2 Humminbird 998C SI with interlink sysetm FROZEN

[Fleury9816]

I have 2 998C SI Humminbird units connected together with an interlink system on my boat. This weekend I was fishing and both units were on. I attempted to delete a waypoint while on my front unit. I got to the screen when you press the "right arrow" button to save changes and the screen froze.

I attempted to press it a few more times and it just stayed frozen on that screen. Upon turning the units off I am not able to access my maps/wayoints or any of my shortcut buttons on the back unit at the main dash area. The minute it's on if you touch anything other than just letting the sonar image which continues to run the screen immediately locks and never unfreezes. My front unit that I was orginally on when this all happened, will allow you cycle through the options of side imagine, sonar, down imaging but also will not bring up the map screen.

I have unhooked the lines to the interlink that go to eat unit and turned off...turned on etc. but the problem persists.

Any ideas what is going on here? Any suggestions?

I understand I could attempt to factory restore the units which I am told by one friend may not solve this problem anyway and I am hesitant because I haven't backed up my way-points since last year so I am going to end up losing a bunch which is annoying...my fault for not backing up more frequently but still annoying.

Thanks

[jpx2]

might want to call HB support, hear they are very good with helping people out of jams. GL

[Bryanmc57]

Restoring defaults won't delete your waypoints. It sounds like you have a corrupt waypoint. You should try to export your waypoints from one of your units to an SD cart and follow the "reset interlink" procedures found on the HB website.

Beyond that, I'd ditch the interlink and go with ethernet networking for your 998s.

[fishfood]

Restoring defaults won't delete your waypoints. It sounds like you have a corrupt waypoint. You should try to export your waypoints from one of your units to an SD cart and follow the "reset interlink" procedures found on the HB website.

Beyond that, I'd ditch the interlink and go with ethernet networking for your 998s.

[rickmb]

Beyond that, I'd ditch the interlink and go with ethernet networking for your 998s.

+1

[Fleury9816]

Alright quick update:

Apparently it appears as if the problem was a corrupt weigh pt file.

So if anyone runs into this problem I thought I would post what I had to do to possibly help someone out down the road.

If your locked up the ability to save your weigh pts will probably not be accessible. I was able to access it though on my other unit on the bow that was not locked up. Although this unit didn't have the tab visible to save these....No big deal. Restart the unit and hit the menu button as it loads and you will be able to get into simulator mode where you will have those tab options needed.

Back up your weigh pts on an SD card

Once you have your weigh pts saved. Here are the few things I needed to do.

Update the System
***BEFORE STARTING detach Interlink & GPS cords ***
1. Make sure you have the more updated version of the software. If not. Set up tab - Restore defaults (this can be done PRIOR to also ...this step does NOT delete weigh pts on the unit
2. Go to Humminbird PC and download the newest update. Put the update on a formatted and empty SD card
3. Insert the SD card into the unit (if any other SD cards are in take them out)
4. Unit will automatically bring up a message to override the version on the unit. Unit will eventually reboot.

Clean Up Weigh Pts for potential corrupt files

1. Open HumminbirdPC program on your computer.
2. Insert your SD card with the weigh pts.
3. Export the weigh pts to the HumminbirdPC program (you will see them all load up under a little drop this)
4. Import them BACK to your SD card. This process will clean up any corrupt file.

Formatting Nav Directory (***warning...this erases everything so make sure you have your backup done)

1. She told me this option...although under my Options Tab could be located in different tabs based on the unit model so just find Format Nav Directory and follow steps to reformat the unit. The unit will flash and probably reboot.

(At this pt both my units have stopped freezing on any of the options and appeared to be back to full participation)

ReApplying Weigh Pts

1. After all this is done. With the unit back on and reformatted. Insert SD card. You will be prompted to add the weigh pts from your SD card onto the unit. YES The weigh pts will load onto the unit. When finished a message will come up telling you how many weigh pts, routes, etc have been put onto the unit.

2. Do the same thing with BOTH units if you have 2 units.

3. Plug everything back into the your units GPS, internet cords etc.

4. Re-start both unit's and they should be fully functioning and back to normal.

Finished? Still locking up?

1. If you are still having issues with it locking after all this and the units were working prior to hooking everything back up then that corrupt file is IN your interlink and you need to perform an interlink reset.

CHECKING FOR CORRUPT DATA:

1. Export all of the Nav Data to a Blank SD Card with the following steps:

From the Navigation Menu Tab, select Waypoints, Routes and Tracks, right cusor, select options, right cursor, select all and , right cursor then select Export. This will copy all Nav data your SD card.
Download Humm PC to your computer from your online profile if registered. If not registered, do this from the Humminbird Website. Once registered , there will be a free download program called Humm PC. Open program, insert the SD card to computer and upload waypoints to Humm PC and then send information back to the card. If there are any corrupt waypoints this will clean them up. This tends to cause issues sometimes. Before reloading to the unit, Delete all Nav Data from unit and then reload.

1. Resetting the Interlink:

• ! Save the Nav Data(if any) to a SD card for backup ! If possible load them on another unit or on a PC using Humminbird PC. Verify you have your data securely backed up before proceeding!

• Go to the InterLink menu item and select Stop Participating on BOTH units.
• Go to the NAV tab on one unit (ensure customer is in Advanced Mode) and select Delete All Nav Data. This will clear the unit of all Waypoints, Routes and Tracks.
• On the unit you just cleared, go to the InterLink option under the ACC tab and select Start Participating.
• The unit will now ask you to Participate. Right arrow to accept.
• When asked how you want to participate select Keep Data on this Unit. This will send null nav data to the Interlink and reset.

