GNS530W Terrain card seems to be dead

cowman

cowman

Final Approach
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Cowman
Tried to update my 530 today, successfully did the Nav card. Then when I tried to do the terrain card no matter what I did the garmin update software didn't see the card. Finally I gave up and put it back in the 530 only to find out the GPS wouldn't start up properly- first time it was stuck on "initializing" forever then I power cycled it and it gave me some error messages. I removed the terrain card and the unit booted up and functioned normally except for the "no terrain" warnings.

So, seems like I have a bad card. Is there anything worth trying or should I just bite the bullet and go buy one of these overpriced things? Card has a white label and I've been using the Garmin programmer- not sure if that matters but I've heard there's a difference.
 
I'm on my third terrain card for my 430 since 2012. Same symptoms. The previous cards just died.

I feel your pain.
 
There is only one answer for this issue. You should swap the 530 for an xi unit.
 
Talked to Garmin today. Apparently this is a known issue and to their credit they’re sending me a new card for free. The unfortunately they’re out of stock so it may be a bit.
 
Groundpounder said:
Funny, I had the same issue this update period. That is an odd coincidence
Click to expand...
I had a "24-38 minute" estimated wait time for a call back which in reality was well over an hour. Then the woman on the phone seemed to know the issue before I'd even finished explaining it, asking me what the error message on the 530 was and immediately jumped to sending me a free card. Add that all up with them being out of stock and it certainly does suggest a widespread issue but what do I know?
 
Groundpounder said:
Funny, I had the same issue this update period. That is an odd coincidence
Click to expand...

Same for me when I went to update this month. Unfortunately, I paid for a new card before seeing this thread.


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I just called Garmin and they will send me a new card after I send them my old one. I asked if they were in stock, and he said yes. I should have a new card in a couple of weeks. I guess I will have a spare.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
They actually shipped mine the day after I called, I got free 2-day shipping due to the out of stock situation. Came on fri and everything is working again.
 
You can just walk into your local Best Buy and get a SIM card…..oh wait, at least for the 650 you can do that, not sure about the gns’s.
 
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