#8 The Deep Dive Fix Files: Week Ending 24 July 2026

This is a weekly roundup of significant sports tech problems that the endurance community has encountered and, where possible, resolved. Each entry covers the issue, the affected hardware or software, and the current best fix or workaround known to the community.

Garmin Fenix 8 AMOLED crashing and rebooting when opening the map or starting an activity on software 21.39

On the Fenix 8 47mm AMOLED running software 21.39, the watch restarts when the map is opened after previewing a saved course, when an activity is selected from the list, and when the map is zoomed or panned. Several owners reproduce the map crash almost every time, and one reporter had the watch reboot on every attempt to start a hike across four days of a hiking holiday. The activity is usually saved, so data is rarely lost, but the reboot interrupts sleep tracking, daytime heart rate and any workout in progress.

Garmin support stated on 19 June 2026 that the reboot tied to the Start and Stop button was resolved in system software 22.35. Updating to 22.35 through Garmin Express over USB, or by accepting the update over Bluetooth, stabilised the watch for the original reporter and reduced the crashes for others. Install 22.35 first before assuming the unit is faulty, since the map and activity crashes on 21.39 were a known software fault.

For a number of owners the crashes continued after 22.35, and Garmin’s guidance in that case points to hardware. One user was told by a local service centre that the repeated crashing traced to a battery or motherboard fault, and Garmin offered a replacement even though the unit sat six months outside warranty. A watch that still reboots when starting activities on 22.35 is worth booking in for hardware evaluation rather than reflashing repeatedly.

Garmin Edge 850 stuck on a loading courses boot loop after software 31.31

On the Edge 850 running software 31.31, the unit boots to the Garmin logo, shows the battery percentage, then hangs on the message Loading courses, workouts, and locations and goes no further. A standard reset lets it start once, but powering the device off returns it to the same loop, so it has to be reset again before every ride. Some units are recognised by Garmin Express in this state and some are not, and at least one rider had the fault appear mid-event on a 550 km ride.

The loop is not tied to adding new content, and it has reappeared after nothing more than a routine charge and a map check in Garmin Express. It has also been seen on the earlier 6.16 firmware, so 31.31 did not remove it. To force a power off, hold the power button for at least ten seconds, and up to thirty seconds if the unit restarts on its own.

If the standard reset does not hold, put the Edge into MTP mode so a computer can reach it. Power the unit off, hold the Lap key while pressing and releasing the power button, and keep holding Lap until the screen shows Loader and then USB MTP Mode, then connect the USB cable. On a Mac, install OpenMTP first, since Finder will not see the device. With the Edge visible over MTP, copy the 31.29 GUPDATE.GCD file into the Garmin folder on the device, unplug it, and let the software reinstall. Garmin has a boot fix in the beta software, so it is worth reporting an affected unit so the public fix is prioritised.

Garmin Forerunner 970 pace dropping to 0:00 after a sprint or fast interval on software 17.33

On the Forerunner 970 running software 17.33, a stride, sprint or sharp acceleration causes the displayed pace to drop to 0:00 per kilometre and stay there for the rest of the run. GPS position, distance and average lap pace keep recording correctly, so the fault sits in the instantaneous speed rather than the whole activity. Several runners see heart rate fall into the 90s at the same moment, and the problem shows up most often during structured interval workouts on open ground with a clear satellite lock.

The failure corrupts more than the live pace field. One runner traced the FIT files and found enhanced_speed dropping to exactly 0.000 metres per second after 30 to 37 seconds and holding at zero, with running power collapsing to implausible values and total ascent recording as 0 to 1 metre despite a valid altitude profile. The behaviour began with firmware 17.33, it appears on the Fenix 8 as well, and resetting activity settings, reinstalling firmware and a full factory reset do not resolve it.

The working interim fix is to press the Start and Stop button twice, which pauses and then resumes the activity, after which speed tracking returns. It interrupts the interval, but it restores valid pace and power data for the remainder of the session. A firmware correction has not landed for everyone, since owners updated to 18.14 report the zero speed returning on the Fenix 8. It is worth sending your FIT files to Garmin, since the enhanced_speed trace is the evidence that separates this defect from ordinary GPS drift.

