CUSTOM POI (all I see is a dot)

Use an image file, one for Denny's and another for Chili's. Rename each image file so the name matches the POI file except for the filename extension. Keep each one in the same folder on your PC where each POI file is kept. (Also load sounds the same way if you want.)

I like to run POI Loader in manual if I want a restaurant POI file to run as a proximity alert. I specify the distance I want.

dobs108

I ran POI Loader in manual mode. I put the alert at 2500 ft. All it give me is a dot, not the name or the location. I have gps 3790lmt.

.

You have not indicated whether you have sound and icon files.

make sure when you do that you have computer settings as described in
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/30393

Please read http://www.poi-factory.com/node/25730 because you do not have .mp3 capability.

If I am not mistaken, the 3790LMT has a hi-res screen, and you would have to zoom in close to see the icons. This is assuming the image files have been loaded. Can someone comment about the 3790? The icons would be small, and are we still limited to the 25 x 25 pixel size? I was thinking of moving up to the 3790LMT.

dobs108

I am also considering the 3790LMT so any help from current owners would be appreciated.

I use a 3790LMT

I can see the Custom POI icons when I am in their alert range at any zoom level [even 200 miles up] (provided my vehicle image is not covering up the Custom POI icon.) I can also see ALL non-speed Custom POI icons when zoomed in to 200 feet or closer.

There are other qualifications for speed alerts which I won't go into here.

I have written several articles on this.

Gary Hayman
Garmin Tricks & Tips

http://bit.ly/garmin_gps_tricks

When I get the alert for a custom poi, how do I get the gps to route to that location. I have a 3790lmt.

You can do this ......

Back > Where To? > Extras > Custom POIs > All Categories > (again) All Categories > the alert spot will appear at or towards the top of the listing > Select it then press Go! > Drive

If you happen to be on a route, then the easiest thing to do would be to first cancel the route (the white X on red at the Main Screen) and then proceed as above with the Where To?

There is another way (using a via point) but this is the quickest other than just continuing driving and watching for the location on the road on which you are traveling. You probably are near it anyway.

Gary Hayman

You can also zoom in on the map and touch the icon f you have one for it.You can select go to get to it.

Charlie,

I wish it did, but with the my 3790LMT, that doesn't work. [at least while in moving GPS Simulator mode].

Gary Hayman

It does on the 265 and other users reported same results for different models.One user even reported on one of the 800 models they got the option to go when they touched the alert.I ran a simulation to make sure for mine.Got to be really careful though to touch it just right.

Gary, on a different subject. In your tip and trick on putting sox.exe in the poiloader. My poiloader will not let me put sox.ex or the other 3 files into the poiloader folder. Any suggestion.

Try exiting the program first, and then retry.

Yes, I know. On my other model it worked. But the original poster is using his new 3790LMT (the same model that I now have) and it doesn't seem to work (although I wish it did) with that model. [careful pressing with a zoom at 50 feet for preciseness.]

That's is why I produced an alternate work-around solution to accomplish what he was desiring.

Gary Hayman

The latest poloader creates a folder in program files that you put the sox.exe in. Earlier version you put sox.exe in the same location as poiloader.Not clear what other files you may want to put there.

Probably best asked in a different thread.

POI Loader has no say to where YOU put sox.exe and the other three files (.dll). You put them in the SAME folder where poiloader.exe is residing. You use your computer's file management system (perhaps Windows Explorer) to do that.

Gary Hayman

rth,

You don't want sox.exe in the directory with your csv, bmp and wav files which I think is what you've tried.

As Gary says, you want it with your POILoader.exe file. In a Windows 7 PC, for instance, the directory may well be:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Garmin\POI Loader\

This location is created when POI Loader is first installed.

The directory on your computer of your creation, called whatever you decide it to be, where POI Loader looks for csv, bmp and wav files is where your files downloaded from The Factory should go for POILoader to find them and install them to the GPS.

Ignore the above if I misinterpreted your issue.

The sox.exe is in the program file,also poiloader. Is there anything else that I need to do.

to find poiloader.exe

hold down the windows key and press "F"

In the left pane, click on "All files and folders"

enter "poiloader.exe" in the "all or part of name" location and then click on search.

