GPS module not responding

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bshillam

Member
I have just over a year old Lowrance GPS Plotter. This last weekend we went out in the boat and I reinstalled our plotter as I took it out over the winter. Now it's not picking up any of the satilites and I'm getting a message
GPS module not responding
I have tried a soft boot and a hard boot on the unit to no avail. Any suggestions as to what I might be able to do? Have you had a similar experience?
 
bshillam":1fhgso31 said:
Now it's not picking up any of the satilites and I'm getting a message
GPS module not responding
I have tried a soft boot and a hard boot on the unit to no avail. Any suggestions as to what I might be able to do? Have you had a similar experience?
Click to expand...

I had a similar occurence a long time ago and it seems to me that it was because I failed to turn on a rocker switch mounted behind the helm seat that is tied into the GPS.
 
I had the same problem, turned out it was a bad unit. Try the lowrance website , they have a process to go through. call them if you don't get it to work. Call early in the morning for best chance of not having to hold for a while. michael
 
Yeah I check the website and went through the basics. Soft boot, hard boot and updating the software. After that they want me to track down the problem with volt meters and what not. One thing I have learned, electronics are not my cup of tea. So I guess from here I'll hand it over to the professionals. :sad

I was hoping for some easy, meracle of a fix. Nothing requiring more than pushing a few buttons and wa-law.
 
I do know out of experiance that the puck/ antenna do go out sometimes. Happened on a friends boat. I cant tell you the replacement cost though, sorry.

Chuck
Bootleg Hooch
 
Number one issue we see with these is that there is a seperate power lead for the NME 2000 network, which the GPS is part of. Be sure that those wires are connected to power, and / or that the power is turned on if it is switched.

Lowrance did not have good installation instructions on the first run of these instruments, and so many of the experienced installers missed this connection.
 
Over the last year it has worked without fail. However last weekend it was on then off, on then off, etc. It would only stay connected about 10 seconds then it would report module not responding.
Just so I am clear there is a separate power source for the GPS then?
 
Bryrick,

My suspicion is that you either have a bad puck (GPS antenna), or a power issue from/to the puck. I am not sure where you bought the unit, but take the head/display in and see if they will let you connect up to their demo unit. That will help isolate the issue. Check the connector into the puck for corrosion and or bent pins. Also, check the pins on the head for anything that looks hinky.

Is everything set properly on the head (time, date, etc)?

If the puck is bad, I think they are around $200.

Steve
 
As steve says, check the pins on the plug for the antenna--this can cause intermittant problems. Any corrosion can be a problem for the antenna. Also as Matt says--there is a separate power to the bus for the antenna. It is possible that the fuse for this blew. (I personally have the bus and the receiver on the same switch and fuse.

The LGC 2000 series of the antenna have a history of failure. I had one which failed after 4 years. So far my newer one (about 3 years old) has done well)--They also have a history of failure if they are directly in a Radar beam. The LGC 3000 antennas have a better history.
 
I have a Lowrance GPS LCX 112C. I was having intermitent failure; some times the speed would flash "0.00"; sometimes the triangle that is my boat would move; sometimes not; course line would be a straight line from "turn on position" to "where I am now" (over land, if it was in the way!) and other glitches. I guess the OK part was 85% and the failure 15%. I did the reboots; downloaded updated software, cussed and held my breath until I turned blue.

I eventually contacted Navico/Lowrance (in Canada for me) and they had me ship the Chartplotter and Antenna puck to them. They ran it for 4 days on their test bench before they finally noticed a failure in the antenna. They sent me a new one and it's been operating 100% since.
 
If the GPS antenna is within 5 feet of you VHF antenna it will cook it. Also, it your GPS antenna is on the same plane are your radar it will cook it; don’t ask me how I know.
 
Just went through this. I had to go on line and download the new software onto a card reader and load it into my LCX20. It upgrades the 2000 unit to the 1.9 version. My would not respond after being blasted with radar by large commercial ships. It wouldn't work at all before the upgrade. Seems to work fine now we will see.
 
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