2.06 GPS status

[Tim Buxton]

I've recently upgraded my TTNav 1 software to Navigator 1.53 and GPS 2.06 and now I don't get any stas showing on the GPS status screen. The sats are obviously being detected since the programme still guides me from one place to another, although it still tries to get me to drive off motorway overbridges onto A and B roads passing below!



Any thoughts?


_________________
Tim

[DavidW]

What GPS hardware are you using, and with which driver setting in the GPS driver? Do you have any idea which driver setting you used before?



So far as driving off overbridges onto A roads - that's most likely map related. I've never seen Navigator 2 do this - but you've now missed your chance to upgrade at relatively low cost.







David

[DavidW]

So far as the maps go - I think you'll find they were put right in Navigator 2. That was what part of the upgrade cost went towards - new maps.





The other issue is, I believe, down to the SmartST Pro SP1 upgrade - apparently it turned off some NMEA sentences by default. If you have a hunt in either the TomTom Navigator 2 or Navman forums you should find the answer. I believe the answer is to use a SiRF configuration tool such as Winfast Navigator to turn on the GSA and GSV sentences. You ought to check what the correct serial port speed for a Navman is, though, before making this change.







David

[Tim Buxton]

David,



I'm using a Navman sleeve and the Navman 3000 driver setting, as I was before.



I'm sure the driving off bridges *is* map related, but since Tomtom supply the maps, I'd expect them to put it right.



I'm not worried too much about the upgrade to TT2; I generally use Navman SmartST Pro but thought I'd see if Palm had made the routing better.


_________________
Tim

[Tim Buxton]

David,



Yes, the maps might possibly have been put right (since I don't have TTNav2, I don't know) but as you pointed out that was at an extra cost. Can't I expect something to be made to work properly for free? Say my new car broke down tomorrow, should I expect the manufacturer to charge me to put it right? I don't think so.



As to the other issue, I don't see what relevence there is to SmartST Pro. It is confined to TTNav 1, surely? That's the programme I was running and SmartST Pro wasn't even present on the device.


_________________
Tim

[Dave]

Actually, diversing slightly, the manufacturer will charge you. My new car has 9 faults since delivery, some major, and although they were all reported within the second week of owning the car, they've agreed to swap it out for a new car off the factory floor. I'm into my 5th month and now that I've travelled nearly 10,000 miles, they want me to pay a price per mile to swapout to a new car.



In the GPS status program, try selecting NMEA 57600 as the driver and see if you see any difference. If the sats come back, go back to the main driver you're using and see if they're still present.



If not, or neither works, then you probably need to run up WinFast Navigator and re-enable the GPGSV and GPGSA.



Run up WinFast Navigator, connect at NMEA 57600, prob COM 6 or COM5.



When you're connected goto the TOOLS | COMMAND, switch to NMEA tab and make sure you set the baudrate back to 57600 and make sure everything is set to zero except for GGA=1, GSA=5, GSV=5, RMC=1, VTG=1.



Tap OK, and you should then see a connection by going to VIEW | DEVELOPMENT (data flowing through). Now disconnect and try TomTom Navigator 2, hopefully the sat signal strength should be back.

[DavidW]

Dave,



Not a Vauxhall Zafira, is it? Mine has had serious faults in several major systems - but particularly the engine.



Vauxhall wouldn't replace it. After a year of numerous trips to the dealer, they agreed to offer replacement with a second hand car from dealer stock in equivalent condition, but I need a very odd combination of options because of my disability, also I felt I'd be swapping a car with a history I knew throughout for one where I didn't. Their alternative when I declined was £1000 on top of the trade in value!



Faults over its 3.5 year life included the rear brakes seizing on the M1 and earlier this year a £3550 bill for new fuel injectors and an exchange fuel injection pump after a sudden and dramatic loss of fuel pressure (fortunately the dealer got Vauxhall to cough up 90% of that bill). That latter fault looked like the turbo hose had come off again (indeed, the turbo hose had come off during all this) - and I was shocked when something that looked like it was going to take 5 minutes and £2 to repair landed up taking 3 weeks and costing over £3500!





I think, in truth, there's always a handful of cars from any manufacturer that are just rogues. This is when you discover just how far a manufacturer is prepared to go to back their product.



