XL330S won't turn on! Requires soft boot every time!

[tomtomxl330s]

My XL330S suddenly won't turn on. When I hit the power button, I can see that it gets power but nothing ever appears on the screen--it just stays black. I have to hold the power button for 30 seconds and go through the entire soft boot process, after which it takes several minutes to find satellites.

This started out of nowhere. One night last week, it never found the satellites and after I soft booted, it began getting stuck in a loop. I've since removed and reinstalled the application and did the clear flash thing many, many times. No matter what I do, once I turn it off, it won't come back on.

This is an almost catastrophic failure. My TomTom (my FIRST TomTom) isn't even a year-and-a-half old. Seems kinda crazy. Has anyone heard of anything like this before? Any ideas?

TomTom XL330S
App 8.010 (9369/080529) OS: 190943
32 MB RAM (free 3.0 MB)
GPS v1.21, Boot 5.5019
Map: 'USA_and_Canada' v725.1914
Language: English US

 

[dhn]

When you do hold the power button for about 10-15 seconds, do you not hear the drum sound and see the logo as the unit boots?

Have you tried charging the unit with the usb cable? Hopefully, not using a usb hub or a port in the front of the computer. Try one in the back for a few hours.

 

[tomtomxl330s]

I have to hold it in for a full 30 seconds and it soft boots as usual (drum beats and everything). It is fully charged from both my car adapter and the computer's USB. This is so frustrating. I like TomTom's features but I've had a couple bad experiences already in the year-and-a-half. If they tell me this isn't fixable, I'm going to probably have to go back to Garmin.

 

[dhn]

When you do get it to power on, connect to the computer. Do an Explorer, not Home, backup of the unit's ccontents. Then format the TomTom drive. Don't use quickformat. Restore the Explorer backup and see if that helps.

 

[tomtomxl330s]

I didn't know I could format the TomTom. After I back everything up using Explorer, then format the TomTom drive, can I simply drag all the backup contents back to the TomTom drive? I don't want to screw it up beyond repair! I'm a little nervous! Thanks!

 

[dhn]

Once you've made the backup and double check it is on the computer--especially the map folder and its files--then you are ok.

Format the unit and then use Explorer to restore the backup.

Report back.

 

[tomtomxl330s]

It had no effect at all. Thanks though.

 

[dhn]

Let's go with plan B.........

You still have the backup on your computer, right? If so, use Explorer to delete all the loose files in the root of the unit, NO folders or their contents.

Now, connect your unit to Home (if you can). If so, Home should offer an application. download and install.

But if you can't get it to stay on long enough to make 'contact' with home, then plan B won't work.

I also wonder whether a relatively new application (if the data in your sig line is correct) is not playing nicely with a map version that is over two years old.

 

[mikealder]

I also wonder whether a relatively new application (if the data in your sig line is correct) is not playing nicely with a map version that is over two years old.

Plan C if its a map/ Navcore conflict is to delete the "MapSettings.cfg" file from your "USA_and_Canada" map folder, conflicts between maps and Navcores causing re-boots are often to do with this file, once its deleted the Navcore software will create a new blank MapSettings.cfg file so you will have to re-enter any POI warnings, Home location etc - Mike

 

[tomtomxl330s]

I'm trying it right now. One other curious thing: When I do uninstall and reinstall the application (which I've done probably 10 times), it immediately finds "TomTom Application for XL" and installs it. But as soon as it's done and it looks for more updates, it finds "TomTom Application ONE XL," which then replaces the "TomTom Application for XL" which was installed moments before. I don't have a TomTom ONE. I have a TomTom XL 330S. I don't know whether that has anything to do with it... Just strange that it downloads one and them immediately wants to replace it with another.

 

[tomtomxl330s]

Plan B went smoothly but made no difference.

 

[tomtomxl330s]

Plan C also went smoothly. But it too made no difference.

 

[tomtomxl330s]

TomTom's support people have now said the next step is to replace it under my warranty. Of course, I'm about six months out of my warranty. So basically, they're saying they're done working on the issue. This was a Christmas present from my mom. There's a couple hundred bucks down the toilet. Looks like I will be going back to Garmin.