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Computer not recognising Garmin Forerunner 305
Hoping someone out there can help! OH recently replaced battery in my 305 but the computer now doesn't recognise it and I can't upload any of my data. The computer is picking up an old GPS watch that I had but not the 305. Have been in touch with Garmin and they suggested a master reset which I carried out yesterday to no avail. When I contacted Garmin again they advised that they no longer produce this watch and directed me to their new range 
Any ideas? TIA
Any ideas? TIA 
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I wonder if your PC USB port is seeing the 305 as a changed version of itself in some way and so is not not recognising it when you plug it in but is also not seeing it as a new USB device and installing the drivers.
Could you try a different USB port on the PC or even a different PC to see if it gets picked up that way, then at least you'll know the watch is okay.
If you Google for "usb device no longer recognised" there are loads of hits. The one at the top of my list was for a web site called online-tech-tips.com, but I won't paste a link in case you (or the mods!) have any security concerns. The site has a number of suggestions, including disconnecting the PC from all power and letting it sit for a few minutes, then reconnecting and trying again.
Hope this helps.
Did you manage to get this sorted?
Thanks for asking!
I am in the same boat with my 305 not recognized by garmin connect. spent a lot of time on interweb looking for solutions, tried lots of different things (resets, uninstalling, installing garmin etc etc) but no joy.
previously I downloaded my 305 data onto fetcheveryone site through their garmin plugin but when the plugin was made defunct by garmin I had no choice than to use garmin connect directly and that is when I suffered with this problem. I am reliably informed that garmin has stopped supporting the necessary software to enable the 305 to download onto 32 bit modern pc/laptops though could be ok on older 16 bit units. that last bit is gobbledegook to me though that is what I was told though if that was true then I would have expected more 305 users to have the same issue.
what I haven't done is try garmin's helpline. they were very helpful last time my old garmin died.
let me know if you find the answer.
good luck.
I'm not able to help specifically, but have you tried installing the Garmin software and starting again? I had something similar a while ago (with the 405 and not the 305, mind you), and for whatever reason that did the trick.
I've often had the same problem with my 305. Its usually salt building up on the contacts on the back of the watch. Give em a clean with a wet wipe, or a pencil eraser or whatever. And the contacts on the holster. Dry them out and hopefully that should solve it.
I've had this problem with my old 305 as well. I fixed it once by uninstalling and reinstalling the Garmin Connect software, but that didn't seem to work when the problem happened again.
Hubby took over and he fixed it by going in to task manager and "killing" (his word - I think he means deleting) the Garmin entry in the Processes tab - then I just unplugged the USB connection and reconnected it and all was well... been fine since.