[Chris near Kansas City]

Buddy of mine lives in Florida and picked up an '06 (if I recall correctly) earlier this year or last winter (whatever that means in Florida, LOL). When shopping around, he told me he thought he'd like to have one with Navigation on it. Told him if that's what he wanted, then he should get one with it. So, he did.

He mentioned a couple months back, that he could set a city and it would navigate to the city without issue. But, he couldn't set a street address. Street or number, couldn't enter it. Didn't quite understand what he was saying, but he said he had someone a little more computer savvy come over and this person couldn't seem to figure it out either. Appeared to be a puzzlement, but nothing I could do, or know anything about the system, from 1300 miles away.

Met up last week at the American Voyager Association rally in Summersville, WV. We didn't talk about the navigation issue, or think to look into it. The two of us ended up in the middle of the week helping a fellow rally attendee with a 2008(?) Wing that all of a sudden had a key issue with the ignition. Just wouldn't turn. Bars were unlocked, but no amount of jiggling, shaking, twisting or holding your tongue out would allow the key to be turned, so the bike could be started and ridden home. Got the bike going (stuck tumbler), and as payment for our services, I told the guy to show my buddy how to input an address in the GPS. He did. Basically setup about like my Garmin Nuvi 1300 car/handheld. Pick the state, then the city, then the number, then the street. Easy. Guy had my buddy enter a waypoint into the now reassembled wing, so that he could get practice. Got back to the hotel, and my buddy tried it. And I saw what he was talking about. The navigation was not set up the same as the '08-ish. Layout or available options, or available sections to go into, were laid out much differently. Once you found the street or number screen, you were not allowed to actually enter anything, even if some/all letters were "lit" or available to be selected. Also, on my buddy's 06, when typing in a state, or city or whatever, once you typed in the first letter, then only the available letters for whatever the next possible combinations would be "lit" or able to be selected. The '08-ish bike allowed you to type anything, just like my Garmin 1300. Aha, now I understand. But, how to fix it?

1) Is the programming (firmware???) the same or different between the '06 and say, an '08 or '09???

2) The Garmin update is just a map update, correct?

I have read about Honda dealers being the ones to do software, or firmware, or operating system updates, but that also, there may be, ahem, "alternate" sourcing for the same.

3) Are there updates that only a Honda dealer can perform?

4) What do they accomplish?

5)Does the firmware change the way the system is laid out, meaning Windows 7 vs Windows 8, and was this question possibly answered by the answer to question 1?

I have not been able to find anything, like videos or pictures online, that show one year vs. another year's navigation input instructions to know if they are the same or not, or if it's a system issue due to not being updated (firmware?). Had some time with another buddy on the way home and he was pretty sure that the systems can act funny if not regularly updated. Can't recall if he thought the Garmin update also had some firmware update in it, or not, but I think he said that a dealer may need to do some updating to the bike.

Thoughts?


edit: yay! Post 100!!!!!

 

[griffalo]

Buddy of mine lives in Florida and picked up an '06 (if I recall correctly) earlier this year or last winter (whatever that means in Florida, LOL). When shopping around, he told me he thought he'd like to have one with Navigation on it. Told him if that's what he wanted, then he should get one with it. So, he did.

He mentioned a couple months back, that he could set a city and it would navigate to the city without issue. But, he couldn't set a street address. Street or number, couldn't enter it. Didn't quite understand what he was saying, but he said he had someone a little more computer savvy come over and this person couldn't seem to figure it out either. Appeared to be a puzzlement, but nothing I could do, or know anything about the system, from 1300 miles away.

