Forums >Gears and Wears>Forerunner 305 Death Process
It might be kaput.
My 310 was doing the same thing... I did the hard reset (during the three seconds between turning it on and having it go dead again) and it has been mostly ok since then. Mostly. Except when it mysteriously froze mid run. Longest 6.1 mile run I've ever done.
Heh. The reminds me of the first car I bought with my own money. A 1985 1/2 Ford Escort. That's right. 1985-and-a-half. Anytime I needed something for that car, I had to go through the "oh wait..." process with the auto store guy.
Heh. The reminds me of the first car I bought with my own money. A 1985 1/2 Ford Escort.
That's right. 1985-and-a-half.
Anytime I needed something for that car, I had to go through the "oh wait..." process with the auto store guy.
Shut the front door my first car was a 1985 1/2 Ford Escort! The head gasket blew in the summer of 1995...prior to that, nothing wrong with it.
Anyway, on topic, my Garmin might be dying too. It just randomly shuts off. It isn't drained, full battery, comes right back on...unless I move my arm to much, then shuts off. Ah well...I just try not to shake it.
MTA: Ah, no wait, it just hit me that my first car was a 1985 1/2 Mercury Lynx...but the same car nonetheless.
Knifey, I don't think your Garmin is not dying, More likely it's been a common complaint that the glue between the two halves of the watch fails after a while, and this causes the watch halves to separate slightly, causing the watch to shut off. Wrap the two halves together tight with Cellophane tape to confirm this diagnosis. If that helps, completely separate the two halves and super glue them back together.
Knifey, I don't think your Garmin is not dying,
Ahhhhh..... Bach.
rectumdamnnearkilledem
Ahhh...so maybe my first 305 isn't really dying? 'Cause mine started flaking-out at about the same time that I noticed the halves separating.
So how does one go about separating the halves and regluing? And what sort of glue?
Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to
remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.
~ Sarah Kay
Have you tried cleaning the contacts on the back of the watch? Little bit of toothpaste followed by a damp rag usually works well.
A pencil eraser will also work and is less corrosive.
2013 Goals.......
10:30 PM post, guess how many beers were in me by then.
To determine if this is the case pinch the two halves tightly together and try turning the watch on, if it comes on and stays on as long as you hold it tight, then you got this problem. Using a little force should separate the two halves, you wont break anything.
First I used rubber cement, did not work (still separated a bit), Now its permanently sealed with super glue, and also scotch taped. Not sure if the super glue is damaging to the electronics, but its wokring for over a year that way now.
Not sure if the super glue is damaging to the electronics, but its wokring for over a year that way now.
Hey, that's cheaper than throwing it out!
My 305 seems to work fine, except that I can't get it to sync with the Training Center software. I've tried reinstalling Training Center, as well as updating with the latest version, but it still won't sync. This just means that I needto manually enter my run data to RA.
Even if my 305 was syncing, I'd still need to manually enter my data because we recently upgraded to Windows 7 64 bit OS. The RA plug-in for Garmin is not compatible with 64 bit browsers. I downloaded FireFox, to have a 32 bit browser, but the plug-in doesn't work with the current version of FireFox either.
As long as my only problem is needing to manually enter my run data, I'm not going to mess with it anymore.
Dave
Dave, I recently bought a new computer with Windows 7 64 bit OS and was having similar issues with the latest version of Training Center. If I hook up my Garmin 305 to my old computer (which has an older version of TC on it) I have no problems transferring data from the watch. However if I hook up my 305 up to my new computer it won't automatically transfer my workouts. It says 'transfer complete', but the latest workout is not there. Sometimes I can use File > Receive from Device... to transfer my workout, but even that doesn't always work. I've given up and gone back to using my old computer for my Garmin.
It could be a moot point though because I've also been experiencing occasional problems recently with my 305 (the same ones that Chris mentioned). It doesn't always hold a charge, and it has quit on me a couple of times now. I've cleaned the contacts, etc., etc. I've had it since 2007 so mine may also be showing the signs of 305 death. On the bright side, the price of the 305 has come down substantially in the last 4 years and this one has served me well.
Redhead,
My problem is a little different. Garmin TC on my new (64 bit) PC won't even recognize that my 305 is connected to the PC. If I try to use either Receive From or Send To device, I have the same result. Otherwise it functions normally (for now), and I have too many other things to do to mess with it much more at this point.
If I resolve this issue, I'll report back.
Regards,
Knifey, I don't think your Garmin is not dying
I don't think that doesn't mean what you don't think it doesn't mean.
"I want you to pray as if everything depends on it, but I want you to prepare yourself as if everything depends on you."
-- Dick LeBeau
My problem is a little different. Garmin TC on my new (64 bit) PC won't even recognize that my 305 is connected to the PC. If I try to use either Receive From or Send To device, I have the same result. Otherwise it functions normally (for now), and I have too many other things to do to mess with it much more at this point. If I resolve this issue, I'll report back.
Just to state the obvious: have you downloaded the Garmin Communicator thingie?
And FWIW, an update to Firefox broke its working relationship with my 305. I have to launch IE and upload through that browser; FF works fine for everything else in RA and GTC.
So a while back I purchased a 2nd 305, but kept my original one as a back-up. Tomorrow it will likely be useful to have 2, as I will be riding my bike across the state (~147 miles, according to previous riders). I'm guessing it will take 10-11 hours, including short stops for food and potty breaks, etc. I know the 305 is rated to have an average battery life of 10 hours, so I'm planning to have both Garmins on my bike...I'll use one to record the first half of the ride and the other to record the 2nd half.
I charged my old Garmin, but when I would turn it on and push any buttons it would crap-out. I decided to try wrapping the bottom portion (where the halves are separating) tightly with black electrical tape. Just sitting here playing with it and pushing buttons didn't yield any total shut-downs, so that's cool.
I will say that in the months I've had my new 305 I've not been as impressed with it as I was with my first one. It's definitely not as reliable as the first one. Something I notice with the newer ones is that the LCD changes from screen to screen are sorta sluggish and blur into one-another. The first one had much crisper/sharper changes, if that makes any sense.