Garmin electronics problems - solutions - 2015

February 2015 -, Anchored in Zihuatanejo , Mexico

GHC 10 display for the Garmin autopilot.

On our last passage from Acapulco to Zihuatanejo  
We have the Garmin 740 chart plotter.
We have the Garmin GHP-12 under deck autopilot with the type A drive.

AIS from connected to our 740 from our Standard Horizon GX2150 VHF radio.

We have the Garmin HD 18 GMR radar.

This all works together on our NMEA 2000 network.

Our chart plotter was showing some of the screen not colored  in. There was white space on the screen.

Our radar was spinning up but was not showing any targets.

Our autopilot kept losing the rudder calibration.

Our 740 AIS was showing no crafts. We get our AIS from our StandardHorizon Matrix GX 2150 VHF radio which showed boats nearby on the AIS.

Garmin support has since suggested we upgrade our software which we are about to do. We have an older 3.6 version on our plotter. Hoping this will fix the problems?

Update:

We downloaded the Garmin 4.2 update twice at anchor but both times it came down corrupted. Slow WiFi was the reason we think. 

 A trip to shore and lunch at a favorite Loncheria that serves up home cooking and also has good WiFi was in order. Debbie brought her Kindle Fire and downloaded the software there. Once back at the boat Debbie copied the software to the PC and from there she installed it onto the SD card like Garmin wants. Next Debbie installed the SD card into the Garmin 740 chart plotter and upgraded the software and it worked on all units on the NMEA 2000 network.

Once done the chart plotter started showing AIS targets from the  StandardHorizon Matrix GX 2150.

The chars were complete without white areas again.

The Garmin GMR 18 HD Radar was showing targets again and seems to be working fine again.

The GMI™ 10 Marine Instrument at the nav station was set to come on when the electronics were turned on. This setting we thought we had changed to only come on when turned on separately. We do not always use the GMI™ 10 . Because it was not off the software on it got corrupted. Now it does not work. Garmin’s fix is to re-install the updates and if that does not work then bring it in. This is mainland Mexico so bringing it in is not an option. We will try the re-install soon.

The GHC™helm control unit Garmin autopilot was still not working. We did not have a chance to get a rudder error as it kept going off course too bad. We will try to calibrate the rudder using the “Dock Side Wizard” soon. We tested it during the “Sail Fest” parade here in Zihuatanejo  .