Geko 201 reboots

In a recent message <[email hidden]>, Daryl
<[email hidden]> wrote.

[...]

Quoted message said:

I put fresh batteries in and the machine refused to turn on (it flashed up a screen briefly before
turning off). I tried with alkalines too but no luck.

I tried again and again and again to no avail. At this point, I assumed my new Geko 201 was faulty
and shrugged my shoulders in defeat.

5 minutes later I had another try and it turned on ok.

So I started my route again. It switched off after 20 seconds but turned on again ok almost
immediately. Sceptical though I was, I continued my route but after another minute, the machine
shut down and wouldn't turn on again for another 10 minutes.

[...]

Quoted message said:

So, what was to blame? GPS Trackmaker? If so, why?

Why would Geko not respond for 15 minutes? Is there some odd type of reboot trickery?

If GPS Trackmaker is to blame, are there any settings I should be observing?

[...]

I had a similar problem to yours that affected my Geko 301. When following a route with a lot of closely-
spaced waypoints it kept turning itself off. Several times a minute, sometimes. I believe that the
eTrex suffered from a similar problem at one time, too. In my case, the problem appeared to go away
after a software upgrade, but I haven't checked it by trying to navigate a route with such closely-
spaced points again.

What was the spacing of the waypoints in your route? Oh, and did your route cross itself at all?

I honestly doubt that GPS Trackmaker had anything to do with the problem. When it happened to me I
was using a different program entirely.

Regards, Nick.

--
Nick Hopton and Anne Hopton Caversham, Reading, England <[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

What was the spacing of the waypoints in your route? Oh, and did your route cross itself at all?

I honestly doubt that GPS Trackmaker had anything to do with the problem. When it happened to me I
was using a different program entirely.

Hmm, probably about 20-100m. But after I'd input the data using different software it was ok.

Tried inputting another route using trackmaker this morning and it rebooted without me even leaving
the house. This time I noticed that the waypoints of the route (when downloaded as a route) didn't
necessarily correspond to the waypoints (when downloaded separately).

I'll continue to investigate!

Thanks for your help.

Daz

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I think I might have worked out the problem.

The problem occurred when I created a series of waypoints in GPSTrackmaker, then joined them
together as a route and finally I changed the waypoint names but it would appear that the names of
the waypoints as far as the *route* was concerned were UNCHANGED!

Therefore, when transferring both waypoints and route to the Geko, I ended up with 2 sets of
waypoints with different names which duplicated each other in their coordinates.

I have now created a route by entering waypoints with correct names to start with, then linking them
together as a route. I've transferred this to the Geko and there are no extra waypoints. I'm about
to go out and test the route (and see if the Geko crashes) and will report back later.

Ta,

Daz

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In a recent message <[email hidden]>, Daryl
<[email hidden]> wrote.

[...]

Quoted message said:

I have now created a route by entering waypoints with correct names to start with, then linking
them together as a route. I've transferred this to the Geko and there are no extra waypoints. I'm
about to go out and test the route (and see if the Geko crashes) and will report back later.

[...]

If you really want to test the system, you might like to try a route with 30 closely-spaced
waypoints, perhaps one that crosses itself too, just for good measure.

Regards, Nick.

--
Nick Hopton and Anne Hopton Caversham, Reading, England <[email hidden]

"Daryl" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I have now created a route by entering waypoints with correct names to

start

Quoted message said:

with, then linking them together as a route. I've transferred this to the Geko and there are no
extra waypoints. I'm about to go out and test the route (and see if the Geko crashes) and will
report back later.

Well, it worked like clockwork. No crashing! :o)

Nick, thanks for your reply, I will try your closely-spaced test tomorrow and let you know
how I get on.

Thanks,

Daz

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"Daryl" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Well, it worked like clockwork. No crashing! :o)

Nick, thanks for your reply, I will try your closely-spaced test tomorrow and let you know how
I get on.

Well, I thought the crashing of Geko 201 (I should have called it this from the start - not
rebooting) was over but it resurfaced today.

Not in the same way as in my original message (in which I couldn't turn the unit on again for a
while) but it appears that I too have a problem with closely-spaced waypoints.

the Geko which used waymarks placed at every motorway junction and at various locations along the
other roads. At the very end of the journey there were a handful of closely spaced waypoints to lead
me to the final destination (the shortest being 0.017 miles) and it was at this point that my Geko
turned off.

I switched it straight on again (my girlfriend was driving btw) and it lasted about 10 seconds
before switching off again. We arrived at the destination before I was able to switch the unit on
again. Thankfully I didn't really need the unit to navigate as the route was a well-worn one for us
- I was just getting used to the Geko's functions on such a journey so that I could set up a route
in an appropriate manner for future 'mystery' journeys.

On our return trip, the unit behaved perfectly (and I must admit that I am very impressed with the
battery life - I used 2 NiMh 800mAh which lasted 5 and a half hours, 2 and a half of which the
backlight was on constantly AND there are still 2 bars showing on the battery meter)!

So, I assume that I'm having the same problems as Nick Hopton. Is it just us or is this a general
issue? If so, is it likely that a future software update will correct the problem?

Regards,

Daz

PS Apart from this slight glitch, I am very impressed with the unit. I even managed a very muddy
walk the other day and the Geko saved me from poor instructions in the walk book! It appears to
have superb accuracy (incidentally, do we have WAAS capability in the UK yet?) and a great set
of functions.

PP Maybe they should update the manual - it suggests opening the battery compartment with a coin. I
did the first time I opened it, resulting in minor cosmetic damage to the unit. I then
investigated further and found that it is quite simple to open the unit with one's thumbnail!

PPP I can heartily recommend GPSTrackmaker software. It takes while to get used to but once you know
how to avoid its foibles, it does everything the novice GPS user could need (for free)!

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