Magellan 3250 has trouble locking onto satellites after Suspend

[Magellan3250nauser]

This is about a Magellan GPS. If anyone has an idea, even if it is for another brand of GPS that uses Windows CE 5.0 it may prove helpful.

Our Magellan 3250 has worked well for many years. About a year ago we replaced the battery after watching a how-to video online, and we have recently replaced the touchscreen with a lightly used Original Equipment Manufacturer's touchscreen.

The Magellan has given us very good service and recently has developed a problem that is odd. If the Magellan turns itself off or one presses the power button for 1/2 to 1 second, it goes to suspend mode. When the Magellan turns on an resumes it does not have any previous session remembrance of the satellites it successfully had. It starts over from scratch looking. The problem is it sees one, two, or even three satellites, and they are orange in the satellite screen. It sees them and is gathering data, but even after 3 or 4 minutes, it can NOT progress to having 3 or more green bars meaning it is locked on and functioning.

One time I was watching it (as a passenger) and it had 4 orange satellites and was alternating between 3 orange and 3 green every 1 second. After 30 seconds of this I turned off the Magellan with the 5 second press of the off button that turns if OFF, not suspends. Upon restarting the Magellan it immediately saw one satellite within 5 seconds, then after about 15 to 20 seconds, it had a lock on 3 green satellites and was functioning properly again.

It is as if the Magellan or Windows CE is not keeping its data from the suspend mode and then gets "hung" trying to find and lock onto a satellite. Turning off then on again cures this and it does see satellites very quickly and usually locks on within 20 seconds, even while moving.

Any ideas?

Thank you.

 

[Nuvi-Nebie]

The problem may be the amount of time the unit is in suspend mode, units normally retain an 'image' of what satellites it expected to see in the sky but this short term image is only good for about 30 minutes, if the unit is turned on after this time it looks like it is still trying to use this short term image to get a quicker satellite fix, but the image is too old and not useable

 

[Magellan3250nauser]

The problem may be the amount of time the unit is in suspend mode, units normally retain an 'image' of what satellites it expected to see in the sky but this short term image is only good for about 30 minutes, if the unit is turned on after this time it looks like it is still trying to use this short term image to get a quicker satellite fix, but the image is too old and not useable

Thank you NN. You have a nice sounding answer. I could understand you suggestion if the car has sat for an hour or 2, but I have tested this and even getting a lock with 7 (green) satellites, turn off the Magellan (suspend mode), turn it back on in 1 minute, it would "endlessly" look trying/struggling to get a lock and not succeed. It would have; one, or two or even three satellites to query (orange) but never lock and get a green. "Never" meaning 20 minutes later it still has failed. Now, if I turn OFF the Magellan by doing the 5 second button press, then restart it, almost every single time, it would get a satellite in 5 seconds, then lock-on within 30 seconds.
It is as if the suspend mode file or data is corrupted and can't figure it out.
Thank you for answering.

 

[Magellan3250nauser]

UPDATE: I have a little more information on the "Magellan 3250 having trouble locking onto satellites after Suspend".

The problem is Magellan will usually not get satellites upon a short term off (suspend) period. If one holds the off button down for 5 seconds, it turns it off. Turn it back on and it will find satellites within 30 seconds and lock on.

I have noticed if the list in the satellites acquired screen is short then there is a 99% chance it will not get a satellite lock. If the satellite list has 10, definitely 11 or 12 (full list) then it will get a satellite, then lock on within seconds. I have noticed if the Magellan is in this suspend mode as the car is off, for overnight, the next day it will get a satellite lock just fine.

The problem is more the short term "off cycle". Off for a minute or two, for 15 minutes, or an hour, then back in the car and nope, no satellites locked on. Turn off, then back on, its fixed.

I have had some people say maybe it is the satellites have moved on. Nope, it can have 9 satellites locked on (green) and see 11 total. Turn off the car (suspend mode), restart in a minute or two and Magellan is lost. If it has a short list just "reboot" and save time. We have driven 20 minutes, stopping at stop lights, and still no satellite lock. Reboot the Magellan and its back to normal again.

Thank you for any ideas.

 

[Magellan3250nauser]

A second update to the Magellan 3250 satellite acquisition problem.

The problem is more the short term off cycle. Off for a minute, 15, or an hour, then back in the car and no satellites locked on. Turn off, then back on (reboot), its fixed.

I am noticing if the Magellan is in suspend for over 3 hours, it seems to be able to get a lock on. If it is less than that, it will usually fail. These hours off (suspend) are approximate. This is an ongoing evaluation of a problem.

I also have noticed that certain satellites must have the data Magellan needs. The satellites have a Pseudo number, so they say, and it appears numbers; 10, 12, 13, 20, 22, 25, 29 and 51 have the data Magellan wants. Satellites 05, 11, 14, 15, 24, 27, 32 may not. Just today satellites; 05, 10, 15, 24 struggled for 15 minutes "talking" to Magellan and never locked on.

Therefore I was curious, are some satellites having issues or have bad data that Magellan can not benefit from, so it fails?

There is the programming error called the satellites Y2K problem that happened in April of 2019. This was supposed to be a time/date issue.

I do not think our Magellan 3250 has an issue with that but it is strange that it can see the satellite, have a "long discussion" with its orange bar displayed, and never get a lock (green bar). Is there a type of handshake similar to a modem connection that data is exchanged and if it is corrupt or wrong, it is ignored?

Is anyone out there a GPS satellite communications expert?

Thank you.