GPS = dead

[Guaglione]

I left my GPS276c on for an extended period of time, by accident, and now it won't turn on, even with external power attached. The manual and the Garmin website are of limited help. I think I'm going to have to send it back, but if anyone has any information to the contrary, I'd appreciate the help.

doh.

[batfink]

That sucks. I think someone else was complaining of the same problem recently. I have a 276c too. Have you tried taking the battery/memory card out and then after putting them back in try it again?

[stevenknapp]

Yup. Take it all apart. No battery, no memory card.

Hook up the external power, it should power on.

Then put the battery back in.

[johnbo]

I had a GPS III+ that did the same thing to me. I found on the Garmin website, buried in some obscure corner of the website, that there is a small rechargable battery on the main board. This is supposed to allow you to change batteries without loosing all of the memory in the unit.

It said that if this battery is discharged, connect the unit to a external supply and allow it to sit for several days. I tried to hurry the process and rode with it the next day and had all sorts of really bizarre things happen to the unit. After about 3 days of riding, the problems stopped (the GPS was being powered by the bike during all of this).

The reason for the long time is likely that they've put a fairly large valued resistor in between the supply voltage and the rechargable to keep it from discharging the main batteries when idle.

Put everything back together, and let it sit for a couple of days. Resist the temptation to use during this time.

Good luck,

johnbo

[Wings]

Mine died and wouldn't turn back on either, except it just died while it was in use. Tech support tried to talk me through turning it back on, zip, zilch, nada. I sent it back to Garmin. Their techs couldn't get it turned on again either. Didn't know what went wrong in it. Sent me a new one right quick and I'm back in business.

[Taki]

Call tech support and see if the can help. If not send it in and Garmins excellent service will make it right. I had problems with my 276c and wasted two weeks trying to figure it out, finally sent it in and it was exchanged.

[Infracaninophile]

Mine's back at Garmin right now. I really love Garmin products, but this 276C has been a piece of shit as far as reliability. It's the first unit that I've had that has a re-chargeable battery. All of my other units, including my favorite, the 176 Mono, had AA batteries. At least I could stop at the store and get fresh batteries if something happened.

My 276C has constant power/on-off issues. It was replaced completely almost a year ago by Garmin. Now it's back again.

My issues:

1. Even when plugged into 12V (car or bike) it would turn itself off at least 3-4X per day.

2. Sometimes the screen would go wacky and show blue and redding smears instead of a readable screen. No reason why.

3. On power up: After pressing the power button it would simply turn itself off about 50% of the time, or, it would sort of grow dim and then turn itself off later. Especially on the first cycle of the morning or when it was cold. Cold being defined as < 70F or so. Which is 90% of the mornings in Colorado.

Got my RMA from Garmin and included a note asking them to fix it RIGHT or throw the fucking thing away and give me my money back. 276C are NOT cheap devices.

Tom

[Guaglione]

I called Cycoactive here in Seattle, and they called Garmin on my behalf. Garmin said they would have to look at it and that the wait was at least two weeks. Cycoactive knew I needed the unit for a trip I'm doing in a week and a half, and told Garmin as much. Garmin said give him a new one, and we'll replace the bad one.

wow.