What do you do if your Garmin Forerunner 110 won’t charge or has a blank screen? Unfortunately, the Garmin Forerunner 110 is known to have some issues with not charging or simply having a blank screen. CJ had given me this watch when I first started running more consistently and it helped me stay on track. However, I’ve been having problems with it recently and so did some research on how to correct it.
I thought this information would be helpful to other runners as well, so here it is:
1) Try these simple fixes first.
Here are some simple ideas that worked for some users as posted originally in the Garmin forum online:
- Unplug the charging adapter from your computer and connect the other end to the watch. Then press and hold in the light button for 15 seconds; with the light button depressed, plug the connector to your computer.
https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?13548-Forerunner-110-will-not-charge - Hold down the Light, Start/Stop, and Lap/Reset buttons for about 30 seconds.
- Hold down all four buttons for about 7 seconds.
- Hold down the Light button for about 6 seconds.
- Hold the “Light” button down for 10 seconds. Wait for the screen to go blank & 10 more seconds for the watch to come back to life. If it does not wake up, plug it into a power source.
- Plug it into a different USB port.
- Leave it plugged in for a few days, and eventually it will spring back to life.
- Attach the USB clip, but don’t attach the clip to a USB port, and hold the Light button for 6 seconds.
https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?10639-Forerunner-110-Blank-Screen-(Dead)
2) Check whether there is a firmware update available.
You can do check for firmware updates here: http://connect.garmin.com/firmware
3) Try a master reset.
How to perform a Factory reset for Garmin 110:
NOTE: This will delete all your previously saved workouts on the watch.
- Hold and press start/stop and lap/reset buttons
- Add the light button and it should beep
- Release the start/stop button (upper right) and there should be another beep
- Release the lap/reset button (lower right)
- Release the light button
This worked for me!
4) You can also Contact Garmin Customer Support
If none of the other suggestions work, try contacting Garmin’s support here: http://www.garmin.com/us/support/
Has this happened to you? If so, what worked to bring your Garmin 110 back to life?
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Thanks for this post!
I have the same problem with my Forerunner 110, which is otherwise a functionally robust device. I am so glad you organized all the ways to to get this rest–no I don’t have to search the interwebs for different options! The one that worked for me this time was a combination of 1 and 2 🙂
Thanks!
You bet Holly! Glad to hear it’s helpful. Happy running!
Thank you so much. I tried the first option (holding light button for 15 seconds) and it worked. Really appreciate all the information you have provided. Keep up the good work.
Alicia
So happy to hear it worked for you Alicia! Wishing you all the best in your running
Thanks very much. I tried combinations of key presses on my FR630. Then pressed the light button and now it’s charging.
Thanks, again
Dave
So glad it worked for you Dave!
This is an awesome article on the foreman 110. I have had this blank screen issue so many times I cannot tell you. I will keep this handy as I need it often it seems. Thank you for posting
Thanks for sharing Catherine! Wish you well in your continued running
Brilliant! Fix 1 sorted it immediately – thanks!!!
Great to hear Cath! Happy running 🙂
Thanks! It worked at the first attempt! Awsome post!
Obrigado!
Glad to hear it Pedro! Wish you well in your running!
Tried it all, severall times… nothing works. Every now and then i can revive it by plugging it into my laptop, but not this time.
Whats next? Running 12 times around it in circles with my fingers up my nose?
Asked Garmin Support what to do next.
Great watch,…. when it works, but this sounds more like lucky shots than actually fixing it….
Sorry about the trouble you’re having with the Garmin. Other than the fix we mention in the post, the only thing I can suggest is returning it in exchange for a refurbished Garmin. I believe they charge $79 for that option. Good luck
Great post! Really helpful! These work, but I’m having a charging issue that these do not remedy. I am not sure if it’s the charger or the watch. I have the Forerunner 110. Once the watch is connected to the charger and all four points “click” in place. The charger will not work unless I squeeze the charger onto the watch (like a vice) and hold it. The second I let go, screen goes blank. The charger certainly doesn’t seem like a “loose” connection because I get the “click” in place sound. Any thoughts are appreciated!!
Hi Mya,
You might have a charger that has gone bad. Is your Garmin still under warranty? You should contact Garmin to find out. If that doesn’t work, you can always get a refurb for $79 which I’ve done a few times over the years. Wish you well in your running!
