No Green Light At All

Stevie · Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am Post subject: No Green Light At All

You could try letting the battery completely drain which may reset everything back to default.

From posts I've read it is possible to change a setting in these units leaving it stuck in a mode you cannot use.

Though the problems were mostly with the green light on all the time.

Nisar · Occasional Visitor Joined: 15/08/2003 10:22:17 Posts: 3

Thanks Stevie, I'll try your suggestion Sir.

Dave · Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am Post subject: No Green Light At All

Did you try to change baud rate or from NMEA to SiRF ? If so just unplug it from the charger, leave it on and drain the battery for 2 days. This should also discharge the backup battery (capacitor) and should then when you charge it again perform a factory reset (as all settings would have been lost).

There is another problem with Emtac's that have been seen and TomTom BT GPS too, where the green light comes on constant and no Bluetooth light and no data. The only way is to return it to where you purchased it and get a new one.

It sounds like you have the first problem though rather than the second.

Nisar · Occasional Visitor Joined: 15/08/2003 10:22:17 Posts: 3

I did discharge the battery, but I haven't left it off for 2 days yet. I will try that now.

I've been in contact with global positioning systems and they have given me a RMA to return, I'll wait until Tues to see if the complete reset works, if not, I guess I'll have to return it.

Thanks for your suggestions, very much appreciated.

Nisar

MikeB · Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am Post subject: No Green Light At All

Nisar,

In theory if you bought this unit in the last 8 months this should not be the changing from SiRF to NMEA problem as this was fixed prior to the release of any retail units.

Also the drain and discharge time for the Emtac/Socket is more like 2 weeks. The GlobalSat discharge is 2 days. So leave it as long as possible before charging and switching on.
_________________
Mike Barrett

Nisar · Occasional Visitor Joined: 15/08/2003 10:22:17 Posts: 3

I have had my BTGPS unit for about 2 weeks, since yesterday, my EMTAC GPS green light does not switch on at all. It is not solid, nor is it blinking, it's just off.

The blue light flashes and I can see the Unit from my iPAQ 3970 and if I charge it, the yellow comes on.

TomTom 2 does not see any sats, neither does the GPS Status program. Crux_view will not open the port, says "Read Error !!"

Any Advise ?

ChrisB · Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2003 10:00 am Post subject:

Hi,

Just noticed this thread after my Emtac unit started doing exactly the same thing Sad

. Its been working fine for about 4 weeks, charged it yesterday, turned it off and then went to turn it on a few hours later - no green light at all (flashing or continuous). I have tried leaving it on overnight until the battery runs down and it turns off, but still no green light sadly....

I got my unit as part of the Wayfinder sat nav system for the Sony Ericsson P800 phone, and as I say everything has been working like a charm up until yesterday.....

Not sure where I stand on replacement / repair (have contacted Wayfinder), but there is virtually NO information on repair / diagnostics on the Emtac site. I also checked the Socket website forums, as they sell a rebadged version of the same GPS, and there were about 4 or 5 users who reported an identical issue. Sadly no-one seems to have posted to say whether they found a solution to the problem, or whether they had to return the units Rolling Eyes

Seems to me that there were either a "bad batch" of units, or there may be a certain sequence of events / actions that can kill the unit or put it into this state.

As for waiting 2 weeks to fully discharge the unit...... 8O Sadly that is not a luxury I can afford if this keeps happening - I need the system to navigate, and will not be too happy at wasting 2 weeks Wayfinder subscription each time this happens!

Anyway, I would appreciate hearing if anyone finds a solution to this, in the meantime I will wait and see what Wayfinder offer as a solution to the problem - their custy service has been very good so far - lets hope they can keep an unblemished record Smile

!

I think the Emtac / Socket GPS is a great device btw - so small - just hoping this is a one off duff unit.

Cheers,

Chris

ChrisB · Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2003 10:13 am Post subject:

.... see this thread also for what might be the same issue:

http://pocketgpsworld.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=18305#18305

There are also some links to Socket users who have posted a similar issue on the Socket site (it is a rebranded Emtac unit).

Cheers,

Chris

tedkay · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2003 5:57 pm Post subject:

Hi

Me too! Same problem with no green light after it has been working fne for several months. There didn't seem to be any solutions offered on the forums links to which have been provided in this thread , ohter than leave the damn thing to discharge for 2 weeks. I did email socket but they haven't replied yet -- damn it - I praised their unit on this website some time ago!

Has anyone any idea what causes this failure (I mean is it a sequence caused thing or just dodgy hardware) ?

I notice one subscriber to this forum mentioned having to return it to USA for replacement - surely if you bought it in the UK and it is under warranty your recourse is with the UK company it was purchased from?

Ted

ChrisB · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2003 7:17 pm Post subject:

An update on this issue is probably in order from my point of view.....

Turns out in my case it was a dodgy batch of chargers supplied with the Emtac that could produce a voltage "spike" big enough to kill the GPS.

My Emtac unit and charger came with the Wayfinder sat nav system and both Wayfinder and the UK supplier (TotalPDA), contacted me once they knew about the problem. I believe all Wayfinder users have been sent replacement chargers as a matter of course.

Sadly I didn't know about this until it had fried my GPS Crying or Very sad

. The upside was that I only had to send the GPS back to TotalPDA and they sent me a replacement Emtac unit and charger out next day by courier :D .

Not sure if the socket units use the same charger, but I would have thought it likely.

Although its too late for those with a dead GPS, the problem can be avoided evidently, even with the dodgy chargers as follows:

1. Always connect the mains power supply to a wall outlet before connecting the charger cable to the Emtac Bluetooth GPS receiver

2.When the charging is completed, always disconnect the cable from the Emtac Bluetooth GPS before pulling the mains power supply from the wall outlet.

The car chargers are supposedly not affected, so should be ok to use that instead I guess.

If your unit is still within warranty I would have thought your UK supplier would be the best point of contact.

I now have a new Emtac unit and charger which both seem to work fine.

Cheers,

Chris

mritguy · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 04, 2003 Posts: 1

Add me to the list of people with this problem. I've had it for almost a year than all of a sudden no green light anymore. Confused

APK1 · Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2003 3:36 pm Post subject:

Mine has just gone after 6 months, without warning, any cures yet apart from a new unit ?

leesmann · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 03, 2003 Posts: 5

Look on the side with the Internal Antenna, Large White square.
With the antenna on the lower part, right above it is a 1cm square right
abouve this is a white rectnagle, short the two ends of this rectangle
together,(this won't hurt it any). Just ge a paperclip can touch it to both
ends, hold for 1 second to make sure it is drained.

Then above the rectanlge is a black square witha circle inside, do same as
above wiht this, and it should fix the problem, did for me. If I get the
problem again, I will try one of these at a time and see exactly which one
fixes the problem. I am going to send a suggestion to socketcom and suggest
they put a reset butoon on the back so we can just push it instead of
opening it up or sending it back.

Doghead · Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2004 6:15 am Post subject:

My BT Socket GPS unit - purchased from expansys, around March 2002 for circa £240

Now £212 www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=CRUXIIBTGPS

...well it didn't come with any charging unit for the mains.

I've been using my Dell Axim PDA charger for to also charge to Socket GPS.

Could I inadvertently be setting myself up for some of the problems that have been experienced by owners in this thread? (I feel for you guys - these units are pricey and its no fun at all having to pay out again for a replacement.)

I thought the unit would be more robust for charging as the Socket can also be charged via car charger - although my grade E in basic Physics doesn't give me much to go on.

Doghead · Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2004 6:17 am Post subject:

Correction - I meant March 2003.

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