I had quite the scare today… I was in the midst of getting geared up for my scheduled 4 mile recovery run… I had my IPOD charged and freshly Loaded with Jay-Z's “The Blueprint: III"... I had my heart rate monitor strap tight and safely adjusted to the locked position… but then as I tightened up my Garmin Forerunner 305 around my wrist and tried to turn it on I realized I had a problem… My Garmin would not respond… Nothing but blankness!!! Oh the terror!!!I held down the "On" button for 15 seconds… still nothing… I began to panic… I started to mash the buttons in random order… I could feel my heart rate increasing (at least I think it was… no way of telling for sure without the Garmin to display the signal from my heart rate monitor strap)…
Thoughts started cascading though my head: How could this happen? It was fine yesterday… was the battery dead? I had it plugged in! What if it were dead? I guess I can still run today but how about tomorrow??? Do I have enough money in the bank right now to buy a new Garmin??? Should I buy it on-line and have it overnight shipped??? Or should I go to Best Buy??? How will I ever run again!!!!
I tried everything I could think of (mashing buttons… unplugging and plugging the USB connector… smashing the Garmin with a brick*)… nothing was working… there was only one hope left… Google…
I typed “Garmin 305 forerunner won't respond” into Google’s omnipotent search window, clicked “I’m Feeling Lucky”, and prayed…
.3 seconds later I was whisked away to “FAQ: Why won’t my Forerunner 205/305 turn on after charging?” ... 8 seconds after that I had my answer.
Turns out that you can "reset" a Garmin by holding the "Mode" and "Reset" buttons at the same time for a couple seconds... I held my breath and pushed the buttons... and guess what: It WORKED!!!!!
I was back in business... but my nerves were frazzled... luckily there was nothing left to do but settle myself with an (exactly) 4 mile recover run at a 75-80% of maximum heart rate effort!
This is the second post I've seen on this topic in just a couple of weeks! I'm so glad you guys are around to give me all this useful information so I'll know what to do when it happens to me! Without y'all, I might have thrown a hissy fit the likes of which this world has never seen. :)
ReplyDeleteHere's Beth's recount of her experience:
http://twentysixpointtwoormore.blogspot.com/2010/03/just-calm-yourself-down.html
Bah.. technology.
ReplyDeleteAnyhoo, I just mailed off your prize for the virtual race today. Sorry for the delay. Let me know when it arrives.
I am really glad that you got your garmin to work, so you would not end up in the psyche ward some where. If that is a real picture of your garmin as stated, how does it work? Im confused. ANyways, hope your run went well. As for me, I am starting to feel the distance running effect the body in a good way. Love it, and am so addicted. Somethng about pushing your body to move (hobble) forward. Take care man.
ReplyDeleteI feel your Garmin pain. My FR50 never recovered but I'm loving its replacement.
ReplyDeleteWOOOOOOOOOOOOW. that picture sucks.
ReplyDeleteFunny, I actually did this same exact thing the other day:
Freaked out
googled it
did the mode/reset and it worked!
Strange that it happens that often.