Connecting a Becker Map Pilot to a PC

[bkcjones]

Dear boxbrownie
Thanks for your quick response. I think this was mentioned previously in this thread. All 4 of the machines I tried use AVG (free edition) anti-virus. The fact that it worked okay on the XP machine leads me to conclude that this is not the problem. Becker themselves make no mention of disabling the anti-virus software in their somewhat sparse installation instructions. In my opinion this is not the source of the problem.

 

[Giantvanman]

Dear boxbrownie
Thanks for your quick response. I think this was mentioned previously in this thread. All 4 of the machines I tried use AVG (free edition) anti-virus. The fact that it worked okay on the XP machine leads me to conclude that this is not the problem. Becker themselves make no mention of disabling the anti-virus software in their somewhat sparse installation instructions. In my opinion this is not the source of the problem.

When we got my son his Becker, I read that their server connection is all that and some had experienced freezing and such like.
I updated my sons, following the instructions precisely, on his W7 PC on a weekday around about late morning and it went through in a few minutes.
I turned off the AV software before I started.

TBF, you're not the first and won't be the last to encounter problems with Becker and it does seem to be particularly sensitive in relation to when the download is done……..I have no idea why that is so.

 

[Rctaylor1966]

Gentlemen
I am having the same problems as those of the originator of this thread and several other contributors. The MP is not recognised by my PC when it is first plugged in. I have now tried it on 3 different machines, 2 off Windows 7 desktops and a new Windows 8.1 laptop. All these O/S's are 64 bit. They all behave the same in that a CD drive and a removable drive are installed but neither of these new drives are accessible. You have to refresh the drive display window for the drives to appear. I downloaded the Content Manager and installed that but that also does not recognise that the MP is connected. I tried another cable, not effect. I was beginning to suspect the I had a hardware problem on the MP's USB connector. I noted that another contributor had tried an old machine so I managed to get hold of an old Windows XP (32 bit) laptop. When I plugged the MP into that it created the same two new drives but this time the removable drive showed up as "Becker MP" and I could read the contents. The CD drive was still not accessible. When I tried the Content Manager again, it connected and I was able to upload all the software/firmware/map updates available, although this took some time (hours!).

Obviously this proves that the MP's hardware and the cable are okay. My suspicion is that the drivers that are loaded from the MP are incompatible with Windows 7 & 8, possibly only the 64 bit version, as I see that other contributors are using Windows 7. The support for the drivers appears to be non-existent as presumably Becker believe that they are universal across all O/S's.

Using the XP laptop is not a long term option for me so I am still looking for a solution to get the MP working with Windows 7 and 8 (64 bit). Does anyone have any suggestions I could try. Note that I have tried all of those already mentioned in this thread. Thanks for your help.

You could try setting content manager in Windows XP Compatability Mode. Right click on the exe and then compatability menu and choose XP. You might want to set 'run as Administrator' too

 

[Rctaylor1966]

You could try setting content manager in Windows XP Compatability Mode. Right click on the exe and then compatability menu and choose XP. You might want to set 'run as Administrator' too

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/what-is-program-compatibility#1TC=windows-7

 

[bkcjones]

Dear Giantanman

Thanks for the thought, and it is easy enough to try, so I just did. No change I'm afraid. Do you know if your son's Windows 7 was 32 bit or 64 bit?

Dear Rctaylor1966

The problem is not with the Content Manager, I don't even get that far. The PC is not seeing the MP correctly and the installed drives are not accessible. When the removable drive becomes readable (as on the XP machine) then the Content Manager can connect.

 

[Giantvanman]

Dear Giantanman
Thanks for the thought, and it is easy enough to try, so I just did. No change I'm afraid. Do you know if your son's Windows 7 was 32 bit or 64 bit?

64 bit………and do a google search and read what others have found. WHEN the download is done really can be a factor.

 

[bkcjones]

Gentlemen
After many hours of googling, I think I have now solved this problem, at least for my case. Most of the solutions presented dealt with the case where there is no drive letter assigned and so the drive was not visible in Explorer. I could not get the drives to appear in Disk Management at all so this is not the same problem. I was convinced that something was interfering with the USB port operation, and so without the creation of a CD drive AND the removable drive, with the contents of both being fully readable, the Contents Manager would never be able to connect. So I concentrated my investigation of this type of problem. I use a program called "AnyDVD" which I use to playback DVD's region free, although it does other things as well. If this is disabled in the system tray pop-up then the MP works perfectly!! Apparently the program is looking at the USB ports as well and not liking the MP at all, why I cannot say. So if anyone with this problem is using this program or something similar which will disrupt the MP's USB connection, then it needs to be disabled, if only when the MP is in use. This also accounts for why the MP worked okay on the XP machines and not the Windows 7 or 8 machines, as they all have AnyDVD installed except for the XP machine (CD drive not compatible). So, thanks to all those who contributed, and I hope this is helpful to someone else.

 

[Drezik]

As seen previously i struggled a lot as other members. To be exact 4 hours.

First i tried on an Win 10 computer with 3.0 USB but not much success.

Then i found a 2013 Windows 7 64 bit computer and older USB ports and after 2 hours of downloading which were nerve wracking, installing and doubting i finally finished the installation and upgrade of the maps.

 

[concordepilot19]

Finally I managed to get my Windows 10 laptop to recognise the Map Pilot from my W204, this was achieved by removing the battery, and refitting it before connection via USB.I did not lose Last Destinations or Protected Entries.