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Device I/O errors

Started by NinjaBob, January 28, 2011, 06:55:59 PM

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NinjaBob

I have new refurbished Nuvi 500. I am getting "Device I/O Errors" whenever I try to load any mapset larger than about 40 mb. THis occurs with Mapsource, MapInstall and Windows Explorer. Most of this was with my desktop running Win XP SP3. When I tried it with my netbook running Widows 7 starter it immediately said I had a disk problem and suggested I let chkdsk run. I did and it found a bad file but no fix of the problem. So I ran a full disk check which was negative. I then defragged and it said the drived was badly fragmented but after runnibg no fragments, However, mapset transfers larger than 40 mb still fail with the same error message.

I am thinking that my Nuvi flash drive is bad and I should return it. Any other ideas? I have loaded all of Cith Nav 2011 to a sd card and the unit works fine But I want to be able to have full use plus am concerned the internal drive will develop more problems later.

Seldom

#1
Garmin doesn't say how much internal RAM a Nuvi 500 has.  How much does Windows report?  Keep in mind that City Navigator will take 1.1 Gig including Canada and Alaska.  I assume about 1 Gig for the lower 48.

I note that you have City Navigator on an SD card.  Didn't the Nuvi already have map software on it of about 1 Gig?  What happened to them?

NinjaBob

Windows says the total space on the Nuvi drive is  2.78 GB and I have almost all of that  (2.62 gb)now that City Nav  and the topo map are gone, so it is clearly not a problem with insuff. disk space. The Nuvi had City Nav 2011.2  and a topo pre-installed. I was eligible for a free update to 2011.3 so I went for it but the Garmin updater app crashed. Garmin sent me a DVD disk which I used to update the City Nav 2008 on my PC but after that update the version on my Nuvi was regressed back to 2011.1 I had backed up 2011.2 and figured I vould just restore it. So I deleted 2011.1 and tried to copy the backed up 2011.2. That is when I discovered I could not copy anything bigger than 40 mb to the Nuvi without getting the I/O error. But I had 2011.1 on my desktop and had no trouble installing it to the SD card so at least I have a functioning GPS.

Boyd

#3
Wow, you lost me a ways back in this thread.  ???

Call Garmin support and be prepared to wait on hold for a long time. Have your nuvi connected to your computer. They can use remote control software to diagnose problems and replace bad files. If they find a problem that cannot be fixed remotely, they will either exchange or repair your unit.

NinjaBob

Sorry for the mess. Part of the confusion is that I am having simultaneous problem with Mapsource but will leave that out of this thread.

But as for the Nuvi connection problem:  Progress, maybe fixed. I googled "Problem communicating with Garmin Device" and found lots of posts, some from here, although none that included the I/O error. Most involved failure of the PC to recognize the  GPS. The common denominator was the GarminDevice.xml file which is apparently used in most or all Nuvis in the Garmin folder. There is a description on the Garmin site.This file apparently controls a lot of the units behavior and is generated on each bootup of the Nuvi. Some posters say if you plug in the Nuvi to your PC before it is fully booted up the GarminDevice.xml is truncated or improperly generated. The file includes a section defining Mass Storage Mode and I think this is where the comunication and I/O errors are coming from.

As far as I can recall I have always had my Nuvi turned off whenver I connected it to my PC as this is how I interpret the instructions in the manual.

So I tried turning the Nuvi on first before connecting to my PC. So far I have successfully installed a 60 mb mapset from one of the map products I downloaded from this site using Mapsource. In a few minutes I will try somwthing larger.


alpine

You are correct on having the Nuvi fully boot up before plugging in the Mini USB cord, and changing it's configuration to accept computer input. I don't think that was covered in the manual, but people that own and use the 500 have found that by allowing it to boot first solves a lot of problems.

As for freeing up space on the 500, just move files not needed (foreign voices and other languages) onto you PC. Later if you decide to sell the unit just put that stuff back on.

I like the 500, it works well for me and the bigger screen is a plus for us older guys. I power mine from the ATV battery and mount it in a cradle. I have a 4gb micro SD card in it, and I have plenty of room for all the maps for the NW, plus room for 10 routes stored on the card.

NinjaBob

I am still having the I/O errors communicationg between my Win XP desktop and the Nuvi. I was wrong about the GarminDevice.xml file, it is not causing the problem. If I delete the file Mapsource sees the Nuvi internal memory as a data card or another drive and the same I/O error occurs with large transfers. I have not found any consistency in the error now after about 20 attemps but the failures occur with most mapsets larger than 60 mb. However a couple larger than 150 mb have worked and  3 or 4 less than 20 mb have failed.

I have finally upgraded to the latest version of Mapsource (which required a remote login by Garmin Support) but the update has not helped any.

I just bought a new netbook with Win 7 and after the trouble of installing Mapsource and map data on it I have tried one transfer of 90 mb and it worked. So it could be an issue with my desktop USB hardware or XP. I will try a larger transfer and see waht happens.


Thanks to all who bother to read this compicated thread!

Seldom

Quote from: NinjaBob on February 01, 2011, 06:47:03 AM
I just bought a new netbook with Win 7 and after the trouble of installing Mapsource and map data on it I have tried one transfer of 90 mb and it worked. So it could be an issue with my desktop USB hardware or XP. I will try a larger transfer and see waht happens.

Did you use the same cable to do both transfers?  I've had a problem with one of my cables.

NinjaBob

Quote from: seldom_sn on February 01, 2011, 07:03:45 AM
Quote from: NinjaBob on February 01, 2011, 06:47:03 AM
I just bought a new netbook with Win 7 and after the trouble of installing Mapsource and map data on it I have tried one transfer of 90 mb and it worked. So it could be an issue with my desktop USB hardware or XP. I will try a larger transfer and see waht happens.

Did you use the same cable to do both transfers?  I've had a problem with one of my cables.
Good point. NO it was a different cable. A short one without a resistor. I wonder if the expensive cables that Garmin sells would be worth trying?

Seldom

A cheaper fix would be to swap cables and see if the problem goes with the swap.

NinjaBob

Quote from: seldom_sn on February 01, 2011, 11:45:12 AM
A cheaper fix would be to swap cables and see if the problem goes with the swap.
I bought the netbook for a trip not to fix the GPS problem. But yes I did try swapping th cables and no improvement. However I did try a 190 meg mapset from the netbook and it worked. I will try someting even larger. One intersting thing is that every time I connect the Nuvi to tthe netbook, Windows 7 says: "there may be a problem with the Nuvi flash drive, do you want to check it to eliminate possible future problems" (not a vebatim quote)  I answer yes. The first time in foumd a lost file, the 2nd and 3rd time all was well. So at least it seems Win 7 is a littlemore sophisticated at communication with USB devices than XP.