No once you click on the poiloader folder in program file you just paste the sox.exe in any blank space. The sox.exe I use has no DLL files. See http://www.poi-factory.com/node/25730

Two more thoughts, rth:

The current POILoader is version 2.6.1. Is there any chance you also have a previous version on your computer? If so, you may be putting sox.exe in the older POILoader directory so the new one can't find it.

What version of sox.exe are you using--or alternately, where did you get the program? Some versions may not work with POILoader, some just require sox.exe and others require additional files.

If the help from the others doesn't resolve your issues, you may want to look into these two possibilities.

I take it you are still using sox.exe v 14.0.1 --- which works --- FOR NOW.

I'm using v 14.3.2

My article:

NEWER SOXS HAVE MORE MATERIAL - You May Want To Upgrade 'sox.exe' To A Later Version

May be of interest.

Gary Hayman

Gary. Don't remember the exactly the problem but the latest sox.exe had problems when I tested it. Unless a new one is out since then. Several of us got same result.

Gary, I just read your "Newer sox..." article and followed your instructions and installed the 14.3.2 sox.exe plus the three dll files in my POILoader directory after renaming my old sox.exe to OLDsox.exe.

On my Windows 7 64-bit PC with POILoader 2.6.1 and the new sox (14.3.2), all my POIs loaded with no error on my nuvi 295w, 750 and 855. Yet when I simulated a route past POIs with audio alerts, I got no audio from my wav files associated with the csv and bmp files.

After removing the four 14.3.2 files and restoring OLDsox.exe to sox.exe and reloading POIs to my three nuvis, all audio alerts return on simulations.

I believe therefore, that Charles is right and the new sox 14.3.2, even with the added dll files, do not work on Windows 7 64-bit PCs with POILoader 2.6.1--at least not for me.

Any thoughts?

Now that you tested it.I recall that was the problem with the alerts.The one prior to that works. Not sure but I believe Boxcar is using that one and it works OK.It has 2 dll files if I remember correctly.I found no need to change since the old one gives me the voice alert.

Maybe next time I'll remember to test this on one nuvi with a simulation and see if it works before loading all three nuvis using new software, then trying a simulation on each with a triple failure.

Isn't it odd, though, that Gary got the latest sox to work?

Maybe he hasn't tested the new one for alerts yet? I am using XP and it didn't work when I tested it.Loaded fine with poiloader but like you say no alert.

Sox 4.3.2 in the POILoader folder is working in XP for me. And the alerts work on my 255W and 285W.

I inclued all three dll files that came with this version of Sox:

zlib1.dll
libgomp-1.dll
pthreadgc2.dll

One or more of these dll files may be being blocked by the Windows system when they are called up by Sox. Apparently neither Windows or POILoader give notification that they were being blocked.

To make sure they are not being blocked, right click each dll file and select "Properties".

If there is this text at the bottom of the properties:

"Security: This file came from another computer and might be blocked to help protect this computer."

click on the "Unblock" button and then the "Apply" button.

If that does not make it work, maybe your Anti-Malware software is blocking them.

Where do I go to get the latest sox.exe 4.3.2

http://sourceforge.net/projects/sox/files/sox/14.3.2/

Here's some extra info you will need if you want to try it:
http://home.comcast.net/~ghayman3/garmin.gps/pagepoi.09.htm#...

Although I agree with Charles and would simply use the older version that works for everyone:
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/25730

Evert, are their any current advantages to a working 14.3.2 over the older 14.0.1?

There have been a lot of bug fixes and additional features added since Sox 14.0.1 and there must be a reason why Garmin made Poi Loader 2.6.1 compatible with SoX 14.3.2. Probably the reason(s) will become apparent as Garmin advances their units and software.

The older version may be working now but how much longer will it be compatible with POILoader?

It is the wave of the future, so I intend to go forward instead of holding on to the past.

As I said in a post about this a few months ago, if everyone had always insisted on sticking with the old tried and true, we would still be using ROM BASIC booted up via ROM BIOS.

