example by state and/or country)
I bought the Garmin to (a) use it as a GPS, and (b) no longer pay GPS rental
fees for business trips and holidays away from our own vehicles.
While you cannot legally activate your GPS functions on an Airplane, this variation has allowed me a way to view my DVDs (converted of course for 240x320 resolution) on board the airplane in route to my destination when there is no movie or the ones on board are not to my liking. I do a lot of long Asia and European flights that often last over 20 hours door to door. For example I just got back from Singapore yesterday and watched at least one movie on my PNA and another on my Zune (switched players due to battery life limitations).

No company does a good job covering Africa. South America is spotty and its very hard to get China maps if they even exist in a machine readable form. Garmin may be the only player (maybe Magellin) where you can get limited China maps. But you probably aren't planning on going there and if you do, you shouldn't try to drive, it can be crazy. Taxis are dirt cheap there from an American POV anyway.

FYI: PNA=Personal Navigation Appliance
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MicroRem
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Re: Garmin GPS Nuvi 200W USB Connector Issue

Post by MicroRem »

Actually as far as I know there isn't a law against using a GPS on a commercial aircraft, these are rules enforced by individual carriers. Alaska Airline prohibits GPS use in flight, Southwest allows it. It works best to not have a destination input into the system though, because the system is constantly trying to recalculate the best roads to take while you blow past intersections at 500 plus knots.

best to all

Tom
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