Searching for COM8.

[Bokkie]

Last night I fired the GPS 10 up for the first time in about a week. I had disabled BT as that irritating blue LED on the HX4700 was causing a retinal imprint!

Anyway, I reckoned once switched on all would balance out very quickly, but after 20 mins of driving the PDA was still searching for COM8 even though the LED on the GPS 10 had changed its state to show it was seeing the PDA. I was getting kind of irritated with this. Is there anything you can do to expedite the search? I tried switch BT off and on again but it was only much later that the GPS Info screen decided to wake up and take notice.:(

[jonasolof]

On my oox 720 Que searches- and finds COM6, sometimes only very eventually depending on how I abuse it.

Com8 is listed in Bluetooth settings as the Inbound com port, whereas com6 is he outbound port. Why Que would be searching for the outbound port I don't know.

What does Que Settings>interface show?

[Bokkie]

Settings in attached screenshot.

[jonasolof]

That's where mine shows com6. I guess that depends on which brand PDA you use.

I often thought that once in the searching com # state, if it hadn't found it in less than ten seconds, it would never. The other day, I just waited - and after ten minutes the GPS was suddenly there. It was of course on all the time.

As has been described before, the GPS10 starts up in NMEA, is forced by Que to enter Garmin mode. Now, if the GPS10 is already in Garmin mode, Que can get bewildered. Normally, it sorts it out by a handshaking process but this can take quite some time. BTW, be sure that the GPS10 has a signal.

To start clean, I cycle power on the GPS10 and stop Que in the app Running programs. If I have been fiddling with other programs that occupy the serial port assigned to BT, I do a soft reset. I then start the GPS10, let it search for a minute and then start Que.

This has always resulted in an immediate contact with the GPS10.
I find that I fairly often have to stop and restart Que (i.e. really close the program down).


During a long and tiring drive on a well known route sunday night, I tried to cause problems to the process, eg by shutting off the PDA and then powering it on. The "searching" message appeared, but in 10-20 seconds, connection was established.

If the PDA doesn't have power, the backlight goes out but the screen is still working. One could then by mistake use the power button iQue-wise to try to revive the screen instead of using some other button such as scroll. This appears to be the best way to screw up the Que-GPS10 link. Nevertheless, connection is eventually reestablished but it could take some time, too long time if you need to navigate. Then the best way is to stop Que and restart, possibly also recycle GPS10 power - although this will erase ephemeris data and demand time to get a fix.

I haven't yet had the opportunity to abuse GPS10 and QUe to find all the vulnerabilities, remedies and shortcuts. All in all, I find it more tricky to use than the Que 3600 even including an external antenna for the latter.

[OWG]

I have found that if my BT connection is not already up and running, I get this same issue. You then try to exit Que and restart and something like Default IME (i think?) comes up in the top application bar, but no Que ever starts again. A soft reset is required. What has solved it for me is making sure the BT connection is going, leaving the PDA on for a few seconds before starting the Que app. It's almost like if the connection is not there right when it starts, you're hosed.

[Bokkie]

Thanks, bilge rat.:D

Duly noted!

[jonasolof]

What has solved it for me is making sure the BT connection is going, leaving the PDA on for a few seconds before starting the Que app. It's almost like if the connection is not there right when it starts, you're hosed.

This should be tested to see if it can be reproduced on different PDAs

Start up link hassle is my main objection for the time being.

[alexcue]

well i have a HP 4350 and it is listed as searching for "Com 6". I have tried every combination possible to see which is the best way to start it up, but i'm still looking.

What seems to work for me best is making sure i manually turn on the Bluetooth on the iPaq first then starting the Que program.

But there are no guarantees, because it seems if the unit is "cold" as in left off overnight, it likes to work a little different than if i did a trip first then ran into the shop i was directed to, then restarted in half an hour later. I usually never have a problem this way.

[jonasolof]

If BT is off, Que will give you the option to start it. Question is, will it work this way - in this order that is?

[alexcue]

Originally posted by jonasolof
If BT is off, Que will give you the option to start it. Question is, will it work this way - in this order that is?

funny thing is you are right it does give you the option of turn it on but on my iPaq it doesn't actually turn it on for some reason, the BT Manager comes up but doesn't turn on the actual BT.

I find it easier just to manually turn it on first thing before starting the Que program.