GPS won't download/update

[Arno]

There is a separate device letter is 'F'. If you look to the far left/bottom of the attached file you'll see TomTom (F: drive

Sorry, you are right. I stopped looking right after I saw the HOME folder on the top line.

Told you that you would be in good hands with canderson.

 

[FitzG]

OK. I see you have a 'Western_and_Central_Europe_2GB' folder. If that is properly populated with files, you should be OK when we're done.
Copy THAT folder to another location on your PC so that it's safe.
Now, have a peek inside. Should be some big files there called cline.dat, cnode.dat and cname.dat. If they are indeed present, then we can start you up from scratch with fresh firmware and overlay those map files on the result. That should get you up and running again.
Please confirm.

'Western_and_Central_Europe_2GB' and all other files are also backed up in Documents/TomTom/Home/Backup.

And yes, cline.dat and cnode.dat are present in 'Western_and_Central_Europe_2GB' - both in F: and Documents, etc... see screenshot attachment.

So, you don't presume by me formatting the device has nothing to do with it malfunctioning?

 

[FitzG]

Sorry, you are right. I stopped looking right after I saw the HOME folder on the top line.

Told you that you would be in good hands with canderson.

Thanks for your help.

 

[canderson]

Here's where we want to go.
Make sure you have backed up that 'Western_and_Central_Europe_2GB' folder to a second location. I say that because Home will overwrite that folder in the future if you do another backup. It does not do incremental backups and does not use a separate folder each time. Protect that, and you can recover almost anything.

Start by performing a FAT32 'Full' (not 'Quick') format of your unit. You'll need to connect it, so when Home appears, just close it out with the "X" for now. We'll get back to it later.
Once the format is complete, disconnect your XXL with a proper Windows logical USB disconnect (use the icon in the systray) and reconnect it again. This time, when Home appears, it's going to suggest some firmware to you since it won't find any on the unit.

Accept whatever firmware is offered by Home and get it installed on your unit.
Perform a proper logical USB disconnect using Home (I use the little down arrow in the lower right of the Home screen), physically disconnect your unit and connect it again.
IF Home then offers yet more firmware updates, install them with the above two steps until it ceases to offer any firmware updates. In the end, I think you will finish at v9.103.

At this time, you can minimize (not close) Home to get it out of your way, and go to your PC backup copy of the Western_and_Central_Europe_2GB map folder. Copy that entire folder over in to the root of your XXL.
Bring Home back to the fore and again, do a proper USB disconnect with Home.
Disconnect your XXL from your PC and shut it off. Restart your XXL and tell us how you're doing.

 

[FitzG]

Here's where we want to go.
Make sure you have backed up that 'Western_and_Central_Europe_2GB' folder to a second location. I say that because Home will overwrite that folder in the future if you do another backup. It does not do incremental backups and does not use a separate folder each time. Protect that, and you can recover almost anything.

Start by performing a FAT32 'Full' (not 'Quick') format of your unit. You'll need to connect it, so when Home appears, just close it out with the "X" for now. We'll get back to it later.
Once the format is complete, disconnect your XXL with a proper Windows logical USB disconnect (use the icon in the systray) and reconnect it again. This time, when Home appears, it's going to suggest some firmware to you since it won't find any on the unit.

Accept whatever firmware is offered by Home and get it installed on your unit.
Perform a proper logical USB disconnect using Home (I use the little down arrow in the lower right of the Home screen), physically disconnect your unit and connect it again.
IF Home then offers yet more firmware updates, install them with the above two steps until it ceases to offer any firmware updates. In the end, I think you will finish at v9.103.

At this time, you can minimize (not close) Home to get it out of your way, and go to your PC backup copy of the Western_and_Central_Europe_2GB map folder. Copy that entire folder over in to the root of your XXL.
Bring Home back to the fore and again, do a proper USB disconnect with Home.
Disconnect your XXL from your PC and shut it off. Restart your XXL and tell us how you're doing.

Still no luck! I've followed all your instruction carefully and I'm still getting the TomTom logo (see screenshot) showing on the device screen and stuck there.

I just don't understand why stopping an update before it is completed could cause so many problems/stopped device from working! Could it be because TomTom doesn't support this model anymore so not supplying all the original software?

 

[canderson]

Please advise --- were you at least successful in getting Home to update the firmware, and if so, to what version number?

And I should ask -- after you had previously formatted your device, did you use ONLY the TomTom site to try to reload firmware the last time around? I need to be sure that no 3rd source was used that might have installed an errant boot loader.

 

[FitzG]

Please advise --- were you at least successful in getting Home to update the firmware, and if so, to what version number?

And I should ask -- after you had previously formatted your device, did you use ONLY the TomTom site to try to reload firmware the last time around? I need to be sure that no 3rd source was used that might have installed an errant boot loader.

