Go gentle with this fool!

[Redheadpeter]

In my life to date Satnav has been something that came factory fitted in my car and I told it where I wanted to go and followed the instructions (most of the time) - though I did work out how to turn off the nagging voice.
I am not, though, computer illiterate - having worked with computers most of my life I reckon I hold my own.
But heading off to the USA and Canada for a longish trip with lots of car rental and not wanting to pay Avis some ridiculous sum for rental of a satnav I acquired a TomTom GO 910 on e-bay (because it has - and says on the box it has - maps for Europe and North America.)
So I got it home and the first thing I did was load the CD, and it started to install and then said there was a newer version of HOME, which it duly downloaded and installed. So I now have HOME 2.8.4.2596 installed.
Then I connected the TomTom GO 910 and the first thing it did was a backup then pretty quickly told me " You have an invalid version of the Tomtom application installed on your Tomtom device. To use HOME you need to install the correct version of the Tomtom application." but I googled that and found out in this forum that I needed to do a Windows Explorer backup, then delete all files in the root of the device (but no folders) then connect to HOME again and it would update.
And it duly did update, several times. And now in HOME 'Manage my GO' it tells me I have maps for UK and Ireland and Western Europe. But no mention of North America. And the TomTom tells me it has no maps! And it doesn't even offer to sell me maps of N America.
Sp please, in simple terms, please tell me where I went wrong and how to fix it. I may have bought it on e-bay but I paid more than a few shillings for it. It has a card with it with Product Codes for Europe and N America, don't know if that means anything.
Thanks.

 

[dhn]

Try resetting the unit by using the reset hole on the bottom of the unit and see if it 'sees' the UK map then

You CAN purchase a North American map here:
https://www.tomtom.com/en_gb/shop/maps/#deviceSelected=19507&mapSelected=USA

but when you use Explorer, do you see a folder on the unit called North_America with lots of files inside it?

Also, before doing any of the above, download the ClearFlash tool from here:
http://us.support.tomtom.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/6211/?locale=en_GB

and run it three times. You don't get very good user feedback but the act of 'installing' actually runs the tool (make sure your unit is connected) and, as I said, run it three times.

 

[Redheadpeter]

OK, I think I broke it! I did the thing with ClearFlash, three times, nothing changed - it turned on straight into 'Cannot find maps' or equivalent. I looked at the files using Windows Explorer, no North_America folder (none in the Windows backup either). So then I pressed the reset button, it booted back to cannot find maps again, so I pressed reset button again, now it does not respond to pressing the power on button. When docked green light comes on to show its charging (?) but that's it!

 

[Redheadpeter]

Update, it came back to life - but still starts up with 'No maps found' but HOME still thinks it has UK/Ireland and Western Europe on it.

 

[dhn]

Well it appears the NA map is not there.

A shot in the dark.........

Can you use the emulator (Operate my unit) in Home to plan a trip on the UK & ROI map, or does the emulator also show 'no maps found'?

 

[Redheadpeter]

. Before I try that emulator thing, the reset button seems to work in a funny way (compared to everything else I ever reset). I am pressing it while the unit is on, and I would expect it to go off and restart. But this just goes off!, I press the power button to restart it, and it does the 'loading' thing, then the TomTom thing, then straight to No maps found.

So now I put it on the desk connector, it asks if I want to connect to the computer, I press YES. Screen goes dark, then the connected. My computer asks if I want to Scan and Fix removable disk D????? I do Continue without scanning, for now.
Using Windows Explorer I look at the units drive - it looks good, it has folders for United Kingdom and Ireland, and Western and Central Europe and .mds (image?) files for North America and Central and Western Europe (but not UK).
HOME says no updates available, Manage your device says it has maps as per the folders, Those folders have lots if files in them, by the way.
If I go to Operate my device, I click on the screen, and it says no maps.
Now yesterday, when I collected it from the guy who sold it to me, it was working. He turned it on and I saw a map and a connection to satellites.
So the not working is all down to what has happened since I connected it to my computer.

I am minded to go back to what was on the device when I collected it (first thing that HOME did was a backup). What think you? Where does HOME keep the backup data? Should I use that one, or the Windows Explorer one? The Windows Explorer one has several *.chk files on it (recovered file fragments)

 

[dhn]

The .chk files are interpreted as recovered file fragments but the TomTom app is written in linux, which considers files with that extension as something quite different and many of those files are vital to its operation.

Yes, you may want to try to restore the Home backup. Look in Home's menu for Tools-->Folder locations and it will show the default location for backups, etc.

 

[Redheadpeter]

Progress. Used HOME to do restore from the HOME backup and I now have a working machine with UK and Ireland maps and Western and Central Europe Maps (but no USA maps).

