Thread: Bricked nuvi 1390

1) Bricked device MODEL, Firmware version, HWID 1390LMT firmware 6,30 US hwid 972

2) Why and how the device got bricked. Bricked while updating to last software

3) Symptoms: what's wrong in your device? Stuck in bootloop software loading, Tried bootcamp software install and says update file is corrupted

4) Does your pc sees your device ? No, just in devices as Garmin usb device but no letter and Garmin express does not see it

5) List all the procedures you already tried to unbrick it and their results and errors messages obtained. Quickcure done sucess but nothing changed. Cure 3 goes to 100 percent in 2 secs, says deleting files and then fails

6) Do you have Garmin USB Drivers installed ? Garmin: USB Drivers Updates & Downloads yes

7) If you don't know HWID get it by Use program G7ToWin to retrieve your HWID

8) Write down if you already read and tried everything in these two threads: GarminCure3 tool - the new way to create cure firmwares for Garmin devices and How to unbrick a nüvi - step by step guide

9) Can you reach preboot mode? If no ,have you followed this? Garmin devices preboot mode, I think its is stuck in preboot mode, it does ding dong in windows but vanishes after some time

10) Probably no , but do you have NV backup? no

11) Once you get a reply and a procedure to follow from our experts, please give an accurate reply about what you did and obtained results.

I am not sure do I have the right software because they all vanished frm Garmin, I downloaded whole Perry archive and found one 13xx

Originally Posted by mlinac

1) Bricked device MODEL, Firmware version, HWID 1390LMT firmware 6,30 US hwid 972
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7) If you don't know HWID get it by Use program G7ToWin to retrieve your HWID

Did you do the above? Because if you've used 0972 firmware to make Cure3 and flashed it, but your device is the other HWID 1104 it can make things worse. IMPORTANT: If you haven't already confirmed your device's HWID, please use G7ToWin in preboot mode and report back: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ].

4) Does your pc sees your device ? No, just in devices as Garmin usb device but no letter and Garmin express does not see it
....................
9) Can you reach preboot mode? If no ,have you followed this? Garmin devices preboot mode, I think its is stuck in preboot mode, it does ding dong in windows but vanishes after some time

When the device shows in Windows Device Manager (but not in Disk Management or File Explorer) it's in preboot mode. Disk Management, File Explorer, and GarminExpress all only see devices in Mass Storage Mode. I think 1xxx devices hold preboot for about 30 seconds waiting for a flash to be initiated.

I am not sure do I have the right software because they all vanished frm Garmin, I downloaded whole Perry archive and found one 13xx

As said, make sure you have the correct firmware. Garmin has removed all superseded versions of firmware from their servers for some time now, only the latest version of each is available for download:

Code:

Please Login or Register to see the links

I have used the program G& to win and it confirmed it is the 972.
i followed the link to re download the file but it says you have to use garmin express and I cant download the file. How do I get that downloaded?

My device is in constant bootloop, Is there a way to get out of it other than cure?

I have tried cure and it does not het installed, Tried quick cure and says its installed but again its in bootloop and nothing is changed.

Thank you fior your quick reply

I downloaded software from [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
Did the cure again and all I get is message: garmin is unable to program the requested memory region, this could be incompatibility between application and garmin device, please contact support

Bootlooping devices can be tricky to flash however the flash chip may have physical damage as already suggested in Post #125. When you get the message from Updater.exe that it's "unable to program the requested memory region" it means that it's not able to write data to a specific region which it's trying to flash, i.e. in your case Cure3 firmware contains the boot.bin intended to be flashed to region 12 (a virtual region), fw_all.bin to region 14 and resources.bin to region 127 (both physical regions).

If there's actual damage (think, like 'bad blocks') to the flash memory, which involves any of the relevant permanent regions, then the flash fails with that Updater message. You can keep persisting in trying to flash it and hope to fluke it but the fact that you've seen it remain in Device Manager for a while means that it's holding preboot (not dropping it in a few seconds like some bootlooping 'soft-bricked' devices do).

