This past weekend, my Garmin 492 GPS had a problem. It wouldn't acquire any satellites. It didn't see any signals at all but otherwise all the functions, menus etc. worked normally. I was hoping it was the external antenna since there isn't much else I can test. I got a new antenna and guess what? It still didn't work. The 492 is a discontinued model and there hasn't been any software updates since late 2008 (new daylight savings rules). So I figured I had to send the unit in for repair but as a last resort I decided to reload the system software using the data card I bought years ago. Getting the card to load on my PC from the Internet was a real pain and took many tries until it loaded ( Garmin site is a bit difficult to navigate for older unit software loads) I inserted the card into the 492 and reloaded the system ( same version I had on it already)
TA DA!!!! The beast now acquires satellites. I have no idea what happened. It wasn't storm related since I remove the unit after each trip and it hasn't been exposed to electrical storms. The unit worked fine on the trip prior to the one where it wouldn't work.
In any case, I did buy an antenna I don't need but I also did get the thing back working so I am ahead in time and money since I didn't have to have Garmin repair it.
TA DA!!!! The beast now acquires satellites. I have no idea what happened. It wasn't storm related since I remove the unit after each trip and it hasn't been exposed to electrical storms. The unit worked fine on the trip prior to the one where it wouldn't work.
In any case, I did buy an antenna I don't need but I also did get the thing back working so I am ahead in time and money since I didn't have to have Garmin repair it.