ScottSchmidt

Well Known Member
Yesterday, I fired up to come home from Tucson and my 430 would not recognize the cards. Both the Nav and Obst data was not recognizable. Just two days before I flew down with no problem and have not updated the cards for over a month. I have never had this happen before. I tried removing the cards and re-booting with no luck. Mine is a non-WAAS 430.
Any ideas out there or people have this problem?

I am going to re-flash the cards and see if that fixes it.
 
Sorry Scott - haven't seen it either - over five years on the 430 (non-W), and no issues with cards. Since the problem is with BOTH cards on yours, and it happened simultaneously, either you flew through one heck of a particle storm, or the problem is deeper in the unit (I suspect).

Paul
 
Thanks

Well, I will let you know what I find. The conspiracy theorist in me thinks the only thing that could have happened is that someone swapped my cards out on the ramp. It was the first time I have tied down without my cover.

Very strange.
 
I did a quick google check and could not find anything. Maybe a master reset if that is an approved option.
 
Happened to me

Scott, in early Dec I had the nav data card in my 530w fail on the return flight from a lunch run. It worked on the way out, and worked until last 5 min of flight. When I called Jepp to get another copy of current database, I ask the tech support guy how often get calls like this, he replied 2 or 3 a day. When I tried to reprogram the database, the usb programmer did not find the card. I had to buy a new card. $195 for the waas card!!
 
yea,

these cards do go bad. i keep a spare for easy updating and a backup when traveling. what will a non wass card cost? i dont think a thief would replace yours with a bad one, he would just take yours. the cost of flying. how old were they?
 
Cards

I was able to reprogram the NAV card today with no problem, the Jepp reader worked fine. Their tech group had gone home by the time I called today but he thought it would be a hardware or software issue since both the Nav and Terrain/Obst data did not work either.

I will try and run to the hanger in the next couple of days to see if that did anything. I really don't want to reprogram the Terrain/Obst data since I have it all on the Chelton already. I can't believe Garmin charges $200 for a one time program or $280 for a new card with the new data. Plus I would need to buy the Garmin card reader that is another $200. I'm sure someone has one locally that I could borrow.

I'll see if the tech group has any thoughts. I want to find out if one card goes bad does it affect the other or the complete system.

Thanks for the replies. It all helps.
 
I have a 430 waas unit, upgraded about 4 years ago. The unit is 10 years old now. I have perhaps 3 times in the last 4 years had a "Terrain Failure" message show on startup. It has never persisted, and a power cycle has cleared the problem each time. Given that the memory cards are priced as though it is 1995, I will not simply replace the card until it flat out dies.

Has anyone ever carved open a dead memory card, to see what guts are actually in it? Since the actual chip needed costs about a dollar or two, seems a worthy project for a hacker.
 
Update

I have the problem solved.

Well I initially diagnosed the problem wrong, I did not have problems with the terrain. After this post I did another flight and the terrain was working fine. The guys at SLC airport let me borrow a card and sure enough it fired right up and worked. So even though the card updated fine it does not mean the card is good apparently. I have a new card on order, if that does not work I will let you know.