I love my Garmin Edge 305 and love having it on my handlebars on ever ride, race and commute. It gives me all the standard cyclocomputer data like speed, distance, etc. but adds on a lot of extras including altitude, cadence, heart rate, etc.
But twice now (the first being here), I've had to do my Tuesday night group ride without because it wouldn't power up. That first time, it actually did power up, though only to the splash screen, where it would tell me the battery was drained.
This past Tuesday, pressing the power button didn't even get me that far. Plugging it in to either the computer's USB or the wall wart power did nothing to revive it. I did a quick search for my problem and didn't find a solution, though I did see a few others with the same problem. A cursory look at Garmin's site didn't reveal an answer either. So I called their support and after being on hold for awhile, got a solution. Here's the solution, to save other Garmin Edge 305 user's from having to wait on hold:
Press and hold the mode and lap/reset button simultaneously for roughly 5 seconds to reset the unit. Unfortunately, there's no queue to let you know it's been reset, but after roughly 5 seconds, let go of that button combination and press the power button. The unit should power up now, albeit in my experience it's going to need to go back on the charger.
The support rep I talked to from Garmin claimed that sometimes the unit will lockup after charging, which is a really strange time for the lockup IMHO, but I've experienced it twice now firsthand – both times, the battery was completely drained.
Here's to hoping they fix this in a future firmware release soon. I'll be checking Garmin's software/download site often. I'm now in the habit of doing a quick power-up after charging and on other random occasions to make sure it's still functioning.
I'm pretty much making this post in hopes it shows up in Google. While I didn't do an exhaustive search, several keyword phrases never came up with the solution. So here's hoping that my little ol' post shows up in the search engines and helps fellow Garmin Edge 305 users out there if they too ever experience their Edge 305 not powering up.
Update: It's 2010 as I write this, and I'm still having continued issues with batteries and bootup problems. While the trick above helps get the unit into a state of usefulness, my units have still be problematic. See my post about exchanging for a fifth unit. Fed up With Garmin Reliability, Quality Control and Customer Service
Thanks so much for this post… I just started having this trouble on mine. It started after the battery drain. Oh goodness, I wish I had caught it before that happened. I can't even transfer data to my computer with mine now. I hope to find a fix for it online. Thanks again for this helpful info~
Thank you. Thank you! Thank you!!
Awoke day 1 on vacation in California and found that I had to go for my first ride without my Garmin. Stuck to the Coast, so at least I didn't get lost. But it's not nearly as fun as taking off into the country, and knowing that the GPS will always get me home. Your fix worked, and I'm looking forward to going out tomorrow/
I've fought this battle for 4 years now. The above mentioned routine always has worked for me (mode + lap), but today it simply would not work at all. I could get no screen at all despite trying to recharge and press the button combo. I decided to press 'Menu' slightly before 'Lap' and held down for ten or so seconds. That did it. Weird. Also, try making sure the unit is on a tad before you power it off after a data transfer or recharge. This seems to help it remember it's not stupid.