Im gonna try and update everything I've read and found on this whole RHB 430n fiasco over the last week of reading forum after forum.
SO first off you need to figure out if your radio is one of the 2011-12 models or newer ones, because this makes a huge difference. Hopefully you have an earlier model because it seems upgrading is much less of a pain. If you have a 11-12 model then from what I can tell you will have a firmware version for Garmin of 3.0, if newer, its very possibly 4-5.1 and maybe even higher.
Speaking of the firmware on the heading itself, there are many versions. I have a Nov 2010 unit out of a 11' Ram. When it arrive I had a fw version of 20.02.01. First thing I did was upgrade to 23.04.01 which also enables the Sirius Travel Link software that was somehow left out of the original unit, one of the many screw ups that has involved this unit. Once I got up to 23.04.01 I went ahead and incrementally moved up to 33.01.23. When I did this it moved my Garmin fw from whatever lower version it was up to 3.0. 33.02.01 I believe is a firmware for the newer units and the 01.23 is for the older, although they work on both. They also both will upgrade your unit up to 3.0 Garmin if its not. Now again,if you move up again to 50.00.07 and you have an older unit like the 11-12 models it should not upgrade you to the version 5 Garmin software, it should keep you at 3.0. I do not believe the older 11-12 models can upgrade past 3.0, which is a good thing if you are trying to upgrade maps. Just remmed er, you can always go backwards in firmware if you don't like the one you at, I've read of a few people who have went down and had issues and had to go back to 50.xx but normally you are ok to downgrade, especially if you have and older unit with 3.0 So in review:
33.01.23 and 55.00.07 11-12 units
33.02.01 and 55.01.01 13-? units
This isn't a complete list of firmwares by any extent. There are tons of others but this is just a short guide that hopefully helps someone like me who is about sick and tired of perusing forums for hours upon hours.
Another issue people come across is after installing certain maps or firmware, depending on the version, it will ask you for the security code. Any 430n unit post 2012 I believe will say anti theft on the bottom left faceplate. If it does you need to find out your security code before doing any of these upgrades in case it asks. IF you have a prior 11-12 unit then just type in 0000 if asked and it will accept. Some folks have said they able to turn the car off and back on and the Security code info will disappear, but don't rely on this. IF YOU DONT HAVE YOUR 4 DIGIT SECURITY CODE, GET IT BEFORE INSTALLING ANYTHING!
Just try and be prepared when getting ready to do any of the updates here, know what head unit firmware you have, never ever ever update from anything less than a 33.xx firmware to a 50.xx firmware, always update incrementally or YOU WILL BRICK YOUR HEAD UNIT! Make sure you know what Garmin firmware you have at all times after an update, check what version of maps you have. IE if you have 14 maps and you want 15, just know you probably won't even notice an update. IF you are like me and still running 2011, its probably time to update.
This isn't a complete list of firmwares by any extent. There are tons of others but this is just a short guide that hopefully helps someone like me who is about sick and tired of perusing forums for hours upon hours. If anyone wants to use this info please feel free, I am by no means any such expert, so feel free to add or delete any parts of it as well. I am just passing along what I have found to work for me and others.
Now my one question for anyone here who has a moment to help me, I see that the newer 2015 and 16 maps have a new file type structure, such as....
Garmin
-- ASR
-- *.asr
-- gmapbmap.img
-- gmapprom.img
-- gmaptz.img
-- JCV
-- *.jcv
-- *.jcv
-- PNX
-- *.pnx
-- POI
-- *.poi
the old method was just Garmin-gmapprom.img then JCV folder with .jcv inside. Where and how do I get these new img files if downloading say 2016.10 maps? Most if not all files I have seen come with just the one gmapprom file or the previously named version, but nothing else. Ive seen very little if anything wrote about this, so I am really confused and do not want to try and update anything until I get someone to give me a clear answer on this. Thanks
