Jump to content

Vista HCx freezing up in the map view...


Recommended Posts

Just wondering if anyone has had a problem with their Vista HCx freezing up on them? I was out and around today and the screen froze on three separate occasions. Nothing in common for the freeze. No electricity lines. One was in the car, one in deep foliage, and one in an open field. Batteries are good…so what’s up? Any ideas?

JPL`

Link to comment

Just wondering if anyone has had a problem with their Vista HCx freezing up on them? I was out and around today and the screen froze on three separate occasions. Nothing in common for the freeze. No electricity lines. One was in the car, one in deep foliage, and one in an open field. Batteries are good…so what’s up? Any ideas?

JPL`

 

I wonder if the map is corrupt? Try reloading it. What map is it anyway?

Link to comment

Updated my friends last night from 2.4/2.4 to 2.6/2.6 and now it's freezing up. I don't know much at this point. He was leaving on a trip and I updated it for him. His didn't have a SD card in it but some how I loaded 8 way points. Not sure how it did that or if that may be why it's hanging up. I'll have to mess with it when he gets back. I had him pull the batteries out over night and put his SD card in. If that didn't work he was going to restore the factory settings. If that doesn't work I would think we'll have to do a hard reset. Thats about all I can think of .He has no maps of any kind installed so I know it's not that. Hopefully someone here has some Ideas on whats going on. KH

Link to comment

His didn't have a SD card in it but some how I loaded 8 way points. Not sure how it did that or if that may be why it's hanging up.

The SD card is only used for maps and custom POIs. Waypoints don't go on the SD card; they are stored internally (there's room for 1000 of them, regardless of whether you have a small SD card, a big SD card, or no SD card at all).

Link to comment

His didn't have a SD card in it but some how I loaded 8 way points. Not sure how it did that or if that may be why it's hanging up.

The SD card is only used for maps and custom POIs. Waypoints don't go on the SD card; they are stored internally (there's room for 1000 of them, regardless of whether you have a small SD card, a big SD card, or no SD card at all).

 

I've been having the same freezing problem since I bought my Vista HCx. After contacting Garmin support about the problem, I was told to do a hard reset to erase all the data in the GPS. However, my GPS won't even do a hard reset. When pressing Page+Enter+Power, the GPS simply powers up like normal without the "erase all?" sort of warning. Any suggestions?

Link to comment

I've had my Vista HCx since August 2007, but I just started having this problem, too. Long pauses when moving the cursor around the map. No recent changes in maps or firmware (I installed 2.60/2.60 shortly after it came out). I might try purging some waypoints/caches.

Just out of curiosity, do you happen to have City Nav NT maps on your Vista HCx?

 

When I had NT maps, I had the same sorts of delays with the cursor on the map screen. I was able to make the problem go away three different ways:

(1) Make sure that there are no City Nav waypoints in your list of 50 most recent finds. If all 50 in that list were user-generated waypoints or caches I had downloaded, the delays went away. If there were any CN NT waypoints (addresses, stores, restaurants, etc.) the lag came back -- the more CN NT waypoints there were, the longer and more noticeable the lag was. Strange but true... try selecting 50 of your own waypoints just to clear all CN NT waypoints from the Recent Finds list, and see if that makes a difference with the lag. If so, maybe you have the same problem that I had.

(2) Remove the NT maps, either by having only topo maps on the SD card or taking out the SD card altogether. (The delays went away if I only had topo maps on the SD card.) This was not a permanent or practical solution, since I needed auto-routing maps, but it did help identify the problem for me.

(3) Replace the NT maps with non-NT maps. This ended up being my permanent fix for the issue.

Edited by the hermit crabs
Link to comment

I've had my Vista HCx since August 2007, but I just started having this problem, too. Long pauses when moving the cursor around the map. No recent changes in maps or firmware (I installed 2.60/2.60 shortly after it came out). I might try purging some waypoints/caches.

Just out of curiosity, do you happen to have City Nav NT maps on your Vista HCx?

