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How do you reset the Magellan eXplorist GC GPS back to factory settings?


wyattsjigs

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Why wouldn't you be able to sell if if you can do a hard reset?

 

Check your manual. Under the USB cover is a small hole with a reset button through that hole. Use a paperclip to push the button and the unit will reset.

Thanks, but i have tryed that many times all that doest to the unit is restarts it. I have looked all over the web even on magellans website and they dont even know m=how to reset it. I will try to talk to a person from magellan today. Thanks, though

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What are you trying to get back to factory settings? All you really need to do is clear your tracks and empty the Geocaching folder on the unit. Nothing more really needs to be done.

Yes, that is all i need to do but by pressing that button on the bottom of the unit it does not reset all of that all it does is restart the unit.

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The people from Magellan finally emailed me back and said that to reset it you have to do the following steps, and they worked.

Clearing the Memory will restore the GPS unit to defaults.

 

1. Access the Tools menu and select ‘Settings’.

2. Highlight ‘Memory’ and press ENTER.

3. Press MENU to display the Options menu.

 

 

Thank God someone knew how to do it

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My Magellan Explorist will no longer work. I can't access any of the features. When I start it a funny looking window's screen shows. I can not power it off with out removing the batteries. How do I do a Hard reset to factory settings? All programs are inaccessible.

Hi my Magellan Explorist GC did the same thing. A kind of grey window's screen shot appear's. Have you found a way to fix it , if yes could you post the solution. thank's in advanced.

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My Magellan Explorist will no longer work. I can't access any of the features. When I start it a funny looking window's screen shows. I can not power it off with out removing the batteries. How do I do a Hard reset to factory settings? All programs are inaccessible.

Hi my Magellan Explorist GC did the same thing. A kind of grey window's screen shot appear's. Have you found a way to fix it , if yes could you post the solution. thank's in advanced.

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geobiquette, and muddinchemist,

 

Both of you, sound like You've either corrupted or lost the entire firmware... Not to panic, though!

the latest firware, 2.15 is available for download, but be fore-warned, it takes a L-O-N-G time to get (1.5GB of raw data compressed.)

 

Your devices are in 'Windows-CE Safe mode'. (Yep, these are based on Windows-CE, Hence the blank Windows screen.)

 

You simply need to re-install the firmware for the GPS, which is actually a Win-CE Applet. go to the following page:

 

http://support.magellangps.com/support/index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&downloaditemid=400

 

this is the download page for the 2.15 firmware upgrade. It's HUGE, so it's going to take time to download. (even over a wired cable network, it took almost 30 minutes for me.)

 

Now, before you turn on your GC, make sure it's connected via the USB cable to your computer.. While holding the joy-button up, and holding the menu button, THEN press the power button. The Win-CE safe mode screen will appear. using the joy button, navigate over to Files,press in once, and click down to "Flash Memory", press in once, and it will re-appear on the screen in safe mode again, Except.. It's no-longer safemode.. You've just released the lock on the flash RAM.

 

Now, run the firmware update file you downloaded.. Again, this will take time.. it takes roughly 20 minutes.. included is a upgraded topo base map, and a new menuing system (looks like Windows-8 chicklets.) If you had 1.7 or 1.8 firmware before, it's going to be a new learning curve, as everything is changed..

 

Now, when it finishes, follow the instructions, to unplug it (go to your PC's 'Computer' menu, and eject the 'Compass' device. (the GPS)

let it reboot/install, and when it finishes, you'll need to do one more tiny patch....

 

re-connect the GPS to the computer, and when it asks, select 'Connect To PC'. when the flash drive of the GC shows-up on your computer, go to the following menu on it:

 

APP

 

In there, you will find the file 'Atlas.ini' ... Open it with WordPad. Near the bottom, you'll find a value defined as "MaxWaypointsCount", followed by an "=", and a number.. If it says anything less than 1000 or any number less, change it to 10000 (1 and 4 zeros) Save it, exit Wordpad, and close the directory on the GC. You've just upped the # of waypoints. (Original release had it as low as 500, and you had no place to put child waypoints for Multis.) Go through the task of ejecting it from the computer again, let it reboot, and now you have access to the entire GPS again.

