Garmin update

[Guest ricardo]

Hmmmm.....

 

I'm trying to do a database update for my Pilot III, which requires you to extract the Unit ID of the GPS when it's connected to the PC, using j3p-spa-0812.exe, then fill in a web form to get an authorisation code. My unit comes back with a unit ID of 0, which the Garmin website won't accept saying it should be 9 or 10 digits long.

 

Can't see what I'm doing wrong, the GPS works fine (no known faults), and the PC recognises the unit fine. - and I've tried every possible baud rate for the connection.

 

Anyone out there have any ideas?

 

 

[Guest ricardo]

Stoney silence from everyone, including Garmin themselves.....

 

It seems I may have to lash out on a new GPS - on a Lowrance perhaps..... if their support is any better?

 

 

[BigPete]

Ricardo - Try installing Garmins Mapsource program - there is a drop down menu item "Utilities" and you will see "Get Item ID" This may help.

 

www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=209

 

Use the above for Mapsource

 

Garmin seem to be a bit slack, but to their credit - make all old and out of date files available.

 

regards

 

 

[JayKay]

Ricardo,

 

Maybe if you provide a bit more info regarding what it is that you are actually trying to do we may be able to help.

 

Based on the filename you provided, I've figured out that you are trying to do a Jeppesen update. You also say that the PC recognises the GPS fine, but you've tried every possible baud rate.

 

The GPS will communicate with the PC at only ONE baudrate on ONE COM port. The best way to test if you've got it all set up correctly is to follow BigPete's advice. Install MapSource. Go to "Utilites" menu and select the "Get Unit ID..." menu. If your GPS is plugged in and ON, MapSource will hunt for it and find it and show you the unit ID.

 

If the above is successful, try shutting down MapSource and running the j3p* file you've got to see if it now works.

 

Let us know how you go.

 

 

[Guest ricardo]

Thanks for the pointers :

 

I bought my GPS in the UK, and want to replace the installed Europe - Eastern Europe Aviation Database with the aussie database. I assume it is a Jeppesen database I need, happy to be corrected if not!

 

My GPS does connect to the PC OK, just doesn't give a sensible unit ID when queried by the software (I tried selecting all of the optional baud rates one at a time on the off chance it made a difference to the unit ID returned - it doesn't.)

 

Re Mapsource, I don't seem to own any MapSource software, and even if I wanted to buy some, for all the MapSource products listed, there is a list of GPS devices supported - the Pilot III is not on any of the lists, so I could be wasting my money ..... ?

 

:yuk:

 

 

[BigPete]

Mate I think you're stuffed. The Pilot III has the basemap installed at the factory and cannot be changed. That's straight from the Garmin website. I believe the Jeppesen database is like an overlay for the units basemap (probably in ROM).

 

Best bet might be to flog it on Ebay and look for a local unit.

 

regards

 

 

[Guest ricardo]

Ah well, that's that then.....

 

Thanks to you both for your kind input - saved me spending more frustrating and confusing time on it!:thumb_up:

 

 

[BigPete]

Then again, you may not be. (Stuffed that is). According to Garmin's site there are two basemaps - Americas Land or International Land. International Land includes Europe which means the UK should be there and so is Australia.

 

Lets make sure we're talking about the same machine. :thumb_up: See pic below. Garmin call it a GPS III Pilot. Mapsource is included with most Garmin GPS products these days. You can download the latest version, but you need a mapsource product to use it (usually a map).

 

regards

 

:big_grin::big_grin:

 

 

 

[Guest ricardo]

Peter, yup, that's the unit alright. It does have the landmap coverage for oz, but it's the aviation overlay I wanted to swap - the bit in blue below. I've had the unit about 5 years, and I don't think it contains MapSource, and I can't figure out how to install it.

 

Garmin Pilot III

 

Serial No. 40974837

 

Software v 2.13 1997-2002

 

© 1997-2002 Garmin Corp.

 

Europe - Eastern Europe Aviation Data

 

Cycle 0308, Effective 7 Aug 03 - 4 Sept 03

 

© 2003 Jeppesen Sanderson Inc.

 

International Land Data 2.00 © 1997 Garmin Corp.

 

 

[JayKay]

Ricardo,

 

My GPS does connect to the PC OK, just doesn't give a sensible unit ID when queried by the software

How do you know your GPS connects to the PC OK? Have you managed to upload any waypoints or routes? Have you downloaded any tracks from the GPS to the PC?

 

Just physically connecting the GPS to the PC via serial cable does not establish a connection. The communication settings on the GPS and PC need to be set correctly.

