Tomtom 700 - Is it bust?!

[cheezeejazz]

Hi guys

This is my first post here as I found this forum searching for answers to my problem so any help is appreciated!

Basically my Tomtom GO 700 won't turn on. I've read so many posts on here describing similar issues but none of the answers seem to work and as the tomtom is actually borrowed from my boss - i'd really like to fix it!

Ok so the problem is that on a recent journey it was working fine of car power, then on the motorway it restarted itself without me touching, then since then has been locked on the loading page. It was showing the load up bar then freezing on the two hands logo. No amount of turning on an off, charing/de-charging/pressing reset for over a minute seems to have made any difference whatsoever.

So I spoke to the person who owns it and they said normally reset would fix that and it occurs due to the memory being full (from recent destinations he seemed to think?) seems a bit silly to me...

This was a week ago and now I've had chance to do some research on fixing it, I've gone back to the Tomtom and it won't even do the load screen now! Its currently plugged into the mains and has been for an hour, the green LED is on but when I push the power button nothing happens. The computer doesn't recognise it down the USB cable and there is no clicking noise of the hard drive as some posts suggested...

I'm really at a loss now and it ain't gonna be cheap to replace it so if theres any suggestions I'd be eternally greatful!!

Thanks in advance, Pete

[telematicsman]

Pete,
I had the same problem with my TomTom Go 700 in front of an IEE Committee room full of Engineers who probably all went out and brought other makes! Like you it was a few days before I found out the cure. It needs resetting. I am used to reset problems with computers but the TomTom does an excellent impersonation of a dead machine, no screen activity, noises anything except that green LED.

If you remove the Go from its mount and turn it upside down there is a pinhole in the part of the circular mounting socket closest to the screen. Using a suitable probe (paper clip or PDA reset probe) to push into the hole you can push the device into a hard reset. A very similar procedure is needed for resetting some PDAs.

It will then sit awhile then quite suddenly the TomTom red hands on a black screen will appear together with their drum roll noise. It will then reinitialise itself going through all the startup screens.

I normally reset at intervals anyway to prevent it seizing up while on the move as I am not up to doing this while trying to drive and you can't stop on Motorways etc. Every so often it will start repeatedly replotting routes. In Go 700 terms this is the first sign that it needs resetting.

Apparently quite a few were returned to the shops when this started happening and my local Dixons still keep their bent paperclip handy- just in case!

Personally I think the reset mechanism used is a mistake and it should either hard reset whenever switched off (or on) or use a 'watchdog' circuit to recover itself when this happens as the last thing you need is it failing while you are on a journey. Hopefully the x10 series will be better in this respect. All that said it is a useful gadget, particularly when some of the POI's available on this site are loaded.

Good luck

[cheezeejazz]

Hi Telematics man

Thanks for your lengthy reply I appreciate it, but as I mentioned in the initial post I've already tried the reset button with a paper clip and had no joy, not even when held in for over a minute as some people have instructed.

If you read all of my post you will notice that it initally would reboot, but now resetting results in no action whatsoever.

Hope someone knows!

Thanks again, pete

[DennisN]

After a reset, I occasionally have to push and hold in the on switch for ages - until it does the hands thing and goes on to behave itself.
_________________
Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

[Eldar]

Try resetting it with the house charger plugged in and as Dennis says push and hold the *reset* button for about 10 seconds. If that doesn't work and provided that it's not the proverbial "green light" problem, you'll probably need a new hard drive.
The green LED is connected directly to the input terminals of the DC power supply and therefore only indicates that *some* voltage is present on the DC socket.

[telematicsman]

Hi
I had the same problem as Eldar and Dennis N had when I tried it the first time. Sometimes you press and hold then release and still nothing happens. If they get to the stage of total shutdown even after pressing reset it takes a while for something to start happening. Possibly its checking its hard drive before rebooting or something. As Eldar says keep it on charge as well then you can be sure it will stay powered up. Mine took several minutes before it finished doingits checks and cycling through screens.

If it starts repeatedly recalculating routes I generally regard this as the first sign of madness and reboot it as soon as I can pull up and do so. The reboot time is much shorter if it hasn't closed down altogether.

As a precaution I reboot it every couple of weeks. There seems to be an overflow error that causes this and so far this seems to have avoided it happening on the move.

[DennisN]

[Andy_P]

Sorry if you've got well past this stage, but after the reset my unit sometimes takes a LONG time to switch on the first time, so there is a tendency to press the "on" button, wait a while, then wonder if you'd pressed it for long enough so press it again, just before it was about to wake up.


If it IS bust though, are you sure it's going to cost a lot to replace? Most TomToms have a two year guarantee.
You could also try SatNavShop Repairs (run by "Eldar" on the forums)

[Eldar]

[DennisN]

[cheezeejazz]

Thanks for so many replies given that I'm a newbie

I've tried every combination of all power buttons and resets I can find, on charge and off of charge and still no action whatsoever. If indeed it is a failed hard drive as someone suggested does anyone know whether its cheaper to get that repaired or just buy a new unit?

I checked out the repair site and that seems like it would be a cheaper option than buying a new one....this is so frustrating as it just did it out of the blue!

Thanks, pete

[Andy_P]

Is it out of guarantee?
The easiest way to find if you've got a 2 year one is to look at the "license.txt" on the harddrive, but of course you can't do that!
There should also be a hard copy in the paperwork that came with the unit, if your boss can find it.

[cheezeejazz]

She's given me all the box and cables etc and I can't find anything that states the date it was made...it was bought off ebay, will try and find out whether it was a private sale or shop but in the back of the usual manual its says copyright 2005, which means it must have been made in that year. Given we're near the start of 2007 I may be in luck and its covered under warranty.

Is the warranty affected by the fact it was purchased on ebay? Also, if I can't guaruntee its production date due to it not starting and not being able to check the text file, will TomTom charge me for the time they take to look at it?

Thanks again, pete

[Eldar]

[cheezeejazz]

Ok well that settles that one then! I thought that may be the case...

To Eldar : Does sound to you as though its a bust hard drive? And if so, do you have a rough estimate on how much you would charge to repair that as its surely gonna be cheaper than buying a new unit....also how fast is your turnaround?

Thanks, pete

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