Tomtom GO5000 asking to shut down every 30 minutes during map updates

[aw_be]

Hi all, I'm new to this forum, so I hope I can get some insight of other users, possibly having the same issue.

Since the last software update, my Tomtom GO 5000 seems to have included a very "smart" new feature that wasn't available before: it detects if the unit hasn't been moving for 30 minutes and proposes to shut it down or put it in sleep. The problem is that this feature is still active while my unit is connected to a computer while I'm doing a map update. So every 30 minutes, if I don't react quickly enough to cancel, the unit goes out, and my computer tells me the connection to the unit has obviously been lost and my update of maps failed.

Screenshots show clearly that the computer is connected and update is taking place... but still the message warning me it's going to turn off comes in every 30 minutes, and forces me to be there with an alarm clock to jump on the unit before it screws up my (very long) updating of the maps.

I had a chat with Tomtom support, but the guy tells me there's probably something gone wrong with the latest software update, gave me a procedure to roll that back, and install again. Honestly I don't believe that's correct: the unit works perfectly, and this really looks like a thought-of feature (except for the fact that checking the immobility of the unit while it's connected to a computer is completely stupid ;-) )

My questions to the community, hopefully someone can answer:

• Is there any way to turn this "immobility" check off ? I have been parsing through the config settings without finding it
• Is there any way to check for the progress of the update in Tomtom MyDrive Connect ? In older versions I seem to remember some progress indication showing the download and the update steps. Right now I have nothing: simply a statement that update is taking place and that I should keep my unit connected during the update.
  At least with some progress indication I would now for how long I need to play this stupid 30-minutes check...

Thanks in advance for any help !

 

[Willy875]

Hi
I think it's more a battery problem or a cable problem?

Try charging your GPS on a mains charger for 2 hours.

Try with another cable.

 

[aw_be]

Hi
I think it's more a battery problem or a cable problem?

Try charging your GPS on a mains charger for 2 hours.

Try with another cable.

I don't think it's a battery problem given the message.
It clearly states it wants to shut down because the position of the GPS hasn't changed for 30 minutes. I couldn't be clearer than that.
In normal use, when the power is switched off, I indeed have a similar message stating that the power has been shut down, and that the GPS will turn off as well. But the message is different, was already present in the past, and would never trigger when connected to the PC, since the power is always active in that case.

 

[canderson]

This isn't the same as the old shut down due to loss of power.

The 30 minute time-out only occurs on cellular-equipped models like your 5000. However, it should NOT occur during updates. In fact, it should never occur at all unless you are on the main 'map' screen - which you are - at least partially. This 'feature' was rolled out for your model in the last production code release (22.100.0002).

This needs to be reported to TomTom. Even with the main map screen in the background, the update should take priority.

However, as a work-around, please do NOT have your device on the map screen while you try to update the maps. I can see the map screen in the background of your first image. Instead, set your device on a menu screen of any kind before starting the update and see if the problem goes away. Let me know if this works for you.

 

[aw_be]

Hi canderson,

Thanks so much for the hint. You're right, if I open any kind of menu on the device, then the annoying shut down disappears.
I have no clue how to report that to Tomtom. I can try through the current open ticket that was created when I chatted with the support team, not sure if that will be surfaced to the development teams though.
That part is now solved. Thanks so much canderson, awesome !

So now, my unit doesn't turn off, but I'm still unsure whether the map updates are actually taking place.
I changed some settings on MyDrive Connect to force the download of the map first to the PC (for some reason that was disabled), so now I could see the map downloading OK. But for the second step I see no progress indication. One thing that annoys me is that I don't see any message on my unit telling me an update is ongoing, and on MyDrive connect, after a couple of seconds of a message stating "waiting for the device...", that message disappears, there's no error message, but the cable sign remains red, while on some videos the cable sign seems to turn green. I'm using a Tomtom cable, and tried several other ones without any change. The strange thing is that I used the same cables for the software update a couple of months ago, and that worked flawlessly. So am I just too impatient and needlessly worried about this red cable ? How can I track the progress of the update ?

Thanks again !

 

[aw_be]

Right, on the video about MyDrive Connect I see this:

I definitely never get to that screen. Cable remains red, no error message, no warning, no clue what's going on :-(
This is unrelated to my initial question, which is basically solved thanks to canderson.
I will need to dig in other parts of the forum to see what can be done... and maybe I should open a new thread for this new problem ?

 

[Willy875]

I will try with a new cable.

 

[canderson]

I'd open a new ticket explaining that ...

There’s no way for a user unfamiliar with this new feature to know that the device will go into 30 minute no-motion shutdown mode during a map update if the update is started while the device is on the map screen. And most of the time, a full map update is done with the device stationary, and takes > 30 minutes.

Regardless, under NO circumstances should the device begin the 30 minute no-motion shutdown during any kind of device update. That’s crazy. The device knows if there is an update taking place, and this state should override any 30 minute timeout code.

 

[aw_be]

Right, I will do so.

Now, given my current issue (tried 5 different cables already and nothing seems to help) it seems clear that the update was not really taking place. That might explain why the unit still goes into sleep (despite the unit being connected and looking like it would be updating but isn't in truth).

Anyway, I'm completely stuck now, despite using many different cables, my unit refuses to update the map.
Now I cleared the cache of the MyDrive Connect application, and now at last I get a message that confirms I have a serious issue:

Having tested so many cables, I'm afraid the issue is with the unit (which is obviously up and running, connected to the PC and all, but still not reacting when MyDrive Connect tries to launch some update).
Also wondering what could have happened, since I updated the software a couple of weeks ago without any issue :-(

 

[Willy875]

I don't know if this helps, try uninstalling Mydrive connect on your computer and then reinstalling it.

also try moving the mini USB plug on the GPS side.

