1390 issues

It sounds to me like you may have a valid map on the device (gmapprom.img, etc. being there), so the first thing to check is if the map's been unselected. Go to the Map page (possibly tap Tools/Settings/Map/MapInfo or Tools/Settings/MyMaps) and see if a City Navigator is shown and if it's checked. If you're lucky, it's there but has been unchecked. Just check it and if it was unchecked before, all will be well.

Report back if that's not the issue.

{Update} After rereading your post and what you've done which cured everything, you may never know if the old nuvi-stored map was unchecked. It would be interesting to see what's offered on the MapInfo page. I'm guessing you'll be shown two City Navigators, the new map from the SD card and the older map. Be sure that only the new map is checked since you don't want to have two active City Navigators.

Hi CraigW,

Sorry, I should have mentioned that I did check the Mapinfo page before doing anything else. Nothing was there. I just assumed if the onboard map wasn't recognized then there's an issue with unlocking with a corrupt unl or gma file. As it sits right now I only have one map in the list 2014.20 on SD and I touched nothing in onboard flash.

I'm glad I was able to get it going but this was definitely a first for me.

When Garmin Express offers the SD install what does it actually do? Does it build gmapsupp IMG and unl files like I did manually or something totally different?

Ah, then your earlier thought of a corrupt download is most likely.

I've only experienced the auto-SD-installation will my nuvi 750--and from my memory and I think from the Garmin faq

https://support.garmin.com/support/searchSupport/case.faces?...

that when your map updater determines that the largest map your device is entitled to receive is too large to fit in the nuvi's internal storage, you'll be alerted with a pop-up that your choices are 1) select only a portion of the map update [e.g., Lower 48 states] or 2) install the full map to SD. Given that choice, I'd have a 4GB or bigger SD card in the nuvi and choose option 2. The map and associated other update files then are installed to the SD card and the old map, jcv file, etc. in the nuvi are removed. A couple of tiny placeholder files may still will reside in the nuvi but the really large files (gmapprom.img and DxxxxxA.JCV, etc.) are gone leaving your nuvi with lots of empty space. Once done this way, the SD card is part of the nuvi and if removed, you'll normally be stuck only with the Garmin Basemap which is not routable or searchable. Future updates will treat the SD card files as expected--the new map and other files will overwrite the earlier ones and the new map update will run from the SD card.

My guess is that if you did the auto-SD installation, the old map files in the nuvi would have been deleted and the map update files placed in the SD card as some sort of gmapsup file (in my nuvi 750, it's a gmapsup1.img with its smaller gma and unl files). Do you know if the nuvi 1390 still has the large img and jcv files plus unl, etc. from the older map still in the nuvi?

The more likely option is that the someone in his family that updated the maps downloaded a pirated copy. Downloading certain pirated copies of the map is the only way I know of to lose the address database.

Explanation: There is a tool available to break apart a valid gmapsupp.img into its MapSource map tiles. The tiles are then offered as a MapInstall or BaseCamp install package. Unfortunately, the aforementioned tool strips the address database and the name Garmin assigns to the map when breaking the map apart. Joe Average comes along and downloads the package hoping to save some money. He installs the package and creates a map for his GPS from it. It's only later when he tries to route to an address that he finds out he can't, leaving him with a map little more useful than the basemap.

There's no fix for this except to download a legit map onto the device, which apparently you have done. I'd simply delete the old map as it's no good to anyone.

When I plugged it into my PC it had what appeared to be a full map image and small jcv onboard. Nothing unusual here other than the fact that it didn't see any maps in Mapinfo. If the map was indeed pirated and address database lost would the symptom be no recognized maps on the unit?

A pirated map, especially one that's been broken apart into its component map tiles and reassembled, could display many different symptoms. This includes not displaying at all. The most common result is that the map is visible, but address search doesn't function and the map has no name when you look at the list of installed maps.