Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Are you sure you've got the card inserted with the contacts upward and fully inserted until it clicks?

Yes I am sure I put it in correctly. Contacts facing up and clicked in.

I had a version 22 unit and it locked up on me once this weekend. I am guessing that the lock up issue is corrupting the card from the instructions to use a new card. I also discovered this weekend when it locked up on me that it would not power on until I removed the card.
I tried the update several times using the old card (I did not have any setups I wanted to keep) and I was not successful, even after formatting the card in both WinVista and using the CC format function. My guess is that when you have a lock up, that card is toast as far as the CC goes.
So anyhow, luckily I had another card in my gps. I tried the update several times with it and it also did not work UNTIL i deleted all other folders except the PCBUFF folder. Then the update finally took. I used the CC for a 5 minute test and it worked as expected, and was even a bit more responsive feeling.
As far as I can tell, formatting the old card and using it in my gps seems to be ok, otherwise mark any card that has locked up in the CC and do not attempt to reuse it.

Thanks Spiked. I can't get it to turn on with the old card either. It won't turn on even there is NO card inserted. Funny thing is, I am at a loss considering after all that fussing around, even when inserting the original card back in, it still would not come on.

I am putting a call into tech support tomorrow.

I'm becoming a conspiracy theorist... I see that several people have had serious problems with the firmware update already. I have never had serious issues with my CC, and the firmware update this morning went perfectly according to the way it was scripted on the website, complete with a blinking white screen for about 25 seconds or so. I used a 2gig card I pulled from an old Motorola Razr phone sitting idle in my desk drawer. I didn't even erase the 170+ meg of pictures on the card first. It went perfectly well.

I have no idea (yet) what this firmware update will do for me beyond making my ABR800 appear with the correct power stats on the CC screen, but in the interest of pioneering spirit, I just went for it. It worked fine, and I came to the forum to report the good news. I'm sorry to read that some people have had troubles already. I was really hoping that the answer to most all issues brought to the table would be addressed in this firmware update. Keep the grin going though, as the more focused the problem areas become, the faster they are likely to be nailed down.

@ Voyager:

Thanks for the great report - relieved to hear. How's your battery life on new FW on a fresh pair of batteries?

Thanks
Michelle

For those looking at what the FW will do, that is described in the first section of the instructions, and seperated between V22 and V27.

For those with non-responsive CC's after the upgrade, what version were you upgrading from?

fazmanicg-

Before you do anything else, press in on the left hand button with the card installed. This is the power button, and can turn the CC on from an otherwise non-responsive state.

If that does not work, and since there is nothing to lose, lets try a slightly different approach. Whatever card you use, make sure it is formatted to FAT16. Repeat the entire procedure from the download step. The only difference now is do not remove the battery. Hot-install the card. The procedure should start the CC.

The need to reinstal the FW on the card is there is a file that starts the upload and then gets erased. If it got to the point of erasing but not to the point of installing, then there is not much else you can do besides start from scratch.

Everyone else, please do not hot swap your card unless advised to do so. This is an extreme cirumstance, where there is not any further risk.

Thanks RDKirk, your instructions went off without a hitch and with only using the original card shipped with the CC.

Thanks PCB for the firmware update. Looking forward to many years of use of my CC(SN#001374).

RMS

I'm running into the same prob fazmanicg is having. The unit just wont power up after reinserting the battery. Put in a card with the upgrade, popped the battery in and nothing ever came on. Same deal with the original card or no card. The battery contacts seem poorly designed and one of the batteries doesnt really hold the battery in well. Not sure if thats the prob or the upgrade itself got interrupted from a battery coming loose during the upgrade?

Any ideas? Judging from the contacts, it looks like it needs a repair regardless of if I can get this thing to turn on.

Thanks!
K