how to monitor battery life?

[cbrkelly]

Hey folks,

I was recommended to come here after buying my TomTom Go 730 which arrived in the mail today and am scratching my head on how to find out how much charge is in the battery. Is there a way to tell? some sort of a bar, meter or light somewhere?

I put it onto the usb docking station before using it and the green light on the bottom of the device stayed on for a good 4 to 5 hrs.. I assumed that light would go out once the device was fully charged but it doesn't appear to. Is there any indication of knowing when it's been fully charged?

But as mentioned previously, what would be even more helpful is a way to tell how much battery life is left while the device is on.

Thanks so much for your assistance.

 

[dhn]

Welcome to TomTom Forums!

Before doing anything, make a complete Explorer, not Home backup of your unit's contents. Don't forget to take advantage of the Latest Map Guarantee within 30 days of first use.

The unit continues to show the green light even when the unit is fully charged. If you tap the satellite bars, the next screen shows the battery indicator on the top right. Unfortunately, the latest application (8.351) causes a glitch such that as soon as you undock the unit (PROPERLY, always do it PROPERLY), the indicator immediately shows a drop to about 80% of full.

If you use Home's emulator (Operate my Go), the battery indicator shown there is a simulation of the real battery indicator, not a true indicator.

 

[cbrkelly]

Thanks a heap for that information. You've been very helpful.

I have another sudden (and much bigger) issue now however. It appears after having allowed TomTom Home do an application update my tomtom was just re-looping the startup phase. You would see the initial black screen with the TomTom logo in the middle appear, then it would switch to the TomTom startup screen (the picture of the street with the cars) but after around 25 seconds the unit would reset itself and re-loop the above, never actually getting to the TomTom application.

Having assumed the update did more harm than good and having a backup of my TomTom's internal drive contents burned to cd.. I put my tomtom back onto the usb dock and did something that may have made the situation even worse.

I've right clicked the internal tomtom drive within windows explorer and formatted it (keeping it as FAT32). I have then copied the entire contents of the cd backup back over to the tomtom internal hdd and then attempted a reboot of the tomtom and all it does now when you turn it on is sit at a yellow/white screen which shows a picture of the tomtom and two icons to the lower right flashing.. i assume to try and say neither the sd card or the hdd is bootable?

ARRRGH, have I killed my brand new tomtom??

 

[dhn]

Try doing a pin reset on the unit (hole on the bottom).

If that doesn't help, use Explorer to see contents of unit. Do you see folders and a bunch of loose files?

Can you get Home to show contents of the unit? If so, does it show an application? If so, remove the application. Disconnect unit properly from computer. Turn it off. Turn it on. Connect to computer. Start Home. Should offer to download the application and reinstall. Accept it.

 

[cbrkelly]

I tried a pin reset, also tried holding down both the pin reset button and power button for 10 seconds.. still goes straight back to the screen described before with the two flashing icons at the bottom. I can connect the device to tomtom home no problems and yes it does display the contents. If i go into the internal tomtom drive i can see all the folders and files i'd copied back onto the unit from the cd i backed up to earlier in the day. No files or folders were renamed.

If i click on 'show contents of my GO' in tomtom home it does say there is one application installed. You say to remove the application then disconnect and force tom tom home to reinstall it, but i dont see an option to remove it? unless you mean for me to remove it manually in windows explorer? but there's so many folders and files in there i wouldnt know what to remove and what not to...

 

[dhn]

There should be a Home option to REmove Items from my unit. One should be application. Select that. You'll get a warning but remove it anyway. Then yes, reconnect the unit. Start Home. and Home should see there is no application and offer to download and install. Accept it.

Another way to remove the application is to use Explorer. Delete all the loose files in the root of the unit. NO folders or their contents. Then disconnect the unit properly. Reconnect. Start Home. And Home should offer the application download.

 

[cbrkelly]

ok i've found the remove function and done that, rebooted and it picked up there was no app and asked to install it. Which i've done and rebooted and at least it 'tries' to load now.. it boots and starts loading but it's doing what it did originally after i updated with tomtom home and that is resetting itself during the loading phase (after around 30 seconds) .. and just reloops over and over like that.

As i've bought this unit off ebay and i am situated in Australia, i've only just noticed a short time ago that a note came in the box saying the unit was imported from the U.S. and not to allow any application updates via tomtom home. I assume what I am seeing is the result of a clash with the firmware or something and the update tomtom home is trying to install?

But I have all the original working file contents and folders backed up onto cd and tried copying all those back over the top and the unit still refuses to go back to its working state that it was in out of the box.

You say it's imperative no folders are deleted from the tomtom device, but this has happened when i "formatted" the tomtom internal drive earlier on.. it wiped it completely. But i figured this wouldnt be an issue as i just copied all the folders (and files in the root) back over off the backup cd i made to the internal tomtom hdd and rebooted it. Alas, it wont boot

 

[dhn]

Use Explorer and look for a file called mapsettings.cfg within the map folder. If found, delete it. Turn off the unit. Turn it on. Does it boot now?

