recovering Nuvi 40 from failed firmware upgrade without USB

**EdC** · 23rd February 2015, 03:29 AM

I have a Nuvi 40 with a failed and un-repairable USB port.

Thinking it would be simple to upgrade the firmware, I put the version 4.00 gupdate.gcd on the SD card under the Garmin folder and power-cycled it (a few times).

But something bad happened. Perhaps it was due to the failed USB port interfering with the upgrade or perhaps I reset at the wrong time. In any case, the software versions now read: GPS: 2.90, Text: 2.30, Keyboard: Unknown, and Audio: Missing. Although the device boots and runs, I've lost lots of functionality (all voice output, original maps, QWERTY keyboard, help, ...). The most pressing issue is that I have no voice output and without this the unit is not very useful. The details are [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

I am still able to back up region 40 using Ldr.bin and update.txt so I'm somewhat hopeful that I can recover, but I'm not exactly sure how.

One idea is to use RNG_Tool to change the SW version of a GCD file to 4.01, put in in gupdate.gcd and see if that forces an upgrade. But I'm worried the same thing would happen if the problem was related to the non-functional USB port interfering with the upgrade process.

Another would be to use update.txt commands (xrgn?) to write fw_all.bin right into the appropriate region. But I'm not sure that simply copying fw_all.bin to a rgn is equivalent to an upgrade.

Any advice would be appreciated.

**Neil** · 23rd February 2015, 04:17 AM

The contents of region 14 and fw_all.bin are identical except that region 14 is bigger [naturally] and a dump of 14 should show them to be identical if they're the same version, other than the dump will be ~50MB and latest V4.00 fw_all.bin is 8.47MB. If the extraneous FFs are removed from the dump the files should then be identical.

So one way to see if your rgn14 is corrupt is to dump it and compare it. If it is, then you can replace the necessary bytes and write back using xrgn command in update.txt. I think you should also dump rgn83 and open the bin file with PowerISO [for example] to check the file system. It maybe is just that you're missing some needed files or there's corruption. For instance when no keyboard files are loaded, Keyboard Version will show as 'Unknown' and no voice files will result in 'missing' for Audio.

**EdC** · 23rd February 2015, 07:37 AM

Thanks for the suggestions Neil.

Sure enough, region 14 is exactly the same as fw_all.bin from version 2.30 but the FAT32 file system in region 48 is missing just about everything. No idea how this could have happened. Is there any chance that region 48 is just a r/w overlay to the real file system and that my files are hiding elsewhere?

If not, I guess I need to recreate the file system without having access to the Nuvi's USB interface. Could I run webupdate.exe against a USB flash drive containing /Garmin/GarminDevice.xml, then copy the files to the mounted disk image and xrgn the image back to region 83?

Here's the details (Unix shell commands and results):

$ ls -go 14.bin fw_all.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 52428800 Jan 1 1980 14.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 8878336 Feb 22 21:19 fw_all.bin

$ dd count=8878336 bs=1 if=14.bin of=14.bin.first
8878336+0 records in
8878336+0 records out
8878336 bytes (8.9 MB) copied, 26.042 s, 341 kB/s

$ diff 14.bin.first fw_all.bin
$ echo $?
0

# mount -t vfat -o loop 83.bin /mnt/tmp/

$ ls -lRa
.:
total 24
drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 4096 Dec 31 1969 ./
drwxr-xr-x 11 root root 4096 Feb 22 21:38 ../
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Feb 14 19:30 .System/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Feb 22 20:11 GPX/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Feb 22 2015 Garmin/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Feb 14 20:12 Poi/

./.System:
total 16
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Feb 14 19:30 ./
drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 4096 Dec 31 1969 ../
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Feb 14 20:11 Diag/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Feb 14 19:30 GPS/

[Diag(nostic) folders containing sad tales left out (can be supplied if anyone's interested).]

