Bricked Nuvi 2689LMT - Anybody know a repair source?

 

My 2689 crapped out in early January of this year. It was having troubles booting and eventually went into the constant reboot mode. This strongly suggests that the operating software has been corrupted.

Two things working against solving the problem; Garmin Express has no function to re-apply the operating software and the GPS itself needs to boot properly before even it mounts as a device on your computer.

The GE problem I could solve by having the old Garmin Webupdate app that can re-apply operating software on my iMac. If I'd been smart, I should have used Webupdater at the first sign of trouble starting.

The constant reboot I could not solve. I contacted Garmin, the Canadian Garmin Repair centre in Montreal and Sharcnet. Sharcnet, though their website is active, no longer fixes reboot problems. Garmin and their support centre basically said "Too Bad, So Sad, buy another one".

There is a piece of software called Cure out there in the wild that apparently can work around the boot up before becoming a disc device issue but it is PC-based. I'm in the Apple environment.

I gave the device to my most IT-savy friend, suggested he try Cure and Webupdater but he couldn't get the 2689 working again.

So now I have a nice looking brick and a lost lifetime EU maps subscription.

Every time I open Garmin Express, it shows the updates available for the 2689 since I haven't deregistered it. Bit of a "Nah, Nah, Loser" vibe there but I just grit my teeth.

If anybody can suggest a fix or someone who actually re-installs operating software (like Sharcnet used to), I am all ears.

Cheer
Bob
Ottawa
Not the one in Illinois

See also

Well

If Cure isn't working then you really do have a brick and it's likely a hardware issue. Using Cure though can be quite tricky to get a device into pre boot mode, I had to do it once and it took me numerous tries to get it just right. How many attempts did your friend make?

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Where there's a will ... there's a way ... DriveSmart51LMT-S, DriveSmart50LMT-D, Nuvi 2508LMT-D, 1490LMT, 1310, Montana 650T, Etrex 20

Have you tried the procedure at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBi0_FxGCRg.

I'd guess you probably have since you worked directly with Garmin, but perhaps not.

Another procedure that worked for someone is in the thread at http://www.poi-factory.com/node/45157?page=0. Specifically scroll down to the input by "haydenm315". It uses "Cure" but has some very specific procedures that need to be followed (as already mentioned by "sussamb". The link to "Cure" is broken but you say you already have it or your friend does.

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John from PA

Garmin repair.

If you can't get Cure to work on your 2689LMT, buying a working used one on ebay would probably be less expensive than paying for repair. You could even select one that is missing some of the accessories, since you have a full set of accessories from your bricked 2689. It is unlikely that you will even be able to find a repair site.

I do understand that you need to consider the cost of the EU map subscription and that loss is unfortunate.

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

Same thing happened to me

I had a Nuvi 2559 which kept rebooting. I thought it only needed a battery replacement. It turned out to be a bad motherboard. Definitely not worth fixing.

You could try Chris Short at Short Tronics 612/326-4364.

Definitely call Chris Short as suggested by garmin-nuvi-user

garmin-nuvi-user wrote:

I had a Nuvi 2559 which kept rebooting. I thought it only needed a battery replacement. It turned out to be a bad motherboard. Definitely not worth fixing.

You could try Chris Short at Short Tronics 612/326-4364.

Well worth a call to Chris Short as suggested by garmin-nuvi-user. He was able to fix a TomTom One for me perhaps 20 years ago at what I recall was a very reasonable cost.

See https://www.palmdr.com/cart/automotive-cars-c-31_68_69_73.ht...

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John from PA

Thanks for the suggestions

Sorry for the delay in answering. Offline for a few days.

Thank you all for providing advice and helpful info.

Cure attempts - Not sure how many tries he gave it but I will send him the link on using it and do some more begging. When someone is doing you a favour, you try not to be pushy. grin

I'll check out the thread provided and the video.

Repair source - I'll look into it. Not much to lose and the 2689 was one of my favourites Nuvies.

Cheers
Bob