 

[cbrkelly]

I found that file and deleted it as advised - then tried to reboot and it's still resetting during the loading phase. Arrrgh!!!

 

[dhn]

Plan B:

Again, use Explorer to see if the file is there (it should have been recreated when the unit started up). If so, LEAVE IT THERE!

Now, open Home. Go to Add Favourites. Add any favourite (or, if you did have favourites, then Manage Favourites, select one, edit, change just one letter in the name of the favourite). Click on 'done'. Undock the unit properly. Restart. Any better?

 

[cbrkelly]

Okay. you're definitely on the right track i think as the issue does appear to be maps related. Before I saw your most recent msg i'd deliberately moved my maps folder off the tomtom device so that the application was installed but there were no maps on the unit. I then rebooted it and this time the unit booted quickly, through the loading screen and *PAST* it into the tomtom application itself! So it jumped the hurdle thats making it reset as the australia map was pulled from the device. It then got to the screen that says "no maps found" - makes sense but at least we know it's definitely an issue to do with the map (which was working on this tomtom faultlessly out of the box before i did the application update).

So, I then copied the australia map folder back onto the tomtom, rebooted once again and sure enough, sits at loading screen for ages then just resets/re-loops back into loading phase.

I've then attempted to do what you said in your most recent post.. you're right.. the mapsettings.cfg file is back... and I have left it there this time like you said. I've then looked for the option in tomtom home to add a favourite but I am not finding this feature anywhere? would you be able to be a bit more specific on where this feature is? - I have buttons like "Add Maps" "Add Traffic, Voices, Safety Cameras, etc." "Update my go" but nothing re. adding favourites.

Here's another interesting thing worth mentioning.. when i go to "operate my go" through tomtom home it comes up with the screen asking me to change/set my language.. so i do that, then it asks if i'm right or left handed so i set that, then asks if i want to use miles or kilometers, so i set that, then the time format i want to use, i set that, then asks for correct time right now, set that, then asks me to select a voice, i do that and then it comes up with an error screen saying the following :-

Problem with map
You cannot use this map on this device: Australia-19

It's interesting to note that i can even see all of these screens as described above when selecting operate my go from my pc.. yet when i turn the tomtom on by itself and let it try to load into the tomtom application it resets after sitting at the loading phase for ages.

Do you think we're still on the right track with regard to getting a favourite set up (once i find the option in tomtom home)

Thanks ever so much for your assistance and patience.

 

[dhn]

Did you download a new application? What version of the map do you have? What application version?

 

[cbrkelly]

TomTom Home updated my application to 8.351. Before this update had occured my maps were functioning perfectly.

My australia map is 815_2057 - assuming i've grabbed the right numbers there.. as the folder is "Australia_815_2057"

The tomtom came with other map folders as well (new zealand etc.) which all worked flawlessly when I switched over to them (prior to doing the tomtom home update), but now they *ALL* say "Problem with map
You cannot use this map on this device:" when trying to access them through "Operate my go".

 

[cbrkelly]

The sticker that came shipped inside the tomtom go 730 box reads as follows:-

Important Note
This unit is imported from U.S. so whenever you update from tomtom home, please don't tick accept to application updates option. This application is designed for Australian units only. You can do all other available updates."

Alas, I didnt take note of this sticker until AFTER having done the tomtom home application update when i first connected the unit to my pc.....

 

[dhn]

Out of my element, I'm afraid. I guess you need to call Aussie support. Sorry...........

 

[cbrkelly]

That's ok. Thanks a heap for giving it your best shot. I will try and get onto some local support and see what they can come up with.

The device is actually at a stage now where it's booting in with the australia map installed and there's no more re-looping going on. But it still gets to a stage where it says the map doesnt suit the device.

I'm guessing this is a meta / dct issue but i'll be buggered if i know a way around that.

 

[dhn]

Are you saying everything seems ok except for the 'map not meant for this device'?

Or, you get to the map but can't add a favourite? If this, (I don't have my device in front of me so the instructions may not be correct at all) if you 'Browse Map' and click 'options', is there a way to access Add Favourite now?

 

[cbrkelly]

Sorry, what I meant was that the device no longer has the reboot loop issue where it wont make it into the application itself. Now it does make it all the way in and asks me each time to customize settings like the current time, if i want miles or kilometers, the type of voice i want to use etc. but then everything grinds to a halt once it gets to choosing the australian map, as it says

Problem with map
You cannot use this map on this device: Australia-19

I cannot make my way into the main screen from there. I am locked out of the main gps options (preferences etc.).

 

[dhn]

Okay, last shot. Download and run 3 times the Clear Flash tool found here. Make sure your unit is connected to the computer.

I'm gonna go drown myself in a vat of vegemite now!

 

[dhn]

Okay, last shot. Download and run 3 times the Clear Flash tool found here. Make sure your unit is connected to the computer.

I'm gonna go drown myself in a vat of vegemite now!