 

When I had NT maps, I had the same sorts of delays with the cursor on the map screen. I was able to make the problem go away three different ways:

(1) Make sure that there are no City Nav waypoints in your list of 50 most recent finds. If all 50 in that list were user-generated waypoints or caches I had downloaded, the delays went away. If there were any CN NT waypoints (addresses, stores, restaurants, etc.) the lag came back -- the more CN NT waypoints there were, the longer and more noticeable the lag was. Strange but true... try selecting 50 of your own waypoints just to clear all CN NT waypoints from the Recent Finds list, and see if that makes a difference with the lag. If so, maybe you have the same problem that I had.

(2) Remove the NT maps, either by having only topo maps on the SD card or taking out the SD card altogether. (The delays went away if I only had topo maps on the SD card.) This was not a permanent or practical solution, since I needed auto-routing maps, but it did help identify the problem for me.

(3) Replace the NT maps with non-NT maps. This ended up being my permanent fix for the issue.

Sorry, not NT maps. MGNA v7 with Metrogold. Plus tide points from GPSMAP 168. I have used it successfully to do turn-by-turn navigation for quite a while, with all kinds of address and POI waypoints in my recent finds, but the problem only recently appeared. I load geocaches one-by-one using the "send to GPS" function, and I'm wondering if I recently crossed some threshold.

Link to comment

Just wondering if anyone has had a problem with their Vista HCx freezing up on them? I was out and around today and the screen froze on three separate occasions. Nothing in common for the freeze. No electricity lines. One was in the car, one in deep foliage, and one in an open field. Batteries are good…so what’s up? Any ideas?

JPL`

 

I have exactly the same problem. It's widely reported in many forums on the Web. Ironically, the customer service rep at Garmin had never heard of the problem. He had me upgrade the firmware from 2.4 to 2.6, which didn't make any difference. I'm calling again tomorrow.

 

FYI, I've tried it with/without SD and with various map packages. There's no consistency.

Link to comment

I've had my Vista HCx since August 2007, but I just started having this problem, too. Long pauses when moving the cursor around the map. No recent changes in maps or firmware (I installed 2.60/2.60 shortly after it came out). I might try purging some waypoints/caches.

Just out of curiosity, do you happen to have City Nav NT maps on your Vista HCx?

 

When I had NT maps, I had the same sorts of delays with the cursor on the map screen. I was able to make the problem go away three different ways:

(1) Make sure that there are no City Nav waypoints in your list of 50 most recent finds. If all 50 in that list were user-generated waypoints or caches I had downloaded, the delays went away. If there were any CN NT waypoints (addresses, stores, restaurants, etc.) the lag came back -- the more CN NT waypoints there were, the longer and more noticeable the lag was. Strange but true... try selecting 50 of your own waypoints just to clear all CN NT waypoints from the Recent Finds list, and see if that makes a difference with the lag. If so, maybe you have the same problem that I had.

(2) Remove the NT maps, either by having only topo maps on the SD card or taking out the SD card altogether. (The delays went away if I only had topo maps on the SD card.) This was not a permanent or practical solution, since I needed auto-routing maps, but it did help identify the problem for me.

(3) Replace the NT maps with non-NT maps. This ended up being my permanent fix for the issue.

Sorry, not NT maps. MGNA v7 with Metrogold. Plus tide points from GPSMAP 168. I have used it successfully to do turn-by-turn navigation for quite a while, with all kinds of address and POI waypoints in my recent finds, but the problem only recently appeared. I load geocaches one-by-one using the "send to GPS" function, and I'm wondering if I recently crossed some threshold.

I did remove a handful of found caches and I haven't seen it show up since then. But, I haven't been using my GPS much lately, either, so I can't say definitively that the problem went away.

Link to comment

I just went through this with my HCx which Santa brought me. After countless e-mails and phone calls, try this, try that, they had me send it in. Garmin ended up replacing my unit. When they had me try to set it back to factory specs. ont he phone they didint warn me about taking the card out. Now that I have a new unit I can not reload my city map and it is starting to act up again (sigh)....

Edited by georooks
Link to comment

I just went through this with my HCx which Santa brought me. After countless e-mails and phone calls, try this, try that, they had me send it in. Garmin ended up replacing my unit. When they had me try to set it back to factory specs. ont he phone they didint warn me about taking the card out. Now that I have a new unit I can not reload my city map and it is starting to act up again (sigh)....

