Computer fails to connect with TomTom

[Tones]

I've now tried all the proposed solutions from the TomTom people (different USB cable, different USB port, check that antivirus isn't blocking, gone through the whole uninstall/reinstall rigmarole), and none of them work. The device remains firmly connected to the computer, and the computer equally firmly ignores it completely. Moreover, I've tried it on two other computers with the same result, or lack thereof. I'm beginning to suspect that the device itself is sick.

 

[Willy875]

GO Exclusive this but updated via Wi-Fi why do you want to connect it to your computer

 

[Tones]

I want to delete some content (e.g. all the voices I don't need) and I apparently need a computer connection to MyDrive Connect to do this

 

[canderson]

Please advise again which TomTom model you own (sorry to ask - the mobile version of this forum doesn't show me your location/model details under your avatar). 1st two characters of serial will assure we know the one you have.

Then, with MyDrive Connect running, and with your device disconnected, fire up Windows Device Manager. Observe what devices appear in the 'Universal Serial Bus controllers' and in the 'Network adapters' sections. Also watch just in case a new section called 'Other devices' pops up! Connect your TomTom device via USB. Do you hear the Windows device connected sound? What new device appears in Device Manager, and where?

 

[canderson]

Note: I won't be able to communicate on this further for about 2 hours.

 

[Willy875]

I want to delete some content (e.g. all the voices I don't need) and I apparently need a computer connection to MyDrive Connect to do this

Did you connect the cable directly to your device and not to the stand?

 

[Tones]

Did you connect the cable directly to your device and not to the stand?

Directly to the device.

Seriously, I'm becoming less and less impressed with TomTom. A premium product such as this should work straight out of the box, not need IT expertise to make it do what it's supposed to do.

 

[Tones]

Note: I won't be able to communicate on this further for about 2 hours.

No problem, I won't be able to look at it until I get home tonight. I think the first letters are B4, but I'll need to check that.

 

[Tones]

No problem, I won't be able to look at it until I get home tonight. I think the first letters are B4, but I'll need to check that.

Confirmed, B4

 

[Tones]

Please advise again which TomTom model you own (sorry to ask - the mobile version of this forum doesn't show me your location/model details under your avatar). 1st two characters of serial will assure we know the one you have.

Then, with MyDrive Connect running, and with your device disconnected, fire up Windows Device Manager. Observe what devices appear in the 'Universal Serial Bus controllers' and in the 'Network adapters' sections. Also watch just in case a new section called 'Other devices' pops up! Connect your TomTom device via USB. Do you hear the Windows device connected sound? What new device appears in Device Manager, and where?

OK, tried that. When I plug in the TomTom, a new heading "Other devices" appears. This has something called RNDIS, but with one of those yellow triangles with an exclamation mark in the middle of it, the sort of thing you get when something isn't working. Curiously, my 6" TomTom has no problem connecting to the computer. Very odd.

 

[canderson]

That's a good data point. When I'm not on this silly phone, I'll provide more info.

 

[canderson]

OK. I don't think your device is the issue. RNDIS is the correct identifier for the TT device. It's what provides a faux Ethernet connection derived from something else, usually USB - which is the case here.

However, the TT should be showing up in the 'Network adapters' section, not 'Other'. It should appear as a "Remote NDIS Compatible Device #x" there. When Windows throws hardware into the "Other devices" bin it means that although Windows recognizes that something is hooked up, something, somewhere went wrong with driver or associated code installation associated with the device. In this case, it's Windows that supplies the driver, and MyDrive Connect installation that supplies the specific code for handling the TomTom.

Before we roll any further down this road, what version of Windows are you running?

Right click on the "RNDIS" device on the "Other devices" section, and select "Properties". Then select the "Driver" tab. What does it say there? Now, move over to the "Details" tab. By default, it shows "Device description". Click on the down arrow out to the right of that and select "Configuration Id" It should read as follows:

rndiscmp.inf:USB\MS_COMP_RNDIS&MS_SUBCOMP_5162001,RNDIS.NT.6.0

 

[Tones]

OK. I don't think your device is the issue. RNDIS is the correct identifier for the TT device. It's what provides a faux Ethernet connection derived from something else, usually USB - which is the case here.

However, the TT should be showing up in the 'Network adapters' section, not 'Other'. It should appear as a "Remote NDIS Compatible Device #x" there. When Windows throws hardware into the "Other devices" bin it means that although Windows recognizes that something is hooked up, something, somewhere went wrong with driver or associated code installation associated with the device. In this case, it's Windows that supplies the driver, and MyDrive Connect installation that supplies the specific code for handling the TomTom.

Before we roll any further down this road, what version of Windows are you running?

Right click on the "RNDIS" device on the "Other devices" section, and select "Properties". Then select the "Driver" tab. What does it say there? Now, move over to the "Details" tab. By default, it shows "Device description". Click on the down arrow out to the right of that and select "Configuration Id" It should read as follows:

rndiscmp.inf:USB\MS_COMP_RNDIS&MS_SUBCOMP_5162001,RNDIS.NT.6.0

Hello, let me first say that your efforts are much appreciated!

