ok so i noticed a lot of ppl's hds for their GPS have failed and are in need of a replacement. My 99 tl's hd recently failed. i got the yellow screen which said "disk needs to be reformatted please see local dealer". acura dealers will give u a replacement hd but its bound to fail as well since its a spinning hd which is affect by heat and vibration. this cf setup should last forever since it is not affect by heat or vibration.

after doing a bit of research i found the solution and it cost me less than $50. im no expert and its not gauranteed to work but so far im the 2nd person that i kno of that was successful and it is worth a shot.

you will need to do three simple things:
1. order a PCMCIA adapter (you can get one here)

2. get a 512mb cf card. this seems to b the biggest problem because some cf cards work and others dont. i used a 512 PNY cf card which i got from bestbuy. i would recommend using that 1 since it worked for me. i read on the forums that Sandisk and Kingston CF cards did not work. Viking worked for some but not for others. if the PNY cf card worked for my i would think it works for u.

3. assemble the cf card and adapter and take the unit to your local Acura dealer and have them load the GPS files for you. Make sure to call in first and ask if they can upload the gps files for you on the replacement drive you have and how much they will charge you. some dealers will do it for free while others will try to charge u big bucks for this simple 10 minute task.

for all you socal AZ members.. i went to the Acura of Glendale so go there. you could even ask for Rick in the service department. he's tha 1 that did it for me so he'll know what ur talking about if u ask him. dont tell him i sent u.

santa monica and torrance acura dealers dont have the tools to upload the gps files for you so dont go there. downey tried to charge me $250 for the files. i got it done for free at Glendale Acura and the Acura of Valencia should do it for free as well.

once the files are loaded pop it into the trunk and you should b good 2 go.

good luck
-Vy

 

Bob_F and i are the only ones that i kno have tried this and it worked. i wouldnt have been able to do it w/o his help. so if ur doubting wether or not it will work, jes know that its worked for the both of us.

 

hey would it matter instead of buying a 512.. i bought a 1g .. any difference ? or should i stick with the 512?

 

I would stick with a 512 MB card. I haven't confirmed this myself but I've read that the 1 GB cards don't work for some reason. And you can't put more than one region on a CF card.

On a related topic, not all 512 MB cards seem to work and there doesn't seem to be any clear cut reason why. Be prepared to try more than one brand or model of CF card. The first one that I tried, made by Sandisk, did not work and I got a disc read error. The second one, made by Viking, worked perfectly. (It might be some sort of formatting issue but I really don't know.)

Bob

 

okay thanks a lot.. im going out to purchase it today and going to the dealership to get it formated, i'll let you know that outcome
-rich

 

When you go to the dealership, have the CF card mounted in the PCMCIA adapter. That will allow them to hook it up in the same manner as the stock PCMCIA-based hard drive.

Good Luck!

Bob

 

What is the bran of the PCMCIA Adpator that work for you guys? Does it matter like the CF card brand?

 

I don't think the brand of PCMCIA adapter matters. I bought one for about $7 shipped from eBay and it worked fine.

Here's another one from the same seller that I used:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=150087479616

These things are up for auction continuously.

And here's a thread with some additional information:

https://acurazine.com/forums/ramblings-12/why-does-always-seem-140469/

Bob

 

Bob, Thx so much for your help. All I need now is somone with the midwest software who can share it with me? Do you know someone who can help? Also, do they need to image the drive with the original files or just copy the files over to the CF card? Thx so much for the help Bob.

 

You're welcome.

Call your local Acura dealer and see if they will load the files onto your PCMCIA/Compact Flash unit. Some dealers will do this for free. Other dealers, unfortunately will charge for this service. And some dealers no longer have the equipment to do this.

The actual process takes a few minutes and it just involves moving the files onto the compact flash card. Be aware that not all CF cards appear to work.

This may be a formatting issue:

See this thread for more details on that:

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...=140200&page=1

Bob

 

Thx Bob. I saw that last thread you mentioned about an hour ago and that's why I posted here hoping to get a response from you. I will buy the PNY or Viking CF card tomorrow ...
I'm going to try the dealer route and I'm hoping that one of the 3 dealers in town can do it. If not, I maybe SOL .... Thx again

 

Good Luck!

Bob

 

great write up veezy!!! is this only for 99? i have 01

 

Yes, this Compact Flash card replacement is only for the 1999 TL. The 1999 TL is the only 2ng Gen TL that used a hard drive for storing the navigation data. The 2000-2003 TLs used a DVD-based unit.


Bob

 

i am in need of the file to put on the HD. I contacted my local dealer but no luck from them. Anyone have any ideas? I already bought the drive and need just the files. I contacted Paul Mooney but no dice, as he sells only complete drives. Thanks

-Mike