./.System/GPS:
total 900
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Feb 14 19:30 ./
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Feb 14 19:30 ../
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 151788 Feb 22 2015 ARC.BIN*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 748032 Feb 22 2015 BEE.BIN*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 7800 Feb 22 20:54 mt.nvm*

./GPX:
total 12
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Feb 22 20:11 ./
drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 4096 Dec 31 1969 ../
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1845 Feb 22 20:11 Current.gpx*

./Garmin:
total 36
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Feb 22 2015 ./
drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 4096 Dec 31 1969 ../
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 24903 Feb 22 2015 GarminDevice.xml*

./Poi:
total 16
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Feb 14 20:12 ./
drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 4096 Dec 31 1969 ../
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4146 Feb 14 20:12 poi.gpi*

and that's all (no maps, voices, ..., nada).

**Neil** · 23rd February 2015, 08:10 AM

Not a need to do it by flashing to a region for the file system. The commands for copy and copydir can be used to write/overwrite files & folders in the file system, even the complete directory. See: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ].

To use WedUpdater, MapUpdater or GarminExpress, as you said just copy the unit's GarminDevice.xml to a Garmin folder on a clean USB drive or media card of minimum 2GB size and the programs will see it as the actual nuvi. You can replace any Voice, Vehicle, Help, Text, Keyboard files etc also TZ and official detail maps that way, but you'll need to get a basemap separately: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ].

**EdC** · 23rd February 2015, 10:20 AM

Success!

It probably would have made more sense to use copy commands in update.txt but I had already copied the files to the mounted 83.bin (after making a backup, of course). It took about an hour to copy 2GB to the SD card and then to the internal flash. But now everything is back to normal. Thank you very much for the help.

The strange thing is that even though webupdater.exe copied the 4.0 GUPDATE.GCD to .System, the Nuvi is still on 2.30. I suspect my original problem was related to a badly-timed reset that corrupted the file system rather than an incomplete upgrade. I'm not sure if I should try copying fw_all.bin to region 14 or leave well enough alone

.

**Neil** · 23rd February 2015, 11:33 AM

It would be odd for the unit to ignore the V4.00 gupdate.gcd and remain at V2.30. Please press the battery symbol for ~6 seconds to access the hidden menu > back > start test > more. Check the version nos. beside 006-B1350-00 for Boot BLK, X-Loader and System [first 3 lines]. What versions are showing next to each?

**EdC** · 23rd February 2015, 06:25 PM

OK, here's the detailed version information:

Boot BLK B1350-00 2.30 Nuvi 40 Boot Block Software Pass
X-Loader B1350-00 2.30 Nuvi 40 X-Loader Software Pass
System B1350-00 2.30 Nuvi 40 System Software Pass
Basemap Erased
Suppmap1 Erased
PROM 1 Erased
PROM 2 Erased
Dlr DB Erased
Unknown Erased
Splash D3218-00 2.00 DB, Splsh Scrn,4.3in+3.5in,TTS,I Pass
Demo Erased
FTL ?????-?? 0.00 FTL Image
Audio D0397-00 2.00 English_Americal 07DF7F00
<lots more audio>

However, having slept on it, I think the Nuvi may be trying to tell me something. Namely that it may not a good idea to upgrade the firmware on a working device without a functioning USB port. This is because there would be no way to recover from a failed upgrade to either the boot loader OR the system firmware. On a device with a USB port you can always go into pre-boot mode and re-flash the boot loader. But without a USB port if anything goes wrong updating either the boot or system regions the device would be effectively bricked. Is this right?

Another interesting observation is that when I boot with the Nuvi connected to a charger (but the ID pin floating) I see the green progress bar growing for a few seconds and then it is replaced by the "waiting for computer" icon (GPS plugged into a computer). That icon stays there for 20 seconds or so and then the unit continues booting normally (without upgrading). But when the device is not plugged into power it just boots without showing the green progress bar at all.

