GNS 430 Navdata card issue

[jlunseth]

My plane was in the shop for a new engine for a few months last year, and I was not attempting to update my Navdata, so this may be an old issue for those who were. The first time I updated the nav (and terrain) card I purposely did not update the Garmin Aviation Database Manager, although there was an update available. I know those updates can cause a problem (like forgetting my password) so avoided it. This last time I updated Database Manager, then loaded the navdata, and Database Manager reported that the card loaded successfully. But when I put the cards in my 430AW I got a message on start-up that some verification process would be run, and at the end of that process I got a screen that said no copyright information was available, and from that point I could not access any of the functions of the 430. Thinking I had forgotten, after months out of the plane, which card goes in which slot, I switched them, and with the terrain card in the nav card slot the 430 booted normally but reported that it had no nav data. I could at least use the radios.

I found some posts on Mooneyspace about the same kind of issue with the Garmin terrain card, and it said that there was a utility that Garmin was sending out that would allow the card to be repaired, so I called Garmin and got that utility. I could not get it to work on the navdata card, and when I called Garmin was told that the utility is only for the terrain card.

However, they were nice enough to issue an exchange so I can mail in my navdata card and they are sending out a new one. No hurry for me, my main GPS is a GTN 750 which is working fine. Just thought I would let everyone know about the issue and that Garmin is helping.

[jlunseth]

Posting again in case anyone with the 430/530 is having a card problem. The history is that I updated my Garmin Aviation Database Manager a month or two ago, loaded the db on my navdata and terrain card, and the 430 would not work. I would get the Garmin screen with “No Copyright Info” underneath and that is as far as the unit would go in booting up. Talked to Garmin, got a replacement navdata card, saw that Garmin had created a new version of the Database Manager, installed that, and then reloaded the new card. Same result, the 430 would not boot past the Garmin screen, the only difference was that the small print showed copyright information existed. In fiddling around to test the unit, I pulled the navdata card and switched the terrain card into its place. The unit then booted normally except had no navdata. At least I could use the radios. 

I went to my avionics shop and they suggested that there had been problems like this in the past, and that they were caused by a corrupted terrain card, not the navdata card I was chasing. So I took the navdata card to the plane, inserted it, pulled the terrain card, and voila! the unit booted except now no terrain or obstacle data. Not a big deal because my main GPS is a 750 that works fine and the 430 is just backup. But at least I know what the source of the problem is. The first step was to reload the terrain card, so I have done that and now need to test it to see if the reload will work. If not, it will be back to Garmin.

[Fritz1]

have a 530W and a 430. Had issues with the terrain data on the 430 about a year ago, bought a special reader from Garmin to load the terrain data, no joy, after speaking to Garmin technician eventually resolved that the terrain data can't be loaded onto a non-WAAS 430 any more, besides the terrain data error message the 430 works fine, residual value on the 24V only unit close to zero, so it runs as long as it runs. Anybody know how to upload terrain data on the non WAAS 430 please explain!

[jlunseth]

Mine is a 430AW, it’s a WAAS unit. Haven’t had the problem you mentioned Fritz, but can tell you that the cards have changed since those original non-WAAS units came out. The label color on the nav data cards has changed, each change made for a larger storage capacity. You should check, your terrain card may just not be large enough for the current database and a new card (not cheap) might fix it.

[DCarlton]

My GNS is non-WAAS, but I corrupted two cards and spent a couple of hours on the phone with Garmin trying to identify and resolve the update problem.  It does happen.