Update won't download onto TomTom Go 520T

I'll do that, Koolkid; meanwhile, here's the message I'm getting:

KoolKid wrote: »

Ahh it's looking for the location to back up your device. In Tom Tom home settings goto folders and select a valid folder location for back up and restore.

These folders are already there. I tried selecting 'browse' for each one and re-choosing it, but got the same message.

KoolKid wrote: »

And have you tried a pin reset of the device?
Also browse to the folder and check you have read/write access.

I held the pin in, turned the device on and waited till after the drum roll had sounded.

I checked that all the folders were read + write; they were.

KoolKid wrote: »

If I remember correctly I think there is an option where you can uncheck to back up your device.
If so try that & run the update again.

Sorry, KK, uncheck what?

My own feeling about this is that the 'critical update' to TomTom Home didn't download and instal properly.

KoolKid wrote: »

I would say Tom Tom Home is ok if it's running.
If you want to be sure try uninstall and reinstall.
When you run update my device there should be a check box whether to back up device or not. With us on Nav 4 now it's been a while since I used My Tom Tom. I will install a copy of it later and have a look.

I saw that check box at some stage, though it wasn't obvious when I was first updating. The software is… well, that's a question for another day.

I'll try uninstalling. Are there any preferences I also need to get rid of? And how do I keep my points of interest if I uninstall?

OK, kk, I've deleted TomTom Home and a couple of plists naming TomTom in the prefs. I couldn't find on the TomTom site where to download TomTom Home for Mac, but have found it on a Mac site - is Version 2.9.7.2119 the latest, please? (I found this link for downloads on the TomTom site http://www.tomtom.com/en_gb/services/tomtom-home/index.jsp?WT.Click_Link=home_quick_link#tab:tab3 but it doesn't mention Mac or PC.)

Edit. After deleting the app and its plist prefs, I made sure the trash was empty, restarted (twice, as it happened) and then installed TomTom Home again. Quit TomTom Home accidentally afterwards and then reopened it, and got this horribly familiar screen (below). What's going wrong here?

…and again …and again… and every time I relaunch TomTom HOME, the same thing happens, it produces that splash screen and redownloads the 'critical update' and demands that I instal it, which I did the first five times or so.

KoolKid wrote: »

Have you found the setting to stop it performing the backup first?
I'm still mobile, I'll try installing Tom Tom Home later and take a look.

I don't really want to go near it until the TomTom Home program stops acting hinky, KoolKid.

KoolKid wrote: »

I found it.
In Tom Tom Home 2.9
When you run the programme & before you connect your device select Tools> Home Preferences > Advanced >Back Up Preferences & select Don't ask me about making a back up.
After that's done connect your device and try update.

But how do I stop TomTom Home from re-downloading itself every time I start it, KK?

Tried connecting my Go 520T again. Three screen shots follow, in order of how I saw them. (The same as before, but I've added in the first two screen shots.)

KoolKid wrote: »

If you run Tom Tom Home without the device connected can you turn off the option to back up?

This is what happens when I run TomTom Home without the device connected (or with it connected):

KoolKid wrote: »

And after you update does TomTom Home open without you connecting your device?

It does. Then if I quit, it again downloads the 'critical update', and again, and again, and again, and again…

Edit. OK, got a new screen this time (below), then connected my Go, and got the same refusal to update.

KoolKid wrote: »

Sounds like a registry issue. Have you any registry cleaner you can run?

So if you let it run after the update & disable the back up & then connect your device what happens then?

I've run Cocktail a couple of times. Makes no difference.

I don't know what you mean by copying the directory to the hard drive - what directory are you talking about? - to save the POIs, and I don't want to lose them, so I really don't want to connect it without backing up.

KoolKid wrote: »

When you connect your device to the PC it will show up as a folder in My Computer (Like an external drive or USB)
On your PC Create a new folder called TT Back up (or something like that)
Open the TomTom device to show all the folders and contents.
Copy and paste everything there to the new folder you created. If anything goes wrong you can copy and paste everything back again.
Do the same if you have a memory card inserted in the device.

Hm. I'll try doing the equivalent on my (ahem) Mac.

The TomTom shows as two folders, one called 'Internal' (with a loada stuff on it), the other as 'No Name' (with just a folder called 'statdata', which contains a file 'allowtrip.dat', and another folder called 'zip', which is empty.

Edit: OK, this may have worked. I dragged all the stuff into a backup folder, separated by naming them the same as the TomTom's folders (possibly reflecting the Go itself and its internal card?), then switched the backup option in TomTom Home to not ask for backup, and didn't get the hated red message this time.

Only one problem. The screen on the Go now shows only the Go image on green rectangle with the name in the top right corner; it doesn't seem to want to go back to its normal screen.