660 locks when asking for Route Preview

[kernowing]

Problem is pretty much as in Topic title. If I select a custom route and request a preview, the unit sometimes locks itself--no response to any key and the only escape is press and hold "power off" for about 10 seconds, which then shuts it down. It shows good satellite reception and battery condition is good. It will show previews quite quickly for UK routes but European routes seem to be the problem. Brexit maybe???

[carolinarider09]

I don't have an answer but sometimes, on my 665, it does the same thing but I can just back out of it. I attribute it to just the way my maps are loaded, mostly on the Sim card.

But it has never locked up as you have experienced.

[carolinarider09]

Problem is pretty much as in Topic title. If I select a custom route and request a preview, the unit sometimes locks itself--no response to any key and the only escape is press and hold "power off" for about 10 seconds, which then shuts it down. It shows good satellite reception and battery condition is good. It will show previews quite quickly for UK routes but European routes seem to be the problem. Brexit maybe???

Just asking if you have or did resolve this issue?

[kernowing]

Just asking if you have or did resolve this issue?

This issue seems to have sorted itself out (without intervention from myself) , thanks for asking

[Tom Schmitz]

Mine would crash when asking for a map preview. It would also crash when repositioning the route on the screen and zooming in. It seemed to do this with fairly normal routes of 400 miles, a couple of waypoints and a handful of shaping points. Not so much with a much shorter route with only a start and finish. I went through the usual and customary hard reset process, to no avail.

After poking about a bit, I think the problem is that the newer maps have outstripped the processor's ability to process. Or, perhaps more precisely, the map files hog so much memory that the processor hasn't got enough headroom to do what it needs to do.

In looking at the available memory via Garmin Express (Tools & Content>Utilities) I noticed that my internal memory was 95% full. I looked through the file structure and noted nothing other than the map files that were very large so the map files seemed to be the culprit. I had long ago removed unnecessary files that weren't related to my theater of operations. There are no .mp3 or .jpg files. The file structure is as lean as it can be.

The clever lad that I am, I figured I'd use Map Installer to install only the California maps. If I go to neighboring states I'd install the required maps before I left. I'd keep the entire mapset on an SD card stored in the battery box. Such is the price of refusing to replace the devil you know for a later model with more processing power, a bigger screen, better software, more capabil...wait, I'm treading where I shouldn't.

I did just that and noticed that more internal memory did not become available. Looking back into the file structure I saw that the gmapprom file was still huge at a bit over 2Gb. I had expected that Map Installer would delete the file (which was all of the lower 49) and replace it with just the California. It certainly didn't do that. It seems that what it did was make only the California maps available. This is as useless as boobs on a boar.

I decided to be bold and delete all of the map files (after backing up the zumo; I'm really not that bold) and then have a go at installing just the California maps again.

Much better; now I have plenty of free internal memory and the unit doesn't crash when previewing or dragging and zooming routes. Screen refresh seems a bit quicker.

By thunder, the old 660 is performing just like it was 2010 all over again...

[carolinarider09]

Tom,

I have considered doing the same thing, but was worried I might "mess something up". Just to clarify, you deleted all the old map files and only the map files on the Zumo itself.

When you said you backed up those files, did you back up all the files on the Zumo? By "all files", I was wondering if there were some hidden files.

Later today, I will take a screen shot of what my computer shows is on my Zumo to sort of show what I am questioning.

The main reason I am asking is that I believe there are some "hidden" files in my 665 which I cannot see and that is causing the problems with storage.

[Tom Schmitz]

To be more clear on the backup, I hooked the zumo up to the computer. When it showed up in File Explorer (this is in Windows) I right-clicked on "D:zumo" (it may not be a D: drive on your computer depending on what you have mounted. It could be anything from D: to Z: on a Windows machine) and copied the entire drive to a folder that I have called "C:/Tom/Documents/Garmin/zumo back-up". I do this periodically to copy the entire file structure that is on the zumo. It has saved my bacon a few times in the past 10 years. Doing it at every map update is not necessary, but certainly whenever you're about to fiddle with the files.

Doing this will copy all the files including any hidden files. You can right-click on "D:zumo" and go into properties and set it up so that hidden files are shown. This helps a great deal, especially if you are looking for odd stuff or files that might be able to be deleted.

