Reparing a Garmin 390LM

[Mzokk]

I have two of the little Garmin 3XX series Satnav's (a 340LM and 390LM) that I use on my old R1150GS. The 390LM gets the bulk of the and has been fine for many years I inherited it in 2016 as it came with a 2014 Kawasaki 1000SX that I bought. I bought the 340LM as a backup. Anyhow about a year ago it stopped reading the micro SD card in the unit and I was out last Friday around the Glens of Antrim and it did this.


Just a plain white screen.

Anyhow when I got it home I connected the unit to the computer and it was recognised by Garmin Express and Basecamp and continued to log the route I'd taken. So I thought I'd open it up. When I did I found that the ribbon cable to the Micro SD card slot had become dislodged so I put it back in its socket and inserted an SD card and connected the unit to the computer again and low and behold the SD card slot was working again. So do I have a go at replacing the screen? The are available for £25 delivered from Ebay so I thought that I'd give it a shot. The new screen arrived and I opened up the unit again. A T5 torx bit is required and there are 10 screws securing the rear of the unit.





The SD ribbon cable had previously been put back in its socket only the screen ribbon holds the front of the unit to the rear of the unit when the case screws have been removed.



Be careful when removing the white ribbon cable security tab it can become dislodged and is fragile and brittle.



Front of the unit the display is retained using 8 T5 torx screws.



Checking that the two screens match.

As they say reasembly is the reverse of dissasembly again be careful with the display ribbon securing tab as it is fragile.

Moment of truth was it just the screen??



390LM on the Left and 340LM on the right. Proof of the pudding will be it wobbling about on the Migsel Mount on the R1150GS........which does have a particularly wobbly cockpit

 

[shuck raider]

Well done on the repair, good to have this on the site as a resource.

I have a 340LM which has mostly behaved itself so far, apart from a lock out in the middle of France a couple of years ago. Bit of Googling and re-set to factory settings and been fine since. It does what I need it to do, nice wee unit.

 

[Mzokk]

Yip Arthur the 3xx garmins are my favourites no nonsense sat nav’s. In many ways I prefer them to the XT on my Africa twin.

 

[Wapping]

Thank you.

I have made it a sticky.

Richard

You are right when you say that these, quite basic but decent quality, devices were amongst the best units thst Garmin produced. This was before they started to pander towards all the demands of bikermates, seeking to turn riding a motorcycle into a home entertainment package.

 

[Pukmeister]

Great fix guide, thanks for that.

Sometimes (most times?) simple is best.

I had a Tomtom Rider1 for years which I loved, it was so simple.

I was never lost, it was just like a simple waterproof car type nav device to take me to a location, and as a luddite I appreciated its ease of use.

I was gutted when they did some kind of GPS satellite recalibrate a few years back and all the old kit like it stopped getting an accurate location, instantly turning it to E-waste.

I feel the same way about tech with my 1250 and its TFT/Whizz wheel integration.

Do I really need all that crap, I did just fine without it for decades ?