Dead Units (after letting batteries drain)

You need to charge the batteries before the unit will power up. Plug it into either the computer via a USB port or to a wall charger that has a mini-usb tip. Make certain the output of a wall charger is +5 V and less than 1A.

I have a similar experience with my 760 and simply let it charge for half a day and it worked fine at boot up.

My 780 failed like that and a day hooked up to my USB connection and it powered up just fine.

The battery used in Nuvi's doesn't need to be discharged and then recharged periodically. In fact doing so will decrease the life of the battery. Use your unit normally and if you notice that the battery charge is lasting for a shorter time, try running it down to the point where the unit shuts down and recharging it again. But don't do it on a regular basis. Another point, your 7X0 series Nuvi was designed to recharge either from the USB port or the car cradle. So you don't have to only charge from the USB port.

There is nothing like a heat wave to be the beginning of the end for a battery.

I left mine off charge for 6 days while at summer camp. All it would do is power up and then freeze. All it needed was to charge for about 1 hour and it was fine.

Thanks for all the replies. For those that suggested I plug it into the computer, I think I mentioned in the post that I did that for about 14 hours. Got no response at all. But I'm going to try again. I've already ordered two more units because I've already tried to charge it up so many times.

Sounds like everyone had success bringing the thing back to life.

As described in my first post I tried this once only with the 750 and have not been able to revive it.

Make sure you are using a USB port that is connected directly to your computer and not going through a hub, keyboard, etc. Also, check the power settings on your computer so that the computer does not go into sleep, or hibernate or use a power saving mode that cuts power to the USB ports.

As it is 'loading maps'..have you tried tried a hard reset?

Sometimes the best thing to do is charge the unit from an AC Adapter vs a USB on the computer.

That was the ONLY way I could get my Nuvi 660 to wake up.

Good Luck!!

I had a similar problem with mine a while back, it turns out my charger had died even though the phone was showing it as charging. I only figured this out when I swapped for one of my phone chargers. Apparently the Garmin charger was just barely trickling a charge out, not enough to re-energize the battery.

If you want a good inexpensive charger for the nuvi, here is the one I use from Monoprice.com (less than $6 with shipping). It works great on the nuvi's and on my Ipod.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=103&cp_id...

yes that has been covered. thanks

Yes, it did at one point have "loading maps' but now is just completely dead.

How do you do a hard reset? is that where hold it on for 20 seconds or so? Yes then I've done that even for one minute.

See here for the Hard reset: http://www.poi-factory.com/node/26136

Hey when it's plugged into a computer or a wall adapter should you see (with a brand new battery) that little message that it is charging? Because mine doesn't.

I've now borrowed my son's wall adapter and am trying to charge it up with that.

Thanks Jaggernaut. Yes I've done a hard reset. Nothing happens.

I know it sounds bleak.

No, you don't; not on mine anyway. It goes to mass storage mode. Rest easy.

Hey Thanks. I ended up spending $60 at that place.

The charger for my cellular phone works just fine.

Thanks for the link for the AC to USB charger.

If left in the auto mount the nuvi 760 goes dead in several weeks even if it is being supplied by the accessory cigar lighter (which is turned off when the car is not running). This has happened to me several times even though I drive quite often. I now charge it once in a while using a wall outlet charger with a mini-USB plug.

Let's face it - lithium-ion batteries only last 2 1/2 to 3 years, and all the 760s are at least that old. A new battery may be needed.

dobs108

Winter geocaching with our 760 kills the battery in half an hour or less. Sometimes an overnight charge is needed to get the unit to turn back on.

@alandb: Thanks for the Monoprice link. I've bought cables from them before and never thought to look for chargers. Very satisfied with their quality and price.

geocaching with nuvi?

Don't own a handheld (yet), so use the Nuvi for paperless geocaching.

I have two Nuvi 350's, one is working, the other is not.
The one that functions connects to my computer and can be accessed like an external drive.

The unit that does not work, only comes up with the initial Nuvi splash screen when hooked to the USB port and that is where it ends. The bad unit acts like there is no operating system on it.

Will a failed battery prevent the computer from recognizing that the Nuvi 350 is connected to the USB port even though the Nuvi is drawing power from the USB port?

Is there a published way to resurrect the operating system, if the USB port does not work?

Thanks in advance for your help,

Have you tried a different USB cable?

Oh yes and two different computers. I think I am going to have to bite the bullet and get a new one.

Have you tried a master reset? I read a post in the last few days that explained the procedure for a reset on most Garmin units.

and ones that are easy to forget

Ok. An Update to the original subject of this thread. I've had the 750 plugged into a wall adapter for 36 hours with a NEW battery and nothing. Not a thing comes out. So weird. Maybe I bought a non functioning battery. Only way to find out is to spend another $30 on a new battery. (or $14 from Hong Kong) I'm pretty sure my Usb cables are ok because before the unit went completely dead I was communicating with it with Webupdater.

I let it charged for couple days and still nothing happen. It still in my closet and waiting to hear from you to see how to get it going again.

Well here is what I do know about this problem I am having.
1. The battery charger is good. I used it to charge the other unit I have with no problem.

2. The USB cables are both good. Both were verified by attaching the good Nuvi 350 to the computer and I was able to view both the base unit and the SD card.

3. Both of my computers have been checked and work well but only with the known good Nuvi.

Here is what I have not done to this point. Swap the batteries between the known good Nuvi and the bad Nuvi.

One more observation the bad unit does not get to a point of "loading maps" The good unit goes through this process even though it is connected to the computer via the USB cable.

I truly believe that the board is faulty now because the ON/OFF switch has no effect on the bad Nuvi.

I wish I knew of a way to reload the operating system to the unit. Right now I believe the Nuvi must have a functional USB port in order to load it. Just because one can apply power to the pins does not mean the rest of the port will function. The ASIC must be clocking in order for the data to move across it. Ergo the Nuvi needs to have at least a basic working operating system in order to load it.

I have a 780 that has locked up solid enough that it could not be powered off. I was forced to let the unit drain completely. Once it was totally drained I plugged into the car and it fired up no problem. This has happened several times with no problem restarting.

When removing from the vehicle power source my system lasts less than 30 minutes on battery. When it locks up the battery lasts a minimum of three hours.

Who can figure out these whacky Garmin batteries... LOL

Better whacky than dead. It would be nice if Garmin acknowledged all these various quirks and answered all our questions and cleared up all the confusion once and for all! It's obvious that many of us have spent hours of our very busy and precious lives trying to figure our way around these pretty expensive- for - what -you- get machines.

"We've made you rich, GARMIN, now pay us back I say.. with some respect. Put some real answers on that website of yours."