Garmin Edge 1050 not reconnecting to Wi-Fi after waking from standby

On the Edge 1050 the Wi-Fi connection works normally after a full power on, then fails every time the unit is woken from standby. The Wi-Fi icon in the top bar blinks continuously, no error message appears, and the unit never joins the network. The original reporter reproduced it on two separate 1050 units across several different Wi-Fi networks, and confirmed that an Edge 1030 and 1030 Plus connect to the same networks without trouble.

The practical result is a ride that will not upload. Riders describe pressing Sync repeatedly and waiting for it to fail, three to five attempts before an activity reaches Garmin Connect, and in some cases falling back to a USB cable and Garmin Express to move the file off the device.

The reliable workaround is a full power off rather than standby. Hold the power button until the unit shuts down completely, then start it again, and the Wi-Fi joins on the first attempt. Doing this before the post-ride sync avoids the retry cycle entirely. Software 31.29 changed the behaviour for some owners and not others, so anyone still affected on 31.29 should open a support case rather than assume the update covered it.

Garmin Edge 1040 slow map refresh and navigation lag after firmware 31.31 and TopoActive 2026.11

Since firmware 31.31 and the TopoActive Europe 2026.11 map install, the Edge 1040 redraws the map slowly enough to be unusable during navigation. Position tracking lags behind the rider, map rotation and redraw are visibly slower than before, and switching from a data screen to the map screen now takes around two seconds. One rider following a signposted MTB route said he would still be waiting for the turn instruction had he relied on the unit alone.

The failure mode is a partial redraw rather than a freeze. The map drifts sideways across the screen while the newly exposed area stays blank, and a zoom in or out forces a full redraw that holds for a short period before the drift returns. Some riders also lose the purple course line and direction arrows while this is happening, which removes the only remaining navigation reference on the screen.

Reducing map detail to Least improves the redraw rate without curing the fault, and it is the only setting change that produces a measurable difference. The manual zoom cycle works as an in-ride recovery when the display goes stale mid-route. Firmware 31.33 does not fix it, and the 32.xx beta programme covers the x50 devices only, with nothing released for the x40 line, so riders are filing support cases specifically to establish the fault as widespread.

Garmin Forerunner 570 stuck in a boot loop and not appearing as a drive on a computer

The Forerunner 570 can enter a boot loop in which the watch cycles at the startup screen indefinitely. It can still be powered off, but the usual hard reset does not clear it, and the watch will not stay connected long enough for a computer to see it. Owners hear the connect and disconnect notification tones repeatedly while the drive never appears.

Garmin support published a recovery procedure. Connect the watch to a computer, engage mass storage mode manually if the watch does not mount on its own, open the Garmin drive, locate the NewFiles folder inside the Garmin folder, and delete the entire folder rather than its contents. Disconnect the watch and let it boot. The loop is caused by a corrupted file queued for install in NewFiles, which the watch retries on every startup.

The procedure depends on the watch mounting as a drive, and that is where it fails for several owners. The connect tone sounds, the watch disconnects, and no Garmin volume appears in File Explorer, with manual mass storage mode making no difference. At that point the options narrow to a different cable and a different USB port first, since a charge-only cable produces exactly this symptom, and then a warranty claim, because a watch that will not mount cannot have the NewFiles folder removed.

Garmin Fenix 8 Pro giving no turn-by-turn alerts on courses created in the Garmin Explore app

On software 22.35 and 22.37 the Fenix 8 Pro draws a course built in the Garmin Explore app correctly on the map, with the course line and the direction arrows both visible, and then issues no navigation prompts at all. There are no vibrations at junctions, no turn pop-ups on the screen, and no voice alerts through paired headphones.

The fault sits in the course file rather than the watch. Garmin Explore does not write turn-by-turn course points into a course before syncing it to the device, so the watch receives a track with no navigation instructions attached and renders the line and nothing else. LiveTrack running at the same time has no bearing on this, which is why switching it off changes nothing.

