Troubleshooting Garmin GPS Not Working Issue – Detailed Guide

Garmin GPS not working, could be the most frustrating thing especially when you are driving to a new place and are totally dependent on your GPS.

If you are exploring the internet to find a best-fit guide for “How to fix a Garmin GPS not working issue?” then this article could be a complete help manual for you.

Garmin GPS devices are best known for their accurate and updated navigation services but sometimes even best gets fail. After all its a man-made invention.

First, let’s understand the Garmin GPS not working properly issue. There could be many possible reasons that result in irrational behavior of your Garmin GPS such as Poor satellite signal, low device battery, a frozen screen, Garmin GPS update not installed properly, etc.

In fact, the various problems related to Garmin GPS not working could have different ways and means to fix a particular one, but on a broad canvas, some standard troubleshooting tricks work as a lifesaver and help you in fixing many common Garmin GPS problems.

Here is a list of Some Common Garmin GPS Problems:

• My Garmin GPS Won’t Turn On
• Garmin GPS not working properly
• Garmin GPS not acquiring signal
• Common problems with Garmin GPS
• Garmin GPS not turning On
• No GPS reception on Garmin device
• Frozen Garmin touch screen
• Garmin GPS battery running out

Universal Solution to Fix Garmin Not Working Issue – Reset Your Garmin GPS Device:

The first and the foremost thing suggested and most of the time worked is to reset Garmin device, when you find it stuck/frozen/slow or unresponsive or any other sort of problem with your Garmin device.

Resetting Garmin device terminates all running programs, gives it a break and let the device start from a new again. Now you might be thinking about how exactly to “Reset Garmin GPS,” right? Well, no worries, the following section will explain in detail.

How to Reset a Garmin GPS Device?

Reset a Garmin GPS device means, to make subtle changes in current settings, erasing the current settings or merely turning it off and on to allow the device to create a new start.

Furthermore, the exciting fact is; you have two reset options and either of which can fix your Garmin GPS not working issues. The two Garmin Reset options are:

1. Garmin GPS Soft Reset
2. Garmin GPS Hard Reset

1. Soft Reset Garmin GPS device:

To perform the soft reset for Garmin GPS device do the following:

• Locate the Power button on your device.
• Long press the power button to turn off your GPS device.
• Release the button when the device restarts.
• Garmin logo being displayed on the screen indicated that the device has been restarted.

If any temporary glitches hindered your GPS device working than the Garmin GPS soft reset will rectify that quickly and manages to make your device operate properly.

2. Hard Reset Garmin GPS device

To do a Hard rest for your Garmin GPS device do the following:

• Detach all other hardware, if connected to the GPS device and even the power cable.
• There is a tiny reset button at the back or the side of your GPS device.
• You need to long press this button with a pointed object like a pen tip.
• Don’t release the button until the device restarts.
• Once your device restarts, you may release the button and have to wait for another few seconds.
• Let your device initialize and make its ground settings ready to perform accurately.

Some other Garmin models like Garmin NUVI, Forerunner, etc. has Hard Reset option available with touchscreen only. You need to long press the right corner of the device and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the job.

IMPORTANT: Mind it performing Hard Reset Garmin GPS device will delete all your saved data, preferences, saved passwords, local settings, favorites, and any other customization done.

The happy news is there will be no harm to your downloaded maps as they will still be accessible at the cloud. Log in to your Garmin Express account anytime and download your maps after reset.

Troubleshooting – Some Common Problems with Garmin GPS:

Here are specific Garmin GPS problems that every user faces now and then along with the suggestions, tips, and tricks to fix these issues instantly.

Problem 1 : How to Fix Frozen Garmin GPS Touchscreen?

Solution: This problem may occur when your device touchscreen is not calibrated. No calibration of GPS touchscreen could result in frozen/unresponsive touchscreen.

Do the following to calibrate your touchscreen:

• Follow this navigation: “Menu”->” Option”->” System”->” calibration.”
• Press the “calibration” option.
• This will calibrate your device monitor again.
• To ensure your device could read the changes perform a soft reset.

Problem 2 : No sound in my Garmin GPS device

Solution: Check the following to fix Garmin GPS:

• Make sure the speaker wires are  correctly connected to GPS
• Check the volume level by pressing VOLUME (+/-) key
• Check if the device has been set to “Mute.”
• Follow the navigation: press the “OSD” on the remote control panel or adjust the “Option” then “Audio” to check the settings.

Problem 3 : Garmin GPS displays a Blank screen or Shows Single Line

Solution: To fix the blank screen issue you can try the following tricks:

Trick 1 : Turn off WAAS

This could provide a temporary fix to your “Garmin GPS showing Blank screen” problem. To turn off WASS do the following:

• Click ‘Menu’ option twice.
• Click “Setup.”
• Turn off the “WAAS” option.

Trick 2 : Download Latest Firmware

As discussed earlier working with an old firmware could result in unexpected failures. Garmin GPS showing Blank screen or Shows Single Line is one of such adverse outcome. Do the following:

• Login to Garmin Express
• Check for any firmware update
• Download the latest firmware.
• Restart your device.

Problem 4 : Unable to download maps on my Garmin

Solution: There could be many possible reasons for this failure, try checking following one by one.

Check 1 : No Room on device

Make sure your device is not out of memory, in case of memory full, you need to insert an SD memory card to download the map updates. It is otherwise advised to used SD memory card to save all your data and maps for Garmin GPS device.

Check 2 : Bad Satellite signal

In case there is some satellite issue or server issue at Garmin end, this could also result in failure while downloading the Garmin maps. This is a temporary issue. Try doing the job after a gap of some time.

Check 3 : Slow Internet connection

Check your internet speed once. Slow internet cannot complete the Garmin map update downloading process. Try to download map updates when your internet is running at a good speed.

Problem 5 : Garmin GPS not turning On

Solution: In case you are not able to turn on your Garmin GPS then check the following:

Check 1 : The Power Button

Make sure you press the power button correctly to start your device. A free switch or soft push can be a problem while passing the command to the device system.

Check 2 : Batteries status

Might be the case of depleted or dead batteries. Check your battery status if required replace them. Put the device on power supply in case your device has run out of batteries back up.

Problem 6 : Garmin GPS stopped working

Solution: If all of a sudden your GPS crashes then you should check the following:

Check 1 : Corrupted SD card

There is no time or reason for the failure of micro SD card, but when it happens, it inevitably affects the overall system it was working with.

A sudden crash or malfunctioning of SD card can immediately stop the GPS device working. Try removing and checking the SD card.

Check 2 : Low/dead battery

If you didn’t charge your device fully the might be the battery drained completely, and that lead to the sudden crash of your Garmin GPS device. Recharge your device by putting it onto the power supply.

Problem 7 : Problem with getting GPS Signal on Garmin

Solution: If you are not getting GPS reception on your Garmin device, do the following:

• Come to an open area where you can see a strong satellite signal on your device
• Stay station at one place
• Restart your device
• Wait for a little if you recently downloaded any Garmin map update or Garmin firmware update.
• If nothing works simply do the master reset or hard reset for your Garmin device.

At The End

Unfortunately, if you didn’t find your problem explained in this article or the troubleshooting guide didn’t work for you then you should better contact the experts at the toll-free GPS contact number.