Now when I connect to HOME I get an error (details below) which is the same as I got yesterday and I updated the thing and got into the no maps scenario.

Some things work, however, I got the map corrections. But when I tried to use the emulator it said I needed to download a file but that threw another error - see second one below.

Any idea what is happening?

Also - as the box for this thing says it has 'maps for all Europe, USA and Canada on hard disk os paying for USA/Canada again the only way I'm going to get them. Does the N America product code on the card that came with it (V5V2M XZEGH QYDV2) not get me the maps?

ERROR: 573/#https://home.tomtom.com/account/setDevice: Error from server: You have an invalid version of the TomTom application installed on your TomTom device. To use HOME you need to install the correct version of the TomTom application.
You have an invalid version of the TomTom application installed on your TomTom device. To use HOME you need to install the correct version of the TomTom application.
Error code: 573
Debug info from server: InvalidModelOrNavcoreException %3A The combination of model and navcore version provided is not supported
URL: https://home.tomtom.com/account/setDevice
Additional information: info = [object]
info.func = [string] account/setDevice
info.args = [object]
info.args.deviceCode = [string] AKTA8D2ASN
info.args.deviceSerial = [string] V76296A04892
info.args.deviceModel = [string] go910
info.args.deviceNavcoreVersion = [string] 8.302
info.args.deviceParameters = [string] {"ApplicationVersion":"9738","ApplicationVersionVersionNumber":"8302"}

info.method = [string] POST
info.useCache = [string] false
info.dryRun = [string] false
info.xmluploadbody = [object] empty

Severity: 1105
Stack:
0. chrome://tthome/content/logic/comm.js:467
xmluploadbody: this.xmluploadbody
1. chrome://tthome/content/logic/comm.js:429
this._doneCallbacks();
2. chrome://tthome/content/logic/comm.js:276
this.request.onload = function() { me._done(true); }

Time: Tue, 26 Jun 2012 11:02:35 GMT


ERROR: XPInstall/-228/#http://download.tomtom.com/sweet/plugin/8-302-9738-1.win.2.2.xpi: XPInstall error:
Installing add-on: (e-mail address removed) (Emulator)
URL: http://download.tomtom.com/sweet/plugin/8-302-9738-1.win.2.2.xpi
Severity: 1105
Stack:
0. chrome://tthome/content/logic/model/ttAddon.js:672
error = new XPInstallError(value, this._updateItem);

Time: Tue, 26 Jun 2012 11:08:14 GMT

 

[dhn]

Okay, make an Explorer, not Home, backup of your unit's contents. If not sure how, see here:
https://www.tomtomforums.com/t17864-how-backup-contents-your-unit-computer-how-restore.html

If you don't see a North America map folder on your unit when using Explorer, then I don't know what's happened to it but it appears to have been wiped out.

 

[Redheadpeter]

OK, I did that - it seems to have 1 more file in it than the Explorer backup I did yesterday evening. Was that a fitst step towards something (solving the error messages perhaps?)

There is deffo no USA or USA/Canada folder. Would they have been installed in the factory (in which case why would anyone delete them?) or was it a download option that maybe never got done?

 

[dhn]

That model should have come with both maps, I believe.

 

[Redheadpeter]

Well, that's what the box says. But I sense you are telling me there is no way to reload them retrospecively?

Was the Explorer backup a precursor to solving the error messages?

 

[dhn]

If you were the original owner and had made a backup, the NA file should have been on your computer. But when you made your backup once you got the device, you report there is NO NA (or USA_Canada) folder to be seen. So, it's gone missing. Or, did you even actually switch to a NA map when you bought the device and actually saw it?

Yes, I wanted you to make an Explorer backup because of two things:
1. To try to update the unit to the latest application and
2. To try to uninstall and reinstall Home.

So, step 2 first...............
1. Download and install the freeware version of Revo Uninstaller from here:
http://download.cnet.com/Revo-Uninstaller/3000-2096_4-10687648.html

2. Completely uninstall Home 2.
3. Get a fresh copy of Home 2 from tomtom.com/home and install

And then step 1............
1. Once you are sure that Home was installed properly afresh, use Explorer to delete all the loose files in the root of the unit, NO folders or their contents.
2. Connect to Home and a new application should be offered. Install it and disconnect properly from Home using the Device Disconnect icon. You may have to connect again to see if there are further updates offered. The latest is 9.430. If so, go through the process again of installating.

 

[Redheadpeter]

Well the seller swapped out the unit for me for another 910 he had on sale that had North America Maps (but no UK and Ireland! - ah well, I bought it to avoid paying Avis some ridiculous sum). This unit seems much happier, no reports of wrong installation. It did look like the USA/Canada maps were well out of date so I may get the update package.

Thanks for your help.