Older Garmin Questions

Perform a soft reset:
Connect the device to a power source with its car charger cable
An A/C adapter may also be used, but if the problem persists, the car charger cable will need to be used
Press and hold the power button or hold the power switch in the "on" position, and slowly count to 20
The device should now turn on. Leave the device connected to power to give the battery time to charge.

You can also preform a Master reset. Just make sure to back up your favorites. See http://www.poi-factory.com/node/30019

If the unit is old, your battery also may be going bad. Make sure you do a good charge on it before putting back in your car.

Model 5 seems strange. I am aware of a handheld that was a “V” and that dates to about 2001.

You could perhaps go into product support and input the serial number and then determine the model number. See https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=dcf321xQuW6XUl4oogZ5bA for how to do this

but doesn’t the start-up screen display the model number at the bottom of the screen?

never mind

Why not just look at the model # that identifies what the model# is on the back of the unit, it includes the serial number. All the Garmin Nuvi units I've ever owned all have had that information on them.
It would be helpful if we knew what that model number is.

There was a Street Pilot model i5 released in 2005. Does your Garmin look like this: https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/362

Sorry, folks, i completely forgot to mention that my Garmin isn’t more than about 2 years old. My original Garmin was stolen, along with my vehicle, about 2 years ago.

I’Ll also do some more investigating about the actual model and serial numbers. Thanks for all the help. Ed

Something is suspect with your posts?
What does this have to do with your car being stolen and had the GPS inside two years ago.

Your posts indicates the issue is with the Garmin Nuvi you NOW OWN and have the issue on that one.

As I stated prior, the Garmin Nuvi will have the Model # and serial # on the back of the unit.

I never bought one to see what the model/SN shows on the back, but in the past here we've had someone asking about their nuvi 4, Drive 5 or something like that. I think we determined that these "single digit" models were Garmin devices sold exclusively through a single retailer like possibly WalMart, Best Buy or whatever. This could be the case here. If so, then the question becomes whether or not these were simply renamed triple/quad-numbered models offered to a retailer to sell at a discount or if they were similar to a regular model but with different, probably limited, features.

Just a thought...

OK, I looked further and found the following info on my Garmin:

Model: Drive 5 LM
S/N: 5WY66758
Version 5.90

I hope I got the S/N right, it was hard to see. Thanks again. Ed

https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?partNumber=010-01532-0G&ta...

Ah, if that's it, its link to a Manual takes us to the generic Drive 40/50/60 series of devices so I expect it's a Drive 50 or something close to that. Also, alandb's Change Log FAQ shows the Drive 50 to have the same software version 5.90 as Mr Ed's Drive 5.

Wasn't Mr. Ed a horse?

If this is the case, why did you open the thread by stating

Perhaps you need restate your need.

You folks will need to understand that my mental processes have been affected by a stroke suffered 7 years ago. So, please look past the occasional faux pas I’ll be making. Other than that, I still consider myself fairly intelligent. Thank you for understanding .

BTW, I looked online and learned how to perform a soft reset on my Garmin next time it acts up. I’ve learned I should hold the power button down for at least 30 seconds, after which the device should power on. Never knew that.

Yes, in my case I talk ‘till I’m hoarse.

If you have to preform a Master reset. Just make sure to back up your favorites. See http://www.poi-factory.com/node/30019 for instructions. Try the soft reset first as I outlined in my post up top.

My sincerest apologies for the criticism regarding your posts.

I believe your issue may be causing your GPS losing its charge for remaining in the standby mode, thus discharging the battery. Even when it is plugged into car, the battery may be too weak to boot the unit ending up with a blank screen.

Due to Covid, many people are not driving as frequently using their GPS's, thus weakening the batteries from non use.

It’s a good idea to charge the battery through your computer or better yet a wall charges that charges the battery faster, the original Garmin specifications are 5 Volt at 1.0 amps, and are readily available through many sites.

Turning the Device On or Off
To turn the device on, press the power key, or connect the device to power.
To turn off the device completely, hold the power key until a prompt appears on the screen, and select Off.

To put the device in power saving mode, press the power key while the device is on.
While in power saving mode, the screen is off and the device uses very little power, but it can wake instantly for use.
TIP: You can charge your device faster by putting it in power saving mode while charging the battery.
The prompt appears after five seconds. If you release the power key before the prompt appears, the device enters power saving mode.

I agree that the recent suggestions to fully charge the battery, then see if the problem is fixed; and if not, to try a master reset, then see if the problem is fixed, is what to do before trying anything else.

It seems too early for a Drive model to be needing a battery replacement, but if that's needed, I'm 85% sure that a battery for a Drive 50 would work (as I expect looking for a Drive 5 battery may fail to produce results).

Other things to try are a different cable if you have one, either the cigarette lighter one or an indoor USB cable with a charger since the cable could be intermittently failing. If none of these work, an undesirable thought is that the USB socket on the back of the Drive is dirty or has a broken or intermittent internal contact.

Of course, you could also ask Wilbur for advice. Sorry, a Mr Ed reference.

I think you've nailed it. I wasn't in the habit of shutting my device completely off between uses. I'm doing it now. Thanks. Ed

I think my original questions regarding my device have been answered. Thanks to all who have assisted.

I think all of us "old timers" on this forum learned something from you too ... that Garmin for some reason rebranded some of its Drive 50 devices as Drive 5. Why they did that is a mystery, but I for one had never heard of a Garmin Drive model 5 before. So if that ever comes up again we will now know what it is.

The Garmin support website also recognizes my model as Garmin Drive™ 5LM. So, such an animal does exist.

Web address: https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?partNumber=010-01532-0E&ta...

Of course. Of course.