GPSMAP 396 won't acquire sats

[Mike Spera]

Out of warranty (naturally) 396 has started acting flaky. It sits there
with the incorrect time and date and will not acquire satellites and
start up. Tried different antennas. Sometimes it will acquire after
30-40 minutes. Garmin's support database is useless. Are there any known
problems with this unit or is it time to get fleeced by their service arm?

Thanks,
Mike

[Mike]

"Mike Spera" > wrote in message
m...
> Out of warranty (naturally) 396 has started acting flaky. It sits there
> with the incorrect time and date and will not acquire satellites and start
> up. Tried different antennas. Sometimes it will acquire after 30-40
> minutes. Garmin's support database is useless. Are there any known
> problems with this unit or is it time to get fleeced by their service arm?

I would suggest you take the antenna off and inspect the BNC connector
closely. If there are no obvious signs of damage, you probably have an
internal GPS problem and it will require sending it back to Garmin for
repairs.

[Morgans[_2_]]

"Mike Spera" > wrote in message
m...
> Out of warranty (naturally) 396 has started acting flaky. It sits there
> with the incorrect time and date and will not acquire satellites and start
> up. Tried different antennas. Sometimes it will acquire after 30-40
> minutes. Garmin's support database is useless. Are there any known
> problems with this unit or is it time to get fleeced by their service arm?

How about the bios battery? I suppose it does have a small dry cell to keep
the settings while you change battery, or kill the rechargeable battery?

A low voltage on something like that can drive you mad.
--
Jim in NC

[Denny]

Let me second the idea of substitution of your antenna for a different
one...
Next, you could download the BIOS updates (if you have not)...

[Robert M. Gary]

On Nov 2, 7:57*am, Mike Spera > wrote:
> Out of warranty (naturally) 396 has started acting flaky. It sits there
> with the incorrect time and date and will not acquire satellites and
> start up. Tried different antennas. Sometimes it will acquire after
> 30-40 minutes. Garmin's support database is useless. Are there any known
> problems with this unit or is it time to get fleeced by their service arm?

Wow, mine just started doing the same thing. Mine is mounted on my
yoke so the first thing I did when I got on the ground was to take it
off and put on the little dinky antenna that Garmins ships with the
unit. I still had the problem. Maybe I'll need to learn how to reset
the unit?

-Robert

[MikeMl]

Mike Spera wrote:
> Out of warranty (naturally) 396 has started acting flaky. It sits there
> with the incorrect time and date and will not acquire satellites and
> start up. Tried different antennas. Sometimes it will acquire after
> 30-40 minutes. Garmin's support database is useless. Are there any known
> problems with this unit or is it time to get fleeced by their service arm?
>
> Thanks,
> Mike

Try it out of the aircraft, running on internal batteries, and the
monopole antenna. In my installation, I can create your symptoms just by
tuning my Narco Mark 12D Nav receiver to 115.5Mhz. The 13th harmonic of
the Nav receiver local oscillator blocks sat reception.

[G Myracle]

"Mike Spera" wrote in message
m...
Out of warranty (naturally) 396 has started acting flaky. It sits there
with the incorrect time and date and will not acquire satellites and start
up. Tried different antennas. Sometimes it will acquire after 30-40
minutes. Garmin's support database is useless. Are there any known
problems with this unit or is it time to get fleeced by their service arm?

I would suggest you take the antenna off and inspect the BNC connector
closely. If there are no obvious signs of damage, you probably have an
internal GPS problem and it will require sending it back to Garmin for
repairs.


My 396 was doing the same thing. It appeared to be hanging up on sat 51.
My friend's 296 was also locking up also and someone at Garmin told him to first push the Out button in and hold while while powering up the gps. This worked for both of us however you may have a different problem however I feel it is worth a try.

Hope this helps you

George

[Steve - KDMW]

On Nov 2, 10:57*am, Mike Spera > wrote:
> Out of warranty (naturally) 396 has started acting flaky. It sits there
> with the incorrect time and date and will not acquire satellites and
> start up. Tried different antennas. Sometimes it will acquire after
> 30-40 minutes. Garmin's support database is useless. Are there any known
> problems with this unit or is it time to get fleeced by their service arm?
>
> Thanks,
> Mike

It's the internal (non-user replaceable) battery. I've had several
friends who have had the same problem. They were both surprised at
Garmin's cluelessness over the problem and had a hard time convincing
them to change the battery. But that's exactly what it is. The unit is
losing it's internal memory because of the battery and having to re-
initialize itself which takes the 30-40 minutes you are describing.

Steve
KDMW

[Morgans[_2_]]

"Steve - KDMW" > wrote

It's the internal (non-user replaceable) battery. I've had several
friends who have had the same problem. They were both surprised at
Garmin's cluelessness over the problem and had a hard time convincing
them to change the battery. But that's exactly what it is. The unit is
losing it's internal memory because of the battery and having to re-
initialize itself which takes the 30-40 minutes you are describing.

Doh! I thought so!

NOTHING is non user replaceable, if the user is determined enough, and has
mad enough "engineering" skills!

I'll bet that it would not even be that hard. I would do it in a heartbeat,
if it were mine.
--
Jim in NC