Garmin 545s GPS

captcod · July 04, 2013, 11:09:54 AM

I recently purchased a '92 Catalina 34 and it was equiped with a Garmin 545s GPS. When i switch it on it shows the position, water depth and speed but will not display any charts. I live on the east coast of Canada but purchased the boat in Mass, so I purchased the chip for the Canadian charts and inserted it in the slot on the GPS but I still cannot display any charts. Is there someting I'm missing or is there a malfunction? If it's suspect to be defective, does anyone have the address in Mass. where they do repairs. Thanks for any advice or info.

Capt. Cod

Stu Jackson · July 04, 2013, 01:11:08 PM

Many C34 skippers may not have this particular unit, although some other Garmins may be similar.

Do you have the owners manual? That's where I'd go first. If you already have, apologies.

http://support.garmin.com/support/manuals/manuals.htm?partNo=010-00601-00&language=en&country=US

Ron Hill · July 04, 2013, 02:26:53 PM

Capt Cod : I have a Garmin 545 and it sounds as though you may simply need to go back and download the basic program for Canada on an SD card first. Then I believe your G2 chip may function.

You should also call Garmin (800)800-1020. A few thoughts

captcod · July 05, 2013, 05:01:35 AM

I have been through the manual but cannot find anything pertinent. Where can I download the "basic program for Canada" and how do I input it into the GPS?

I appreciate the help.
Capt Cod

Andrew Harvey · July 05, 2013, 07:51:21 AM

Capt Cod,

It would probably be best to contact Garmin directly for help on this

captcod · July 05, 2013, 09:45:26 AM

Thanks:)) I thought I would ask here first in case I was missing something obvious! I will contact Garmin for advice.

Capt Cod

mregan · July 06, 2013, 03:32:45 PM

If you go into the Information tab or Setting tab, can't remember the exact name, you can restore the GPS to factory settings. Then go to the Garmin website and download the updates for the 545s. When you download the file, it's a ZIP file. You will need to Unzip it onto an SD card (same type as the G2 Card) Install that into the GPS and update. Then try the G2 card and you should be good to go. If you restore it to the factory settings and the screen is still blank, something is wrong with the unit.

captcod · July 08, 2013, 09:45:05 AM

Thanks MRegan, I will get myself a blank SD card and give it a try this week. Thanks so much for your help:)

captcod · July 26, 2013, 07:46:31 AM

Just to close the loop on this issue, I called Garmin support and they were shocked to find my GPS was still running on the original version 2 of their software. They suggested I needed to upgrade to version 5.6 however the old version only supported a 2gb SD card. I finally found an electronics store that still carried a 2 gb SD card and managed to get the download installed. All is good! It wasn't Canadian vrs American software required as was suggested but it was a case of the old software not being able to read my new map card because it was bigger than 2 gb.

Thanks everyone for your help. Another great weekend coming!

Capt Cod