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Please Help!: What is the "<PartNumber>" near the beginning of the GarminDevice.xml for the Dakota 20? [see below]

I've been playing with my previously reported problem some more, editing the GarminDevice.xml from my wife's nüvi 1300.

With the version here, Garmin's WebUpdater.com recognizes the device but says nothing is there:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><Device xmlns="h#p://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/GarminDevice/v2" xmlns:xsi="h#p://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="h#p://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/GarminDevice/v2 h#p://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/GarminDevicev2.xsd"><Model><PartNumber>010-00781-01</PartNumber><SoftwareVersion>330</SoftwareVersion><Description>Dakota 20</Description></Model><Id>3635700000</Id><RegistrationCode>1AA057000</RegistrationCode><Unlock><Code>A00AA0A0A0A00AAA0AAAAAA00</Code></Unlock></Device>

[# substitutes for tt to avoid prohibited "external links"]

If I change the part number to the nüvi 1300 part number from its GarminDevice.xml, WebUpdater sees it as a nüvi 1300 and will go  into the process to update the Firmware - possibly stopping before actually overwriting the firmware - and ending with an error message.

After reloading maps, the unit is about where it was before the attempted  nüvification. Works normally with uploaded maps & waypoints, won't wave a waypoint.

What's fun is that with the file as listed above, the program Garmin Express recognizes the unit as a Dakota 20, tells me the correct "serial number" not the altered "registration code" in the file, reports that the software version is 3.30 or 3.10 from the file, whichever it says, not actual 3.10 - and tells me that the "device software is up to date," which is manifestly not true.

But the problem is that "<PartNumber>" is not the retail part number [sku] i provided, but something different - the nüvi has 006-B0972-00 in the file, but 010-00782-40 as retail.

Can anyone help?

Thank you

On my Dakota I can delete GarminDevice.xml and it is restored at start. Check if you have free place in internal storage. And you can try to create empty xml.

Plenty of free space, and I had created a dummy [blank] file.

Something had nagged me about the idea that the unit was 'restoring' or 'recreating' the xml file.

It clicked when I read this - there is probably a hidden copy of the XML file someplace that the unit is simply copying back to the readable location.

Most or all of the file probably comes with the software upgrade process.

Dang.

I had scanned the template for the file in the Garmin developer pages, but I am not going to try to generate it from scratch.

Thanks for the suggestions though.

Yeah, don't waste your time editing GarminDevice.xml. It is not read by the device and is regenerated everytime it starts up.

(snip)

It seems that the GarminDevice.xml file is not regenerated EVERY time the unit starts up - mine is starting up just fine, though it has a few functional limitations - the contents of the internal memory got wiped [operator error]. I think the Dakota needs to read a version of the GarminDevice.xml in order to rewrite a possibly modified version.

And unfortunately, WebUpdater may need a good version of the file in order to recognize & identify the unit.

So I am trying to recreate just enough of the file that WebUpdater will recognize it & do an update (from 3.1 to 5.. The warnings at www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=4527 regarding going past 4.6 suggest that enough may go on in that update to make my Dakota more functional.

As it is, BaseMap will install maps to either the internal memory or the SD card, and they work fine, so at least it is not bricked.

If anyone can give me guidance on how to get a minimally & momentarily useful GarminDevice.xml, I would greatly appreciate it.