 

Also, look for the latest version of VantagePoint. (Magellan's manager software, available here: http://support.magellangps.com/support/index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&downloaditemid=380&nav=0,358,350 )

 

This will allow you to handle the caches, waypoints, and tracks on the GPS. Also, when you run it, allow it to update the map (Which is now the new expanded map on the GC).. You'll get a large view of the map this way, with the caches as well.

 

Now, When you edited the Atlas.ini file, you probably noticed the MaxGeocaches value was also 10,000.. From personal experience,

leave it.. Yes, you can put 10,000 caches onto the device, but you'll also noticed the device will work even slower.. Welcome to Win-CE!

I usually put no more than 5000 on mine.. (which is a pretty good radius).. 10,000 is a lot like overkill! (and takes even longer to upload to the GC. 5000 takes about 8 minutes on my 1.2Ghz AMD-Vision (X64) HP laptop, Via GSAK.)

 

Now, the 2.15 firmware has it's quirks too.. It slows the USB down dramatically.. It's supposed to be USB 2.0 compliant, but the new firmware drags it down to the speed of USB 1.2 Standard. it's a trade-off, so don't be surprised if your computer complains that the device will run faster in a USB 2.0 socket.

 

Also, Like I said, If you remember the menus for Firmware 1.8 and back, forget your directions.. It's all over the place again. It took me 3 days to figure out where the selection to erase the track data was.

 

Hope this is of help.. You two aren't the first to have the firmware go kaphlooey. I did it the first time I tried to update from 1.6 to 1.7..

 

Stephen (gelfling6)

Edited by gelfling6
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My explorist GC seems to have the same problem, it cannot connect to PC in normal mode, even the device doesn't know it's connected to pc...the only way to connect it is via safe mode...

It was like this on 1.0, I updated it via safe mode to 1.7 and then again via safe mode to 2.15. The problem seems to persist, it just can't connect to pc...I've been in contact with Magellan but sadly not solution yet...it's weird, because if USB was faulty I would not see the device via safe mode...

 

//EDIT: I bought a new USB cable and now it works as intended :)

Edited by Jimbo9
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geobiquette, and muddinchemist,

 

Both of you, sound like You've either corrupted or lost the entire firmware... Not to panic, though!

the latest firware, 2.15 is available for download, but be fore-warned, it takes a L-O-N-G time to get (1.5GB of raw data compressed.)

 

Your devices are in 'Windows-CE Safe mode'. (Yep, these are based on Windows-CE, Hence the blank Windows screen.)

 

You simply need to re-install the firmware for the GPS, which is actually a Win-CE Applet. go to the following page:

 

http://support.magellangps.com/support/index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&downloaditemid=400

 

this is the download page for the 2.15 firmware upgrade. It's HUGE, so it's going to take time to download. (even over a wired cable network, it took almost 30 minutes for me.)

 

Now, before you turn on your GC, make sure it's connected via the USB cable to your computer.. While holding the joy-button up, and holding the menu button, THEN press the power button. The Win-CE safe mode screen will appear. using the joy button, navigate over to Files,press in once, and click down to "Flash Memory", press in once, and it will re-appear on the screen in safe mode again, Except.. It's no-longer safemode.. You've just released the lock on the flash RAM.

 

Now, run the firmware update file you downloaded.. Again, this will take time.. it takes roughly 20 minutes.. included is a upgraded topo base map, and a new menuing system (looks like Windows-8 chicklets.) If you had 1.7 or 1.8 firmware before, it's going to be a new learning curve, as everything is changed..