Of your above bolded info, none appears on any of the files when installed on a Windows 7 PC. However, there are a large number of [Properties/Security] Groups, Permissions, Auditing, Ownership, Effective Permissions, etc. that can be altered for each file. I hesitate to try to tinker with these settings without knowing what I'm doing or having someone who has done it in Windows 7 before walk me through it.

As you say, "A little extra work is the price of advancing to the next level" and I do like to keep current. I do, however, need to know what to do and this is all very new to me and has never needed to be done on any Windows computer with any software I've used before.

It does seem to me that the instructions for using sox 14.3.2 on a Windows 7 computer to be used with POILoader 2.6.1 are incomplete or that this mix of software & OS does not work.

Is it a 32 or 64 bit OS?

My Windows 7 is 64-bit. I'm not sure what version of XP Charles has tried to use.

I'd love to move up to the latest 14.3.2 but help is needed for me and apparently many others to get the software to play well with either the new POILoader, Windows, etc.

With Windows 7, there is no "Security: This file came from another computer and might be blocked to help protect this computer." and there is no "Unblock" box to check.

Most progs need to be run in 32, and even then, they don't always play well.

64 bit apps have not been adapted as fast as many would like. Still, there have been advantages in some cases like Photoshop's CS series, and others.

@CraigW I don't think that Sox being 32 bit running on a 64 bit machine is a problem. Sox actually ran on your Windows 7, I think it just is not getting the dll support it needs.

I will try it on a Windows 7 64 bit machine tomorrow. It is at a senior center where I am the computer activity leader. I set up the computer to work as a Taxwise server for a Vista and 4 XP computers and am pretty familiar with the security settings.

I will let you know the details when I get it working.

I'm using Windows 7 on a 64 bit machine.

My nuvi is a 3790LMT

I'm using POI Loader 2.6.1

I'm using sox.exe 14.3.2 plus the three .dlls

All this is in my article which I referenced earlier.

All the alerts are working for me.

As I said in my [above referenced] article and as Evert and I said here -- sox.exe v. 14.0.1 may work now but with possible pending new version advances to POI Loader and sox.exe one may find that, in the future, there will be a conflict (as people have already found that certain Custom POI files would not load with the newer version of POI Loader - which is less forgiving for format errors in your .csv and .gpx files.)

If you are happy NOW with v. 14.0.1; and it works, I am not telling you to change, I am just suggesting that it may not work with later versions of POI Loader beyond 2.6.1.

Read my article for details.

But ....
- You can cross that bridge when you come to it.
- You don't need to change horses in mid-stream.
- A bird in the hand (NOW) may be worth two in the bush (LATER).
- Why borrow trouble?
- The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery.
- If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it.
- It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.
- Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine.
- If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies.
- The old grey mare, ain't what she used to be.

[Did you know that some people have problems when they have a shortcut pointing to the WRONG POI LOADER on their hard drives -- thinking that they are using the correct version. That was the basis of 2009 article of mine:

"POI LOADER, POI LOADER, EVERYWHERE -- Let's Get Rid Of Those Extra POI Loader Copies"

also my March article

"POI LOADER 2.6.1 -- WADDSUP WITH THAT? - Internet Dis"

might shed some light on this subject.]

Gary Hayman

Thanks so much. I look forward to your results. I'm hoping that you find and solve a problem and can help all of us that can't get 14.3.2 to work with the current POILoader rather than have Gary's results of having it simply work. Your thought that it's a Microsoft issue of a security feature that prevents success while simultaneously not issuing a popup warning certainly could be the problem and the lack of a failure warning from the MS OS is troubling.

Regarding anti-malware, I use Norton Internet Security 2011. It's hard for me to imagine that this software could be the issue since I'd expect it to give me a warning. I don't get one from Norton.

From your instructions last night, it appears that the dll file Properties/Security options are much expanded for Windows 7 over Windows XP. I also see that sox.exe also has Properties/Security options like the .dll files do--in fact, the exe file has more options than the dlls do.

Fingers crossed here!