 

[canderson]

@aw_be

I think we should establish whether the problem is with MyDrive Connect or the basic USB connection.

If you are running a PC, you can use the attached program to see all USB devices connected to your PC. It is 'portable', and requires no installer. Just unzip the content into whatever folder you create for it, and execute USBDeview and report back what it shows about any TomTom devices (Vendor ID = 1390) when your device is connected to your PC.

 

[aw_be]

@canderson thanks a lot for your help.

At first view, the USB connection is working. At least MyDrive Connect shows the device as being connected or not. This works regardless of the cable I've been using:

Using your application, I also see the device connected:

MyDrive Connect refuses anyway to start even downloading any data as long as the device is not connected, and he could check the available size for maps : given the size on my device for instance I need to download the Europe map without Russia, as the full map doesn't fit, and the app is able to confirm that, so some communication with the device does actually take place.

It's really at the moment it needs to upload the map to the device that things go wrong: the app seems to be waiting for an answer from the device to initiate the update process, and that answer never seems to come. The Device itself doesn't show any activity on the screen neither, indicating that something would be starting. So for me it looks like an issue on the device's software side...

In the meantime I've tried reinstalling MyDrive Connect, and things don't work better. The system stays for a minute or so waiting for the device to react to some command:

Then it either displays the "device not responding" message, or it simply displays the red-cable connection without further information. :-(

 

[aw_be]

Another sign that some communication happens between the PC and the device is that the message on the device changes whether MyDrive Connect is running or not on the PC side: when it's not running, there's a blue message asking to open or install MyDrive Connect. As soon as I open the app on the PC, the message on the device disappears.

 

[canderson]

Before beginning again, kill off the MyDrive Connect cache ("Empty download folder")

Then, rather than attempting to do a map update, let's try something less taxing ...
Try adding a small 'recorded' voice to your device using MyDrive Connect. This will tell us if the basic process is working.

If that works, now try updating the map.

 

[aw_be]

Thanks canderson. I'll give this a try. Been busy all weekend, I'll try this out this evening or tomorrow evening. Thx.

 

[aw_be]

OK, had a pretty busy weekend and start of the week, could only resume my tests now.
In the meantime there's been an update of MyDrive Connect, but things didn't change fundamentally.

So I erased all downloaded data, restarted MyDrive Connect and the device.
Unfortunately I couldn't find any option to upload a custom recording, not sure where this is supposed to be done in MyDrive Connect. Do you have a link ? I searched on the net and on this forum with no success so far.

One thing I was able to do: I figured out there's a "remove content" button on MyDrive Connect, which displayed the currently installed map, several TTS voices and the charging stations database. I was able to successfully delete a couple of voices in a language I never use. During that process, the Tomtom device did indeed turn its screen into an "updating" screen and displayed at the end the update was completed.
This at least confirms there's nothing wrong with the cable or the connection.

But still, when trying to update the map, the update doesn't trigger once the map download is complete.
One question that comes to my mind: the map is currently on the main device memory, which has very little memory left (hence the requirement to install a map without Russia). But I would expect MyDrive Connect to be able to assess if there's an issue with the storage space left, right ?

I'm going to check whether I can move the map to the Memory Card. I've never seen the option proposed so far, will need to check whether there are options to do so.

 

[Willy875]

Normally on GO 5000 a map should be automatically installed on the SD card if there is not enough free space on the internal memory.

 

[aw_be]

Thanks all for your patience and input.

Some input from my side:

• Updating clearly works. I actually updated the charging stations database (don't have any use of it but it allowed me checking that updating really works).
  During update, the GPS shows the updating status during the whole process, and shows when it finishes.
  
  
  
  
  
  So that clearly closes the uncertainty around cables or software.
• Now on the tricky part:
  Latest map to update is proposed as version 11.05 by MyDrive Connect.
  
  
  
  The map on my device is clearly marked as older. If I got it right, 1060 means 10.60 map version.
  
  
  
  
  But if on MyDrive connect I select to "remove contents", it shows me the following that can be removed:
  
  
  
  
  
  So for MyDrive Connect it is as if 11.05 was already installed on the machine ?
  Could this be preventing the map from updating in any way ?
  I would be tempted to delete the map, but then if updating doesn't work, I'll be left with a totally unusable device, while it's currently working OK, though with a bit older maps...

Any idea what could be causing the mismatch between the map shown on the device itself, and the version shown as being on the device by MyDrive Connect ?

 

[Willy875]

The latest map installed on your GPS is 10.60 which went live in November 2020

11.05 is the latest available which you need to download via Mydrive connect.

You need to contact Tomtom customer service for help with installing version 11.05 of the map.


What you will have to try to do is to buy a new SD of 32 GB maximum
format the SD with your computer then insert the SD into your GPS,
your GPS should offer to format it again.

 

[aw_be]

Hi Willy875

I'm already in contact with Tomtom's support, but the least I can say is that this isn't working. I've got better and faster answers on this forum with canderson than from Tomtom's support so far. They don't even seem to be aware about the 30-minutes immobility timeout that is now part of the latest software - even though that problem is not my main issue anymore.

Regarding your suggestions: I do have a 32 GB card on the system. It's formatted for the unit already, but currently not used, as I accepted to use smaller maps (without Russia) which still fit in the internal memory.

The 11.05 map is proposed as update by MyDrive Connect, and it downloads correctly as well, but then doesn't install for an unknown reason, while any other update has installed flawlessly.

The only "anomality" I can see is that while the GPS indicates indeed the old 2020 map 10.60 is installed, MyDrive Connect, when I ask it which items I could remove from the GPS, shows a 11.50 map on it, while it actually never installed. So i'm wondering if that is not the reason why, after a succesfull download, the installation of the map is never really attempted.