explorist 500 - unknown USB device

Hi

I have bought the
Magellan Explorist 500 LE (North America)

It has recorded quite some data on the internal memory and the SD card I
put in.
How can I access the data from my PC?
When i connect it using the USB cable Windows XP tells me it's an unknown
device - even though I had installed the driver from the installation disc.

Olaf

Olaf Noehring wrote:
Remove the SD card, and put it into a card reader. Find the file you
want, and copy it to the HD, then do your thing.

You shouldn't have any problem interfacing to XP - I have a 600 and use XP
all the time. If its working right, the GPS should recognize that it is
attached and present you with a menu after being turned on. It sounds like
your PC "sees" the GPS because it gives you a message about an unknown
device, but apparently is doesn't recognize it as a "disk drive." Try
turning off (power off, not just reboot) the PC, start up the GPS, then turn
on the PC. Sometimes changing the power up sequence changes the results of
a new hardware install on power up.

There are two modes for connecting my 600, and I assume your 500 GPS to a
PC:

Select "file transfer" mode to transfer tracks and waypoints (history
files). After this is selected, the PC or laptop should see the GPS as just
another disk drive - usually the last letter in the alpahbetical sequence of
drives. Your GPS may default to this mode on power up. The PC or laptop
should do this without your installing any drivers. But this is ONLY true
of XP - Windows 98SE or any earlier version will require a USB to serial
driver to recognize the new "drive." There should be some other posts on
this newsgroup that identify which drivers will work.

The second mode is for "moving map" where the GPS is sending constant
position updates in real time, like when you are using a program on a laptop
to navigate in a boat or car. I don't ever use this mode, but to do so,
select "NMEA data comm" from the GPS menu. You may need to install a driver
for this mode that makes the PC or laptop "think" the USB port is attached
to a serial port so that navigation programs expecting a serial port input
can "see" the GPS.

Another post suggests removing the SD card and employing a card reader.
That is a good choice, and a cheap SD card reader may cost less tham $20.00.
But this ONLY works for history file data transfer - track logs, waypoint
files, and background maps. It will NOT work for real time navigation. You
may have already received one with a digital camera or other device. My
wife's HP photo printer has one built into it. In essence, it is exactly
the same as using the GPS in file transfer mode, but you can't access the
internal memory of the GPS only the SD card. Therefore you may have to use
the GPS to copy files from the internal memory to SD card memory to transfer
using an external card reader. I often use an external card reader, so I
save ALL my files to SD card when operating the GPS and never concern myself
with internal memory.

If you are transferring files, you may have to translate the data in the
files to use it with some programs after transfer to the PC or laptop.. But
that's another story.

I miss the "old days" when all GPSs had nothing but serial ports and rs-232
connectors. The connections were simple. But the extremely slow speeds of
those ports made map uploads almost impossible. While USB ports cables and
modes are very confusing, the are much much faster.



First - you want to do file transfers. Connect the GPS to the USB port,
turn it on, and select "file transfer" mode. I'm assuming here

0000=year wrote:


As Pieter says in his reply... it should just work. I have a 500LE and use
it with my desktop and laptop computers. Both computers are running XP and
recognized my 500 LE as soon as I plugged it in.

I don't know what to suggest to get your system to correctly identify your
eXplorist, but Microsoft has a support page for diagnosing USB problems:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310575

You might also want to phone Magellan tech support.

Olaf Noehring wrote:

This is the same error message I get under Vista x64 about 80% of the
time. Wish I could tell you what I do differently the other 20% of the
time, but truth is it seems to be a random phenomena. I seem to have
the most success by powering off the unit, physically disconnecting the
cable from the GPS unit and then reconnecting and powering on, but this
is far from a guarantee of success.

Are you by chance running the 64-bit version of Win XP?