Thread: Boot 4NSF VW from microSD card?

A good post, with a good request for help, very well explained.
I will try not to extend this post too much, because there are many things to tell about my experience with my Navigon.

Firstly, my messages are translated with google translator, there are some words that are not translated correctly.
Second, I don't have any Navigon PID / Garmin PID.
To try to help you, what I can contribute is my experience with a Navigon 70 Plus:

Originally Posted by Grodan

...a Garmin 10R-04 6953 4NSF, branded for Volkswagen. From what I understand it's really a Navigon 70/71...

Yes, it's from the Navigon 70 xxxx family...but the hardware is different, for example the RAM memory:

• NAVIGON 70 Easy Europe 20 = (64mb RAM)
• NAVIGON 70 Plus EU 20 = (64mb RAM)
• NAVIGON 70 Plus = (64mb RAM)
• NAVIGON 70 Plus Live = (??mb RAM)
• NAVIGON 70 Premium = (128mb RAM)
• NAVIGON 70 Premium Live = (128mb RAM)
• NAVIGON 70 Premium Automotive = (128mb RAM)
• NAVIGON 70 Premium Caravan & Truck = (128mb RAM)

I imagine that Navigon PID/Garmin PID has ???128mb??? of RAM...

Originally Posted by Grodan

...Got a starts up with VW logo and three rows about firmware version, then halts.
If I reset it to factory settings I get the white screen for calibrating the touch screen afterwards. At this time it identifies as GARMIN GPS in the Windows XP computer (not recognized at all in Windows 10).
When the screen calibration is done - I get the icon with the unit connected to the computer...

Well, here is the part that explains my experience with my Navigon 70 Plus.
Buy my Navigon 70 Plus +/- 11 years, after 2 years I decided to buy map updates with Navigon Fresh and update the ROM (Firmware + Software) also with Navigon Fresh, the result:
The maps were updated, but with the ROM update, the GPS was a little slower, until one day it crashed, restarting, it didn't solve anything as you explain in this topic about your Garmin PID, connecting to the computer didn't solve anything, do reset doesn't solve anything, charging the battery doesn't solve anything (the pc's power is not enough to charge the device, it only maintains the charge necessary to make the updates/modifications), disappointed with the situation, I turned off the GPS and put it in the box, until one day with availability, I attacked again, I spent 3 days installing and renovating, in my case the solution is very simple to turn on the GPS and let the battery discharge by itself.
My opinion and final conclusion about this bug is due to a hardware and not a software problem, today the GPS works at 100%, but a few times a year (depends on the use) the GPS blocks, the solution is to turn on the GPS and let the battery discharge on its own, +/- 24h to fully discharge in standby mode.

Originally Posted by Grodan

...Now the Garmin device is no longer present but instead two USB devices called:
NAVIGON WOLF_FLASH USB Device
NAVIGON WOLF_SD_CARD USB Device
They appear as two removable devices but these just opens empty windows and nothing (that I tried) can be saved to them...

Without Navigon Fresh/garmin Fresh, this is ok, as it should appear on the PC, but first you must solve the memory BUG as mentioned above (discharge battery).

Originally Posted by Grodan

...Not sure I have the proper drivers, I installed the ones Garmin offers on their driver page...

No problem with the controllers, I use Windows 10 and I have no problems, again I repeat, discharge your PID battery for 24h, charge the PID battery again with vehicle power (not PC), try to synchronize again your PID to PC.

Originally Posted by Grodan

...Also tried adding the files for rebranding a navigator from Seat/Skoda to VW, which is activating DevMode as far as I understand...

????

Originally Posted by Grodan

...I got "Cure" as well, even if it works with this navigator I have no firmware file to use with it.
RMPrepUSB was not included in that package, GarminCure3.exe and Updater.exe with a pdf that has instructions...

None of this applies to your PID model, don't confuse Garmin GPS with your PID model, garmin GPS uses its own operating system, Navigon PID and Garmin PID use WinCE, for the simple reason that Garmin purchased Navigon and was able to maintain Navigon support until last year, so don't complicate your life and don't make the situation worse, do the above and leave the Garmin GPS programs and firmware aside.

Originally Posted by Grodan

...It seems it's the navigator itself that renames the microSD card to "NAVIGONSD" after a factory reset...

"NAVIGONSD" doesn't include any software, it's just used to pass the maps from the internal memory to the SD in alphabetical order, to start the software from SD, you must start with an "UpdateMe.exe"...

See if you can re-establish PC connectivity, we'll talk later.

There was an instruction on this site (I think) how to rebrand a Seat navigator to VW, it set ..\VwBrandDevice\Settings\UserSettingsDevMode.default active key to 1 instead of 0, there was also a place to put the VIN-number, I don't recall the exact details. If it can only read maps from the microSD it's of no importance.

Will try to discharge, the new PC I have has high current charge port so it seems it has been charging.

You do not understand! ... or maybe I don't explain myself well ... and the translator doesn't help with the exact words.
I asked you to let the battery run down in 24h and charge it again with vehicle power so that you could sync again with the PC.
You did it?

If you want to read, to boot a software from SD, you can try that, but I say it won't work without first fixing the memory BUG...

Good luck

Spoiler: pic

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I understand, the reply was to your questionmarks.

If it's the electronics that need to be discharged, wouldn't physically disconnecting the battery and leave it off (for an amount of time) have the same effect?
As far as I can tell it shuts itself off after a while so if leaving it on to be discharged would require several power on:s.

(Here's where I found the tip regarding brand change, which doesn't apply here

Code:

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)

Originally Posted by Grodan

As far as I can tell it shuts itself off after a while...

I didn't know that Garmin PID had auto-off behavior.
The Navigon GPS also has an automatic shutdown (30s), but I have the option to stay on.

Originally Posted by Grodan

...wouldn't physically disconnecting the battery and leave it off (for an amount of time) have the same effect?...

Yes, just open the device, physically disconnect the battery and leave it off for 2-3 minutes and reconnect, you can see here :

Spoiler: Garmin PID battery

Code:

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I find myself in the same situation as you, Grodan.

Did you ever manage to solve your problems / revive your unit?

Edit:

Answering my own question here:

I had issues with my unit continuously rebooting, and therefore assumed the filesystem was corrupt.

Before attempting to reinstall the software/firmware of the unit, I found that you could perform a factory reset of the unit by pressing and holding a finger on the screen while powering up the unit.
(A general Garmin instruction was that one should press the bottom right corner of the screen, which I did, but I don't know if this is required.)

When the unit powers up, a message is shown that one should continue pressing the screen for 10 seconds to get it to factory reset.

After this, one is guided through an initial setup of calibrating the screen and setting units, time date format etc..

After this was done, to my surprise, my unit was back to normal operation..

So closing this on my own i guess - and I will pull a complete backup of my unit using the Fresh software in case I need it in the future..