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Garmin 296 woes

S

sf3543

Well Known Member
I recently bought a plane with a 296 and it seems to work fine except for one major issue. It will not find the correct date and year, even with solid sat receptions. It tracks great and everything else but on the signal page it always shows 14-Apr-1997.
I tried changing it in in set up, but cant change the date.
I tried the celestial page, but same problem.
Any of you Garmin gurus have any ideas?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
 
Steve,

My 296's have a similar "problem". I believe the internal coin cell battery has died. There have been posts in the past about how to replace the battery. You might try my work around:

Boot the 296, let the power up sequence finish
Press the power button to shut off the 296
Press the power button and boot the 296 again

Mine find the correct date when I do this.

Regards,
 
Yes, I had to do this on my 396. It takes 3 hands to carefully repack all the contents into the case when you finish, but it can be done.
 
Yes, your internal battery is dead. The Battery replacement is not terrible, but is a little bit of work. There is also a work-around: When turning on press and hold the "out" button. While holding it press and hold the power button until you get the welcome screen. This will work for you, but will have to be done at every power-up and it will add about 30 seconds to the boot-up process. After the boot-up you will have the correct date and time.
 
I wonder if this is related to my issue. I replaced the external battery pack but the unit will not power up. When it is on the charger, it says the battery is full, but the unit will not work when unplugged from shore power.
I will replace this internal battery and see.
 
296 Needs Firmware Update

The 296 requires a firmware update to use the new battery pack.

I have a similar situation and unfortunately my update process errors out.

It would be interesting to know if yours completes.
 
selhardt said:
The 296 requires a firmware update to use the new battery pack.

I have a similar situation and unfortunately my update process errors out.

It would be interesting to know if yours completes.
Click to expand...

Good to know. As good as these little units where, at some point I guess they might be considered obsolete.
 
I tried Roys method of turning off and back on. Success!
Eventually i will put in a new battery but for now i can live wth that
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I may try the EOW software update one of these days.
 
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