Meanwhile, I hope I've shaken all the gremlins out of this car now - though not helped by someone rear-ending me and causing sufficient damage that the car was nearly written off. I wouldn't be surprised if getting towards the point where the cost of repairs that my insurance company, Vauxhall and myself have paid out for is above the new price of the car. It's certainly had more than ten thousand pounds worth of repairs.







David

[Tim Buxton]

Dave,



OK, perhaps my analogy was poor, but your car has obviously experienced wear and tear over the 10,000 miles and that's what you're paying the difference for. I can't see wear and tear being an issue with software to be honest.



As to your suggestions, I'm not sure I'm brave enough.


_________________
Tim

[Dave]

David, it's a New Vectra. 90% of the problems I'm having are electrical faults. Things like Cruise Control Tripping out whilst letting it drive, then after several trip outs it fails completely. Service light should come on around 18,000 miles, came on at 600, and regularly at 600 intervals. Engine decided to immobilise itself when driving round a roundabout (not nice!). Also headlight check warning lights keep coming on saying there's faulty bulbs, but the bulbs are okay. I've had other issues with gear stick dust cover creasing which then gets trapped in the automatic gear shift shaft making a ratchet noise, bad bonking from the front and rear nearside wheels, the list just goes on and on. Vauxhall said they'd charge me for the wear and tear, I said fine, I'll continue to go to the media, several motoring papers were interested, and also I'd take Vauxhall to court. Eventually they backed down, and also asked me if there's anything else I'd like fitted to the new replacement, so I ran up a bill of £550, they asked me how I'd like to pay for that, and I said they will. Just waiting for the new car to arrive in August now (delayed again). Apparently it's still on the production line being built.



Tim, if you take a read of our technical article it should walk you through step by step, screen for screen.

[Talkingbollox]

DavidW and Dave



Sorry to hear about your experiences with Vauxhalls. I have a V reg Zafira from new, and bought a factory warranty before they introduced the 3 year mickey mouse dealer warranty to keep up with Ford. When I say "bought", the car was a "mis-build" and came without the front foglights and arm rests for the front seats. Obviously they can't stop the production line for non-essential parts, so they offered me £500 off. I bought the warranty with it. Let's just say that I'm glad I did!



As soon as the VW Touran hits the showroom I'm gonna change it.



Dave, keep us posted when the new car arrives.



Cheers





      

[DavidW]

I remember the misbuilds - you have a Zafira Elegance too. I opted to avoid those as I needed various options (in particular, the cruise control), so had one factory built.



Maybe a misbuild would have been better in the long run!





I didn't buy an extended warranty, but was given one for the second year because I had had so many problems and I asked for it! Later on, as you say, the three year dealer warranty came out.





Sorry about your nightmare Vectra, Dave. My problems were mainly mechanical. Hopefully they've now all shaken out, and as I only have 26000 miles on the car (not least because I couldn't drive for a long period after the car crash), I'm going to hold on to it for now.







David

[Talkingbollox]

David



My was factory built too, but it was mis-built!

[Talkingbollox]

Dave,



As you know I have a Road Angel which does not output any satellite in view information. Am I correct in saying that I can use Winfast Navigator to turn on the GSA and GSV sentences? Are there any risks in doing this?



Your previous advice is to change the settings to these general settings in your "tweaking and testing" article:



GGA 1 VTG 1

GLL 0 MSS 0

GSA 5 User 0

GSV 5 User 0

RMC 1 User 0



Any ideas what the default settings are on the Road Angel in case I cock it up?



Thanks in advance

[Dave]

It depends on whether the receiver supports it. The receiver inside the Road Angel's is a Holux, so in theory it shouldn't be a problem, but it may be a very cut down receiver seeing that it's primary use is to drive the Road Angel and GPS output is secondary.



Be warey that changing some of the above settings may give you a strange effect on the GPS, it shouldn't do anything serious like stop you connecting to it, but the Road Angel may be looking for a specific configuration from the receiver before it can be used. You might want to talk to Blackspot to see if they think it might be an issue if you re-program the GPS to support GSA/GSV. Certainly setting this to 5 is what I'd recommend.

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