My forerunner’s battery life kept getting worse and worse, and I thought I was going to have to get rid of it, but I found this replacement service kit! You send your watch to them and they install a new battery for you! It’s amazing, my watch works like new now! Here is a link:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B019DEEEXW
Awesome! Thanks for sharing this resource Allison. So glad your Garmin is back to doing its job 🙂
Top bloke just did this to mine and it worked wish I would have seen this before I threw my last one away grately appreciated my man
Glad it worked for you Chris! Have a Merry Christmas and wish you well in your running!
I think I’ve got a less troublesome 110, no problems above but it is now not holding its charge at all – after about 4 or 5 years good use, I suspect the battery needs replacing… can you comment on if the 110 battery can be replaced by me, or do I have to send it off?
Hi David, not sure if this will answer your question but it might help – https://support.garmin.com/support/searchSupport/case.faces?supportPage=Forerunner%20110&caseId={4000ab50-20d9-11dc-cc5a-000000000000}&locale=en_US
OMG. I thought my Garmin was dead. Or the charger was stuffed or something.
Very first fix worked!!!! Held down light button for 15 seconds, plugged it in, sprang back to life.
Thanks so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So glad it worked for you Katrina! Wish you well in your running 🙂
CJ
Very good.
it works.
Thank You.
Jac
So glad it worked for you! Wishing you well in your running 🙂
Does anyone have a problem that is shows a slower pace than other garmin wearers around you and also run keeper. I checked mine today and the pace was 30-60 secs per minute slower t
Mary,
Not super familiar with that issue but I do know that Garmins aren’t always accurate in terms of true distance. Sometimes it has to do with the positioning of satellites. Try Googling that one and see what comes up
Thanks, I will do but i think that there might also be something wrong with the watch as it didn’t use to do this!
Mary, if you find out what the issue is, please share by adding another comment on this thread. Hope you get it resolved soon. Enjoy your running!
So excited I found this post!! My screen went blank, I tried swabbing with alcohol as I had read once, & that didn’t work, so I was afraid it was hopeless. Tried the first thing mentioned here, & so far so good! Thank you!!! You saved me from buying something new 2 years after buying this!
Hi Christine,
So happy to hear this worked for you! Anytime we can help someone save a little money is a good thing 🙂 Wish you well in your continued running!
The first suggestion seems to have worked for me. My watch is currently charging. I’m amazed. I thought for sure it was dead. Why didn’t Garmin Support suggest this to me? (I spoke to them about the problem.) Only problem now is I just ordered a Forerunner 220. Anybody wanna buy a used 110?
Thanks much for this information.
Hi Gary,
So glad to hear this worked for you! Sometimes, I think it just depends on who you get in their support department. Some are more knowledgeable than others. We’ve simply learned by trial & error 🙂 Enjoy that 220…I’ve heard some good things about it. Wish you well in your running!
The first suggestion worked for me, i.e. disconnect cable from computer, attach the clip to the watch, hold down “light” button for 15 seconds then plug in cable to computer. Deep Joy! it worked first time.
I had been trying all sorts for two days and nothing worked. This very morning I have been searching the sports and outdoor shops in Guildford but everywhere was sold out. I was just about to start bidding for one on Ebay when I literally stumbled upon this site. You have saved me about £100.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you,
Gary
Hi Gary,
So happy to hear this worked for you! Nothing more frustrating than a watch that keeps dying 🙁 Wish you well in your continued running
Cheers,
CJ
None of the fixes worked for me 🙁
Sorry to hear Crystal, you might want to give Garmin a calland see what they suggest
I have a Garmin D2 Pilot Watch.
When I attach the charger, it shows the lightning bolt flashing in the battery pic, but the percentage charge simply never increases.
Any suggestions?
Richard,
Have you gone through all the steps in the post? If you have and it still doesn’t work, wondering if it could be a bad battery charger or connection?
Thanks so much. The followed the YouTube video as I reset mine and it worked perfect. My screen had been totally blank and not changing prior. It was dead. I couldn’t figure it out. Go Internet! Seriously, thank you.
So happy to hear it worked for you! Wish you well in your running
Thank you so much! The first step helped!
So happy to hear it worked for you! Wish you well in your continued running
Mine is cycling through a screen with the garmin logo, satellite detecting icon and battery level indicator then going blank then reverting to screen as described. Occasionally I can get the options to close down or to clear data neither of which in fact happen. I’ve tried letting it run flat and then practically every combination of pressed buttons. Anybody got any thought?
