Hate new update (FM transmitter option missing) but can't restore

[Dr DoNothing]

I currently updated my TomTom Go 520 to version 8.301. i discovered to my dismay that you can no longer get the insturctions over your car radio via the FM transmitter. Some other thread covered this but I'm still none the wiser as to why this is the case. It sounded really nice to have the instructions over the radio; it was one of my favourite features. Now it just sounds naff.

Anyway, i backed-up my device before updating so I just thought I'd restore it. I had to take out the external memory card before doing this. So anyway, I clicked on restore, but the old firmware version wasn't restored. Am I wrong in thinking that this is what the restore thing was for: to restore the previous firmware version?

I'm really not liking my Tomtom Go 520 so much now. So much for progress.

 

[gelias]

FM

The main reason I bought the 720 was for the FM transmitter. I ust it on my bike and have it come over my speakers. Just wondering how the can take away features with out any regard to the people that bought it for that feature.
Guess once you buy it they don't care anymore

 

[Dr DoNothing]

I've learnt from another forum that there's a law prohibiting the broadcast of dead air, and since instructions come infrequently, most of the time, the FM transmitter is broadcasting dead air. This is so lame. Such FM transmitters were illegal and then the law was changed just as they became popular. Surely such a law should apply to radio stations only and not to short-range FM transmitters.

Anyway, my problem persists that i can't seem to restore my previous firmware even though I backed up before doing the update.

 

[gelias]

FM

I have the same problem I can't restore my previous firmware even though I backed up before doing the update. I had a FM transmitter for my MP3 player it worked great but had to be within 6 feet of the radio so are really so low powered how can they be interfering with radios. And this law came about so quickly that tomtom didn't realize there would be a problem . The Goverment doesn't works that fast

 

[mikeny]

The Belkin TuneCast II Mobile FM Transmitter was recommended on another forum. I bought one new on Ebay and it works great connected to the Line Out of the 730. (better than the TT FM ever was)

 

[mvl]

If you are ok with using an older map, you can downgrade your navcore to get the FM feature back. See this link:

https://www.tomtomforums.com/tomtom-go-720-720t-730-730t/16200-get-last-7-xx-firmware.html

 

[jesseg101]

720 transmitter glitch

Maybe this is known knowledge by others but I just discovered a glitch today with the 720 I have the following firmware and software below.
App:8.301(9736/090114)
OS:244890
GPSv: 1.20
Boot: 5.5015
Map: North America v815.2019

My discovery is that this version of the firmware still allows turn by turn instructions as long as you navigate to the fm transmitter page it will broadcast over the radio. If you leave that page then it only transmit through the internal speaker. So there appears to be a glitch with their software so maybe someone will figure out a way to hack this someday or TomTom will stop punishing the US market and renable this feature. I would love to see if someone else can replicate this issue with the same firmware.

 

[Dr DoNothing]

Is there an official Tomtom press release explaining this law? Is this a UK or EU law? I really do feel sorry for people in other parts of the world where this law doesn't apply. It's a GPS for God's sake. It should know which part of the world it's in and therefore enable the FM transmitter accordingly.

Can anyone tell me where on my PC the back-up files are stored? Is there any one file that says which firmware version it is (so I can check that the back-up actually worked). Maybe there's something in this new firmware version that disallows you to restore the back-up, since this change has been made due to the law.

 

[dhn]

To do a downgrade, just remove the loose file in the root of the unit, no folders or their contents.

Then copy to the root of the unit the loose files from a previous version's backup.

 

[Dr DoNothing]

It works!

Yes, that works. i now have the FM capability back. Thanks for that. I found the back-up files in My Documents (I was previously looking in Program Files).

The thing is now, everything has been re-set: all my favourites have gone, the car icon is the default blue arrow, the screen layout (I like my info on the right of the screen not along the bottom, and I bet my hilarious speed camera warning has gone (me shouting "speed camera"). I guess none of these are show-stoppers: a lot of my favourites are no longer used and I can change all the preferences. What's important is that teh instructions are now trasmitted over the FM and it now feels like I'm driving Knight Rider again! (Knight Rider with a sexy female Irish voice.)

 

[dhn]

Copy the Mapsettings.cfg file from your backed up map folder to the map folder on your unit. That should restore your favourites and custom settings.

 

[Dr DoNothing]

Thank you dhn.

Everything is back to how it was and how it should be. No more updates for me from now on. This firmware version works just fine for me.

 

[Nexus]

The Belkin TuneCast II Mobile FM Transmitter was recommended on another forum. I bought one new on Ebay and it works great connected to the Line Out of the 730. (better than the TT FM ever was)

Great cheap solution only just feel that I shouldnt be short change from TomTom. We should argue that if Belkin can do this why should we have to go through all the BS and go round to solve a problem which wasnt related to countries that dont apply to this law.

Further to that, I will need to charge the fm transmitter and the tomtom for long trips. I am only unhappy because I dont have a line in on my CD player in my car and thus this stuff up. Is just more cables and hassle.

TomTom should start updating their product to reflect this change so that consumers are not mislead. I felt already short change buying the go 730 when I dont get to have FM and advance lane guidance which are main reasons why I bought this unit.

My unit work as any typical 720 in Australia, felt maybe I made the wrong choice to spent the extra.

 

[Dr DoNothing]

Now I can't play music

After restoring the instructions over the FM transmitter thing as described above, i can no longer play music on the Tomtom Dukebox.

When I select a song, it just goes back to the drive view without playing the song. If I change the setting so that it doesn't revert automatically to the drive view when a song is selected, it shows the progress bar and play, pause (etc) buttons, but flashes up a message like, "an error has occured during playback".

This is even worse than the original problem. If I can't get the dukebox working, I'll have to go back to taking CDs back into the car and then I'll have the FM transmitter disabled at all times.

Please help.

 

[dhn]

In the root of your TomTom, do you have a folder called bin?

If so, is there a file in it called mplayer that is over 3 megs in size and another called mp3d that is about 120K? I think there should be.

 

[Dr DoNothing]

yes I have that folder and it contains both of those files.

 

[dhn]

Try a pin reset, doc. If that doesn't work, try the Clear Flash tool found here and if still a no go, try restoring to factory defaults. The latter will cause you to lose custom settings, the Clear flash will cause no loss of data.

 

[Dr DoNothing]

None of those things have worked.

I have all the files and folders on my computer when I did the back-up. I also have all the files and folders of the latest upgrade (the one that caused the original FM problem). Could I just copy and paste all files and folders from one of these back-ups?

 

[dhn]

Well, make a complete backup now using Explorer. Ensure hidden files/folders are showing.

Then, yeah, try restoring your backup prior to the upgrade ..... you might want to try reformatting the internal storage first BUT AFTER your Explorer backup that you should make first.

 

[Dr DoNothing]

I've now got it working.

Instead of copying over everything, I just copied the bin folder from the original back-up. The "troublesome" bin folder would have come from the FM-challenged update.

Now then, is there anything else in the bin folder that may cause me problems (I made a copy before doing the above) and maybe I should have just copied the 2 files you mentioned a few posts ago.

Also, can I get my favourites back after the factory reset in the same way you mentioned a few days ago (copying that file)?