Expensive Brick

That’s what the Garmin Oregon GPS turned into after returning from the walk on Sunday!  The gps was working on my return, however when I plugged it into the laptop using the usb cable the gps screen showed “Garmin” and “System Software Missing”. Searching Google gave the advice to reinstall the software on the gps.  Unfortunately that option wasn’t available because the usb connection wasn’t being recognised.  The gps reset option wasn’t working either! <grrrr>.  The last piece of advice was to phone Garmin UK on a 0845 (pay) number along with the comment that the unit may need to be sent to Garmin to fix.  There has to be a better way!

Google then threw up a site which suggested a recovery file could be downloaded and then run on the laptop.  In the end I managed to get the laptop to recognise the gps via the usb port by downloading the file and doing the following steps.

1. Prepare the Recovery file to run in a DOS command screen
2. Disconnect the Oregon and make sure it is powered off
3. Press and hold down the power button and do NOT release the power button until step 6).
4. Quickly plug the GPS into your USB cable connected to your PC
5. Back on the PC hit <enter> to execute the DOS recovery program, this should bring up the Updater window
6. Select the USB radio button
7. Wait for the "Loader" banner at the top of the Oregon screen above the Garmin logo and release the power button
8. The GPS should display "Software Loader" and Updater should show a download progress bar.
9. The GPS will go through several update / restart cycles.
10. If everything goes well the Updater will give a success message and the Oregon will restart running the version of software in the RGN file
11. Run Webupdater to make sure that the unit has the most up to date software.

So the Oregon is now recognised by the laptop using the usb cable and this enabled me to make a copy of all the gps traces recorded during Sunday’s walk. 

And then I made my big mistake erred in my judgement!  Rather than replacing the entire gps software with the backup image file on the CD, I decided to reinstall the maps from the laptop.  Now the gps is stuck at the start-up screen; won’t turn off; and won’t recognise the usb connection.  It’s well and truly a “BRICK”!

Meantime, Darren has repainted the bow thruster locker lid as it had been scratched and chipped during the fitting of the cratch cover.  Whilst he did this I considered where we might store all the mooring equipment.  We’ve already purchased the ‘Terry Clips” from Screwfix and now need to finalise the location.  I decided the first part of the process should be to make up a “shadow board” for the mooring pins.  After doing further thinking I realised the board would fit in the smaller of the lockers in the cockpit. 

The locker is now starting to get rather full.  It was already small and now contains the starter motor battery, the Hurricane header tank and finally the mooring gear.