My 450 Died...

[Redpoll]

So.

I spent 5 Jan 12 on Amherst Island doing some birding and caching.  Nothing out of the ordinary with my 450 as I wandered about the bush and the rural roads on the Island.

When I got home, I tried to transfer my trip data (waypoints, map routes, etc) to my computer.  Unfortunately, the 450 powers up as far as the Garmin screen -- the small text at the bottom of the screen reads "Loading Photos" -- and then the screen fades to grey.  I've changed the batteries and even tried running it off the car DC power source with the same result.  There's the "blue screen of death" on computers; this looks like a slowly ghostly fading away to oblivion...

I called Gamin Customer Service today and as the device is under warranty, I have been instructed to send the unit to Raytech in Laval for repair/replacement.  Though I am likely to lose my waypoints etc, my maps are on the micro card which (along with my Duracell eneloops) which I will retain.

Hopefully this will be a smooth transaction.  I'll keep the community posted.

[SigsPig]

I had a trouble free transaction with Raytech when I finally sent in my old 60cx. Can't speak for the 450; good luck.

[JoMari]

I've had a very similar problem on the 62s a few times lately. It looks like it is starting up and then fades away. The best way I've gotten back from this is a reset. Not sure how on the 450, but on the 62 you hold "page" and "quit" down then press the on button,release the on button when you see the Garmin logo but continue to hold the other 2 buttons until the reset screen pops up. Then it  asks if you want to reset user data. I've done this a few times and then it works great for while again. The stored waypoints are still there after the reset, but all the settings are back to default.

EDIT: Oops, as Lostinthegarden mentions, it is "Enter" not "Quit". And sometimes you need to do it all quickly or it freezes up at the reset screen.

[PA]

I've had a very similar problem on the 62s a few times lately. It looks like it is starting up and then fades away. The best way I've gotten back from this is a reset. Not sure how on the 450, but on the 62 you hold "page" and "quit" down then press the on button,release the on button when you see the Garmin logo but continue to hold the other 2 buttons until the reset screen pops up. Then it  asks if you want to reset user data. I've done this a few times and then it works great for while again. The stored waypoints are still there after the reset, but all the settings are back to default.

We had a problem with our 62S during our cruise in the Carribean last week. 

On Saint Martin the GPS took a while finding our location but I expected a delay when in a new area.  The GPS found our location and  I then turned it off while taking a bus to the cache location.

When I turned it back on later, it had problems on the screen which indicates the loading of the the tracks, waypoints, etc.  The bar on the bottom of that screen slowly showed the loading taking place, but when it was about 80% done, it would stop.  After about 30 seconds, the Gps turned itself off.    I tried restarting a few times over the next few hours with the same result.  Fortunately Ma had here Oregon.

I left the 62 alone for the rest of the day, and that evening, I started it up with no problem and it immediately showed our location.

I am hoping it is not a serious problem and that it wont be repeated.

[lostinthegarden]

We've had similar problems from time to time with our 450 and 62S, but have always been able to recover from them.  The cause, at least in the cases we've seen, seems to be with the SD card.  It may get disturbed when you change the batteries, or a bit of grit works its way into the contacts, causing an intermittent connection.  So, the next step is to remove the card, and see if the GPSr will start okay without it.  If so, try cleaning out any dust around the SD card socket (maybe with a fine brush or compressed air), reinsert the card, and give it another go.  Sometimes we've had to re-seat the card more than once, but eventually this procedure succeeds... so far, anyway.

[lostinthegarden]

More on this continuing saga...

When we tried to update our GPS units today, we ran into the "grey screen of death" problem again.  We managed to get the 450 going again after several tries, using the procedure outlined previously: remove the SD card, try restarting the GPSr without the card, and if that works, clean the SD card holder, reinsert the card, cross fingers, and restart.

