'Leap year' bug drives TomTom satnav users up the wall
GPS fix fail
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TomTom's satnavs have been caught out by a "leap year bug" this week which has caused the company's GPS receivers to suddenly stop working, driving users crazy.
The company coughed to the flaw this morning, posting a public confession and telling satnav owners that an update may be necessary to fix the problem.
"Since Saturday, 31 March a limited number of models have been having an issue getting a GPS position," TomTom admitted.
"We have identified the root cause for some of our products not obtaining a GPS position since 31 March," it said.
"The issue is caused by a ‘leap year’ bug in the software of the GPS receiver. We are working hard on a permanent solution that we will make available on our website as a downloadable software fix. More information will follow later today."
The firm also said that some customers have temporarily resolved the issue with a device reset.
For further details on the TomTom GPS fix, including the link for an update, check out the company's support page. ®
Thanks to reader Joe 17 for the tip. Remember, you can always alert us to product fails like this in El Reg's Reader Forums.
COMMENTS
I blame Pope Gregory the 8th. However unlike TomTom I've been aware of how his system worked for several decades now.
It's such a pain when something totally unanticipated and unpredictable like a leap year messes up your carefully checked software.
Outsourcing, baby.
You've got:
(1) Ignorant / arrogant (typically, but not always, read: inexperienced-and-cheaper-to-hire) programmers "rolling their own" date conversions rather than using tried-and-tested code, and,
(2) Managers who won't spend programmer time on proper code reviews.
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