Using XP SP 3 with McAfee security.I too like to have the latest of all updates but when you have to jump through many hoops, sometimes best to wait for a better version to come out.

I agree with everything you write, Gary. But note that I have the same problem that charlesd45 has and he reports others with the identical issue. There's something happening to those of us trying the new sox version which is different from what you report.

I wonder if there'd be some use to offer a warning on your 14.3.2 instruction page regarding this.

Thankfully, you do urge users trying it to keep the old version of sox so it can be restored if needed and that you urge folks after installing the update to test it out to see if it works.

Keep up the good work. Let's hope Evert finds a solution.

PS--to rthibodaux, the OP in this thread, I will suggest you use the older sox for now until this issue is resolved.

Just thinking .................

What happens when you guys really do a valid test such as clearing all your Custom POIs from your nuvi, writing a valid one line .csv file with attendent .bmp and .wav files, using POI Loader 2.6.1 and sox.exe 14.3.2 and the three .dlls.

Does it work then??

Then try with a simple .gpx file under the same conditions.

Does it work then ??

How many of you, who are having problems, are doing just that.

If so --- might not you think that one or more of the Custom POI files that you had been using might be the culprits?

I don't know. But, if you are going to really test, start easy then build until you find the problem.

[?Does .csv work and .gpx doesn't?]
[?Does something hang on certan file only?]
[?Have I been touched by an angel?]

Gary Hayman

Reducing the variables is usually a good idea when dealing with software.

Gary not sure where you are going with a valid test.I have combination of gpx and csv files some with and some without alerts.Tested several of the alerts with no success using new sox.exe.If the old ones work with the files then the new one should duplicate the same results.The release prior to the newest one works fine as well as the old one.

I want to thank everyone in suggesting using different method to solve my problem. I think that I will wait in using the differnt sox exe. This is a great site if you are having a problem. So many individual are there to help you. Again, thanks to everyone for the help.

I got the same results using a 64 bit Windows Vista Home Premium SP2 computer and a 64 bit Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 computer at the Senior Center yesterday. (Garmin was 285W).

Given that I “pulled all the stops” related to security and permissions, I no longer think that it is a security/permission problem.

Given several things I did relative to the dll files, I now think 64 bit Windows just does not like those files.

Some details (those that get headaches easily may want to divert their eyes now ):

-Used POILoader 2.6.1 and SoX 14.3.2

-Installed SoX by downloading the installer file and directing it to put the files in a subfolder of POILoader.

-Copied sox.exe and the three dll files to the POILoader folder.

-Used a one-line csv file named “Home TourGuide.csv and a sound file named “Home TourGuide.wav”.
(These files work on a 32 bit Windows XP computer resulting in both a custom poi and a sound alert.)

Security and Permissions:
-Created “Everyone” and gave Everyone full permissions.
-Turned off Windows firewall
-Turned off User Account Control
-Uninstalled Anti-Malware software

Dealing with the DLL files:
-First I put them in the POILoader folder.

-When that did not work, I tried moving them to the 64bit Windows “redirection” folder “\Windows\sysWOW64”. Apparently Windows redirected SoX’s call for the dll files to that folder because SoX did not complain about not finding the files, but the end result was the same: custom poi created but no sound alert.

-I tried to register the dll files using “regsvr32” but the system complained that they were not valid dll files.

Note: The SoX installer apparently just unpacks the files and puts them into a folder as directed by the user. It does not attempt to put the dll files into the \Windows\system32 folder and thus 64 bit Windows does not get a chance to” redirect” and register the dll files. Even if it did, it probably would choke on the files same as when I tried the manual registration.

Maybe Gary has a more advanced Windows 7 (Professional, Ultimate, or Enterprise) that is better at dealing with the SoX 32 bit dll files?

On Sourceforge SOX 14.3.2 is listed as 32 bit. Did you try 32 bit compatibility mode?

The only compatability mode available was: "Windows XP SP2" and I did try that.

The advanced versions have a "full XP mode", I wonder if Gary is using that?

Also I ran sox.exe in command line mode via a batch file and it did sound file conversions with no problems. Apparently the conversions I tried did not require use of any of the dll files.