The workaround is to export the course out of Garmin Explore, import the file into Garmin Connect, then sync that copy to the watch. Garmin Connect generates the course points during the import, and turn prompts, vibrations and voice alerts all behave normally afterwards. Owners can check a course before leaving the house by opening it on the watch and looking at the up-ahead list, since a course that displays distance and elevation but an empty turn list will run silent for the whole activity.

Garmin Fenix 8 recording phantom distance while standing still on a hike

During a drink stop on a hike or walk activity the Fenix 8 keeps logging position changes, and the saved track shows a dense knot of scattered points around the spot where the owner was standing. One reporter logged more than a kilometre of distance across a twenty minute pause. Stopping on a slope compounds it, because the recorded ascent and descent follow the scattered positions rather than the barometer, so a rest break also inflates the elevation total.

Garmin staff attribute this to GPS drift and give three settings changes: set the satellite mode to All + Multiband, set recording to Every Second, and allow the watch to hold a fix before starting the activity. One owner applied all three, enabled 3D speed and distance as well, and reported no measurable improvement on his next walk.

Manual pause remains the only reliable remedy. Auto Pause is not an adequate substitute here, since the speed threshold that catches a stationary hiker also fires on slow technical ground and stops recording while the walker is still moving forward. This behaviour predates the Fenix 8 by several years, and neither the watch nor Garmin Connect currently filters a cluster of consecutive points that stay inside a ten or twenty metre radius while the barometric altitude holds steady.

Garmin Edge 850 not acquiring GPS after waking from standby on software 32.08

On beta software 32.08 the Edge 850 loses satellite acquisition after a standby cycle. Taking a break mid-activity and putting the unit into standby produces a device that will not find GPS again on wake. The unit is otherwise responsive, and there is no error message, but the satellite acquisition never completes and the ride cannot resume with position data.

A complete power off clears it. Holding the power button until the unit shuts down fully, then starting it again, restores acquisition. A standby wake does not, which points at the GPS receiver failing to reinitialise from the low power state rather than at a satellite reception problem. Riders who expect to stop mid-ride are better off powering the unit down properly at the cafe than leaving it in standby.

Software 32.08 is beta, so the fault belongs in the beta programme forum, where an Edge 1050 owner has filed a parallel report of satellite acquisition failure on startup under the same version. This is a separate fault from the production GPS firmware problem that leaves Edge units cycling through an Acquiring Satellites screen on 31.29, which occurs on every startup regardless of standby.

Garmin Edge 1050 map data field not following position after ClimbPro on firmware 31.33

On firmware 31.33 the Edge 1050 renders an embedded map data field inside a custom data screen and then stops updating the viewport. GPS position remains correct, the rider icon keeps moving, the route stays drawn and recording continues normally. Auto-centering, Track Up rotation and Auto Zoom all stop, so the rider icon drifts off the visible portion of the map and the screen becomes useless for navigation.

The trigger is leaving another screen or overlay rather than time spent riding. ClimbPro and the Quick Settings panel opened by swiping down from the top both reproduce it, which suggests the map data field does not resume after losing focus. The full-screen map page is unaffected, and only the embedded version in a custom data screen fails.

Switching to the full-screen map page and returning to the custom data screen restores normal behaviour immediately. That works mid-ride and needs no restart, but it has to be repeated every time the field stalls. One reporter has since gone three hours without a freeze after deleting the Europe maps and reinstalling them, having found his unit retained Garmin Cycle Map 2024.10 alongside TopoActive 2026.11, and removing the older map left only the current one installed.

Garmin Edge 1050 stuck on the loading courses screen after the TopoActive Europe 2026.11 map install

Installing TopoActive Europe 2026.11 on an Edge 1050 leaves the unit frozen on the screen that loads courses, workouts and locations during startup. The unit does not proceed to the main menu. Repeatedly pressing and holding the power button does not clear it for every owner, and reconnecting to a computer changes nothing.

Holding the power button for a full fifteen seconds forces a restart that boots through to the menu. One owner also booted the Edge into MTP mode and deleted several .fit files before the restart worked, so the number of activity files on the device may affect how long the loading stage takes.

