This old GPS unit won't talk to my computer anymore

I dug out my Garmin Nuvi 255 from 2009 last week for a road trip to Flagstaff and the USB port just flashes on and off. Tried three different cables and two laptops but the thing won't connect at all, probably because Garmin stopped updating the software back in 2014. Anyone know a workaround for getting maps onto these old units when the official app is dead?

2 comments

2 Comments

diana_park4d agoMost Upvoted

2009? That thing is older than my kid's phone, whoa.

victor_carr547d ago

Old Garmins are stubborn like that. The USB handshake is picky and a failing capacitor in the unit can cause the port to act flaky. If you're comfortable opening it up, reseating the ribbon cable to the USB board sometimes fixes the connection well enough to get one good upload. Alternatively, you can pull the SD card (if it has one) and load maps directly onto that using a card reader, then just pop it back in. The Garmin will read them fine off the card even if the computer end is dead.