Well, if you've read my last few posts, you'll know that I ran into a series of Windows Update issues over the late spring through the early summer, requiring use of the media creation tool to deploy almost every new major Windows 10 patch. For uncertain reasons, this pattern seems to have been corrected over the past 2 months. There have been a couple of failures along the way but they seemed to be corrected without my intervention. However, I have run into a couple of usability issues: for some reason, I'm getting multiple activation alerts a week; the problem is always resolved by checking my digital license, but it's certain annoying, and what makes it even more so is that it seems to take forever to get the activation troubleshooter launched.
I've written multiple posts about my Garmin device. I've had some issues over the years (I've gotten lost in West Virginia just going to the local post office and turning in my cable box: I mean, somehow I ended up on one-lane dirt roads in totally unfamiliar territory). But it worked admirably in my folks' home town of Fall River, MA, which I've only visited (not driving) maybe 4 times since middle school, for my priest uncle's funeral several weeks back. I remember my Mom was hosting a luncheon at an unfamiliar (to me) restaurant after a post-funeral mass stop at the church ceremony. In a straight line, the restaurant wasn't that far away but because of one-way roads, etc., it was the weirdest roundabout drive I've ever been on. Innumerable turns. I thought I was on another West Virginia adventure. But it got me there ahead of multiple siblings in different cars.
However, I haven't seen the device since returning home. It's not in the car, and I haven't found it in my apartment where I usually keep it. I don't know if it slipped out of my pocket on the way from my car, if I misplaced it in the apartment. But I decided to buy a more recent replacement.
I initially had bought my first unit at a factory outlet, and I decided to add to go there first. This turns out to be one of those vendors (including the USPS) who for some reason have some issue with my credit card issuer. This didn't appear at first. I got a receipt/invoice not listing my apartment number. Among other things, I don't post my name on my mailbox or apartment, so I don't know what happens if an unfamiliar delivery driver arrives at my apartment building. (This sort of thing never happens when I buy via Amazon.) The conversation (with an Indian help center person, of course) goes something like the following:
(me): I put my apartment number in my original order form submission.
(he): I know that. But our address validator won't accept that address.
(me): I live here. The post office delivers to that address. I've bought from several other vendors who have no issues with that address. There's obviously something wrong with your address validator.
He's in a state of denial. It's not a case where my card issuer is rejecting the transaction. I know because my issuer never sent a fraud alert, and I saw the pending transaction. So I know if they submitted my address information, it wasn't rejected by my card issuer. So this must be some other validator issue, and I have no idea why they won't accept my address if my card issuer does. (No, it's not a P.O. Box.) Maybe it comes from their delivery partners. But I can't believe that I've having to argue I live in an apartment building, and they need to reference my apartment number.
(him) Oh, by the way, the item you ordered is out of stock. We do have a similar model in stock which simply adds Canada to your lifetime maps subscription, for $5 more.
(me, thinking to myself.) WTF. The site never mentioned it was out of stock/on back order. I don't need Canadian maps. I have no intention of ever visiting my ancestral homeland (Quebec). But is it really worth my time and effort to haggle $5 when a new vs. refurbished model at Sam's Club is double the cost? (I checked on my last trip there recently.)
(me). Fine. Will you email a receipt and a cancellation of my earlier purchase.
By the next day: no interim confirmation as promised. Instead, I've gotten a "fraud alert" telling me my outlet purchase was cancelled, and I should once again call their number to discuss the matter. Hell, no! I basically had a replacement purchase in my cart at Amazon. And, of course, now I'm getting email-spammed from the factory outlet. There is ZERO chance of a future purchase. I've unsubscribed, and if it resumes, I'll filter it at Google.
I got the device from Amazon a couple of days later, charged it up and had the typically large map update loaded. (The first thing I had noticed was the power button, which was on the top left edge of my original unit, was a shallow button on the back of the device.) There was little documentation enclosed with the device, simply a Garmin URL. I then run into an issue finding the manual because my packaging identifies the product version as "5-I"(sans-serifs), instead of "5-1".
The issue was a subsequent update, probably firmware-related after the maps update was done. So I downloaded it, and there was a patch process described something like the following:
"The patch application will require powering your device off and on.
[Now comes a description of using Garmin Express to download and install the patch. Then, and this is the core point of my criticism]:
- Disconnect the USB cord from the Garmin device connector for 5 seconds and reattach it.
It then connects back to Garmin Express which shows me there is one more patch to apply. I do this a couple of cycles before I realize it's trying to download the same patch. Now I'm wondering if I have a defective unit that's not processing patches. It's not telling me something to the effect that the patch has already been installed, but I need to restart my device to finish the installation.
Now maybe it's because of my professional IT experience of having to reboot servers after major installations or upgrades/patches (including Windows) or even having my Android smartphone restarted after Android patching that I decided to manually power off-on my Garmin. And I almost immediately saw messages that it was applying firmware/other patches. I subsequently reconnected my Garmin, and Garmin Express reported after reconnection that the device was up to date.
I have little doubt that the documenters would defensively point out the instructions did talk about the need to restart the device. But the context was unfamiliar. There is no discussion after Garmin Express installs the software instructions to the effect "after finishing the update, disconnect the device, restart it and after it finishes, reconnect the device." This whole discussion of waiting 5 seconds to reconnect the Garmin was rather misleading and confusing.