• The InterLink and unit will now synch. You will see the Interlink Synch in progress message displayed.
• When the synch is complete go to the other unit and select Start Participating on it.
• When asked to participate – right arrow to acknowledge.
• When you are asked how you want to participate on this unit tell it to Keep Data on this Unit. This will load the Interlink and the other unit we cleared with nav data from this unit.
• You will again see the Interlink Synch in Progress message.
• As this synch is going on you can use the Interlink Status option to view what is going on with the synch. You can see the data being populated on the Interlink and the second unit.
• When the synch is complete turn off both units and turn them back on. Both units should now be in synch with the Interlink and there should be no messages displayed

After you have done all of the above and still the same issue. We do suggest to update the Interlink. You would do this by disconnecting the Interlink cable from the primary unit(998 si) , power the other unit(998) on and it should update. Once complete, reconnect the 2^nd unit and it should synchronize.


Hope this helps someone.

[fishfood]

Very nice post!

[TroyBoy30]

ethernet is so much better

[nowakezone]

Alright quick update:

Apparently it appears as if the problem was a corrupt weigh pt file.

So if anyone runs into this problem I thought I would post what I had to do to possibly help someone out down the road.

If your locked up the ability to save your weigh pts will probably not be accessible. I was able to access it though on my other unit on the bow that was not locked up. Although this unit didn't have the tab visible to save these....No big deal. Restart the unit and hit the menu button as it loads and you will be able to get into simulator mode where you will have those tab options needed.

Back up your weigh pts on an SD card

Once you have your weigh pts saved. Here are the few things I needed to do.

Update the System
***BEFORE STARTING detach Interlink & GPS cords ***
1. Make sure you have the more updated version of the software. If not. Set up tab - Restore defaults (this can be done PRIOR to also ...this step does NOT delete weigh pts on the unit
2. Go to Humminbird PC and download the newest update. Put the update on a formatted and empty SD card
3. Insert the SD card into the unit (if any other SD cards are in take them out)
4. Unit will automatically bring up a message to override the version on the unit. Unit will eventually reboot.

Clean Up Weigh Pts for potential corrupt files

1. Open HumminbirdPC program on your computer.
2. Insert your SD card with the weigh pts.
3. Export the weigh pts to the HumminbirdPC program (you will see them all load up under a little drop this)
4. Import them BACK to your SD card. This process will clean up any corrupt file.

Formatting Nav Directory (***warning...this erases everything so make sure you have your backup done)

1. She told me this option...although under my Options Tab could be located in different tabs based on the unit model so just find Format Nav Directory and follow steps to reformat the unit. The unit will flash and probably reboot.

(At this pt both my units have stopped freezing on any of the options and appeared to be back to full participation)

ReApplying Weigh Pts

1. After all this is done. With the unit back on and reformatted. Insert SD card. You will be prompted to add the weigh pts from your SD card onto the unit. YES The weigh pts will load onto the unit. When finished a message will come up telling you how many weigh pts, routes, etc have been put onto the unit.

2. Do the same thing with BOTH units if you have 2 units.

3. Plug everything back into the your units GPS, internet cords etc.

4. Re-start both unit's and they should be fully functioning and back to normal.

Finished? Still locking up?

1. If you are still having issues with it locking after all this and the units were working prior to hooking everything back up then that corrupt file is IN your interlink and you need to perform an interlink reset.

CHECKING FOR CORRUPT DATA:

1. Export all of the Nav Data to a Blank SD Card with the following steps:

From the Navigation Menu Tab, select Waypoints, Routes and Tracks, right cusor, select options, right cursor, select all and , right cursor then select Export. This will copy all Nav data your SD card.
Download Humm PC to your computer from your online profile if registered. If not registered, do this from the Humminbird Website. Once registered , there will be a free download program called Humm PC. Open program, insert the SD card to computer and upload waypoints to Humm PC and then send information back to the card. If there are any corrupt waypoints this will clean them up. This tends to cause issues sometimes. Before reloading to the unit, Delete all Nav Data from unit and then reload.

1. Resetting the Interlink:

• ! Save the Nav Data(if any) to a SD card for backup ! If possible load them on another unit or on a PC using Humminbird PC. Verify you have your data securely backed up before proceeding!

• Go to the InterLink menu item and select Stop Participating on BOTH units.
• Go to the NAV tab on one unit (ensure customer is in Advanced Mode) and select Delete All Nav Data. This will clear the unit of all Waypoints, Routes and Tracks.
• On the unit you just cleared, go to the InterLink option under the ACC tab and select Start Participating.
• The unit will now ask you to Participate. Right arrow to accept.
• When asked how you want to participate select Keep Data on this Unit. This will send null nav data to the Interlink and reset.

• The InterLink and unit will now synch. You will see the Interlink Synch in progress message displayed.
• When the synch is complete go to the other unit and select Start Participating on it.
• When asked to participate – right arrow to acknowledge.
• When you are asked how you want to participate on this unit tell it to Keep Data on this Unit. This will load the Interlink and the other unit we cleared with nav data from this unit.
• You will again see the Interlink Synch in Progress message.
• As this synch is going on you can use the Interlink Status option to view what is going on with the synch. You can see the data being populated on the Interlink and the second unit.
• When the synch is complete turn off both units and turn them back on. Both units should now be in synch with the Interlink and there should be no messages displayed

After you have done all of the above and still the same issue. We do suggest to update the Interlink. You would do this by disconnecting the Interlink cable from the primary unit(998 si) , power the other unit(998) on and it should update. Once complete, reconnect the 2^nd unit and it should synchronize.


Hope this helps someone.

After 2 hrs with no success I found this post.
This fixed all my issues
THANK YOU