Help, Betty won't complete a sentence...

[T^2]

Betty's voice guidance is not functioning properly. Her voice instructions keep getting cut off mid sentence. Sometimes the beginning of the sentence is cutoff and you just hear the end. But, mostly the end of her sentences is lost.

I've tried reinstalling the voice files from the CD. That didn't fix it.

One thing to note - Betty's voice guidance seems to work fine when you simulate a route. The problem appears to show itself only when actually following/tracking a route.

The only thing I can think of is that another piece of installed software is causing this problem.

Has anybody else experienced this problem or has an idea how to fix it?

[NewQ]

I think that you've answered your own question. It seems, nowadays at least, that 99% of the problems Betty "has" weren't there initially, the problems "appear" after a new app was installed. In your example, it sounds like some other app is trying to use the audio or sending a beep at the same time as routing is trying to use the audio.
The easiest thing to do is do a backup, then a Hard reset to take her back to near-factory and then test routing - should work as designed. Then, I would install your apps one at a time (don't restore from your backup or the problem comes back and you didn't figure it out) and test the voice during routing, until you find the suspect app.

[T^2]

Well, I've done everything I can think of, but the problem still persist. I've done a hard reset and reinstalled the maps files etc. No other software was reinstalled.

Betty still cuts off sentences. Sometimes the beginning is missing and I only hear the end. Somtimes I only hear the middle of the sentences. Other times I only hear the end.

Anybody have any ideas?

I guess I'll have to call Garmin Tech Support when I get a chance. The question is - when will I get a chance?...

[Curious Cat]

Could be the SD card. Try another card if you have one. If not, re-format the card and rebuild and reinstall the maps. Make sure you have backups or whatever needed to reinstall whatever else you have on the card. You could just copy the files and directories and restore everything except the maps.

PS It's not a 256 MB SanDisk I hope?

[apersson850]

It's not that the sentences are delayed, so that every word is actually spoken, just not fluently? Like she's stuttering?

If I understand you correctly, it seems like she says everything she should, you just don't hear part of it?

Do other sounds sound correctly, like if you play an MP3 song? Is it just when acquiring satellites, or when using the GPS, you have this problem? Does it make any difference if you have good or bad reception?

[T^2]

Originally posted by apersson850
It's not that the sentences are delayed, so that every word is actually spoken, just not fluently? Like she's stuttering?

If I understand you correctly, it seems like she says everything she should, you just don't hear part of it?

Do other sounds sound correctly, like if you play an MP3 song? Is it just when acquiring satellites, or when using the GPS, you have this problem? Does it make any difference if you have good or bad reception?

No - no delay. Every word is not spoken. Words that are spoken are clear.

Timing of what she says is correct. It's just that a few words are missing at the beginning, middle or end of the sentences. The Attention Tone seems to always work.

I haven't tried playing an MP3. I might give that a whirl.

I seems to happen when using the GPS and tracking a route. Reception doesn't seem to matter.

Voice Guidance works perfectly when simulating a route.

Per CC's advice, I think I'll try loading a smaller map set directly to ram and remove the SD card (Kingston 256MB). Maybe that'll fix it. Or maybe it won't and I'll end up going out and getting a better SD card and will still have the same problem...

[apersson850]

We are talking about an iQue 3600, right? I'm asking since the 3600a has a similar problem, with release 1, but there it's a question about interruptions to the speech flow, not that some parts of the speech is missing. It's just randomly delayed, when using GPS properly.

The idea to try with internal maps is clever, since it will rule out potential performance problems, due to the card.

[Curious Cat]

Originally posted by T^2
....

Per CC's advice, I think I'll try loading a smaller map set directly to ram and remove the SD card (Kingston 256MB). Maybe that'll fix it. Or maybe it won't and I'll end up going out and getting a better SD card and will still have the same problem...

Many cards are re-branded as there are actually just a few true manufacturers. You may actually have an older SanDisk created 256MB SD card and that certainly could cause problems. The 512's are cheap now and they hold obviously twice as much. Also you could find a retailer that has a good return policy to try one out. The RAM idea is also a good interim solution.

[T^2]

No Dice. I installed a smaller map set and reinstalled the voice files directly to ram. I went out and tested it this afternoon. Same problem... Betty just won't complete a sentence most of the time.

So there appears to be a problem with the unit itself. I guess I'll need to call Garmin Tech Support.

[Ken B]

I have a slightly different voice problem. For a while Betty was hesitating, with pauses in the instructions but nothing was lost. Then on a recent cross country trip, the sound stopped altogether. Betty has totally lost her voice, whether its with GPS on or a simulated route.

I can still record sound with the 3600, so the speaker etc. works.

All along I thought I was missing something really basic but after reading this thread I guess not.

I reformatted the 256M card and reinstalled maps. No difference. Installed maps to internal memory. No difference.

I haven't tried reinstalling software, so I guess that's next.

Ken

[Bee_sqare]

I recently encountered an iQ with the same problem -- no voice guidance prompts, but otherwise the speaker worked fine. I succeeded in fixing it by beaming over from my iQ (to internal memory) all 119 .vpm files (0001.vpm - 0119.vpm) plus four files of type VNAV named SSC_7373634C_564E4156, then soft resetting. I don't know how all these files disappeared from the "mute" iQ. Restoring only the .vpm files wasn't enough, but I don't know if I needed all four of the VNAV files, which seem to be identical, at 33166 bytes, 119 records. Does anybody know what these are, and whether I can safely delete three of them?

[Ken B]

Thanks Bee_sqare. I followed your procedure and it worked. Betty is back and talking properly. There is now a chime before each voice instruction that must have been missing for such a long time that I had forgotten about it. I guess when something goes wrong with the audio, it's a warning that things will get worse.

I only had one copy of the SCC_7373634C_564e4156 file on my PC, but it was necessary to fix things.

Ken

[Bee_sqare]

I'm glad it worked, Ken. :)

On looking more carefully I discovered that my four "identical" versions of that file have slightly different names -- they have 0, 1, 2, or 3 spaces at the end. Also the three with spaces were created a couple of months earlier than the other. I deleted these three from the iQ (and, later, from the Palm\username\Backup directory of the PC) and voice navigation is still working OK.

[T^2]

I believe I may have finally found the problem with Betty's voice guidance issues.

Apparently Betty doesn't have a problem after all. The problem seems to be with the connector on my Boxwave miniSync. Disconnecting the miniSync cable appears to solve the problem. I have an almost identical product as the miniSync from Pc-Mobile called Mini-U. The Mini-U works fine and (apparently) causes no problems with Betty's voice. As one would expect, both the miniSync and Mini-U have identical connectors. I had another miniSync before this one and it worked fine. However, it's cable went bad and I had to buy a new one. It looks like I'll need to get another miniSync. I emailed Boxwave to see if they will replace it. I'll wait and see what they say.

Unfortunately, in the process of experimenting (trying various setup combinations) to find Betty's issue, I found another problem. The reception from the internal antenna seems to be very weak now. I haven't used the internal antenna for some time (I use the Gilsson external antenna in the car). The last time I used it I remember the reception being a lot better. The best reception I can get with the internal antenna is 3rd line from the bottom of the bar graph (with the satellites directly overhead). I may need to contact Garmin on this one.