Magellan GPS Installation Procedure Very Risky
October 11, 2009 by Jason Bean
Filed under Computers
My dad gave me a call tonight needing some help with his computer. That’s not such a new concept, but what he needed help with was new. He purchased a new Magellan GPS device and needed help getting the software installed on his computer.
He’s familiar with installing software on his machine, trust me, I regularly have to delete stuff that he’s installed for no reason. But tonight he was worried because of the convoluted install instructions and warnings he was being told.
Basically, here were the steps that specifically stated:
- Turn-off all firewalls and anti-virus
- Turn-off all power saving features
- Make sure running on power and not battery
- Disable anything that could interrupt install
- Make sure GPS device is fully powered
Generally I wouldn’t think too much of those steps, but turning off the anti-virus and firewall I didn’t really like. Luckily the install process didn’t require an Internet connection for updates. Everything needed was available on the installation DVD.
What concerned my dad, and why he was asking for my help was that the instruction clearly warned that if anything interrupted the install process the entire installation would be corrupted. The instructions suggested that the install would take up to 2.5 hours. If errors did occur in the installation process, he would need to ship the entire device back to Magellan for them to fix and repair and then send it back. Sounds like if it failed during install it would completely "brick" the device.
All of this would be at his expense if it happened during his installation update.
That just seems very harsh to me. Has anyone else experienced this type of risky install errors where you would have to resend the entire device back to the manufacturer?
