Garmin Edge 510 crashing

[citoyen]

As per thread title - recently, on a few separate occasions, my Garmin Edge 510 has simply switched itself off mid ride with no warning or apparent reason.

Today, for example, I was around 30km into my ride when I glanced down at the screen to see it completely blank. Temperature was around 11ºC, so not excessively cold, hence I don't think that could be the problem. And there had been a few spots of rain but not enough for that to be a problem either.

When I switch it back on, it lets me restart the same track - ie with the distance/time covered up to that point still showing - but when I come to upload the ride later, all the GPS data pre-crash has been wiped out. If I convert the .fit file to .csv to read it, all the pre-crash data is missing.

Anyone have any similar experiences?

Any thoughts as to what might be causing it and/or how to resolve it?

It's disappointing but not the end of the world. It's a shame because it's a fantastic bit of kit and has been more or less entirely reliable for the four years I've owned it up to now (apart from a few temporary glitches when Garmin have 'updated' the firmware). Maybe it's just old and past it - I guess these things are built to have a limited lifespan these days (OK, I admit I'm looking for an excuse to upgrade to an Edge 820).

ETA: further research suggests it could be due to damaged memory and/or corrupt file system - it seems to be a known problem.

[barnabyg]

Hi Citoyen,
I created an account just to respond to this!

Ok, so this has happened to me twice, in about 3 years of owning a 510. To add some detail, when you upload to Garmin or Strava, it can tell that you have done the pre-crash ride, (IE for me, the strava recording seems to start at about 30km and goes on to 110km, but shows a total distance of about 85km, which is the distance travelled after the crash), but can't recover the data pre-crash.

To prevent this, I am now deleting all my rides (not the records) about once a month, which both seems to stop the problem, and also makes the upload of new activities much faster. Since I literally NEVER look at old rides on the device itself anyway, this isn't really a hassle or inconvenience.

I don't, however, believe that there is a way to recover the pre-crash data.

Hope this helps!

[citoyen]

I created an account just to respond to this!

Welcome to the forum. You'll never leave!

To prevent this, I am now deleting all my rides (not the records) about once a month, which both seems to stop the problem, and also makes the upload of new activities much faster. Since I literally NEVER look at old rides on the device itself anyway, this isn't really a hassle or inconvenience.

I wondered about this myself but it has happened after I've cleared all the old rides from the device. Fortunately, it happens rarely enough that I'm not too concerned about it - my only concern is that I'm planning to do a DIY by GPS later this year and obviously can't afford to lose the data on that ride if I want to get it validated. That said, the ride itself is what matters - getting it validated and getting AUK points for it are of secondary importance.

I don't, however, believe that there is a way to recover the pre-crash data.

No, there isn't - all the GPS data is erased when the device resets. It essentially restarts from scratch, it just creates the illusion of picking up where it left off by not resetting the distance and time fields to zero.

I've decided that I'm just going to live with it for now and upgrade to an Edge 1000 when I can afford it.

[toestrap]

I recently started having this with a 500. Much googling later (with no obvious solution) three possibiities:

1) reset to factory settings
2) delete the 'new files' folder
3) if you are using the older stye cadence/speed sensor check the magnets are still in alignment/close enough to the sensor. Someone posted that the software isn't that good at coping with intermittent signals and crashes.

The last seems to have worked for me, though I haven't done a run over an hour/25k since I adjusted everything. Will be doing a longer run this weekend and will see.

Also worth giving Garmin suport a ring before going for the expense of an ugrade (uness you need an excuse of course  )

[toestrap]

For the sake of anyone else having fun with their edge 500.

Re-adjusting the sensors seemed to help. Did over 100k without any crashes, and several shorter rides/roller sessions.

BUT - when synching to the pc or recharging from the wall charger it gets stuck on the 'Complete' screen. Getting it to move on from this is a mater of trying the 3 button reset, plugging/unplugging and even then most of the time just leaving it to sort itself out - which can take hours. This seems to be a problem with older units.

It is a PITA. When working, it is really easy to use and a great bit of kit, but this continual hanging makes it pretty much useless.

[dim]

my edge 1000 also has the same problem from time to time. I have it connected to the heartstrap, cadence sensor, speed sensor and Garmin Varia Radar unit

on Monday, I rode 65km and it shut down 4 times. On the Garmin forum, they discuss the issue and the guys are waiting for a new software update

I don't loose any info when it shuts down, but it's annoying. It alsways shuts down just after I take a turn (it hangs for a while then switches off)

on some days, I can ride 100km with no probs at all

[toestrap]

Just to round off my tale of woe....

The 500 continued to get stuck on the Complete screen and eventual refused to shift off it. So talking to Garmin I re-formatted the drive (FAT32) which sort of worked, to the extent that it restarted....but then said 'External Power Lost' and shut down.

Garmin told me to send it back for repair but when trying to get a repair number from their webstite I was informed it was too old. But it's only 7 years old

Tried rolling back the firmware to 3.00 and 2.80 but no joy.

All good things come to end I suppose.

[Bikeabilityman]

My 500 is so old there are holes in the rubber over the buttons, but it still works. Lost ride details once (no warning), and the screen froze at the start of a 200 DIY a few months back. After it eventually powered down, I found it had recorded the ride. Worked fine since, but been thinking of upgrading (520?) So I can do longer DIY's while charging it from the dynamo.