You can also try flashing it from an sd card using a modified boot.bin as RGN file in preboot with Updater.exe. It's less than simple to make the required kit for that so i've made one for your nuvi but if you use it the risk is all yours.

Preparation: Please use only a Windows PC, preferably a desktop and connect only to a REAR USB2 port. Avoid using a front USB, hub or USB3 port. Have a suitable 'known-good' miniUSB cable with the A plug inserted ready in the selected port of the PC.

Now look behind the spoiler below:

Spoiler: Click to view

Download this ZIP file and extract it somewhere convenient to find a folder named 'Garmin' and two files, 097201000630.rgn and Updater.exe:
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
Proceed as follows:

• Prepare a CLEAN microSD card of no less than 8GB in size formatted in FAT32 only, re-format using Windows if necessary.
• Place the folder Garmin onto the card.
• Drag 097201000630.rgn onto Updater.exe to open it's GUI and select the radio button next to 'USB Device', leave the GUI open and visible on your Desktop with the mouse cursor positioned over the 'OK' button.
• Ensure the nuvi is completely OFF. Because it's bootlooping you might need to force it off by holding the power button down.
• Insert the sd card into the nuvi.
• Hold the screen in top LH corner and insert the mini-B USB end of the cable into the nuvi (provided you have the other end properly plugged in to the PC already, the nuvi will start to power on).
• Watch Updater's GUI and the instant you see the device detail appear in the window to the right of 'USB Device' click 'OK' on the GUI or just hit the Enter key of the PC's keyboard.
• Keep holding the screen until you see "Software Loading" or similar message on it, if not sure just keep firm pressure until the flash either finishes or fails indicated by a message from Updater.
• If it's successful and there's been no physical failure of the memory regions the device will reboot but it'll stick on the Garmin logo screen (as designed) however with normal PC access as Mass Storage Mode should be re-enabled.

Report back results. Hopefully you'll now have Mass Storage Mode available. We can go further only if it has indeed worked as intended.

Remember, this is solely at your risk if you choose to use the above recovery method. I've taken all care in the making of the SD kit however if your device has a failing flash memory the chip may just die at any time and each flashing attempt puts additional strain on it.

Thank you very much. I will try that, I cant do any worse thing to my Garmin than it already is so I will try that tomorrow.

I can't express how grateful I am for time you spent doing this for me. My OCD is making me crazy with this gadget not working and can't make myself throw it away.

I could not wait for tomorrow so I tried it out. It says update successful on the updater app. Garmin still says software loading or loader and that last for about 10 min but Garmin logo disappears. At the end of process the green line appears at the bottom of the screen, device restarted and went again into boot loop with no evident change. Still no show in windows as mass storage and only appears in device manager as Garmin usb gps device only. I will try more maybe I hit the soft spot.

When that green line started going my heart stopped, hoped we did it but it did not go all the way.

Not an unexpected result to be frank but disappointing just the same, options are now quite limited.

Before you try anything further at all, could you please look if there's been a new file named 41.bin created in the root of the card and also check if there are two new files named last_id.bin and update.log in the 0972 folder.

It might be pointless doing anything else depending on what you find.

So it definitely can't overwrite either region 14 or region 127 which are for the main and supplementary firmware.

In that case either they're both really badly corrupted or there's indeed physical damage affecting both of them .... hmmmm, maybe a little coincidental that they'd both be so severely corrupted as to make overwriting impossible methinks. Regardless, let's try to dump copies of them so please follow this:

REMOVE last_id.bin from 0972 folder (or no further commands will be executed), also remove the 14.bin and 127.bin files from Garmin folder. Make a copy of 41.bin and remove it too. Check if it's size is 4 MB (4,194,304 bytes) and only if it's not that exact size upload a copy of it (compressed to a ZIP or RAR file).

Change the content of update.txt file to read only this:

Code:

Please Login or Register to see the links

(If you copy/paste the above text make sure you don't have any extraneous spaces at line ends or carriage return below it).

Flash as before in preboot.

Good luck. Post copies of the BINs if they dump successfully.