HDS 5 - taking multible attempts to start up

[spelchek]

Hi All,

Went out Friday arvo and the Lowranc HDS 5 wouldn;t boot up. Went into the startup screen with the little 'progress bar' thingy working, then froze (no progress bar), then started booting agin (progress bar moving - started at start). Did this multiple times ovr about 15minutes before actually booting up. I had to turn 'intrument power' off at the switchboard to shut it down to try again. Was sticking for minutes at a time. After 15-20mins of trying it finally booted uo nd ran normally. did the same thing Saturday.

I tried power off then on with motor running and motor off. Pulled the navionics card and tried multiple times, put card back in. Both times endd up booting with card back in (thank goodness as I'd have ben reluctant to re-boot to get the maps working again).

Any ideas what could be causing this?? Anyone else had intermittant boot problems?

Thanks in advance.

[Jarrah Jack]

I had a similar problem and found out it was that the card contacts needed a clean both on the card and in the reader. Also worth making sure that all the power contacts are clean as well. If its not that then a call to lowrance customer service might help.

[spelchek]

How do you clean the contacts in the card reader slot, JJ? Card itself seemed clean on inspection.

[Jarrah Jack]

I used some metho on a squashed ear bud thingo. I'm not an expert by any means but I'm thinking of getting some electrical contact cleaner now.

[Moonlighter]

Might sound like a strange question, but what procedure do you use to turn your HDS off?

The reason is that some people still use the old method of simply holding the power button down unil it turns off. If you do this, the HDs software does not close down properly and the end result after repeating this procedure many times is the sort of problem you are repoting.

The proper way to shut down he HDs series is to press power, scroll down to shut down, select that. The software then closes properly.

In any case, it sounds to me like a software booting problem. Yes, the maps as described by others can be an issue.

But if taking the map card out doesnt work, Id suggest you try a soft reset next, as this reboots the software and often sorts out this kind of problem immediately.

Soft reset procedure is as follows: with the unit turned off, press and hold the pages key and the power key at the same time. When the US basemap shows up you can let go of both the buttons. That is how to perform a soft reset. A soft reset does not delete any waypoints or other settings.

If that does not work, you could try a "hard reset". When the unit is off and you press and hold zoom in, zoom out and the power keys until the US basemap comes up. Be warned though, if you don't save your waypoints, settings and trails first to a SD card, you will lose them with a hard reset.

Cheers!

[spelchek]

Hi Moonlighter - I do the proper shutdown procedure. Once or twice in the past I've acidentally shut down via the power switched on the switch panel - but it's always worked fine afterwards. As I said - only done that a few times by accident - SOP is the 'proper' shutdown.

Thanks for the reset procedures - I'll give a soft reset a try next time. In fact I'll kick it in the guts tonight to see if that works. Cheers!

[Angryant]

I'd try a soft reset as it sounds like a "glitch" with the software. (Are you using the latest software?)
Best way to clean the contacts is to use an alcohol swab (available from your local chemist).
Angry

[trueblue]

it will be the card

take the card out and try start up, should go straight away

I had a corrupted card (no computer interference) and it just screwed up

long drawn out argument with Navionics but ended up getting a new card from them

problem with navionics is that they immediately accuse you of putting the card into a computer to copy it.

new card, unit went back to proper ferformance immediately

[spelchek]

Hi again,

Looks like the soft reset has cleared it up (touch wood). MAny thanks moonlighter.

edit -> just a slight correction of the soft reset procedure: you hold down the pges button, then press (and release) the power button (whilst still holding down the pages button) then release the pages button once the US map comes up.