Garmin Sat Nav has no idea where it is

[hashluck]

My Garmin in the Vantage has started playing up, it really does not seem to know where it is.

Satellite status seems OK as in white signal strength bar rather than red, says accurate within 120 feet which does not seem great but should st least work. Sometimes in the status page it says 'DR Active' rather than giving an accuracy estimate, whatever that means.

I am thinking a reset required to try first. Does anyone know how to do that?

[Jon39]

This might be the first criticism on here of a Garmin.

Refreshing news for us Volvo bods, who probably instead use phones, tablets, or a road atlas.

[DocW]

My Garmin threw a bit of a wobbly when the car had sat for three days without being started but with a lot of door opening and using the electrics whilst I showed it off to a friend on holiday. When I tried to use it after that it went off track and rebooted itself a few times. It recovered after a couple of days and I had it checked on return from France. I was told this was typical of a voltage drop, I asked what I could do to reset the system and was told, nothing just keep it charged. It sounds as though the behaviour is similar so could the battery charge have dropped? The only other thought is have you had a new sd card installed, especially if you downloaded the maps yourself but I guess you would have mentioned that. I did that with my last Aston and the data was corrupted.

[DAMIT]

Have you tried the battery disconnect button? That on my car cuts the power to the radio/satnav etc. Then on restarting the car everything resets/reboots! At least it does on my 08 Roadster. You also lose all the radio station presets each time.

[hashluck]

Thanks all

Doc you could be onto something since the satnav did alo reboot itself on the way home (and then worked for a while before reverting back to not knowing where it was). Could easily be a voltage drop since the car did not move that much over Christmas and when I have used it I have had heated screen, demist and heated seats on the go. Using it daily this week so will give it a chance to get the battey back up to full charge and it to sort itself out.

Jon - no criticism of the Garmin when it is working

Cheers,

[V8V Pete]

Well my Garmin on my push bike threw a wobbly yesterday and seemed to think I was flying to work rather than riding on roads:

https://www.strava.com/activities/463049665

Maybe the Americans have scrambled the GPS signal in preparation for invading somewhere. Hope not ………….

[hashluck]

Well I did wonder if it was somehow also climatic or atmospheric

Anyhow... unscientific but I drove to work this morning with a cold bum and misted up rear window and for the first 10 milss I was still in the middle of a field according to Garmim or the map would freeze but then it suddenly kicked into life and got all accurate again. So it could well be sensitive to voltage. I must take a look at what satellite status says when it is working,

[DocW]

Glad its back on track. One feature was that the speed on the sat nav did not match the speedometer but lagged behind, when this resolved everything was as it should be. Also when it was playing up it wound not accept new destinations so if this is working again its a sign that the issue has settled.

[hashluck]

Hmmm well interestingly the speed has been the one thing that remained working correctly and no issue entering new destinations (albeit from the 'recently found' list.

[Brital]

My V12VR sat nav showed similar symptoms. I think on reflection the problem could have been dust and dirt accumulating on the windscreen and obscuring the GPS sensor. Normally car is in a dust free garage but had been somewhere much dustier for several weeks and I only really noticed state of the windscreen when the sun left his hiding place for a few minutes. The charger had been connected so don't think it was voltage drop.

[Brital]

Just found this on the www. Obviously written for hand held devices, but helpful. Might be an idea if car has been garaged for some time to let it warm up stationary for a while so it can reacquire satellites before moving off.

"Garmin believe that if their devices are used regularly then they should be able to acquire satellites in a minute or less. Using a GPS device while it is outdoors with a clear view of the entire sky is the ideal condition for acquiring satellites.

However, if the device isn't detecting any GPS signal, it is recommended to try the following:

If your unit is trying to acquire satellites for the first time, it may take longer than normal to establish an initial position. If the unit is powered on and outdoors with a clear view of the sky this should not take more than 3-5 minutes.
If your unit has not been used for an extended period of time (more than a month), it may again take approximately 3-5 minutes to acquire satellites.
If your unit is indoors, it may not acquire satellites. Even standing next to a window indoors will block a hefty enough portion of the satellite signal so as to prevent the device locate a graphical position.
If you have just finished updating the software in your unit or you have performed a master reset, your unit may take 5 minutes to acquire while outdoors as the data that is used to locate satellites may have been erased.
If you have travelled abroad and had your device turned off, or if the device is generally loading a brand new map or region - there may be some delay in the satellite detection - it is recommended to leave the device turned on for 10 minutes in a clear, outdoor area to help re-sync the device.
If your vehicle has a protective coating on its windshield or electronic devices which interfere with the unit receiving signal, your unit may need an external antenna in order to acquire satellites."

[hashluck]

Update to this is there is no update. Has been referred to Gaydon,

It is not low voltage or dust and the unit claims it has good signal.

More as I get it.