FAQ

M1.) Is there any way to recover a corrupted Dakota without sending it back to Garmin?

Forced USB Mass Storage Mode

If your Dakota freezes during the startup process (i.e. Loading Maps...), and you've just loaded new maps or new gpx files then it could be the new files which are causing the problem. This procedure forces the unit into USB Mass Storage mode so that you can delete (or rename) these files. Follow these steps to recover:

Attach the Dakota to your computer via USB cable
The Dakota will power on and start to boot, immediately power the unit off while still connected
Power on the Dakota and continue to hold down the power button for 30 seconds
The Dakota should enter USB mass storage mode
From your computer remove or rename any gpx, map files (.img or .kmz) files that were recently added
Unplug the Dakota and power on to see if this remedies the problem

During step 3) you should only see the Garmin banner for 30 seconds followed immediately by the graphic that shows a computer connected to a GPS. If you see any other text such as your custom banner, banners for loading maps, waypoints, etc then you have not held down the power button long enough.

Forced Firmware-Upgrade

This procedure may be useful if you've recently performed an upgrade and the unit reports a "System Software Missing" error. The procedure will perform a low level installation of the software. After running this procedure the Dakota will be running an outdated software version, so it may be necessary to run the Webupdater once you are done to upgrade to the newest version of software.

Instructions for this were originally provided on Garmin's German support site.

Download this file to a new directory on your PC and unzip the file in that directory. The firmware to be installed is an old version (2.20), there are newer versions available (2.50, 2.70, 2.80 or 3.00) available on Perry's firmware site.
Open explorer and change to the directory created in step 1.
Drag and Drop the "xxxxxx.rgn" file on updater.exe
Updater program should start automatically.
Change interface to "USB".
Remove the batteries from your Dakota, press and hold the power button, and connect the unit to the USB cable
As soon as the unit is recognized inside the updater program, click the "ok" button
You may release the power button as soon as the unit starts updating
Wait for completion of update
Unplug the device, reinsert batteries and power up the Dakota
Follow the initial setup procedures on the device
Run Webupdater to bring the unit to the latest firmware release

M2.) Recovering from a "Memory Full" error on a Dakota 20

Warning: This procedure may delete information (waypoints, routes, tracks, etc) from your GPS and settings may be set back to factory defaults. It is intended to be a "last ditch" recovery procedure.

After many years of trouble-free use I suddenly started getting Memory Full errors when starting my Dakota 20. After much searching on the web I used this procedure to correct the situation:

Obtain the GCD file for a different version of firmware than currently installed e.g. 4.10 from the Versions section of this wiki
Create a copy of the GCD file on your computer named gupdate.gcd
Plug the Dakota 20 into your computer and wait for it to enter USB mass storage mode
Copy the file gupdate.gcd to the Garmin folder on the Dakota 20
Disconnect and restart the Dakota 20 to load the software on the device
Once restarted verify that the error is no longer occurring and then plug the Dakota 20 back into your computer
Run the Garmin WebUpdater to bring the firmware up to date
Reinstate your preferred settings on the Dakota 20

M3.) Master Boot Record (MBR) Recover

Warning: This procedure WILL delete information (waypoints, routes, tracks, etc) from your GPS and settings may be set back to factory defaults. It is intended to be a "last ditch" recovery procedure.

This procedure can help if the Forced Firmware-Upgrade procedure above fails on you Dakota and you cannot get any data (maps, points, tracks...) to work (even if you copy them manually to device). It can help also if you get a "Database Error" when try You can observe this if the device cannot recreate the "Garmin" folder by itself after erasing/formatting the mass storage device. It can occur also if you've formatted or re-partitioned in a wrong way your Dakota on USB mass storage mode.

Download the aefdisk32 utility and unzip it to a folder.
Download the MBR image correspondent to your device and copy to the same folder: Dakota 20.
Connect your device without batteries and wait until mass storage device is show on explorer.
Open a command prompt, switch to the folder that you used above.
Find your device using aefdisk32 on prompt. To be sure if it is your device, compare the showed disk size with your device specification: aefdisk32 N /show (where "N" is a number starting with 1 - if you have just one harddisk, your device will usually be disk 2).
Replace the MBR: aefdisk N /restore:xxxxxx.mbr (where N is the device number found on step 5 and xxxxxx.mbr is the file downloaded in step 2).
Unplug your device, put the batteries and power it on. Copy one small map and test it. Smile if you get it working again.
Not working yet? Maybe will be necessary perform the Forced Firmware-Upgrade.

Note: If you have a different device and want to contribute, you can send your device description and respective MBR file to include here (see aefdisk32 help to save one MBR to a file - it's fine, it will not damage your device).