Garmin 178C Screen is white

[5150abf]

Anybody know what this could be and if it is fixable, I was out Saturday night and the screen just went white, I turned it off and on and it worked for couple seconds then went to the white screen again, tried again and it has been white ever since, once you shut it off the screen goes to it's normal color.

It still beeps and everything like it should so I am pretty sure it is a diplay problem and the unit itself still works.

It is only 3 years old and I really like it so hopefully it isn't to hard or expensive to fix.

I have an email into Garmin but just wanted to see if anyone here knew what it might be and I will post thier solution.

 

[dingbat]

Re: Garmin 178C Screen is white

Pretty common problem. Pull the power connector and check the voltages at the pins. The fix is a new fuse holder

 

[5150abf]

Re: Garmin 178C Screen is white

I will try that, I found the inline fuse and pulled it and cleaned it up but no change and I still haven't heard back from Garmin.

I even tried to cash in on my working at Bennington, we put probably 4000 Garmin products on boats every year, I even used my @benningtonmarine email but so far nothing.

 

[dingbat]

Re: Garmin 178C Screen is white

I even tried to cash in on my working at Bennington, we put probably 4000 Garmin products on boats every year, I even used my @benningtonmarine email but so far nothing.

Sending an e-mail to a customer service organization is the laziest and thus the slowest means of communication. I’ve gotten very good Garmin CS when I called.

 

[5150abf]

Re: Garmin 178C Screen is white

It isn't the fuse holder, I got a whole new harness at work and it is still doing it.

If I find time I may call them, I do almost everything through email at work so it is kind of a habit.

 

[5150abf]

Re: Garmin 178C Screen is white

In case someone searches this problem, Garmin got back with me and the problem is caused by an internal hardware problem and can't be fixed so my beloved GPS is dead.

 

[dingbat]

Re: Garmin 178C Screen is white

If it is not under warranty, you have nothing to loose to try to fix it yourself. I would tear it apart to see if you could find out what is wrong with it.

Our 42” flat screen did the same thing. Tore the back off and found two damaged capacitors on the power supply board. It took me 40 minutes and 2- $2 capacitors to repair it.

 

[emoney]

Re: Garmin 178C Screen is white

A couple of years ago, Garmin used to have a "flat-rate" service charge for repairing their products, at least some of them. I send my old-school GPS-72 handheld to them and for $70.00 they basically made it brand new. Not sure if this is still a service, but it's cheaper than buying a new unit.

Speaking of which, when are stand-alone GPS fixed mount systems going get more affordable? It's crazy out there in the electronics market.

 

[dingbat]

Re: Garmin 178C Screen is white

Speaking of which, when are stand-alone GPS fixed mount systems going get more affordable? It's crazy out there in the electronics market.

Considering I paid over $300 for my first fixed mount with 2” diagonal, BW screen, I’d say todays units are very affordable