Humminbird Helix 7 - Update Needed

[MSUFisherBear]

Hey all! 

Well, after just getting through the excitement of fishing out of the boat last fall, I'm finally getting to a spot where I'm really trying to work on and upgrade the old gal. One thing I know I need to do is update my Humminbird Helix units. I don't have the scratch to upgrade to a nice new forward-facing sonar, so for now, I'm trying to be frugal and use what I got. So here's the deal...

I have a Helix 7 at the helm. I'm focused on getting this one updated first, because the best I can tell, I can't load saved waypoints (aside from creating them myself on the unit using GPS coordinates) without doing so. The bottom of my unit has a tag that says "HELIX 7 MSI GPS G3N". The best I can tell from Humminbird's site is that I need this update (well, actually I need this one, but I gotta do the other first if the instructions are to be believed). Here's the problem - I cleared the factory presets, installed the chip and am getting no where. The site says the unit should prompt the install but nothing. Does anyone have a Helix 7 and, if so, have you tried this update? Did it work? If you ran into this problem, could you resolve it (and how)?

Thanks, everyone!

[Dutch]

Call Humminbird tech support.

[nomolites]

Agree with Dutch.  Could be the card is not formatted appropriately or your downloaded update is incomplete.  You might try formatting the card and downloading the update again....card has to be in place when you power up the unit to boot.

Mike

[Dutch]

Rereading your post you stated, “I installed the chip.”  Just what do you mean by the term chip?  Is that an sd card with the update on it or some other card like your mapping card?  

[BilletHead]

On 4/13/2021 at 1:45 PM, MSUFisherBear said:

Hey all! 

Well, after just getting through the excitement of fishing out of the boat last fall, I'm finally getting to a spot where I'm really trying to work on and upgrade the old gal. One thing I know I need to do is update my Humminbird Helix units. I don't have the scratch to upgrade to a nice new forward-facing sonar, so for now, I'm trying to be frugal and use what I got. So here's the deal...

I have a Helix 7 at the helm. I'm focused on getting this one updated first, because the best I can tell, I can't load saved waypoints (aside from creating them myself on the unit using GPS coordinates) without doing so. The bottom of my unit has a tag that says "HELIX 7 MSI GPS G3N". The best I can tell from Humminbird's site is that I need this update (well, actually I need this one, but I gotta do the other first if the instructions are to be believed). Here's the problem - I cleared the factory presets, installed the chip and am getting no where. The site says the unit should prompt the install but nothing. Does anyone have a Helix 7 and, if so, have you tried this update? Did it work? If you ran into this problem, could you resolve it (and how)?

Thanks, everyone!

                        Had a friend who doesen't post here see this. He sent me a suggestion for you. Check this site out and ask same question. He sais some of the guys on here might have the update you need,

     Humminbird Side Imaging Forums (sideimagingsoft.com)

   Marty

[MSUFisherBear]

10 hours ago, Dutch said:

Call Humminbird tech support.

As sad as it is, I tried calling. Beyond confirming the updates needed, they weren’t a tremendous help. And to confirm suspicion/understanding, chip = SD card (poor terminology on my part). @BilletHead - thank you to you and your friend for the site. I’m thinking the SS card (well, really micro SD card) doesn’t have the processing speed needed. Gonna try to pick up a new one and see how it goes.

 

I appreciate everyone’s help! If I can figure out what gets it to tick, I’ll be sure to update!

[Dutch]

1 hour ago, MSUFisherBear said:

As sad as it is, I tried calling. Beyond confirming the updates needed, they weren’t a tremendous help. And to confirm suspicion/understanding, chip = SD card (poor terminology on my part). @BilletHead - thank you to you and your friend for the site. I’m thinking the SS card (well, really micro SD card) doesn’t have the processing speed needed. Gonna try to pick up a new one and see how it goes.

 

I appreciate everyone’s help! If I can figure out what gets it to tick, I’ll be sure to update!

Micro sdhc up to 32 gb is what you need.

[MSUFisherBear]

@BilletHead @Dutch - This worked like a charm! Popped in a new 8 GB SDHC and she fired right up.

Thank you both for your help with this!