Magellan 315 no longer locks on satellites

Hi
My trusted Magellan 315 let me down this year by not locking on any
satellites.
A year ago, when I last used it, there was no problem.

I have tried to re-initialize the unit and let it listen for
satellites for hours, but no luck.

Is this how a GPS receiver dies?
Or could this old unit have problems with the satellite repositioning
I read about here?
Or are there any tricks I haven't tried yet?

Any tips, insight, or pointers to other information sources would be
much appreciated!

/Odd

On Sun, 24 Jul 2011 13:05:09 -0700 (PDT), Odd



I had one die that way, not a Magellan, but it died anyway. I decided
the antenna or RF circuit had failed.

The fix I used was to get a new one.

The user manual suggests re-initializing if you don't acquire
satellites, and you say you've already tried that with no success.

http://www1.magellangps.com/assets/manuals/GPS315-320_FAQs.pdf

See question #35. Same answer as in user manual, but adds option of
clearing memory.

4. If the receiver still does not get a position fix within 10
minutes, you may wish to repeat the initialization procedure or you
can do clear memory.
5.To clear memory press Menu, select Setup and then select clear
memory and select all
:NOTE: this will erase all user waypoint/route data


Magellan's Support pages list one software update for this model.
That page, and the Zip file, don't have any text that describes the
update.

http://support.magellangps.com/support/index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&downloaditemid=224

In lieu of giving up:

http://www.magellangps.com/About-Us/Contact-Us

*****************************************

Just in case, here's the re-init procedure from the manual (1.2 MB
file):

http://oneresponse.info/resources/imtoolbox/publicdocuments/GPS%20-%20Magellan%20315320.Pdf

Pg. 49, Troubleshooting:

Takes more than 10 minutes to get a position fix:
1. If there are any obstacles nearby or overhead, move to a new
location.
2. Make sure that the antenna is pointing up, has a clear view of the
sky and is a reasonable distance away from your body.
3. Check Satellite Status to see where the satellites are and if the
receiver is acquiring data.
4. If the receiver still does not get a position fix within 10
minutes, you may wish to repeat the initialization procedure.

For initialization, see pgs. 4 and 41.

It's important to know if any GPS signal is seen (satellite status
page), or not.
If no GPS signal is seen, in the open, after giving the unit enough
time to try most PRNs, then it's likely the signal from the antenna is
cut to the GPS signal circuit. This can be caused by oxidation leading
to a bad contact. If some satellites begin to acquire (hollow bar on
garmin), but never lock (solid bar on garmin), it could be the same
thing, just most signal being lost instead of all of it.
That's an old unit... Probably way past the time to replace it. But it
could be some software issue / memory corruption that can be fixed
with Ed.M's sugestions.
Good luck.

Marcelo Pacheco

No GPS signal is seen (no hollow bars).

Thanks to all of you for your replies.
It seems my next option is to either take the destructive actions
(clear memory, install software) or just declare the unit dead and
keep it as it is with the landmarks in place for nostalgic reasons
(for as long as I keep the batteries going...).

Thanks,
Odd