Etrex Vista Hcx rollover problem

Discussion in 'Garmin GPS' started by Martin_, Apr 30, 2019.

  1. Martin_

    Martin_

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    Hello
    Is there anyone who has an old functioning etrex vista hcx?
    With correct display of the date. (week rollover)?
    The time display is correct.
    I didn't find anything helpful about the vista hcx.

    Is there a workaround?
    Maybe with a pc-program, like "gpseow.zip" by garmin, for some "newer" devices with usb interface?
    There are obviously no other firmware updates newer than 3.2.
    Reset didn't work in my case

    On the other hand, an even older GPS 3+ shows everything correctly
    Thanks
    Martin
     
    Martin_, Apr 30, 2019
    #1
  2. Martin_

    Nuvi-Nebie Moderator

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    Even units that can't handle the week rollover problem will only fail if both removeable AND internal batteries fail (compleatly resetting the unit), these units are o.k. unless they 'forget' the current date

    Only really old units have the week rollover problem, with later units being programmed to cope with this problem, I would be surprised if the Vista hcx has this problem

    Does the unit manage to get a satellite 'fix' ?, sometimes the internal date counter is correct and allows the unit to successfully find satellites, in this case only the displayed date is wrong
     
    Nuvi-Nebie, Apr 30, 2019
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  3. Martin_

    Martin_

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    Thank you for your reply.

    Everything works fine with the exception of the date.
    When exporting the tracks this is of course very annoying.

    For my purpose the device is otherwise very good.

    Is there a way to force the device to re-read in the almanacs, like a (first) cold start without putting it 1 year without batteries in the drawer?
    (I hope this is understandable, what i mean)

    Regards
    Martin
     
    Martin_, May 1, 2019
    #3
  4. Martin_

    Nuvi-Nebie Moderator

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    If your GPS has a position 'fix' it has already read the current satellite almanacs correctly, the problem is the way GPSs count (and display) time, they have a 10 bit 'Week' counter, this equates to a block of roughly 20 years so the first GPSs started counting from zero on the 6th January 1980 and got to the end of the counter on 22nd August 1999, units made after this date had a zero date of 22 August 1999 and end date of 6th April 2019, around this time manufactures also realised 20 years was not long enough so they used an additional 3 bits to count the 20 year blocks

    So all GPSs work on 20 year 'blocks' but the newer ones can switch between 8 different 20 year periods e.g. :-

    3 bit counter . . range
    000 . . . . . . . . . 6th January 1980 to 22nd August 1999
    001 . . . . . . . . . 22nd August 1999 to 6th April 2019
    010 . . . . . . . . . 6th April 2019 to 21 November 2038
    011 . . . . . . . . . 21 November 2038 to 2057
    100 . . . . . . . . . 2057 to 2076
    and so on

    Unfortunately, without a software change your unit is (I guess) stuck in block 001. As a matter if interest, what date does your unit display?
     
    Nuvi-Nebie, May 1, 2019
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  5. Martin_

    Martin_

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    Thank you for your explanations.

    This means that only the relative time from the counter reading 0 comes from the satellites. Bad news.

    This is such a comfortably built in obsolescence after 1023 weeks for the manufacturers... These could ensure that the date could be set manually.
    If 3 bits are added to new devices, the problem will hopefully be solved anyway.

    Okay, I guess that's it for now, thanks.
    Regards
     
    Martin_, May 2, 2019
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  6. Martin_

    Martin_

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    Hello
    Yesterday I started the Webupdater again.
    Surprise: There is a new GPS firmware.
    (GPS Chipset Type M2 (Region File) software version 3.0)

    Everything is ok again, correct date...
    Greetings
     
    Martin_, Jun 12, 2019
    #6
  7. Martin_

    Nuvi-Nebie Moderator

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    There is a follow up post connected to this problem, (Click HERE)
     
    Nuvi-Nebie, Aug 11, 2019
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