GPS not locking on to satellite signals ...?

[ColinJ]

My old Garmin Etrex GPS has given me 8 years of faithful service, but it has been a bit iffy for the past couple of weeks. It has been slow to acquire satellite signals, has lost signal a few times, and has given some dodgy elevation readings. I couldn't get it to lock on to satellites at all yesterday and today.

I had a similar problem once about 5 or 6 years ago and did a hard reset which fixed the problem. (To do the reset you have to hold down a couple of buttons while powering it up.)

I just tried it and it worked again. The GPS loses all its settings - 12/24 hour clock, time zone, imperial/metric units selection etc. It also resets its odometer.

After the reset, leave the GPS switched on with a clear view of the sky so it can scan for satellites. It will have completely lost any idea of where it is, so it will have to start from scratch and could take (say) 10-20 minutes to start up properly. After it has found the satellites, you can switch it off and restart it and you should find that it is able to lock onto the satellites pretty quickly. (Mine took about 7 or 8 minutes from reset, and then about 25 seconds after powering it down and back up again.)

If you have a similar problem, Google [YOUR MAKE & MODEL] HARD RESET and give it a go.

 

[HLaB]

Ive found that Garmins often get overloaded with data and deleting some rides can have the same effect, you might want to try that first in future.

 

[ColinJ]

Ive found that Garmins often get overloaded with data and deleting some rides can have the same effect, you might want to try that first in future.

I don't keep any ride data on the device. I clear the tracklog before each ride and only store the route I am doing that day, and delete it when I get back.

 

[Cubist]

My edge 305 occasionally fails to fire up at all. To fix this you plug into to a power source and press the "Mode" and "Reset" buttons three or four seconds, whereupon it will start up and ask if you really want to reset and lose all data. you can abort at this point and save all your data and settings. The 305 cycles data, so when it's full it simply writes over the oldest data file.

 

[CopperCyclist]

My Garmin Edge 800 also didn't like the headcam mounted on the handlebars right next to it. There's a page that shows the satellite signal strength, and it fell rapidly when I turned the cam on, and went straight back up when I turned it off!

 

[ColinJ]

My Garmin Edge 800 also didn't like the headcam mounted on the handlebars right next to it. There's a page that shows the satellite signal strength, and it fell rapidly when I turned the cam on, and went straight back up when I turned it off!

Interesting!

The signal strength received by a GPS from the satellites is very low. The devices have to do some very clever signal processing to lift the signal out of the background electrical noise. It seems that your headcam is generating such noise.

I have started carrying my phone in a small bar bag next to the GPS. Perhaps that was part of my problem? If so, it caused more than a temporary problem, because the GPS wouldn't work away from the phone either. Something in its memory must have become corrupted, because the reset fixed it.

 

[Venod]

I don't keep any ride data on the device. I clear the tracklog before each ride and only store the route I am doing that day, and delete it when I get back.

Don't know anything about etrex, but I have my Garmin forerunner 410 set to delete history after uploading it to Garmin Connect, it does this and Garmin says no history stored, Upload to Strava and Strava finds all the history is still on the device

 

[ColinJ]

Don't know anything about etrex, but I have my Garmin forerunner 410 set to delete history after uploading it to Garmin Connect, it does this and Garmin says no history stored, Upload to Strava and Strava finds all the history is still on the device

Strange!

My Etrex is a very old design. The copyright message on the boot-up page says ©2000-2005! Apart from routes. tracks or points uploaded by me, it just stores a tracklog of where I have been, updates the odometer (the only way to clear that is to do the hard reset), and stores the maximum speed and other details of the last ride.

 

[yello]

The 305 cycles data, so when it's full it simply writes over the oldest data file.

I get around 400km (maybe 350) before it starts doing that. Workable for the vast majority of my rides but sometimes an issue.

When my first 305 stopped picking up satellites (despite hard resets and Garmin support trickery), I had to stump up for a refurb replacement as it was out of warranty. The 'new' (refurb) one has so far, touch wood, been OK.

 

[ColinJ]

I just put the reset Etrex to the test. It worked perfectly, including hanging onto satellite lock under tree cover, something which had been catching it out every time recently before the reset.

I am pleased because I really couldn't afford to replace the GPS at the moment.