 

If you persist and get the connection working OK (and MapSource will help with that) I'm quite certain that you'll be able to upload the Jeppesen data to your GPS. You won't have a detailed basemap, but the Jeppesen data will be there.

 

Do you know anyone in your area who has MapSource installed on their PC? You could take your GPS and serial cable to their PC and see if that will work. If it does then ask them if you could install your Jeppesen datafile on their PC and upload it to your GPS. That might be an easier option.

 

 

[Guest ricardo]

JK,

 

I connect the unit to my PC, and run j3p-spa-0812.exe (the Jeppesen database update software installer) - it opens up in a small wizard window, shows what I am trying to do (GPS: GPS III Pilot, Cycle:0812, Datatbase: South Pacific Database) - all correct, I click on the "next"button, it flicks to the next page of the window, thinks for a few seconds (polling the com port I guess) then finds my unit and displays it as "GPS III Pilot (COM 1)" in a configuration window, and has another configuration window where you can change the baud rate. (If the GPS is not connected at this point, the software doesn't find it - it asks for me to connect it). All good so far.

 

As per the window's instructions, I then click on the "next" button "to retrieve the Unit ID of your GPS" - the next page opens up, and in a box titled "The unit ID for your GPS is shown below", it just has a zero - this is wrong. The box is also greyed out - if it's meant to be consistent with previous boxes, it should have a white background when active- it looks as though it's not seeing the GPS at this point, and is inactive.

 

In answer to your other questions, I have been unable to transfer anything at all between my PC and the GPS. It's a catch 22 with MapSource, because I can't load it without buying some other MapSource product that I don't want, and I have no confidence that that's going to work anyway, as they don't specify the Pilot III as MapSource compatible. I do like your idea of trying someone else's setup - I'll ask around.

 

Tx

 

 

 

[JayKay]

Ricardo,

 

If you've misplaced your original MapSource disks and you don't mind chewing up a bit of bandwidth and hard disk space, here's how you can get MapSource working again.

 

1. Go to the Garmin Website, download "Training Center For Windows, Ver. 3.4.3, as of Dec 05, 2008" (40.91 MB) from

 

Garmin: Training Center Software Update Collection

 

and install it with USB drivers.

 

2. Go to the Garmin Website, download "MapSource software version 6.14.1 as of July 18, 2008" (59.65 MB) from

 

Garmin: MapSource Updates & Downloads

 

and install it with USB drivers. (Note: This version of MapSource does not support Win98, WinME and WinNT)

 

You now have a fully functional MapSource on your computer with "PC Basemap Version 2".

 

Try this startup routine: Switch off PC. Connect GPS to PC. Turn ON GPS. Turn ON PC. Start MapSource and follow the instructions BigPete posted to find your Unit ID. If this works then try loading your Jeppesen file.

 

Let us know how you go.

 

 

[Ross]

There are a number of reasons that made me decide on the Gamin 296.

 

A few of them are that:-

 

I like the USB computer interface that it comes with.

 

It runs on mains a/c power if available and continues charging its own internal battery at the same time if it needs too.

 

If the option is set, it can switch to internal battery power automatically when/if the external power fails or switch off the GPS with a timed warning on the screen.

 

The external power will last over two hours.

 

It has terrain awareness that can be set to whatever margin you want.

 

The USB interface is easy to use and much faster than using a RS-236 serial interface which is what my many years old hand held Magellan GPS 320 uses to talk to my computer at 1200 baud.

 

Adding extra memory is expensive though (or was when I bought the Garmin GPSmap 296) at about $500 I think for 500 MByte of RAM. Some other models or brands use industry standard memory cards. I saw a 16 GByte card at Office works in Wagga a couple of weeks ago for around $100 (my memory of the price may be wrong).

 

The other problem was that the non registered non Jeppersen Australian airfields that were loaded on it when I bought it were all deleted either by the process of upgrading the GPS operating system software to the latest version or by the loading of an upgraded Jeppersen data base.

 

Regards

 

 

[Guest ricardo]

Some progress: I now have Mapsource installed and working and have been able to transfer waypoints successfully. The Unit ID problem seems to be with the GPS - Mapsource also returns an ID of 0.

 

Finally got a response from Garmin, who say:

 

Unfortunately there is not a way to update a GPS with a unit id of 0.

 

The GPS will have to come back to Garmin so that a unit id can be

 

generated.

 

I'm going to have a play around and see if I can get around that using MapSource.

 

Thanks for all your help, fellas!