Thread: AULRO Subscriber Offer - cheap on-road/off-road GPS units

Did you insert your approx location? If the GPS receiver has not previously been working then it has to try and solve a solution for the first time and will take a long time unless you prime it with an approx location.

Originally Posted by Timj

Well I have purchased one of the later 5" CE 6.0 units from Deal Extreme and have managed to get IGO8 working on it with up to date maps and such like but I have a problem with it not finding any satellites. Doesn't matter how I connect or disconnect the GPS receiver it still won't see a single satellite. There are a couple of posts on the Deal Extreme site about the same thing but no replies from anybody with information and I can't find anything on GPSUnlock either.

Does anybody else have any experience with the same problem?
Is there any new firmware available for these later units? (SKU 33738)

Thanks,

TimJ.

Try hitting the reset button on the side as it then goes back to the defaults which does have the GPS connected to the software. You will loose any settings you have put into the GPS software and will have to set them up again.

Garry

Hi Slug Burner,

I can't find anywhere to do that. I know there is an option to do that on the Garmin unit I have but I can't find anywhere on this one.

Thanks,

TimJ.

Hi Garry,

Have reset it as well and that didn't help. I have even changed the comms speed of the link to the GPS receiver to 4800 baud since that is what is in a config file I saw when looking through the files in the root directory.

Actually what I might try is changing that config file to match the default that the program autodetects which is 38400. But I can't tell what it is a config for since it isn't named.

Thanks,

TimJ.

Also be aware that the build of the model you have does not like vibrations like corrugations causing problems. Mine died very early on a recent trip I did mainly due to the poor quality suction mount allowing the GPS to bounce around a lot.

When I got home I pulled it apart and the problem is the power/computer input port. The leverage of the charging cable bouncing around has caused some sort of break or dry joint stopping the battery from being charged. If I push the charging cable all the way in it does not charge but if I put it in half way it does - charges when pulled apart but not when together. The actual GPS works fine as did Rangas mods but I would ditch the standard suction mount and get something more robust. Also disconnect the power lead when on rough sections.

I do not have the capability of doing the micro soldering needed to resolder mine and it is not cost effective to get a professional to repair it so I will probably get another and use it as indicated above.

Garry

Some units have given me trouble with iGO finding satellites. I fixed it by going into Menu/Settings/GPS and unticking GPS enabled. This let me select the Autodetect option in the bottom right hand corner, and then it worked fine. Might be worth a try.

Hi Ranga,

Done that numerous times and it doesn't help. It sees the GPS receiver and connects on port 1 at 38400 but it still doesn't see any satellites. It was not seeing any satellites when I was using the Route66 that came with it either so I am thinking it could be hardware. On the deal extreme web site it seems that this is a problem with quite a few of these units and so far there are no knowledgeable replies. Some seem to have come good just by leaving them for a few hours running but this one hasn't responded to that or all the other resets etc that I have tried.

Damn. It seems quite a good package apart from the fact that it doesn't work.

TimJ.

Originally Posted by Timj

Hi Ranga,

Done that numerous times and it doesn't help. It sees the GPS receiver and connects on port 1 at 38400 but it still doesn't see any satellites. It was not seeing any satellites when I was using the Route66 that came with it either so I am thinking it could be hardware. On the deal extreme web site it seems that this is a problem with quite a few of these units and so far there are no knowledgeable replies. Some seem to have come good just by leaving them for a few hours running but this one hasn't responded to that or all the other resets etc that I have tried.

Damn. It seems quite a good package apart from the fact that it doesn't work.

TimJ.

Bugger - on the upside, Deal Extreme will pay for the return postage on faulty items. The return process is a little slow given DX's communication speeds, but I've had one return which was process to my satisfaction.