Nuvi 350 stuck on loading maps. HELP!

 

Gah! I messed up somewhere while uploading custom POIs on my Nuvi 350, is there any way to recover it or it's a brick?

I tried the updater.exe thing and that doesn't work. Clearing user data and waypoints doesn't work either. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Yes there is hope

demitri.prometheus wrote:

Gah! I messed up somewhere while uploading custom POIs on my Nuvi 350, is there any way to recover it or it's a brick?

I tried the updater.exe thing and that doesn't work. Clearing user data and waypoints doesn't work either. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Assuming you can attach your 350 to your computer, then the first thing we would suggest is a backup.
see
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/30394
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/36398

Once you have a backup, then do a reset
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/30019

It wasn't being detected at

It wasn't being detected at all by the computer but all is well now.

I needed to use GarminCure3 in order to bypass the corrupt files (so that it can then be detected as a mass storage device) and then re-flash the firmware to a lower version 2.20.

Whew!

Glad you got it fixed, but

I don't understand how loading POI's could trash the firmware.

--
Alan - Android Auto, DriveLuxe 51LMT-S, DriveLuxe 50LMTHD, Nuvi 3597LMTHD, Oregon 550T, Nuvi 855, Nuvi 755T, Lowrance Endura Sierra, Bosch Nyon

Last 3 I loaded were Best

Last 3 I loaded were Best Buy, Office Depot and OfficeMax POIs. Maybe there's something wrong somewhere in the content which I don't have the patient to check for.

But why

would you need to go to a lower level of firmware? Did you do a firmware upgrade in addition to loading POI's?

--
Alan - Android Auto, DriveLuxe 51LMT-S, DriveLuxe 50LMTHD, Nuvi 3597LMTHD, Oregon 550T, Nuvi 855, Nuvi 755T, Lowrance Endura Sierra, Bosch Nyon

That was the only one

That was the only one available that I found outside of Garmin.

I can't use Garmin directly to load the latest official firmware since it wasn't readily detected. I had to make a hack "Cure" firmware first for the GPS to be accessible via USB.

I did upgrade the firmware first before I loaded the POIs and there weren't any problems until I loaded the aforementioned three POIs.

OK

Thanks for the explanation. I think I understand the sequence of events now. Like I said, glad you got it working again.

--
Alan - Android Auto, DriveLuxe 51LMT-S, DriveLuxe 50LMTHD, Nuvi 3597LMTHD, Oregon 550T, Nuvi 855, Nuvi 755T, Lowrance Endura Sierra, Bosch Nyon

My garmin has been getting

My garmin has been getting stuck a lot lately.

Best Buy file is good

demitri.prometheus wrote:

Last 3 I loaded were Best Buy, Office Depot and OfficeMax POIs. Maybe there's something wrong somewhere in the content which I don't have the patient to check for.

I know the Best Buy file is good because I maintain it. Looking at Office Depot and Office Max, they have had no updates since 7/2008 and Office depot shows 1 unusable record.

But if the files are corrupt or won't load then poi loader usually fails. We have had no nuvi's get destroyed due to poi files.

--
Nuvi 2460LMT.

.

I think it is unlikely that a bad POI file actually corrupted or trashed the firmware of the nuvi. However it is possible that a bad file could cause the nuvi to hang during bootup and not complete the boot cycle. The 3xx series is pretty old and its firmware may not be as forgiving as some of the newer models. My guess is that the OP had to run the "cure" process not because the firmware was trashed, but to get past the hang on bootup so he could get the unit into storage mode and delete the offending files.

--
Alan - Android Auto, DriveLuxe 51LMT-S, DriveLuxe 50LMTHD, Nuvi 3597LMTHD, Oregon 550T, Nuvi 855, Nuvi 755T, Lowrance Endura Sierra, Bosch Nyon

More info

demitri.prometheus wrote:

...
I can't use Garmin directly to load the latest official firmware since it wasn't readily detected. I had to make a hack "Cure" firmware first for the GPS to be accessible via USB.
...

I am not familiar with the "cure" hack.

Someone give me some more info, please.

the "cure"

You will find lots of information on this on the gpspassion site. It is not discussed much on POI Factory.

--
Alan - Android Auto, DriveLuxe 51LMT-S, DriveLuxe 50LMTHD, Nuvi 3597LMTHD, Oregon 550T, Nuvi 855, Nuvi 755T, Lowrance Endura Sierra, Bosch Nyon

Here are the 2 references I used to restore my Nuvi 350

Cure Firmware

jgermann wrote:
demitri.prometheus wrote:

...
I can't use Garmin directly to load the latest official firmware since it wasn't readily detected. I had to make a hack "Cure" firmware first for the GPS to be accessible via USB.
...

I am not familiar with the "cure" hack.

Someone give me some more info, please.

To put it simply, this involves modifying the firmware to prevent certain files from loading by changing the extension the firmware looks for, e.g. changing .img to .igm. When the modified firmware is installed, the nüvi looks for .igm files, doesn't find them, and skips them, loading the rest of the unit. This allows the end user to access the device, clear out the corrupt file or files, and restore the device to operating condition, once the unmodified firmware is installed back onto the unit.

To create such a cure firmware requires a bit of knowledge on how to use a hex editor and knowing what you're looking for. It's not discussed much around here simply because for all intents and purposes it violates the Garmin EULA. It's also why other firmware modifications, such as what I did to my 1300, aren't discussed all that much.

--
"Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job." --Douglas Adams

@strephon

Strephon_Alkhalikoi wrote:

...
To create such a cure firmware requires a bit of knowledge on how to use a hex editor and knowing what you're looking for. It's not discussed much around here simply because for all intents and purposes it violates the Garmin EULA. It's also why other firmware modifications, such as what I did to my 1300, aren't discussed all that much.

Thanks.

I figured you would know.