 

I am also having this same issue. My screen will lock up while caching. I am going to try a hard reset and try to get it to freeze with one map loaded at a time. hopefully I will avoid having to return it to the folks at Garmin.

Link to comment

Mine did it a few times before I returned it. Taking the batteries out was the only way I could get it to un-freeze.

It also started only drawing partial maps on the screen...half or 3/4 of the screen would be white with only a small bit of map being displayed. Most often it would happen when i was driving, especially when I would stop. Moving again for ~10 seconds was the only way to get it to show the full-screen map again.

Link to comment

I have just recently purchased the Etrex Vista Hcx and are also experiencing the same problem. Very dissapointed!! I am really happy with the layout and functionality of this model but this freezing has rendered it useless. I am running version 2.60 firmware which is the latest, tried the system reboot etc and still experience the same problem. Have tested with and without SD memory card and still duplicate the problem. Have conducted testing with the GPS receiver OFF and just tried scrolling around the maps which would normally lock up after a while when GPS receiver is ON. However it appears that it only locks up when GPS receiver is turned ON. It will typically lock up when navigating or simply scrolling around with the pointer looking at the tracks. At a loss what to do. I am surprised Garmin have not released a fix for this for it appears there are many people in the same situation.

 

My friend has the same GPS with the exact same setup and firmware and his is working fine. We are at a loss. It appears Garmin had a bad batch on these Etrex Vista Hcx.

 

Anyone worked out how to fix this issue?

Link to comment

I read this post, as I was having an increasing frequency of my Vista HCx screen freezes. It started with it freezing when I was in a particular location on a trail. Happened each time I passed approximately the same location. But it has been randomly increasing in frequency when the screen would lock up. Yesterday on a 7 mile hike, it froze up twice. It doesn't matter what screen I have displayed when the unit is operating.

 

I called Garmin today, and their suggestion was to do the reset posted earlier in this thread. The rep was very clear, if the hard reset doesn't correct the problem, they would have to replace the unit.

Link to comment

Was given a Vista HCx for my birthday. It has exhibited this behaviour almost from the start. Has V2.6 firmware. The problems may have started after uploading geocaching waypoints but I have done a hard reset and the problem is still there. No maps installed (apart from the generic one already in the unit) no SD card at this stage.

 

I think that the problem is worse when I switch the compass on. Or at least switching it on and off seems to trigger the lock ups but not the only time. Once I had turned the GPS mode off and was navigating the map and zooming out when it froze.

 

I can restart the unit by holding down the backlight/off button for a while (this is the only button that does anything when it is locked up - except that other buttons do "beep" when pressed).

 

Will have to try contacting Garmin support.

Link to comment

Was given a Vista HCx for my birthday. It has exhibited this behaviour almost from the start. Has V2.6 firmware. The problems may have started after uploading geocaching waypoints but I have done a hard reset and the problem is still there. No maps installed (apart from the generic one already in the unit) no SD card at this stage.

 

I think that the problem is worse when I switch the compass on. Or at least switching it on and off seems to trigger the lock ups but not the only time. Once I had turned the GPS mode off and was navigating the map and zooming out when it froze.

 

I can restart the unit by holding down the backlight/off button for a while (this is the only button that does anything when it is locked up - except that other buttons do "beep" when pressed).

 

Will have to try contacting Garmin support.

i got 2.70 and it frezzes up to. i just push the little stick on the front to the side and the map pops up,lol. a bit inconvenent. :D
Link to comment

I just got the Vista HCx on the 3rd of July from Amazon. It locks up after about 45 minutes of use, also. Based on the posts here it would appear that this is not an isolated problem. Either a bad set of poorly qualified or tested parts were used on this latest batch, or they change a component and did not properly qualify the replacement. Are there any EE types that know the "secret codes" that will have the unit diplsy its chip set, or mfg date code? If Garmin is going to enjoy the position of market leader, then we need to help them understand the responsibility that comes with that positon. Identifying a date range, or flavor of defective product that Amazon can use to disqualify and return a large delivery from Garmin will help them understand why they need to pay closer attention to product quality.