Hi Jonathan,
If you’ve tried all the steps from our post and still don’t get it to come back, I would contact Garmin support. They have refurbished models they sell for $79 if your warranty has expired. I’ve gone that route a couple times and I’ve had my latest one for over 2 years now. Wish you well with your running!
Mine has been doing the same thing tried all of the above and no luck yet. I’ll give it a couple of days and try again. Thanks!
Kevin,
Sorry to hear you haven’t had success yet. If none of our suggestions works, it’s time to call Garmin support. Hope it’s resolved soon!
Step 1 worked immediately! Thank you! I bought this watch refurbished last year and it’s been an awesome bargain until this issue popped up. But, it was so easy to fix that it’s a bargain again!
Hi Jason,
So happy to hear this worked for you! Wishing you well in your running
CJ
How do you hard reset garmin fenix 2?
I’m afraid I’m not familiar with the Garmin Fenix 2. Try the method described in this post. If that doesn’t work, contact Garmin support
Method No.1 worked for me Shelley. Thanks! A blank screen has never happened before, but it seemed to die after I had hooked up a Garmin HR monitor for the first time. Don’t know yet whether the problem will arise again when I’ll try for the second time (although the battery was a little low, to be fair).
Incidentally, I had some problems also with the start/stop button a few months ago. Once GPS had locked on, depressing the button would not work after quite a few frustrating attempts, until finally working – not what you want when ready to set off! Weirdly though, it has seemed to resolve itself. Isn’t tech great when it works?
Great to hear it worked for you Euros! Technology can definitely be frustrating at times…but also wonderful when it works 🙂 Wish you well in your continued running!
CJ
My Forerunner 110 is working normally for all but the Start/Stop button. It charges fine, and all other buttons work well…but Start/Stop is completely dead. I’ve not tried the hard reset as I am hoping not to lose all history unless I know it works. Other than Euros comment here, I’ve not seen anyone else post about it. Any ideas?
Other than what we’ve mentioned in the steps, I don’t have another recommendation other than the hard reset. When you say you “don’t want to lose the history” are you saying you don’t typically delete each run after you upload or log the data? Keeping all your runs on your Garmin will drastically drain your battery. Best to erase all history as soon as possible.
Tried the master reset process but without Start/Stop it doesn’t work. Is pulling the battery as a last resort a reasonable option?
Contacted support at Garmin as recommended. Very helpful. Must return for repair or replacement. I appreciate the direction and help from this post. Thanks!
Great to hear Garmin support was of help! I’ve had about 3 of their refurbished 405s over the past 6 years and my current one has lasted almost 3 years. Only paid $79 for each of those after sending the old one back each time. Wish you all the best!
Thanks!
You bet Simo! Wish you well in your running!
Brill – just saved me £150+
So glad it helped you Gareth! Wish you well in your running
Hi I’ve had problems with the screen going blank but my problem now is that my Garmin 110 is taking anything up to 20 plus minutes to locate the satellite so that I can start my run, which is very frustrating. Anyone any ideas?
Hi Sue,
That might be something you want to ask Garmin support about. I’ve sometimes had trouble locating the satellite but usually no longer than 1-2 minutes. Try shutting it off completely and restarting just to see if that does anything.
CJ
after months of no working solutions to get my garmin to charge (and hold a charge) I performed a factory reset, received the low battery alert, and with the confidence the watch wasn’t totally dead, I cleaned the back of the watch and the inside of the charging adaptor. Plugged it in, and am now seeing the charging screen!
I think an accumulation of dirt/grime had kept the alignment tab from seating properly, which prevented the charging contacts from contacting. easy fix, but easily overlooked as I normally just checked that the contacts were clean, but not the recess of the slot for the alignment tab. Just some general cleaning saved me a new forerunner!
Thanks so much for sharing your experience! I know there are certainly others who will have similar issues and find your comments helpful. Wish you well with your running!
Thank you so much for your post !
Method number 1 did the trick on the first try.
I almost threw out this watch, which I like quite a lot…
Thanks again !
Troy,
So happy to hear method 1 worked for you! Hope you’re able to get many more miles out of it. Wish you well with your running!
CJ
Thanks for this visual and step by step video! I ran Wednesday night then on Thursday morning. My workouts have been merged or something and as I am trying to upload my workouts my Garmin Connect is showing the route I ran Wednesday night with the workout I did Thursday morning.
I think a master reset was in order which I just did. Great job!
David,
So happy to hear the master reset helped you! Keep up the great work!
