Can't Update Map on my 1490t

I think there are two issues going on here.

The map itself is over 1 GB in size and during installation, temporary files exist as well, so extra hard drive space is needed. How much free space is on your hard drive? Does your PC have a second drive with more space? If so, clicking the Install Options during the start of the update will let you select the drive with extra space. Have you chosen to update your GPS and install Mapsource and the map to your PC? If so, installing to the GPS only should require less empty hard drive space, but then, you will not have the map available on the computer. If none of this works, the options available to you are to uninstall unused programs and delete data from your current PC hard drive--or add a 2nd hard drive to the computer. A 500GB drive can easily be under $50 and if you're as short on drive space as it appears, a 2nd hard drive will come in handy for you soon for routine use of the PC. Depending on your computer operating system, there are also ways to free up more space by doing things like disabling hibernation in a Windows PC, or by using Disk Cleanup to remove material. Good luck.

Regarding the "can't access server" issue, keep trying. With all the new GPS units received over Christmas, most of which have a free map update available, Garmin's servers are having a hard time keeping up. This has already been discussed in the day or two after Christmas when many folks were having trouble accessing the Garmin site. This is a temporary issue that'll be resolved as all the new users finish updating their maps, etc. If the issue continues, tell us which browser your laptop is using to try to access the servers, whether the Garmin Communicator plugin has been installed, and whether you have internet access from the laptop on other internet sites in case there's something else going on with the laptop. Once again, good luck.

I currently have a 1TB external drive on my laptop with over 90% free space. Unfortunately the update process doesn't even give me a chance to select where I want to save the map. I will try different things and see if I can get around this.

You may want to temporarily relocate some of your files off your main computer onto the external drive to make room for the install or to download the file to your local HDD. You can them move it to your 1TB drive and try the installation from there.

I spent many hours last night moving files over. This is getting quite frustrating. I saved the map update loader to a 16G SD card on my laptop slot (over 14G of available space. I tried to run the map update program from their and it still says the pc doesn't have enough space (sigh).

You may not be able to install it from the SD card. Have you tried installing it from your 1TB HDD? Because of the File storage structure and data throughput, it will not expand the files properly to install them. This is similar to why MS media player does not play MP3s from an SD card the same as if they were on the HDD.

It may be worth a try if you have not tried it already

The SD card file allocation structure and data throughput may be preventing you from a proper install.

If you have not done so already try the installation from the HDD.

I tried running the update from my external drive and then from the GPS itself (loaded the updater on it). Both times I kept getting PC needs at least 5M of space. I'll try my other laptop again.

I've tried again using my work laptop (this has worked in the past). After about the 10th attempt now it's telling me that I don't have the latest version of Microsoft Net Framework installed. It is installing it now. I will see if I can get the new map installed (wish me luck).

I think I'll watch TV instead (sigh).

What is your SD format? A lot of these are FAT 16 and that format won't support large allocations. Try converting it to FAT 32.

Just to be sure of what your problem is, bring up a Windows Explorer window. Then right click on the C:\ drive and then click on Properties. This should tell you how much free space is on your hard drive.

If there is sufficient space, then you may want to remove and redownload the update software.

The can't access the server error may be more then just a busy server if it happens when trying to update other software. I have been working on this same problem with my wife's desktop computer for awhile now. I have her computer and another desktop hard wired to a router, plus two laptops running wireless. When I go to check for updates on any software on her machine I get that same error, yet I can go to any of the other computers and update the same software. I have ran several different virus scanners and several different spyware checkers and they find nothing. I have even tried booting it in the safe mode and running the same scanners, still nothing. I consider myself fairly computer literate but this one is driving me crazy.

Errors updating maps due to .NET Framework issues are quite frustrating since there are often no error messages. You may find something to look into in this thread, Don:

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/31665

I used my work PC this morning and it worked rather smoothly. Not a fix but a work around.

What was the work around?

He used a different computer.

So that means there is an issue with the 1st computer he is using.

Quite typical of hard drive space limitations on your computer. There are also issues on the various Gramin units when doing map updates and there are a load of helps online here recommending you backup your Garmin and then remove extra voices, vehicles, etc.

My own laptop has 2G of Ram. I guess I need to upgrade it.

It's not RAM that's the possible problem, it is disk space. I've only got 1 GB on my laptop and it updates my Nuvi maps just fine.

My external drive has about 90% space left.
When I try to update the map I don't even have the choice of where to save it. I immediately get the error of PC does not have sufficient memory, please free up 5G. (confused)

That's right.

You don't have a choice. Move files from your PC to your external drive and free up the needed room.

The error code is evidently not written real good and interchanging memory (ram) and hard drive space. I would also recommend cleaning ou the temp files because the program will use temp space.
I recommend ATF cleaner. It is small, does not require install, and does a great job. http://download.cnet.com/ATF-Cleaner/3000-18512_4-89432.html