nuvi 1490 powers on but powers off

Since its possible that a 1490 can date from 2009, I’d replace the battery. You can get a kit of Amazon for $25...see https://www.amazon.com/Replacement-Nuvi-1490-Installation-Ex...

Charge the battery with a wall-powered charger for at least 5 hours.

dobs108

I think I did replace this battery a few years ago.

If the battery was discharged or bad, it would be under 3.7V when trying to run.
It is over 3.8V when running and over 3.9V when off. 3.9V isn't fully charged, maybe 1/2. So that should not be an issue.

If the battery is bad or discharged it should function normally when plugged in.

It does not function plugged in or not.

When you plug the nuvi in to the car and the battery is mostly discharged, there is not enough current available to both charge the battery and boot up the nuvi at the same time.

It seems that you do not have a wall charger. If so, that is the cause of the problem. There are times when a wall charger is needed.

dobs108

I respectfully disagree.
As far as it working while plugged in, it depends on the charger capability. But even with the Garmin charger and a weak battery, it might take 20 minutes before the device stays on for any period of time. As a test, hook it up to the Garmin charger (powered in a car with a live accessory outlet). Turn it on and take note of how long it takes to die. Let’s say it takes 20 seconds. Leave it connected to the powered charger, Garmin off, for about a 1/2 hour. Turn it on again. If the ON time is substantially longer then the battery is marginal or you just need to leave it connected in car (or an alternative) for 24 hours. Keep in mind as well that some cars have what appears to be a live accessory socket after turning off the ignition but then disable the socket after 30 minutes. I had a Porsche that was that way.

As to the battery...I have seen many a battery powered device that in spite of proper voltage as measured with a DVM, lasts about 10 to 20 seconds and thn dies. The battery is essentially weak and as soon as there is a substantial current draw, the voltage drops below minimum.

Are you certain you don’t have some device with a USB 5V output that could be used to charge for 24 hours? Indoors especially good! I’d also suggest you use a different cable, just to eliminate that possibility.

OK, I have it plugged into a 2.1A charger.
It is sitting there constantly doing what I described, on off.

It is definitely not doing what is normal for this unit with a partially charged or flat dead battery.

Coincidence that it started doing this after I used GE to transfer from 765 to 1490???
Maybe, maybe not.

A 765 is not the same as a 1490, so what got transfered?

I'd consider doing a hard reset once the device is positively known to be fully charged. Instructions can be found at https://www.gpsnation.com/support/gps-factory-reset/garmin-n...

Then perhaps do a "transfer" but use the capability that is within GE, not moving a file using Windows or a MAc OS.

It won't do a hard reset. It just keep cycling thru the on off process.

The transfer function in GE is under Tools & Content > Utilities and says that it transfers saved addresses and waypoints.

This unit previously had a spontaneous reset issue, but at least it would run for a period of time then reboot back to working. If you were not watching it you wouldn't know it ever did it as it just continued where it left off.

Do you get a flash of a message like "Loader Loading"?

no it never gets there. If I pull the plug before it goes off I get a flash of the message that the power was disconnected.

Plugged into usb cable it starts to go to mass storage mode with progress line then turns off.
Plugged into Garmin cable it shows copyright then goes off.

Although you don’t get the message, the procedure below might be worth a try.

Question: Why does my nuvi 1000 series device display the message "Loader Loading" during power up after an attempted software update?

Answer:
If your device is displaying the message Loader Loading during power up, the file that is used to update your device may have become corrupted.

To fix this problem, please follow the steps listed below to remove the update file from your device:

With the nuvi powered off, press and hold the upper left hand corner of the touchscreen with your finger
Continue to hold the touchscreen while pressing and releasing the power button on the device. The Garmin Logo should display.
Continue to hold the touchscreen while connecting the device to your computer
After 30 seconds the screen should flash white. At this point release the touchscreen. A green progress bar should display on the device. After the progress bar completes (45-60 seconds) the device should go into Mass Storage mode with the picture of a computer tower on the display of the device.
From your computer click the Start Menu
Open 'My Computer'
Right click the Garmin nuvi drive that appears in My Computer
Left click 'Explore'
Input ".system" (without quotations) into the Address bar and press enter.
Locate the file "GUPDATE.GCD", Left click to highlight it, and then delete it
Safely remove your device from your computer using the Safely Remove Hardware program in your computer's system tray.
Allow your device to boot up normally. The device at this point should work normally. Please run the Webupdater program again to update the device's software.

An update file can become corrupted if a Garmin update is started when the battery is partly discharged. We are not just writing to a passive device like a flash drive but to an active device with a processor.

Again, the power supply from the USB port is not capable of charging a low battery and running the processor.

The downloaded file could be compressed and needs to be unpacked, or the directory structure of the GPS may need to be modified.

One of the steps in updating should be making sure the battery is charged first.

dobs108

Thanks - it definitely changed the response, however, no help.
It shows the logo and stays there until I plug it in. The computer responds with a connected tone. After 30 seconds it disconnects from the computer and 5 seconds later a white screen flashes on that looks like it may have some content. The flash is about 250ms, then the logo and progress bar comes on and it flashes off as before.

It does appear that there must be a bad file or more, but it appears there is no way to get to it and fix it.

Would putting the files on an SD card cause it to go there for the files. I have them all backed up.

I see two ways of looking at this, one being the fact that you essentially are bricked, so what do you have to lose? But a call to Garmin tech support would probably be in order first. Someone posted a few days ago about a particularly helpful tech person, perhaps by the name of Glinda. The thread is at http://www.poi-factory.com/node/50805. Once there scroll down a bit.

As far as forcing a boot to an SD card, I’m not sure how that would work or even if it could be accomplished. But you need to make absolutely certain that everything is backed up. As you likely know, when you access most Garmin devices many files are “hidden” so it is easy to miss something.

See this post: http://www.poi-factory.com/node/46823?page=0#comment-440855

Thanks all. However nothing is working on this unit. Since it started this right after the update I will try calling Garmin and see what they have to say. I also have a 765 that the touch screen became unresponsive right after the update.

each unit appeared to update fine. But after shutdown and restart, I ran into these issues. My 3597 was also updated at the same time and so far there is no issue with that one.

There was just a maintenance update right now to GE V7.1.2.0
The last one was not very long ago. I wonder if that has anything to do with it.

It's hard to say as the latest Release Notes for GE are for version 7.0.1 from about two months ago.

I don't think you will believe this, I don't, after explaining the problems, Garmin replaced both of them with 55.
Told me to trash these. = recycle the battery of course.
I'm happy.

Great ending! This is 2nd time in a few months I’ve heard of good things from Garmin well after a warranty has expired.