The other half's dad tried updating his TomTom Start2 earlier today, but he says the Internet cut off halfway through and it's now broken. It looks like what's more likely to have happened is that one of the front USB ports on his PC intermittently loses contact with the plug, and the update has sort of happened but not finished. Now whenever you turn the unit on, there's a message saying "No maps found". The unit isn't all that old and doesn't need to be bang up to date, so understandably he's annoyed that his only solution seems to be to re-purchase the UK maps for £20-something.

Is there any way that I can at least put back on the maps that it came with even if they're not the latest? Or is it now irrevocably stuffed until he buys the latest map? I know nothing of TomToms specifically so please treat me as a novice in that regard, although I'm very capable technically so if the instructions are a bit complex that's fine...

there are step by step recovery guides on the tomtom support pages.

The home app should have backed them up first. But IIRC you only get one shot recovering so don't use any dodgy ports or hubs when you do!

Sorry, I should have said, I already tried the recovery but it seems to have backed it up in a state with no maps on it...

I downloaded their "clear flash" tool as well but that doesn't seem to have made any difference, and I can't do anything on the device itself as it won't continue past the "no maps" screen :(

the maps are stored somewhere else, but if you used the same dead port you've lost that map file.

Try contacting tomtom, but they'll likely tell you to buy new maps now.

Yep, sounds pretty knackered then. Time to get used to Google Navigation on their smartphones I guess

Ta though

I had a similar problem with mine, took several attempts at the restore to work.

TomTom customer services are very helpful, give them a call and I am sure they will be able to sort it out.

From what I can tell the backup is simply missing that data. The backup when I restored it also seemed to be the same version of the software that came in the latest update, so I think since TomTom Home only allows a single backup per-unit, he may have overwritten any good backup with this duff one as part of trying to fix it himself. In which case, it's stuffed, as I can't even find older maps for "purchase" for the Start.

It's looking like it'll be a case of calling TomTom if they really want it sorting, but the unit must be coming up for a year old if not slightly over so I'm not sure that they'd do anything. And no doubt it's an 0845 support number with several automated systems and holding etc, will probably end up cheaper in the long run just for him to buy the updated maps and enjoy having a "new" satnav I reckon, or just use Google Navigation.

Keith rang TomTom in the end, they agreed that it was an upgrade gone wrong and not his fault, and even though the unit's actually about 18 months old (so out of warranty) they've fixed it for him and sent him some kind of upgrade tied to the serial number which fixed it. Dunno whether it's the original maps or the latest maps, but he's happy either way and they went a lot further than I thought they would for an "end of life" unit

Great result. My experience of TomTom customer service is that they are excellent, the people answering the phones are not idiots and actually have enough power to sort out issues. Their upgrade software however is problematic.

Excellent result for you. I agree with gjib, TomTom updates can be a problem. I have the 1000 go and current up dates just don't finish. Their tech side are aware of the problem but it is still ongoing as it has been for three months!!