Windows 10 Pro

There is nothing in my Network Adapters that has any obvious connection with TomTom, and n othing appears there whern I plug the thing in.

First message:

The drivers for this device are not installed. (Code 28)

There are no compatible drivers for this device.

To find a driver for this device, click Update Driver.

So, I click on "Update driver", and I get

Windows was unable to install your RNDIS.
Windows could not find drivers for your device

From what I read, all Windows from 7 have had this RNDIS, whatever it is. The world was a much nicer place before computers were invented...

P.S. Tried my other TomTom 6" - in Network Adapters comes a new heading "Remote NDIS-compatible device". So why does this happen with one and not the other? It seems to imply that the dervice is at fault.

 

[canderson]

Yes, I would not expect to see your device in the Network devices section since it's showing up instead, in the Other devices, which it should not.

So what we have here is some confusion by Windows. Since your other device shows up in the Network adapters section, we know that the requisite RNDIS drivers supplied by Windows do in fact exist on your machine. Your device seems to be working OK because it's correctly identifying itself during the USB negotiation. It sounds as though the original attempt to install failed, and now we've got a mixed bag in the Windows registry.

Just for grins, go to that TomTom entry in Other devices, right click it, and click on "Uninstall device".
Then unplug and replug your TomTom and see what shows up in Device manager after that.

 

[Tones]

Just for grins, go to that TomTom entry in Other devices, right click it, and click on "Uninstall device".
Then unplug and replug your TomTom and see what shows up in Device manager after that.

It came back again in identical form.

 

[canderson]

In your shoes, I'd be dealing with the Windows registry directly with regedit, but there's no way I'd risk dealing with that through forum communications.

Here's my last shot. I'm going to supply you with a program called USBDeview. It's portable - no installer required. Unpack the zip file into the folder of your choice and run it.

You'll want to have your device plugged in.

When you run the program, you will see all USB devices currently connected to your computer. The TomTom will be easy to spot by name in the first column. There's a LOT of information on each device, and you'll have to scroll way to the right to find it all. I am first particularly interested in whatever shows up in these two columns:

Service Name
Service Description

Based upon what you've already said, I'll assume there is no content in these next columns, but be sure to mention it if you spot anything at all in them:

Driver Filename
Driver InfSection
Driver InfPath

 

[Tones]

In your shoes, I'd be dealing with the Windows registry directly with regedit, but there's no way I'd risk dealing with that through forum communications.

Here's my last shot. I'm going to supply you with a program called USBDeview. It's portable - no installer required. Unpack the zip file into the folder of your choice and run it.

You'll want to have your device plugged in.

When you run the program, you will see all USB devices currently connected to your computer. The TomTom will be easy to spot by name in the first column. There's a LOT of information on each device, and you'll have to scroll way to the right to find it all. I am first particularly interested in whatever shows up in these two columns:

Service Name
Service Description

Based upon what you've already said, I'll assume there is no content in these next columns, but be sure to mention it if you spot anything at all in them:

Driver Filename
Driver InfSection
Driver InfPath

Thanks for that - the difference between the TomTom plugged and unplugged is this. Unplug the device and these things disappear.

 

[canderson]

I didn't really expect much better. As bizarre as it looks, that's the current state of the comms between these latest devices and Windows. They still don't produce a proper "Device Name" (just the long set of digits you see there) nor does the serial number appear as one would expect. Have mentioned this to TomTom, but nothing new so far. Anyway, what you see there is 'normal', such as it is.

I was hoping that production code would be working better, but evidently not. For what it's worth, I originally reported this issue to TT over 3 months ago. Until the USB negotiation is corrected, MyDrive Connect won't be able to see these devices (those with serial numbers starting with B3 or B4)

 

[Tones]

I didn't really expect much better. As bizarre as it looks, that's the current state of the comms between these latest devices and Windows. They still don't produce a proper "Device Name" (just the long set of digits you see there) nor does the serial number appear as one would expect. Have mentioned this to TomTom, but nothing new so far. Anyway, what you see there is 'normal', such as it is.

I was hoping that production code would be working better, but evidently not. For what it's worth, I originally reported this issue to TT over 3 months ago. Until the USB negotiation is corrected, MyDrive Connect won't be able to see these devices (those with serial numbers starting with B3 or B4)

OK, thank you, so basically, for the moment, there is no hope. Really poor of TomTom, I think.

 

[canderson]

OK, thank you, so basically, for the moment, there is no hope. Really poor of TomTom, I think.

Indeed. When developing a USB product, sorting the code for 'device enumeration', as it's called, is typically one of the first tasks for the folks working on the low level code.
Sorry for putting you through the additional exercise, but at least now we know for certain that this is still a problem in production code. I just bugged TomTom again about this.
I assume you have noted the release of 23.103.0018 code. No change there either, as far as I can tell.