Notice for Garmin users

[John Jones]

In the last few weeks many Garmin portable and handheld and some of the older large fixed mount gps units have been locking up or shutting down shortly after getting a position lock.  According to Garmin's tech support they will have a unit software update out shortly to fix the problem.  The solution for now is to go into your unit's Setup and disable WAAS.  I am assuming the government changed something about the WAAS signal that caused some Garmin unit software choke.

Mapsource/BlueChart users.  I suggest not downloading Garmin's latest Mapsource update version 6.14.1.  It will barely run and even crashes on some computers.  Garmin support email to me acknowleges the issue and said they are working on it.  They say it was designed for newer Vista computers and has issues on older machines.  They suggested I uninstall and they sent me a link to the prior software version.

[RickK]

That's amazing John - I was working on this very same problem yesterday. I didn't know about the WAAS thing but was trying to load all my old Garmin software on my Vista PCs.
You can forget MapSource on ANY 64bit system - the maps won't unlock.
I too, loaded 6.14.1 and could get my automotive nav maps to work on my Vista 32bit laptop fine but as soon as I loaded BlueCharts it crashed.  I spent a couple hours on hold with Tech Support yesterday and the first TS guy sent me some instructions that didn't work and then after 30 more minutes on hold another TS guy took me to a site that had every MapSource ever made (probably the same place you went) and I downloaded 6.13.7 and BlueCharts works as it should on that version.
I have the site bookmarked if anyone needs it.

[John Jones]

The problem you are experiencing started when the newest GPS satellite
was activated by the U.S. Government.  I don't know the technical
explanation, but the signal is causing this lock up on some units.    As
you have already discovered, you can turn off WAAS & this will take care
of it. Software updates are being prepared for the many models of units
Garmin has produced.  As you can imagine, this is a huge undertaking.  
Once the update is completed for your unit, it will be posted on the
Garmin web site.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can do for you.

With Best Regards,

Michael H
Product Support Specialist
2nd Shift Marine Team
Garmin International