Just another data point here. The last of those possible fixes worked on my Garmin 235, which has been sitting since I did a marathon three weeks ago (I know, I have to start running again). Watch is now showing 92% charged and initially had wrong time but has corrected itself now. Many thanks for the good solution.
So happy to hear this fix worked for you Chris! Wishing you well in your continued running pursuits!
Anyone have the problem where the 110 seems fine as long as its connected to a power source but is dead otherwise? Mine appears to be charging fine (works its way up to full battery) but the second I take it off the charger it goes blank. None of the resets mentioned seem to work. Is this a dead battery?
Joe,
It sounds like a possible dead battery. My wife has the 110 and we’ve certainly had similar issues with it. Bottom line: this model isn’t one of the more quality ones that Garmin has made. Might be time to start shopping for something a few levels up.
Have the same issue. None of the fixes work. Crap watch. Only 6months old.
Stefan, see my response to Joe
Thanks for this post, no 3 enabled me to select switch off and then it restarted in the normal mode. First time I have experienced this problem in four years of frequent use. Great info thanks.
Hey for what it’s worth, I previously had this issue and resolved it with one of those multiple-button techniques a few months ago. But today when it happened again all it took was plugging the charger in to a USB hub rather than to one of the ports on my laptop. I think it’s possible that some of us are trying to recharge the phone with poor-performing USB ports. Try a known, good-working port that you have been using successfully to charge your phone.
Chris,
Thanks so much for posting this comment as I’m sure it will help numerous folks with a similar issue. Wish you all the best in your running!
Amazing, was ready to throw mine out the window and resort to buying new watch but thanks to your article it’s come back to life…..AMAZING!!
Thanks
Hi Sue,
So happy to hear this worked for you! Hope you’re able to get lots more wear on your Garmin 🙂 Wishing you all the best in your running!
thanks for the info. I tried the first step on no. 1 and my garmin 230 no longer has the blank screen.
So good to hear! Wishing you well in your continued running 🙂
Option 2, my watch spring back to life – Forerunner 235. Fabulous article, thank you!!!
Hi Sophie,
So happy to hear this fix worked for you! Wish you well in your continued running 🙂
Not sure if this has been mentioned … but …
Before you try any of this try taking a rag with some Alcohol and wiping down both the back of your watch but the connector as well. I live in a high humidity town and have only missed one day of running in the last 27 1/2 years. ( sad isn’t it?) Anyway occasionally this happens to me. Wipe them down and try it. It might work for you.
I have a forerunner 910XT and I can’t get it to charge. I have checked the contacts are touching on the back of the watch, have tried different USB ports but there is just nothing showing on the screen (usually there is an indication of how the charging is progressing) . I love my watch but I need it charged!! Can anyone provide advice please? I live in Christchurch, New Zealand
Hi Trudy, try going through all the steps listed in our post above. If you go through all the steps and it still doesn’t work, you’ll want to contact Garmin customer support to see what additional advice they have. Hope this works for you.
Dude, the factory reset actually worked. Well done!
So happy to hear it worked for you! All the best to your running!
Thank you! This worked on the first try. Wow, what a relief.
Happy to hear it worked Francois! Happy Running 🙂
Bless you for this post! These things aren’t cheap and I thought mine was hosed. One of your final tips to leave the charging clip attached to the Garmin but to not plug the other end into a USB port and then hold down the light button brought it back to life. Thanks for your kindness in sharing!
Jim
So happy to hear it worked for you Jimmy! Wish you the best in your continued running!
This worked. Thank you for the post. Mine is a newer Garmin watch but I still had the same problem with it not turning on or taking a charge. I depressed the light button and then plugged it into the computer with the light button still depressed. It turned on and starting taking a charge. Do you know why the watch shut off? I usually plug it into a wall socket for charging. Thanks again.
So happy to hear our post was helpful! Keep running strong
Thanks! Your fix really helped
So glad to hear you were able to see your watch fixed! Wish you well in your running
My watch connects to the GPS OK. It’s fully charged. Press the start button & the timer runs, but there is no distance or speed/pace information showing. I’ve reset the watch & connected it to my lap top. No change.
Any suggestions on how I get it working again?
Hi Ian,
It sounds like a display setting that you could possibly adjust though I’m not certain on that. Check out this forum dialog to see if it relates to your issue: https://forums.garmin.com/sports-fitness/running-multisport/f/forerunner-230-235/116796/speed-and-pace-issue