Further, I copied the files called gmap3d and gmapprom (which were 234Mb and 2.2Gb respectively) to my hard drive in the same manner. Then I deleted them from the zumo. These were the only map files I deleted, as the rest are very small and I think they get re-written when you change the map. You may have a file called gmapsupp; If you do then that should be copied as the other two were and then deleted. This copying of these files separately as well as backing up the whole file structure is a belt-and-suspenders thing, but then that's what a belt and suspenders are for - to make sure your pants don't fall down.

At that point I used Map Install to set the zumo up with a limited map set, in my case all the California segments.

During the process, I left the zumo connected to the computer as I feared if I removed it and booted it with no map files that a Bad Thing™ might happen.

With a complete backup of the zumo's file structure, you stand a good chance of returning it to a healthy state if something goes wrong. Once, I was fiddling with the files on the zumo and, unbeknownst to me, dragged and dropped a folder on the zumo into a new location. When I booted it up it was quite corrupted. I was able to re-write the file structure and set things right in just a minute or so. I recommend doing this full backup from time to time.

I hope that is clear and that this works out for you.

I do not have a complete understanding of how these three files work, what exactly they do, and how and why they get created, but my understanding is progressing. It's just conjecture on my part and sharing it would probably only lead to confusion. I'm a bit like a Neanderthal holding a Timex. I don't fully understand the inner workings, but I know it tells me the time...

[Tom Schmitz]

By the way, after doing all this I no longer have a gmapprom or gmap3D file, only a gmapsupp. It seems odd that I don't have a gmap3d, but it still works. When I zoom out beyond map details (to 80 miles) I do see a fuzzy color graphic of the US, which is what I thought the gmap3d files was. However, looking back over my full backups I see that sometimes I have had the 3d and prom files and sometimes I haven't. This confuses me. I wonder if the files that show up are an artifact of whether or not the map install was done via Garmin Express vs Map Install. Of course, I can't remember what I used to install the maps associated with the various backups I have.

In researching this I don't come up with much that I consider definitive because people are, as I am, reporting what they see on their sample of one unit. I take what I see not with a grain of salt, but with a 50-lb salt-lick. As should you of what I'm reporting.

These three files (prom, supp, and 3d) are 'Disc Image file' in my directory. There are other gmap files but they are fairly small.

Now I wish that Garmin would release 2020.30 tomorrow so that I could play with a new release and see what files come about from an install via Garmin Express.

[carolinarider09]

Tom, thanks for the detailed response. I have not gotten the screen shots yet but will attempt to do that tonight and back up the device as you suggested. I think I many have already done that but have not looked at the computer to make sure.

Just for the record, I will do all of the listed activities in Windows 7 running under a program called VMWare Fusion on my iMac. The Fusion program does a good job of allowing me to run windows 7. I run Windows 7 so I can run Microsoft Trips and Streets for route planning before uploading them to the 665. I know, very old school but as long as it works I am happy. Only have a few issues on the road due to mapping changes between the old maps and the new maps in the GPS. I use waypoints to shape the route.

[Tom Schmitz]

I have never tried anything but Mapsource and Basecamp, except for a brief trial of Tyre. I didn't care for Tyre. This was long ago and IIRC I was running it in Linux. It and programs like Trips and Streets are probably quite different from what I remember.

People kvetch about Basecamp something fierce but I think that, once you get it, it is a marvelous program. I have a process for building routes that is very fast and easy for me.

I use the Route tool to click on where I want to start and where I want to finish and let BC route it. This route is often thousands of miles long. Then, with the insert tool, I drag the route to intersections to shape it to my liking. Dragging the route to intersections creates shaping points that are not announced (not that announcing means anything to me, I don't take advantage of it).

I then go back over the route and insert a gas station as a waypoint at roughly 150-mile intervals (my riding partner is on a MotoGuzzi California). I then insert the appropriate motels or campgrounds, as well as any other interesting points, as waypoints. I include a gas stop at the end of each day right before the hotel. I then quickly go over the route to make sure I don't have any misplaced shaping points that will take me down a street only to do a u-turn or such like that.

Then I duplicate the route as many times as there are days in the ride and go into each duplicate and remove all the data that is not pertinent to the day's ride. I wind up with a set of daily routes for the whole trip. It's incredibly fast and easy and there is the advantage that the same map is used on the zumo as in Basecamp, so I very seldom run into any routing issues.

Planning an entire week's worth of riding might take me an hour from start to finish. There's something that they say about having done something 10,000 times... ;^)