Link to comment

I just got the Vista HCx on the 3rd of July from Amazon. It locks up after about 45 minutes of use, also. Based on the posts here it would appear that this is not an isolated problem. Either a bad set of poorly qualified or tested parts were used on this latest batch, or they change a component and did not properly qualify the replacement. Are there any EE types that know the "secret codes" that will have the unit diplsy its chip set, or mfg date code? If Garmin is going to enjoy the position of market leader, then we need to help them understand the responsibility that comes with that positon. Identifying a date range, or flavor of defective product that Amazon can use to disqualify and return a large delivery from Garmin will help them understand why they need to pay closer attention to product quality.

 

Update: I just found out how to access the status page. My unit is using the Bravo Version 2 chip set with FW 2.60

What chip sets are in the other units that are locking-up. To get to the status page, push in the joy stick while powering up the unit.

http://www.gpsinformation.org/dale/secret.htm

Link to comment

My son bought this from Amazon.com in the UK and we have invoked the replacement policy on their on line sales. I did this before I saw the post asking for chipset details so I can't answer that question. I mailed it back last monday... will wait to see if the replacement unit has a similar problem or not.

Link to comment

Good luck if you have this problem. Garmin support are as useless as t!ts on a bull. They have a standard scripted response.....Try a system reboot. We had already done that!!

 

Here is a support call we put in for one of the 2 units we ordered that experienced this problem:

;*****

Subject:

Unit freezes and locks up operation

Message Body:

The Etrex Vista HCX unit will intermittently lock up or freeze the gps

from all operation if you just simply scroll around the map page or

navigate using the map page. Only holding the power button will reset

this lockup state. It can be reproduced in around 5mins of using the GPS

which is EXTREMELY ANNOYING!! and it regularly occurs. I have even had

the unit lockup scrolling through the menus!! I have searched gps forums

to see if anyone else has this problem and it seems to be a common issue

with the Etrex Vista HCX units. Many other users have this same issue. I

have tried erasing all user data to no help. I have updated the same

newest firmware v2.6 to no help. I have even taken the micro sd card out

and left the unit on and it still locked up by itself on the satellite

page. I am so frustrated about this as it renders the gps a door stop or

a paper weight. My friend has the exact same unit with the same setup

but has not had this issue at all. Please help.

 

;*****

Response from gramin:

 

Thank you for contacting Garmin International.

 

I am sorry for the trouble you have had with your unit. I would

recommend trying a reset before returning the unit to the dealer. You

can reset your unit by holding down the Quit+Find key while you power

the unit on. This will clear the unit of all user data. If this does not

work I would recommend returning the unit to the dealer for an exchange.

 

With Best Regards,

 

Product Support Specialist

Outdoor/Fitness Team

Garmin International

913-397-8200

800-800-1020

913-397-8282 (fax)

www.garmin.com

Link to comment

Of the 71 Vista HCx units I've dealt with, 4 have had the map freeze problem. I sent the 4 faulty units back to US and they've just been returned (replacement units) and seem to work OK at the moment with the Open Project NZ Auto-Routing maps. They arrived with version 2.2 software so have updated that to 2.6. Status page shows the Bravo Version (whatever this is) as 2. No useful information on the Service Report to tell me what the problem was. It's certainly a wide spread problem but the "help" people in Taiwan (where Pacific customers have to go for repairs) denied knowledge, blaming the map and wanting US$68 for the return shipping from Taiwan to New Zealand. So I went back to the US as I had other stuff to send there anyway.

Link to comment

Update: I just found out how to access the status page. My unit is using the Bravo Version 2 chip set with FW 2.60

What chip sets are in the other units that are locking-up. To get to the status page, push in the joy stick while powering up the unit.

http://www.gpsinformation.org/dale/secret.htm

"Bravo Version 2" is not the chipset. The GPS chipset in the Vista HCx is the MediaTek MT3318.

Link to comment

Hi, I bought my Vista HCx in april and have had the screen freeze issue periodically ever since (especially when doing long track logs). Downloaded the latest firmware version (2.80.... clicked link in previous post... thanks Kiwitonita) a fortnight ago and haven't had problem since. :)

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...