Met up last week at the American Voyager Association rally in Summersville, WV. We didn't talk about the navigation issue, or think to look into it. The two of us ended up in the middle of the week helping a fellow rally attendee with a 2008(?) Wing that all of a sudden had a key issue with the ignition. Just wouldn't turn. Bars were unlocked, but no amount of jiggling, shaking, twisting or holding your tongue out would allow the key to be turned, so the bike could be started and ridden home. Got the bike going (stuck tumbler), and as payment for our services, I told the guy to show my buddy how to input an address in the GPS. He did. Basically setup about like my Garmin Nuvi 1300 car/handheld. Pick the state, then the city, then the number, then the street. Easy. Guy had my buddy enter a waypoint into the now reassembled wing, so that he could get practice. Got back to the hotel, and my buddy tried it. And I saw what he was talking about. The navigation was not set up the same as the '08-ish. Layout or available options, or available sections to go into, were laid out much differently. Once you found the street or number screen, you were not allowed to actually enter anything, even if some/all letters were "lit" or available to be selected. Also, on my buddy's 06, when typing in a state, or city or whatever, once you typed in the first letter, then only the available letters for whatever the next possible combinations would be "lit" or able to be selected. The '08-ish bike allowed you to type anything, just like my Garmin 1300. Aha, now I understand. But, how to fix it?

1) Is the programming (firmware???) the same or different between the '06 and say, an '08 or '09???

2) The Garmin update is just a map update, correct?

I have read about Honda dealers being the ones to do software, or firmware, or operating system updates, but that also, there may be, ahem, "alternate" sourcing for the same.

3) Are there updates that only a Honda dealer can perform?

4) What do they accomplish?

5)Does the firmware change the way the system is laid out, meaning Windows 7 vs Windows 8, and was this question possibly answered by the answer to question 1?

I have not been able to find anything, like videos or pictures online, that show one year vs. another year's navigation input instructions to know if they are the same or not, or if it's a system issue due to not being updated (firmware?). Had some time with another buddy on the way home and he was pretty sure that the systems can act funny if not regularly updated. Can't recall if he thought the Garmin update also had some firmware update in it, or not, but I think he said that a dealer may need to do some updating to the bike.

Thoughts?


edit: yay! Post 100!!!!!

Chris,

To answer some of your questions:

1) Is the programming (firmware???) the same or different between the '06 and say, an '08 or '09???

The '06 - '08 uses the same setup and the same firmware. The most current version is 5.10. They also use the old Compact Flash (CF) cards. They also have a 2gb limit on size of files that can be read.
The '09 - '10 uses a different version of firmware (2.7 is the latest) and they use SD cards. Not sure about the limit on file size, could be 4gb, but again, not sure on that.

2) The Garmin update is just a map update, correct?

If you buy the update from Garmin, it is usually a firmware and map update. For the '06 - '08 bikes, it's two CF cards, one with the lower 48 states and the other is Canada and Alaska.

3) Are there updates that only a Honda dealer can perform?

Not that I'm aware of. I've updated mine to maps from April 2019 as late as last month. The firmware I got when I ordered the cards from Garmin. The ONLY reason that I ordered them was because this is the last year for updates from Garmin to the '06 - '08 bikes.

4) What do they accomplish?

The update for the '06 - '08 systems was to allow it to use the NT based version of the maps. It also sped up the system a little bit as far as calculations go. The down side is that the Search by POI does not work. I just pull the place up on my phone and put the address in to the bike's GPS if I need to.

5)Does the firmware change the way the system is laid out, meaning Windows 7 vs Windows 8, and was this question possibly answered by the answer to question 1?

I'm not sure what OS is being used on the bikes, but it stays basically the same. The firmware around 4.7 or 4.8 allowed the use of the NT based maps, but as far as any other changes, I couldn't tell you what it did internally.

If you can find out the definite year of the bike, i can provide instructions and the firmware for the different years. Send me email addresses and I can send you dropbox links for the files. And if you have a Garmin GPS unit with lifetime maps, I can also provide the unlocker program to build your own map files.

Good luck on this. As far as the issue he is having, it could be a firmware issue or software. If the previous owner set up his own map file and it's too large, it will cause problems. You can always turn the key on, bring up the nav screen, hit the 'Menu' button, select 'Setup Info' then 'System Info'. That will tell you the firmware and the map version that is running. With that, I may be able to help you figure out what is going on with it.

