2450LM Bricked By Software Update

If this were me I would contact Garmin and say:

"I did a 3.6 update on my unit and speed limit quit working.

Your customer service rep said to do a master reset... which resulted in my unit being bricked!"

"As far as I'm concerned, you broke it... now fix it"

Nuvi1300WTGPS

A few years ago I bought an 855 from Amazon. Upon receiving it, on the first day I did a firmware update. From that moment it was unable to obtain a satellite fix (though it had been able to before). I spent an hour or two on the phone with Garmin support at the conclusion of which they suggested that Amazon would be willing to send me a new one. It was so, and the new one did not mind being updated.

As a person who spent a full working career in the electronics business, mostly designing, testing, and making chips for Intel, my personal guess is that in my case the main processing chip in my first 855 had a defect which the testing had not discovered, and which happened by bad luck to interact with the new firmware in a way which rendered the unit nonfunctional.

People assume that cases like this prove that the new firmware is bad, but they don't.

The 3.60 update has been offered since Oct. 8 2013:

http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=5147

and we have lots of nuvi 24xx users here who have not reported any problems. My assumption at this point is that this is not a large Garmin software failure but is more likely a one-time problem with your update.

If your 2450 is connected to your computer, does it appear as a drive? If so, maybe we can find a bad file. If you have a backup saved pre-3.60, let us know as well to see if we can revert you to 3.50.

When you say your post-master-reset fails to boot, what sequence of events do you see on the screen--or is it totally blank from the start?

Pleas answer CraigW's question, "When you say your post-master-reset fails to boot, what sequence of events do you see on the screen--or is it totally blank from the start?"

It's possible when updating the firmware something got corrupted. I know on my 2460LMT I have to be patient when doing a firmware update. After disconnecting from your PC on a firmware update, you must hit the power button and WAIT PATIENTLY, it appears to be doing nothing but it is, Garmin really needs to add a message loading software much faster than it does. If you hit the power button again by not seeing a response you might be corrupting the software update.

If your PC recognizes the Nuvi, use WebUpdater to RE-INSTALL the firmware, then wait patiently as described above.

If the PC recognizes the Nuvi, navigate to the .System folder and look for GUPDATE.GCD file to see what version software is on the Nuvi.

Version 3.50 is 37,416kb
Version 3.60 is 37,438kb.

The size of the files must match above depending on what version you show, if not the file is corrupt.
A fresh download using WebUpdater should correct it.

Let us know of your findings.

Unit will not boot up. You see the maps loading page and unit turns off.
Patience is one thing, but after the reset, plugged into power, it never rebooted 4 hours later.
Attempting to M/R again when you get to the screen where you pick the US, it turns off.
I rolled software back to previous version and it still fails to boot up just like the 750s did.
I see no difference between this software update and the 750 software update fiasco.

gotta love the updates. The first ones to d/l become the beta testers.

It may be turning off because your battery is weak. Try charging the unit first.

An overnight charge via USB from a computer or several hours via cigarette lighter socket is definitely what I'd try next if it were mine, making sure that the computer doesn't go to sleep/hibernate and the cig. socket stays live.

If your battery is charged and if the failure occurs at the same place with each boot, a corrupt file seems most likely to me.

alpine1, I disagree with your statement that "I see no difference between this software update and the 750 software update fiasco" since your issue is only happening with your device while the other was a widespread issue. But you're right--whatever is causing your issue, you currently have a nonfunctional GPS. Good luck.

If all else fails and Garmin won't exchange the unit for a new one, the OP can always try cure firmware. If I read the thread correctly the device does turn on, so it likely is a corrupt file.

I'm guessing you missed the part where the unit is plugged into power.

You have the comfort of having a working GPS, I do not. Whether it bricks 1 or thousands I see no difference.

Sorry, but you didn't state the battery was fully charged or how long it had been left on a charger. We are trying to rule out simple causes before getting to drastic repairs.

Are you getting the crashes while powered externally? I vaguely remember some earlier threads that indicated that there were problems doing updates when externally powered and that once booting from the internal battery, the update succeeded. Then again, maybe I'm remembering an issue with tablet updates rather than nuvi updates.

If the simple solutions aren't helping, then SA's suggestion of the Garmin Cure is the way to go, but only after calling Garmin first to see if they can help you. But you really want to rule out easier things before going the Garmin Cure route.

The other 999 may disagree.

I can understand your frustration and sympathize with you, but by making negative comments at people who are trying to help you will not be beneficial to any of us.

Just by plugging into power does not give you a full charge, please do as suggested and let it charge overnight on a PC or at least several hours in your car. A weak battery can shut down Nuvi's unexpectedly, been there, done that.

We'll try our best to get yours to work once again.

I do admit I'm stumped regarding your two statements.
1-"Attempting to M/R again when you get to the screen where you pick the US, it turns off."
That would be an indicator to me it's a weak\bad battery or your software is corrupt.

2- "Unit will not boot up. You see the maps loading page and unit turns off."
Quite possible your Base Map is missing or corrupt, connect the unit to the PC and see if the gmapbmap.img is in the .System folder.
It should show size as 49,808kb (51,003,392 bytes).
Even if your current map on your Nuvi is corrupt, the unit should boot with a functional Base Map.

Please check your .Sytem folder and advise what you have regarding the gmapbmap.img and gmapprom.img files.

Just curious.

With your device OFF, when you attach a USB cable to your device and attach the other end of the USB cable to your computer, please describe for us what happens.

In some detail please.

When device is plugged into USB to computer device enters into computer mode, and shows up as 2 external hard drives.
When supplied power from mount, it starts booting, gets to loading maps, and turns off.

Take the unit out of the cradle and attempt to apply the update again. It may be the cradle causing the corrupted file. That doesn't mean the cradle failed, it just means it won't allow a software update to be processed through it.

Good advice, the cradle should be used for connecting to 12V auto, not for updates. As far as I can recall it was never mentioned that he plugged it into cradle.

Be sure to use the correct USB cable you received with the Nuvi 2450, it should be a short one about 19 inches long. Plug directly into the the 2450's USB port and download the Software using WebUpdater (choose Re-Install) and then the Map using MapUpdater.

Thanks for the helpful hint