**Neil** · 23rd February 2015, 11:51 PM

Originally Posted by EdC

OK, here's the detailed version information:

Boot BLK B1350-00 2.30 Nuvi 40 Boot Block Software Pass
X-Loader B1350-00 2.30 Nuvi 40 X-Loader Software Pass
System B1350-00 2.30 Nuvi 40 System Software Pass
............

Yep, everything is still version 2.30 including the boot & x-loader. If you now flash rgn14 to update the fw_all component of v4.00 i have no idea if the older version boot will cope with the later fw_all.bin, but here's the rub: there was a version of firmware after which Garmin quickly issued another version because some nuvi x0 units would stick on the logo during boot, in other words bricking them. That was discovered in Version 2.60 in Sept 14, replaced a few weeks later by V2.70. Curious thing is that the only fix in V2.60 from 2.40 was supposedly to prevent that problem: "Fixed an error that caused some units to freeze during startup." Now previous firmwares OEM 2.10 and 2.20 might have have been as buggy as hell. The only change from 2.20 to 2.30 was to do with dangerous zones in France so it might be buggy too and it looks like you could be stuck with it. Info:

Code:

Please Login or Register to see the links

However, having slept on it, I think the Nuvi may be trying to tell me something. Namely that it may not a good idea to upgrade the firmware on a working device without a functioning USB port. This is because there would be no way to recover from a failed upgrade to either the boot loader OR the system firmware. On a device with a USB port you can always go into pre-boot mode and re-flash the boot loader. But without a USB port if anything goes wrong updating either the boot or system regions the device would be effectively bricked. Is this right?

Yes, unfortunately that's right, there is absolutely no way to load cure firmware without pre-boot access. No working USB, no preboot. You can maybe rewrite the fw_all to rgn 14 from SD though if it's getting far enough into the boot for that, but it may not.

Another interesting observation is that when I boot with the Nuvi connected to a charger (but the ID pin floating) I see the green progress bar growing for a few seconds and then it is replaced by the "waiting for computer" icon (GPS plugged into a computer). That icon stays there for 20 seconds or so and then the unit continues booting normally (without upgrading). But when the device is not plugged into power it just boots without showing the green progress bar at all.

That's a common problem with non-genuine chargers where the unit will try to enter MSM for a while before going to change mode but shouldn't happen with a healthy unit using a stock genuine charger. Luckily the unit can at least still change via usb.

If you haven't done so, are you willing to risk clearing non-volatile memory? Sometimes that'll straighten out a flaky unit. You may then be able to use del command to remove gupdate.gcd from .System [if still there] and try to update from SD again. Or just write/overwrite it with a copy command and try to update from the unit. Maybe try progressive upgrading too rather than going straight to 4.00 from 2.30 with clear nonvol before and after each attempt. It's either that or put up with the old fw and risk other problems later arising from that obviously. You could also look for a 40 with a broken screen cheap on ebay, 2nd hand 40s aren't worth much even working unless they're LM.

**EdC** · 24th February 2015, 11:00 AM

Thanks for the information. I did follow the "Erase all user data" path on reboot several times but it hasn't triggered an upgrade.

I think flashing region 14 with 4.00 fw_all.bin is too risky. Next I'm going to see if putting a 17k resistor from ID pin to ground (to emulate a genuine Garmin charger) changes the boot sequence and triggers the update. If that doesn't do it, I'll just leave the firmware at 2.30 since it's fully functional.

Thanks again for all your help.

**Neil** · 24th February 2015, 11:42 AM

Clear nonvol is a little more comprehensive than a hard reset. From View Map page press the Speed field>Hold centre of Speedometer for several seconds to find the hidden Diagnostics Page>Developer Info>Nonvol Available>Clear Nonvol. Worth a try, then maybe do the full upgrade attempt if you want but it's your risk so your call. 100% agree to update just rgn14 would be too risky [imo a tad foolhardy in fact].