Support Thread for the TND 500, TND 700 or future Rand McNally products. (part two)

Discussion in 'Trucking Electronics, Gadgets and Software Forum' started by Mark Kling, Jul 7, 2014.

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  1. Mark Kling

    Mark Kling Technology Contributor

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  3. Corkyf62

    Corkyf62 Light Load Member

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    A couple of quick questions, and somebody point me to your website or link with a side-by-side comparison of the 720 and 730. Also can the data be restored from my 720 to 730 via the dock? These are the two most important questions before I plunk my money down. I'm at home on disability and wasn't even aware they came out with a new Rand McNally TND. Now as far as the trade-in goes I'm guessing anything works including this: View attachment 75048 I couldn't believe it, I went down to the basement and retrieved my old Garmin I5. I bought this thing as my first GPS, in what I assumed was about 20 years ago, on Amazon. When I went to Amazon on the page with the above picture it said I purchased this unit in October 2006. That's only eight years ago. Amazing what the technological advancements are, I could've swore I bought this a lot longer ago than that. Anyway as soon as I find out if there is enough of a difference between the 720 and 732 warrant the 300 bucks I'll be trading in my old Garmin.
     
  4. FlexinTarzan

    FlexinTarzan Medium Load Member

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    I took note of Marks alert on the trade-in upgrade and got my old TND 500 ready to send in once my 730 arrives on my doorstep.
     
  5. Mark Kling

    Mark Kling Technology Contributor

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    720/730 - The 730 is running a new version of software with some more "bells and whistles" along with code enhancement for things like greatly improved Junction Views. The biggest difference is the 730 runs about 3-4 times faster on the hardware side.

    Dock - do backup/restore.

    Thanks,
    Mark
     
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  6. Dark_Majesty_06

    Dark_Majesty_06 Road Train Member

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    So, I was given a tnd 510 from a friend and I have a question. I wasn't given the original data cable that came with the gps but I figured I could just use one of the old motorola cables I had laying around.. but I can't get the gps to connect to my computer. I have the tnd 510 on and plug the cable in.. It will charge the unit but my windows 7 pc won't recognize it so i can finish installing the dock.. DO i need to buy a rand mcnally specific data cable or is my gps broken?
     
  7. Dieselboss

    Dieselboss Technology Contributor

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    It isn't actually "specific" to Rand. BUT! There are two finicky things that happen when it comes to getting it to connect to computers: (and this is not just specific to the Rand brand either)

    1. Some cables do and some don't. I think that it has to do with the cable internal "resistance" and quality of the wires used. Sometimes if you use a different one, or a shorter one, then I can futz with them until I get it to connect. If you have a camera USB wire or one from some other device, or one from Radio Shack or whatever, it should work for you (unless you have issue #2 in the next line.)

    2. Some computers REALLY don't want to "handshake" completely with GPS devices (especially higher voltage GPS devices like 7" screen models.) In other words, you can plug it in and Windows says that it sees SOMETHING go plugged in but cannot identify it. This problem is actually more common in newer laptops because they decrease the USB port voltage to help with battery life.
    For example, I have an old WinXP Thinkpad laptop from 2009 that connects all day. But I have also dealt with fair number of newer laptops (regardless of brand really) running Windows 8 and energy-saving motherboards that just refuse.
    There are two tricks to try in that case. You can go to your Control Panel in Windows and then to Power Settings and set it to "maximum performance" by turning off battery power-saving stuff. OR you can almost always get it to connect with a "USB hub" which is a kind of splitter box that plugs into your USB and then has 2-4 split off USB ports from it. Sometimes I had to use a powered hub and sometimes not. But these things are between $9 - $15, so not expensive. (the other no-brainer is to make sure the GPS battery is fully charged when you try to connect it.)

    So, the long answer is that I have used a wide variety of cords, computers, hubs over the years. But as long as the GPS mainboard itself isn't defective you should be able to get that dude to connect using the above advice.
     
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  8. Dark_Majesty_06

    Dark_Majesty_06 Road Train Member

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    I think I may have a problem then. I have tried 3 separate cords and my computer just acts like nothing is plugged in. It doesn't say "windows can't recognize the device" or anything. I tried pushing the reset button in on the back of the GPS but no help.

    Is there somewhere or someway just to update the GPS with a micro SD card? I honestly think the board may be bad.. Because USB cables just charge the unit but doesn't allow a connection to the computer.
     
  9. SilverShadow

    SilverShadow Light Load Member

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    I had this problem with my 510 when I went to windows 7, I tried all kinds of cords and could not get it to work until I bought a powered hub to use as the power source. This powered the tnd and allowed the handshake to happen. And it was only on windows 7, l could use my house computer on XP without a problem until I upgraded it to windows 7 also.
     
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  10. Dark_Majesty_06

    Dark_Majesty_06 Road Train Member

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    I'm going to order one right now. Will a 2.0 suffice or do I need to buy a USB 3.0 hub?
     
  11. jmroadhog

    jmroadhog Medium Load Member

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    You may have a bad usb port on the unit, I have had the same problems with a tnd 500 and 720 they would charge but not connect to pc. I run windows 7 and never had a problem connecting except for the bad usb ports.
     
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