Firmware version is not the cause. Garmin staff asked whether the affected unit was on 31.31 and suggested updating to 31.33, and the owner replied that he was already on 31.33 and the freeze continued. Garmin has requested the Garmin folder from the device for analysis. This is distinct from the Edge 850 boot loop on software 31.31, which occurs without any map update, since the 1050 case begins with the 2026.11 map install and follows the map data rather than the system software.

Suunto Vertical 2 and Race 2 stuck on a looping progress bar installing software 2.56.18

The 2.56.18 update released on 14 July for the Suunto Vertical 2 and Race 2 puts the watch into what looks like a boot loop partway through installation. The green progress bar fills to one hundred percent in under five seconds, resets and repeats, and the watch cycles through the screen that says the update is taking a little longer than expected. Several owners posted screenshots believing the flash had failed.

The update completes on its own. Reported install times run from fifteen minutes to twenty three minutes, and a forum moderator confirmed waiting through the same looping screen without intervening. The looping bar is a display artefact rather than a failed write.

One owner who did not wait held the upper button and the crown to force a soft reset, and the watch restarted and resumed the update from around seventy five percent, then finished and booted normally. That path works, but interrupting a flash carries risk that waiting does not. The release also carries a GPS firmware update alongside the system software, which is part of why this install takes longer than previous quarterly releases, so owners should start it with the watch charged and leave it alone.

Garmin Edge 1050 not reconnecting to a power meter and heart rate after a coffee stop on firmware 30.18

On firmware 30.18 the Edge 1050 frequently fails to reconnect its sensors after the unit sleeps during a stop. Riders press stop, short press the power button to sleep the head unit through a coffee break, then wake it to resume, and the power meter, heart rate strap and other sensors do not come back. Owners have reported it with a Quarq power meter, Garmin and Trackr heart rate straps, Shimano Di2 and the Varia RTL515. It is inconsistent, and on some rides only one sensor drops while the rest reconnect.

The failure follows the sleep and wake cycle rather than the sensors, because a full power cycle restores every connection every time. One rider found that leaving the Varia radar awake, blinking rather than switched off, before waking the Edge makes it worse, and the unit then hangs longer on the Garmin logo and reconnects to nothing, which forces a full reboot in the middle of a group ride.

The workaround that holds is to turn the Edge fully off at the stop instead of using sleep, then power it back on when the break ends. The activity is preserved on the restart, so nothing recorded is lost, and the sensors reconnect. If the unit is already awake and stuck without sensors mid ride, a full restart clears it and the paused activity resumes intact. Garmin support has pointed owners to standard sensor troubleshooting and to keeping the software current, which has not resolved it for riders already on 30.18.

Suunto Vertical 2 and Race 2 Tide widget stuck on Updating after software 2.56.18

The 2.56.18 update, released on 14 July for the Suunto Vertical 2 and Race 2, adds a Tide widget. Several owners find it sits on Updating and never shows a reading. On the watch the widget displays a region name, for example Scotland, with no tide times or heights beneath it, and repeated syncs do not change the state.

The widget pulls its data during a sync with the Suunto app and maps the location to the nearest tidal reference port. Owners a long way from the coast see a permanent Updating state because no station covers their position. One user 800 km from the sea reported the widget never populated after syncing several times, which points to coverage rather than a failed download.

For coastal users the step that works is to sync the watch with the Suunto app after the update and let the tide data come across, at which point the widget fills in and can also be added as a watch face complication. The reference port is the nearest station rather than the exact position, so an owner on the west coast of Scotland found the figures close to but not matching the tide where he was, with Mallaig used as the source a few miles up the coast.

Suunto Vertical 2 and Race 2 map street name labels hard to read in light mode after software 2.56.18

The 2.56.18 update adds road names, water and mountain peak labels to the offline maps on the Suunto Vertical 2 and Race 2. Owners report the new road name labels are barely legible against the light map background, to the point that they cannot be read even with the watch held close to the face.

