Garmin 520 not showing up on desktop

[phoenix]

I’ve had my 520 for a few months now and just tonight plugged it in to load a map onto it. I have current MacBook Pro running El Capitan 10.11.6. I’ve done multiple searches and it sounds like it may be a “thing” on Mac’s, but none of it really makes sense to me.

Has anyone experienced this and what was the fix? Any help is appreciated!

[phoenix]

Well, I just thought to try the Garmin cable the computer came with and it mounted on the desktop right away. The other USB cables I used were from random other devices that I had cables for. It would charge using those other cables but just wasn’t visible on the desktop.

So, that was my fix. Maybe this will help someone along the line.

Mods, feel free to delete this thread if so inclined.

[drewellison]

There are many of us with love/hate relationships with Garmin. This is good info to post.

I've had various issues with certain USB cables working with some devices and not working with others. Good to know.

[sitzmark]

There's a mess of USB specs, but generally speaking there are two types of USB cables .... charging and data. Charge-only cables either don't have the data carrying pair of internal wires, or they aren't "pinned out" at the connectors. Data cables almost always have at least 4 wires - 2 data and 2 power.

Many devices - especially older - were not designed to communicate via USB, just charge using the +5v USB standard. Many of those came with charge only cables. If you have a drawer full of USB cables, some might be charge only. There's generally no easy way to tell them apart unless the cable is imprinted with the cable's specifications. Really thin cables can be a clue - either the cable has only two wires, or there is little shielding around the data carrying wires, both being detrimental to data transfer.

Check the cable with another device and if neither one will sync it's more than likely the cable's fault.

[commonguy001]

This same issue on our Mac happened with a Sony DSLR. A simple USB cord swap took care of the issue.

Glad you sorted it out!

[phoenix]

Thanks for the additional info guys. Prior to this issue I didn’t realize that there were charge/data cables vs. charge only cables. This should definitely help someone out at some point.