With the 62S, though, it didn't work.  Even without the SD card, we got the grey screen of death, every time.  We tried the reset procedure suggested by JoMari, but it made no difference.  Figuring the 62S was bricked, we contacted Garmin technical support, and found that the buttons to hold to trigger a reset are actually Enter + Page + Power (release Power when the Garmin logo appears), not Quit + Page + Power.  That brought up a reset dialog, but there was a Catch-22: you couldn't select anything!  Then we found out that there is also an unconditional reset procedure that clears all the user settings without requiring any further user intervention: Quit + Menu + Out + Power.  That worked - of course, then all the user settings go back to the factory defaults, but that's preferable to having a useless brick that has to be sent off for service.

It's all quite a PITA... we're wondering if these issues arise only for GSAK users, but since there are many of those and not all of them seem to have these problems, there must be other variables involved too.

[elyob]

This similar scenario happened to my Magellan eXploristGC (which is now a useless brick).  However, it did not use a card.  My question is this.

My GPSr began its own screen-of-death terror after a long journey by air.  Is it possible that the airport screening (GPSr was in carry-on) or the flight itself is the variable behind these issues?

[Redpoll]

After I spoke with Garmin Customer service, I contacted Raytech to discuss the problem and advise them that my GPSr was on the way.  We went through the usual variables (battery, power source etc). The techinician at Raytech suggested that the rx may be shutting itself down in this manner because "something was corrupted" so we tried restarting it without the card.  No joy.  Device should be in the hands of Raytech on 11 Jan 12.  MTF.... 

[HoundGPS]

I have dealt with Garmin and Raytec electronics last summer for the exact same unit as you: the Oregon 450.
I had purchased my unit in November 2010.
On July 27th 2011 me and a caching buddy did GC19TA4 and got caught by extremely heavy rain, at night, in the woods, about 10 minutes before reaching the vehicule. I needed to check the GPSr every so often because visibility was less than 5 feet away and needed to know we were headed in the right direction as well as trying to back our tracks using the track log.
Since the unit is IPX7 compliant (waterproof), I never thought something could happen due to rain.

The next day, I took the GPSr out because of a Jeep jamboree and wanted to grab caches in the area... No satellite reception!
Tried everything, from Hard reset to firmware update, but it had now become apparent that the antenna was shot.
Contacted Garmin who referred me to Raytec's website so I can ship the unit and so I did.
After a little over a month after sending in my unit, I was getting kinda worried of not getting any news about it other than a confirmation of arrival.
So I jumped on the website to track its status... only to find out their website had completely been overhauled... and yes, my account credentials no longer worked!
In panic, I called.
Their customer service was awesome. The lady was very nice and understanding. She told me their new website is up but the back end database had not been brought online just yet.
She was able to confirm my order and she said mine needed replacement under warranty and that they were waiting for the arrival of new oregon 450 units from Garmin as they were back-order at the time.
She gave me an expected date of arrival for the units from garmin, the date when they would ship me mine and when I could expect it in at my doorstep.
Those dates were followed and I got my brand new 450 on time.

Good thing my dad has the same unit though, I could still cache while waiting for my oregon to come back

There, that was my experience with Raytec

[Redpoll]

To make a long story (which Mudlark and SigsPig have already more or less heard) I recently received my refurbished 450 from Raytech.  All in all, I have to say that I was pleased with their service. Things got off to a rocky start though: through no fault of Raytech, Canada Post efficiently delivered my GPSR destined to Raytech -- to me! (punishment perhaps for finally solving http://coord.info/GC38TTT?)

Back to the local post office to explain my predicament and the GPSR was soon in Raytech's hands.

Their web-based update service was OK, and they also sent e-mail updates.  But I had no problem contacting techncians to explain my situation and to have them transfer the WPs and caches from my old device to the new one (for a nominal $15 fee).

They were also quite accommodating in getting the new device back to me in a timely manner as I was soon to leave for Western Canada and would have preferred to bring along the 450 instead of my Nuvi 255.

Once I had the device back, it became a bit of a race against time to get the new 450 configured in the way I wanted and build mapsets.   I had problems unlocking City Navigator but in the end I am now good to go... and writing this from YOW as I wait for a delayed flight to Vancouver.