Kaput tomtom - format?

jeffers111 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 20, 2008 Posts: 3

Evening all,

Updaing my Go 720 failed the other day and I've managed to corrupt something, somewhere along the line. Maps of Western Europe no longer show up through Tomtom Home or via My Computer, but the 1.7gb or so they should take up on the tomtom still show up as used space.

I rang tomtom and they said send it off to them with the receipt and they would flash it for a full-blown factory reset. Only problem is I don't have the receipt anymore and would feel somewhat aggrieved at having to pay while it's still under warranty (would be free with the receipt), and anyway I would rather not be without it for a few weeks.

Is it possible to format the hard disk (using windows), and then simply reload the Go application, POIs, voices using TT Home, or is formatting it going to wipe firmware etc etc. If so, any other ideas?

And no, I don't have a backup. Trust me it's top of my list when I get it back up and running. Thanks in advance... J

Andy_P · Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 4:41 am Post subject:

You certainly can re-format the internal memory and start again, but if they are corrupted on the unit and with no backup you will not be able to replace the most important bit... the maps... without paying for new ones I'm afraid.

If you can see the contents of the Go with Windows Explorer, give us some idea of what is still on there. Even better, use Drive Z to create a listing of your drive (and the contents of the map folder) so we can take a look.

The most lkely scenario is that you DON'T need to re-format and start again, but just delete the system files (the loose ones that are NOT in a folder) then connect to Home and get it to re-install.
If Home won't re-download the software, you may need to delete any stored copies of it in your PC's Home downloads folder. come back for more instructions, if that's the case.

MrT · Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 7:22 am Post subject:

If you can see the drive from explorer but just not the missing files, it could be that the index file on the memory is corrupted. This can sometimes be restored using disk recovery tools or memory card recovery tools. Even chkdsk from within windows can work if it is only a simple index corruption.

If the files were accidentally deleted but nothing has yet been written over them, they could possibly be recovered by a recovery utility, as most files are not actually wiped from the disk, their index entry is changed to say they are no longer there and the space can be re-used. If this space has not been re-used the index entries can often be restored using a recovery utlility.

Oldboy · Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 7:54 am Post subject:

Recuva has had good reports.
_________________
Richard

TT 910 V7.903: Europe Map v1045
TT Via 135 App 12.075: Europe Map v1120

MaFt · Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 2:00 pm Post subject:

if it does need sending back then a bank statement showing the transaction would suffice. and, under warranty, your first port of call is the shop you bought it from. let them argue the toss with tomtom about receipts!

MaFt

jeffers111 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 20, 2008 Posts: 3

That's the driveZ dump. Western_Europe has completely vanished - though some fragments were recoverable using Recuva but not enough to constitute anything major, and it still thinks the hard disk on it is pretty much full despite not being so, and having run chkdsk.

Formatting seems to be the most appealing, just because I know I can start from the beginning again. When it comes to maps - tempting to get something pirate off the web. bad yes I know - and no I'm not looking for hints, tips and tricks - but given it's just what I had on there before, and just what tomtom would do, I can square it pretty well with my conscience.

DriveZ dump:
art
ASR
audiobooks
bin
Canary_Islands
contacts
customvoice
demo
ephem
gns
helpme
home images
itn
licences
logging
LoquendoTTS
microbrowser
mp3
phone_database
photos
poi
ppp
raster
schemes
script
SIMCARD
sounds
statdata
text
TomTom HOME Install.app
TomTom-Cfg
voices

-----------

bootloaderversion.txt
clmdata
CONNEC~1.EN0
CONNEC~1.EN1
connect2internet.db
connect2internet.db.encode
connect2internet.so
connect2internetdb.ver
CURREN~2.DA0
CURREN~2.DA1
CurrentLocation.dat
CurrentMap.dat
data.chk
data_im1.chk
data_li.chk
data_sp.chk
data_ts.chk
fm2010parameters
fmsignal
gprscom.conf
GPRSSE~1.DA0
GPRSSE~1.DA1
gprssettings.dat
internal.dat
libaec_55.so
libaec_60.so
mctx.dat
mctx.txt
pluserror.txt
reflush.log
settings.dat
signpost_li.txt
system
ttdesk.ve0
ttdesk.ve1
ttdesk.ver
ttgo.bif
tthome.bif
TTPnPD.log
ttsystem
UserPatch.dat

Andy_P · Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2008 12:17 am Post subject:

Hmmm, looks like emigrating to the Canary Islands is your best bet.... Wink

Be interesting to know if you can switch to that map and browse it. That would give you an idea of whether you need to restore everything else from scratch or not.

To keep your conscience clear, have you considered the Map Update subscription?
With that you get a year's worth of new maps for less than the price of one...

jeffers111 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 20, 2008 Posts: 3

Ok so I could navigate through the Canary Islands, can't anymore. When I turn the tomtom on it says it can't use Canary_Islands-5 and I should select another (it's the only one available).

Tried deleting the loose files and reisntalling the application but TT Home won't write to the drive properly (starts trying to copy ttsystem, but stalls then fails - ttsystem shows up when looking through My Computer but Explorer locks up when trying to open it). TT Home keeps hanging and crashing too.

The file index is still messed up. If I format the drive is it a) possible to reinstall everything (excluding maps) and b) will this correct the errors with the index?

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