Garmin Boot Block

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DualSport

2013-10-25 @ 14:09:26
My Montana would not boot - it stayed at the Garmin Logo screen - and Garmin suggested performing a Boot Block to force it into Boot Block mode so as to update the Firmware. This is similar to your Recovery procedure for Forced Mass Storage Mode. Here's what they said:

To perform the boot block:

1. Ensure device battery is full charged
2. Disconnect device from computer
3. Power device off
4. Download, install and run WebUpdater
5. Proceed to Find Device screen
6. Press and hold the POWER button
7. Plug device into computer
8. Wait until device is recognized by computer, it may take up to 30 seconds for device to be recognized as a drive
9. If prompted, install USB device drivers:
    a) Choose "No, not at this time"
    b) Click Next
    c) Choose "Install USB drivers automatically (Recommended)"
    d) Click Next and wait for USB driver installation to complete
    e) Click Finish
10. Release POWER button
11. Download, install and run BaseCamp to backup device
12. Click Find Device in WebUpdater
13. If needed, update device
14. Right-click on device drive and Click Eject
15. Disconnect device from computer
16. If required, insert batteries into device
17. Power on device
18. Wait for the update to complete
19. Your device should now function normally.

The important difference was doing this via the WebUpdater as it could find the Montana internal memory, whereas when I was following your procedure I was using Windows Explorer to access the Montana and it did not appear as a USB drive, even though it was.

Thought you might find this useful information.

Bob

 

Acadia28

2013-10-26 @ 05:18:11
Oh, so that's what that behavior is. I just keep trying to restart it, and eventually it works.

 

babj615

2013-10-29 @ 00:33:13
Thank you DualSport, added this thread to the Troubleshooting Page.

 

Acadia28

2013-10-29 @ 12:04:09
I recently had a scary episode with this, I had to attempt numerous restarts to get the Montana to restart properly. I hope the device has some sort of restart, or shutdown BIT routine to do some maintenance and housekeeping. "Normally" this happens infrequently.