Please advise --- were you at least successful in getting Home to update the firmware, and if so, to what version number?

And I should ask -- after you had previously formatted your device, did you use ONLY the TomTom site to try to reload firmware the last time around? I need to be sure that no 3rd source was used that might have installed an errant boot loader.

I've always used ONLY the TomTom site for all reloads and updates.

A software updated but didn't know if it was firmware or not. Nor, I didn't see any specific firmware (v9.103) or any other firmware version anywhere. I even looked through some software properties but couldn't find any version numbers, either. Has firmware got specific names?

 

[canderson]

With your device hooked up to your PC, I want you to look in the root of your XXL for a file with the *.bif extension.
If you locate it, open with your favorite text editor and please advise what it says for "ApplicationVersionVersionNumber", "CurrentMap" and "CurrentMapVersion"

Before you do that, from an 'off' state, you might want to press and hold the power button for 15~10 seconds until you hear the TomTom drumbeat, then immediately release the power button. That reset may be necessary.

 

[FitzG]

I've always used ONLY the TomTom site for all reloads and updates.

A software updated but didn't know if it was firmware or not. Nor, I didn't see any specific firmware (v9.103) or any other firmware version anywhere. I even looked through some software properties but couldn't find any version numbers, either. Has firmware got specific names?

Ok, I think I may have found firmware... See attached screenshot of all items installed on the device at present. There aren't any more updates showing.

 

[FitzG]

With your device hooked up to your PC, I want you to look in the root of your XXL for a file with the *.bif extension.
If you locate it, open with your favorite text editor and please advise what it says for "ApplicationVersionVersionNumber", "CurrentMap" and "CurrentMapVersion"

Before you do that, from an 'off' state, you might want to press and hold the power button for 15~10 seconds until you hear the TomTom drumbeat, then immediately release the power button. That reset may be necessary.

There is nothing with *.bif extension, but there are 2 files (install.bif and tthome.bif) without the *. Likewise, there aren't any "ApplicationVersionVersionNumber", "CurrentMap" and "CurrentMapVersion" showing in their properties/Details. See screenshot of how the root of my XXL looks at present.

 

[Arno]

Right click on the .bif and make a screen print for canderson so he can see the files in those 2 folders.

 

[FitzG]

Right click on the .bif and make a screen print for canderson so he can see the files in those 2 folders.

screen print of the 2 .bif files (install.bif & tthome.bif) in root of my XXL

 

[Arno]

Looks as if I was not explicit enough.
Right click on the bif and you will get a like pop up to my Windows 10.

The first thing to do, if there, is to uncheck "Always use ...."

If Notepad does not show to click on, click on "More apps", although your wording will look different. Find and click Notepad.
Your file should look similar to this one:

 

[canderson]

Ok, I think I may have found firmware... See attached screenshot of all items installed on the device at present. There aren't any more updates showing.

Looks like you only got up to 8.551 during the update process, but at least we know where you are.

 

[canderson]

Sorry about the confusion with the "*". In the 'old' days (and currently, if you ever have need of a command line interface for any OS), the asterisk was meant to indicate 'anything', so what I meant was anything ending in .bif.

 

[FitzG]

Looks as if I was not explicit enough.
Right click on the bif and you will get a like pop up to my Windows 10.

View attachment 4994

The first thing to do, if there, is to uncheck "Always use ...."

If Notepad does not show to click on, click on "More apps", although your wording will look different. Find and click Notepad.
Your file should look similar to this one:
View attachment 4995

OK, nice one! Here you are:
[TomTomGo]
RamDiskVersion=20091008
Bootloaderversion=5.2701
LinuxVersion=348033
ApplicationVersion=

 

[Arno]

Good; now ttgo.bif as per below.
(Show the whole folder contents, I only snapped the top portion to give you a sample).

 

[FitzG]

Good; now ttgo.bif as per below.
(Show the whole folder contents, I only snapped the top portion to give you a sample).

View attachment 4996

There is no ttgo.bif. Mine is a TomTom XXL - not a TomTom Go

 

[FitzG]

Hi guys, I think you and I have spent enough time trying to get this device going again; therefore, I'm giving up on it. Obviously, there is something drastically wrong with it that can't be fixed. Not even TomTom adviser/engineer is able to help as I'm been trying their fixes also, but nothing works. This device is dated and TomTom stopped supporting it anyway. Moreover, TomTom UK didn't continue to allow me with the lifetime map updates my brother had on the same device in the US when transferred to me in the UK. I'm now going to replace it with an Android GPS I've seen on Amazon UK > https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07CRTP...olid=31JUT6925NKP7&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

Thanks for all your help.

 

[canderson]

Wish we could have helped. Hate to see one binned!

On your new unit, it does not appear to support traffic of any kind. Beware.