Somewhere in the Netherlands sits a computer program designer, who works for the GPS manufacturer Tomtom.
This designer decided that the words "now disconnect the device", was enough for smart people to understand that they should go to the menu "Device" and choose the option "Disconnect", after which they should physically disconnect the device.
I yesterday evening apparently did not belong to the group of smart people, so I just disconnected without going through the menus, and the GPS crashed completely.
On Tomtom's website there are of course support links, but none of them go to any forums where one can ask for help.
The FAQ required me to enter the GPS's model type. The box says Tomtom ONE. The options on the website were TomTom ONE XL, TomTom ONE 30 Series, TomTom ONE 3rd Edition, TomTom ONE 2nd Edition and TomTom ONE 1st Edition. The device itself does not give the number.
I was also asked to enter the product code. There was a very informative picture telling me how to get the product code from the device, IF THE FRIGGING THING HAD BEEN WORKING. If I go to the support site, because the device does not work, why do they require me to enter a product code I only can get from a working device!?
The entire support site was in French, by the way, even though there was a non-working option to enter English as preferred language - mostly as decoration, I guess.
In the end I followed the instructions at this faq. It told me first to reset the device (after it had forced me to guess a random model number.) I then restored the software (without success), backed up and duplicated the file system, reformatted the card, restored the content and finally cleared the flash.
The entire operation took about four hours. This morning I woke up four hours later than usual, and missed the opportunity to take a nice brisk walk in the fresh morning temperature. It is now around noon and more than 30 degrees.
That computer program designer in the Netherlands made me lose four hours of my life. Dear, Tomtom, sack him!