Keith

 

[Chris near Kansas City]

Chris,



2) The Garmin update is just a map update, correct?

If you buy the update from Garmin, it is usually a firmware and map update. For the '06 - '08 bikes, it's two CF cards, one with the lower 48 states and the other is Canada and Alaska.


Keith

Wife and I stopped in St. Louis on the way home to have some cool treats with another friend of mine. He was saying, or was pretty sure that was the case on the update. That it was a firmware, or partial firmware update in addition to the maps. He alluded to the bike(s) potentially having system operational issues if they aren't kept current. He's had/has a bunch of bikes, and knows a bunch of people, so was fairly certain he knew what he was talking about.


Sent my Florida buddy a link to this thread. Thanks for your help!


Chris

 

[pwhoever]

Try and find out what firmware and mapset is on his bike. Also, if I recall (my bike is at another location right now so I cany verify) if you are searching for an address out of state, you have to set the state and town/city first or it will have a problem as it will just compare your inputs with cities in your state. And if the numbers dont correspond with addresses in your state, you wont be able to fully search. I could be wrong on that, wouldnt be the first time and definitely wont be the last but I seem to remember something along those lines...

 

[sur48]

There are different ways to enter street or st or road or rd . Ect I think there is a as show button after you put in some of the address number and cross road just do finish it and select show
.see if it pops up .

 

[kwthom]

5)Does the firmware change the way the system is laid out, meaning Windows 7 vs Windows 8, and was this question possibly answered by the answer to question 1?

I'm not sure what OS is being used on the bikes, but it stays basically the same. The firmware around 4.7 or 4.8 allowed the use of the NT based maps, but as far as any other changes, I couldn't tell you what it did internally.

The bike's firmware *is* the operating system of the GPS. It's a combined hardware and software system, proprietary to Garmin. Griffalo's answer is correct when the NT-based maps were capable of being used by the older systems, for a variety of reasons.

The big issue now is that there's less than 2Gb of memory capable of holding the map data in the GPS - and that's it on the '06 - '08 bikes.

The newer GPS' used different hardware and firmware that will allow a bigger mapset, more complex routing, etc.

Sad that the flagship bike got saddled with old (even for that time period...) GPS hardware.

 

[Chris near Kansas City]

Bikes in question are in fact a 2006 and a 2008.

 

[griffalo]

Bikes in question are in fact a 2006 and a 2008.

Chris,

Both of those bikes can have the firmware updated to the 5.1 version that was just released with the last map updates from Garmin. This "might" fix the issue or it might not. The only other thing I can think is if he can look at the CF card on a computer and see how big the file gmapsupp.img is. Anything over about 1.9gb will probably cause issues. I found out the hard way going to Wing Ding last year. I had new map files installed and when to lay in a route and found out that I didn't have any maps east of the Mississippi River. Made it tough to plan routes. My map file was about 1.89gb in size and caused me all kinds of problems. Re-did the file to about 1.7gb and everything is fine now. If you want to update the firmware, shoot me an email address and I can send you a dropbox link for the file. I may even be able to send it to you in email. It's only about 3.5 Mb in size.

The other thing may be to do a full reset on the nav unit on the bike in question and then upload the latest firmware and see if it works. This thread:

https://gl1800riders.com/forums/5-gl1800-tech-board/274322-hard-reset.html

tells how to do the hard reset. But you'll need a newer version of the firmware after the reset cause it sets it back to Version 4.2 I believe. Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll be happy to help if I can. Some of the other suggestions are good ones to look at. Perhaps a bent pin in the unit will cause the issue, or the card not seated properly.

Keith

 

[mrprez]

Griffalo is da man! He helped me get my system updated.

I noticed yesterday that there isn't way to end a route. When you arrive at your destination, seems to me there used to be a menu option to end the route. I couldn't find that yesterday. The routing worked great although the route we used to get back home kept trying to get me onto the interstate even though I have Avoid Highways selected.

 

[jda51]

Try reseating the CF card