Firmware Updates with WebUpdater

[Art]

Just use the WebUpdater from Garmin.

...

The last thing anyone wants to do is brick your unit doing it yourself.
There is no rush and the WebUpdater does a good job installing it.

All the Webupdater does is download and copy the GCD file to the internal drive. The unit itself interrogates and installs any valid GCD file found on it’s drive, and then deletes it so it doesn’t try to update again for the next power cycle.

If you make a copy of the unit’s internal drive, and name it Garmin, the Webupdater will copy the file to that instead.
It gets the current version from device.xml, so you can edit that, and even trick the Webupdater into thinking your device has old firmware to be sure it will always see the latest version.

[asprin624]

Is that not the job of the Webupdater and Garmin Express??

All they do is give the file to the 66 and it is up to the 66 to install and update.
Both have always done their job correctly for me no matter what Garmin I have updated.
There had to be other factors why some users run into problems updating the firmware.
The last thing I would do is update over WIFI.
I tried one time on my SmartDrive 61 to updated the speed cams over WIFI.
It did it OK but every time I connected with Garmin Express it was telling me I needed yo update the speed cams again.
So I will not be using My WIFI connect to do any updates. Will only connect with a Garmin Cable to my Laptop and use Webupdater or Garmin Express.
Plus I would never do is updated via my smartphone and Garmin Connect App. To may connections for something to go wrong.

[Art]

I thought this was originally a reply to my downloading and updating the file from here,
which is essentially the same as Webupdater would be doing.

[asprin624]

My whole point is not to do any thing manually but just use what Garmin gives you.
To many users will be reading this things and want to try and update manually only because they can not wait to get the official message of an update.
There is not rush for any update The 4.80 only came Saturday to my 66. Even if it did not come yet that would have not been any problem. It does not stop you from using the 66.

So users have to be very careful what they try to do. I have read in many forums users screwing up their Garmin Units because they do not know what they are doing. Not saying you do not know what you are doing. But from what I have read over the years users always touch the wet paint even if the sign tells you it is wet.

I quote you:

If you make a copy of the unit’s internal drive, and name it Garmin, the Webupdater will copy the file to that instead.
It gets the current version from device.xml, so you can edit that, and even trick the Webupdater into thinking your device has old firmware to be sure it will always see the latest version.

Do you know how many users with get this wrong????

[Art]

My whole point is not to do any thing manually but just use what Garmin gives you.
To many users will be reading this things and want to try and update manually only because they can not wait to get the official message of an update.
There is not rush for any update The 4.80 only came Saturday to my 66. Even if it did not come yet that would have not been any problem. It does not stop you from using the 66.

So users have to be very careful what they try to do. I have read in many forums users screwing up their Garmin Units because they do not know what they are doing. Not saying you do not know what you are doing. But from what I have read over the years users always touch the wet paint even if the sign tells you it is wet.

I quote you:

If you make a copy of the unit’s internal drive, and name it Garmin, the Webupdater will copy the file to that instead.
It gets the current version from device.xml, so you can edit that, and even trick the Webupdater into thinking your device has old firmware to be sure it will always see the latest version.

Do you know how many users with get this wrong????

It wouldn’t matter because I’m talking about an ordinary USB drive.
If your Garmin unit has say 4.20 on it, and you copied it’s internal drive content to a USB key,
Webupdater would always think you have a 66 with 4.20, and download any available update after that.
The real unit doesn’t have to be connected to the computer for that to work.
It’s only if you copy the GCD file from that to your Garmin and power it up that it can use the new file.
If for no other reason, it’s a way to check a firmware update is available that isn’t on their web page.

I suspect it’s the way the owner of this site gets the updates to upload here.
Otherwise he has a way to enter USB mode to copy the file before the update begins on the device.

Either way, there’s no difference in the file that will be downloaded whether it’s direct to the Garmin’s drive,
or copied from somewhere else. All the WebUpdater does is check the version, download the latest file,
and copy it to a drive that it thinks is a Garmin unit.

There may be a problem of course if you try to update with a file for a different model, etc.

Incidentally, if you want to downgrade your unit to an older firmware version there’s nothing preventing you doing so,
so long as you have a way to enter USB mode and copy an older version GCD file to it’s drive before it begins an update
from any existing GCD file it has on it’s drive. that it may not have successfully updated from and deleted yet.

[Art]

Reading again, you’ve done something contrary to your own advice, and somewhat more dangerous.
You only need to download the version you want (in your case 420 gcd file) rename it to gupdate.gcd,
and copy that to the internal drive... overwriting any existing file of the same name, and then turn the device on.

That’s what I just did to downgrade to 420.

An RGN file has a length value, but no known checksums, so there’s no known guard against a corrupted file.

Am I missing some reason to use an RGN package here? To copy an RGN to the drive, you must be able to access the unit’s drive and copy the GCD instead can you not?