Garmin GPS 90 Question

[Slick]

Anyone ever have a GPS 90 that didn't seem to want to track it's position. I
have a 90 and I have tried two different antenna with neither producing
results. When viewing the "searching sky" page, it shows where it's trying
to connect to satellites, it only show one that it is trying to connect to.
It has no bars, and it cycles through the satellites, 1 through however
many. I just picked this thing up, it was a deal and even if it doesn't
work, I didn't pay enough to care. I got to satellite 14 before I gave up
and turned it off.Any idea?

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[Bill Daniels]

I have a GPS 90. If it is turned off in one location and transported to
another distant location before being turned on again, it will take 10
minutes or more to figure out what satellites to look for. I think they
called this an "atlas update". Once it figures out where it is, the next
boot-up takes 'only' a couple of minutes as long as it hasn't traveled very
far while turned off.

The GPS 90 is a first generation handheld. There's been a lot of
improvements since it was introduced. I suggest you turn it on where it has
a clear view of the sky and leave it alone for a half hour or so. You may
find it is working.

Bill Daniels

"Slick" <Sli...@techie.com> wrote in message
news:41005...@corp.newsgroups.com...

[Andrew Warbrick]

It sounds like the unit hasn't been used for a long
time? The ephemeride data (satellite orbit info) is
downloaded from the satellite in the background whilst
operating (I think it's valid for a few months) if
the unit is unused for long enough it will have to
go into 'autolocate' mode where it cycles through trying
to receive each satellite in turn (it seems to need
a stronger signal for this so leave it somewhere with
a good view of the sky).

It should eventually fixate on one visible satellite
and after quite a few minutes should start to pick
up more once it's received a complete set of ephemerides,
don't be tempted to move it around or play with it
because if the reception of the ephemerides is interrupted
it will have to wait for the start of the data and
begin again.

There are twenty odd satellites in the constellation,
it's sod's law that the first one you get a a signal
from might be the last so be patient, don't stop after
fourteen.

I think Garmin quoted 7 minutes for the whole process
but I've seen it take a lot longer. Once it's got the
ephemeride data it should do a cold start in under
a minute (you can help this by selecting initial location
in the menus if you've changed position by more than
a few miles since it was switched off). It also seems
to be a bad idea running it in batterysaver mode, particularly
before it's found itself.

[Slick]

I didn't have a manual for the 90, but I just looked at the manual for my
95XL and it say "Searching Sky" can take up to 30 minutes. Maybe I'll just
leave it in the middle of the runway for a bit. I was just afraid it was
broke, I'm glad it's not, this could be a super deal.
"Andrew Warbrick" <REMOVE_TO_RE...@tiscali.co.uk> wrote in message
news:2mbvfpF...@uni-berlin.de...

[Iwo Mergler]

The older Garmins get terribly confused when they're
subjected to a "hyperspace jump", e.g. moving it to
the other side of the planet and switching on again.

If the device wasn't switched on since Aug. 1999,
there is also the issue of the GPS week rollover.

It's a chicken/egg problem - the receiver can't
find satellites because it's got an invalid
Almanac and can't download an Almanac because
it sees no satellites.

Here is a procedure to kick it back into life:

http://gpsinformation.net/main/eowgarmin.htm
http://www.gme.net.au/y2k/garmin_interv.html

It will take most of a day to recover, and a
very good view of the sky is essential.

Kind regards,

Iwo

[Andy Durbin]

"Slick" <Sli...@techie.com> wrote in message news:<41005...@corp.newsgroups.com>...

> Anyone ever have a GPS 90 that didn't seem to want to track it's position. I
> have a 90 and I have tried two different antenna with neither producing
> results. When viewing the "searching sky" page, it shows where it's trying
> to connect to satellites, it only show one that it is trying to connect to.
> It has no bars, and it cycles through the satellites, 1 through however
> many. I just picked this thing up, it was a deal and even if it doesn't
> work, I didn't pay enough to care. I got to satellite 14 before I gave up
> and turned it off.Any idea?
>

Leave it outside with a good view of the sky for at least a half hour
before you give up on it. If it was last used a long way away it can
take that long to update the almanac.

Andy

[Slick]

Thank you very much
"Iwo Mergler" <Iwo_dot...@soton.sc.philips.com> wrote in message
news:gi8Mc.497$3_....@ns2.gip.net...

[Kirk Stant]

Another option is to use G7toWin to download a current Ephemeris from
a Garmin that has been used very recently, then upload the Ephemeris
into the GPS-90. This procedure worked for my old Garmin 38, which
had been left alone for a couple of years after I replaced it with a 3
Pilot. The 38 refused to acquire and download the necessary Ephemeris
data, but after transferring the data from my 3 Pilot, the 38 had no
problem acquiring satellites and getting full 3D position.

If it worked for a 38, it will probably work for a 90.

Kirk

[Slick]

I left it outside for about 2 hours and it finally decided it knows where
it's at. I'm glad it works, it was quite a steal.

"Slick" <Sli...@techie.com> wrote in message
news:41005...@corp.newsgroups.com...

[Bruce Greeff]

Recently kick started a Magellan that had not been used in more than a year.
That took well over an hour - best advice is to leave it outside while the data
base loads, and have a long relaxing cup of (insert your own prefference here).
A watched GPS never updates...