 

Now, when it finishes, follow the instructions, to unplug it (go to your PC's 'Computer' menu, and eject the 'Compass' device. (the GPS)

let it reboot/install, and when it finishes, you'll need to do one more tiny patch....

 

re-connect the GPS to the computer, and when it asks, select 'Connect To PC'. when the flash drive of the GC shows-up on your computer, go to the following menu on it:

 

APP

 

In there, you will find the file 'Atlas.ini' ... Open it with WordPad. Near the bottom, you'll find a value defined as "MaxWaypointsCount", followed by an "=", and a number.. If it says anything less than 1000 or any number less, change it to 10000 (1 and 4 zeros) Save it, exit Wordpad, and close the directory on the GC. You've just upped the # of waypoints. (Original release had it as low as 500, and you had no place to put child waypoints for Multis.) Go through the task of ejecting it from the computer again, let it reboot, and now you have access to the entire GPS again.

 

Also, look for the latest version of VantagePoint. (Magellan's manager software, available here: http://support.magellangps.com/support/index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&downloaditemid=380&nav=0,358,350 )

 

This will allow you to handle the caches, waypoints, and tracks on the GPS. Also, when you run it, allow it to update the map (Which is now the new expanded map on the GC).. You'll get a large view of the map this way, with the caches as well.

 

Now, When you edited the Atlas.ini file, you probably noticed the MaxGeocaches value was also 10,000.. From personal experience,

leave it.. Yes, you can put 10,000 caches onto the device, but you'll also noticed the device will work even slower.. Welcome to Win-CE!

I usually put no more than 5000 on mine.. (which is a pretty good radius).. 10,000 is a lot like overkill! (and takes even longer to upload to the GC. 5000 takes about 8 minutes on my 1.2Ghz AMD-Vision (X64) HP laptop, Via GSAK.)

 

Now, the 2.15 firmware has it's quirks too.. It slows the USB down dramatically.. It's supposed to be USB 2.0 compliant, but the new firmware drags it down to the speed of USB 1.2 Standard. it's a trade-off, so don't be surprised if your computer complains that the device will run faster in a USB 2.0 socket.

 

Also, Like I said, If you remember the menus for Firmware 1.8 and back, forget your directions.. It's all over the place again. It took me 3 days to figure out where the selection to erase the track data was.

 

Hope this is of help.. You two aren't the first to have the firmware go kaphlooey. I did it the first time I tried to update from 1.6 to 1.7..

 

Stephen (gelfling6)

 

Thank you so much Stephen (gelfling6)! I just was trying to update the firmware on my eXplorist GC and it my computer quit responding in the middle of the update. Needless to say, my GPSr went into safe mode. I followed your easy-to-follow instructions and now I'm back in business! Thanks again :)

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HELP!!

 

I think I have a similar issue with my eXplorist GC device. It starts up to some "Windows" type screen but the menus across the top are FACTORY, RUN, OTHER, HELP. I tried to do the firmware upgrade but can't get the device recognized on my PC as a USB device. The firmware software is ready to download, but "Can't find the device" on the USB port.

 

Any one out there have some more ideas? Something else to try?

 

Thanks, Martin

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On ‎2017‎-‎03‎-‎12 at 8:37 AM, martmaye said:

HELP!!

 

I think I have a similar issue with my eXplorist GC device. It starts up to some "Windows" type screen but the menus across the top are FACTORY, RUN, OTHER, HELP. I tried to do the firmware upgrade but can't get the device recognized on my PC as a USB device. The firmware software is ready to download, but "Can't find the device" on the USB port.

 

Any one out there have some more ideas? Something else to try?

 

Thanks, Martin

 

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Regarding the factory reset.  I have bought a new GPS device and am giving my old explorist GC to my grand-daughter.  I have reset the device to factory default but have discovered that it does not clear Types of Geocaches Found under the Awards screen which is in the Tools section.  Does anyone know how to remove this historic data?

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