GPSrChive Discussion Forum

I would warn to use expedition mode on 66i with fw 9.0

After I updated to 9.0, wantred test if the expedition mode was repaired as it was broken in 8.80

While all started normally, after being in expedition mode for some hours, attempt to resume normal operation failed.
The screen shows Resuming for hours now, but no further control of the 66i is possible, not possible to switch on or off, no reset possible. Simply fully bricked.

Report to Garmin done.

Have you held the power button for > 30 seconds?

yes

in fact first time it happend, I was not able to switch it off at all, had to drain the battery.

this happened later second time too, however most of the time I am now able to switch the 66i off and restart it.

The crashes in expedition mode are very frequent and either end in endless Resuming or probably more often simply crashing the unit silently, menaing it switch off itself, the internal clock remains stopped, so after restart, GPS hast to make kind of cold start first.


My next test:
downgradeed this particular 66i to 8.50, this was the last working FW for me

Upgraded second 66i to 9.0 and started new testing to see if there might be some hardware issue.

OK, please report final observations for each firmware version tested so we can be sure we have it correct.

Thank You!

Some further results:

2 units 66i now in test with 9.00

expedition mode set to auto on unit 1 and prompted on unit 2.

Both units crash at some point, but the one with expedition mode in auto much more frequently.
The crash has different forms. Either it results in Resuming for ever, meaning that after pressing power button the unit displays Resuming but this is the end, or the unit reboots just after power button has been pressed, or often the unit simply switches off itself at some point and is then found simply not running at all.

The problem with random crashes with various results seem to correlate with an error logged in the debug file:
gps_recover_prj.c 333, position buffer fail

this also correlates with incomplete or mutilated entries in the gpx file

This could not be observed during normal operation, but only during expedition mode

Received info from support that the problem is confirmed, but work is in progress, no time line so far

Did Garmin Support provide a 'ticket number' for reference?

Ref:21224468K1 Q#:1004050