The labels render in a colour with little contrast against the default light map tiles. The cause sits in the map colour scheme, since the same labels read clearly once the background is darker, and the label data itself is correct and positioned properly.

Switching the map display to dark mode makes the labels readable. On the Vertical 2 and Race 2 the map theme can be set so the tiles render dark, which restores the contrast the light theme loses. The fix is a display setting rather than a firmware wait, so it is available now.

Garmin Enduro 3 and Fenix 8 Pro restarting mid run when skipping a song from Bluetooth headphones

On the Garmin Enduro 3 and the Fenix 8 Pro the watch restarts in the middle of an activity when the wearer skips to the next track using the control on their Bluetooth headphones. The screen throws the blue triangle error and reboots, and owners have reproduced it with Shokz, Soundcore, JLab and Suunto Wing headsets and with Amazon Music, Deezer, Spotify and local MP3 files, so it is tied to the skip command rather than to one app or one set of earphones.

The crash follows the skip rather than the music source. One owner found the watch survives a handful of skips and then reboots on roughly the third to fifth press, with longer gaps between presses making no difference. Skipping the track from the watch buttons holds where the same skip from the headphone button brings the watch down, which points to the way the device handles the media control arriving over Bluetooth. The same fault has run for months on the Fenix 7.

The workaround that holds is to change tracks from the watch music controls instead of the headphone button. A reboot preserves the recorded activity, so nothing logged is lost, but a restart in the middle of a race or a long run is disruptive. On the Fenix 8 Pro one owner reported the crashes stopped after moving to beta software 20.18, while the Enduro 3 was still rebooting on stable 21.39 and on beta 21.32, so the fix is reaching the Pro through the beta channel first.

Garmin Edge 1050 ClimbPro showing where you have been not the climb ahead after firmware 30.18

After the Garmin Edge 1050 updates to firmware 30.18 the ClimbPro profile graphic fills with the grey ground already ridden and shows almost none of the climb still ahead. Riders with more than half a mile of ascent left report the position marker sitting near the top of the graphic with the remaining gradient squeezed into a sliver, so the page no longer shows what is coming. It rendered correctly before 30.18.

The behaviour appears when following a route with ClimbPro active and it does not correct itself as the climb progresses. It is still present on firmware 31.29, which did not address it, and a second rider confirmed the same rendering on 31.29 while following a course. There is no setting that restores the earlier behaviour and the unit does not offer a way to roll back to the previous firmware.

Until Garmin patches it, the climb still detects and triggers, and the course elevation profile page along with a distance to next summit or a gradient data field stay accurate, so those screens carry the information the ClimbPro graphic is dropping. Owners have logged support tickets so the defect is recorded against the firmware.

Garmin Fenix 8 AMOLED randomly rebooting and losing step count on software 22.35

On the Garmin Fenix 8 AMOLED running software 22.35 the watch restarts on its own outside any activity, and after the reboot the day step count drops back by more than a thousand steps. One owner watched the count fall from just over 6,000 to 4,700 after a spontaneous restart, with the drop visible on the watch step graph even though Garmin Connect showed nothing unusual. The restart happened during ordinary daily wear rather than during a recorded session.

The trigger is not obvious. The owner had finished a short walk, saved it, then travelled by bus and walked up the stairs at home when the watch rebooted, with no chest strap or accessory in use at the time. The suspected cause is the watch dropping and re-establishing its Wi-Fi connection to the home router, though that has not been confirmed. Garmin has asked for the crash logs, which sit in the GARMIN then Debug folder when the watch is connected to a computer.

The practical step for anyone hitting it is to copy the Debug crash logs off the watch and send them to Garmin so the reboot can be traced, since a single unattended restart is hard for Garmin to reproduce without them. A recorded activity is not lost in the restart, but the step total for the day does not recover, so the daily figure reads low from that point on.

This issue remains unresolved — if you have encountered it and found a fix, the discussion is open on r/the5krunner.

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More from last week’s Fix Files roundup.

Browse every issue in the archive at the Deep Dive Fix Files hub.

Last Updated on 24 July 2026 by the5krunner