Garmin GPS no longer recognized in OS Sequoia / M4 Mac mini

Same issue here with my Zumo 395LM.

I've tried all the power up/down, charge on motorcycle without success. It finally locked up at the initial splash screen and would not initialize further. I sent it in to a repair facility where the flash chip was replaced.

It powers up fine now but still does not connect to my Mac Mini M1, Sequoia 15.3.1. Does connect to an old HP notebook.

It appears that the newest macOS version no longer supports/recognizes the Garmin as a USB device.

Things appear normal on my old MacBook Air operating on macOS Monterey 12.7.6

If this is something Garmin has to change, I have low confidence that it will happen. Their support of Mac BaseCamp software has been poor.

This might be a long shot but Apple provided a Sequoia update Tuesday March 11, 2025. The latest version is now 15.3.2. Update to this latest release and try to connect your Garmin device again. As I say, it's a long shot but one worth trying.

Stokester wrote:

It appears that the newest macOS version no longer supports/recognizes the Garmin as a USB device.

I haven’t used a Garmin for quite a while, but back then macOS didn’t recognize the device, either. You had to install Garmin software to recognize it.

Things appear normal on my old MacBook Air operating on macOS Monterey 12.7.6

Does it have Garmin software installed? When I used it, it stuck a stupid menu in the Status Menu area.

If this is something Garmin has to change, I have low confidence that it will happen. Their support of Mac BaseCamp software has been poor.

I very much agree. The stupid menu item I spoke about just opened the app to update the device. It provided no status at all. If I removed it, it wouldn’t recognize the device and the app crashed when opening. So, I agree that it may never happen. They don’t seem very bright.

I installed the update.

It was worth a try but the same result :(

The Garmin Express software which handles the map and software updates was always inconsistent in recognizing the device. I found that plugging the GPS into a USB port which should start the Garmin Express software would sometimes work. I found that when the computer recognized the USB devices (GPS and memory card) I would start up the Express software to update the device.

With the current macOS version, the computer never recognizes the device and asks to Eject, Ignore, Initialize. The GPS shows the computer connect screen.

As mentioned I have an old MacBook Air running Monterey which still finds the device.

The Garmin Express software which handles the map and software updates was always inconsistent in recognizing the device. I found that plugging the GPS into a USB port which should start the Garmin Express software would sometimes work.

If the software starts when you connect the device (or should), it is the device’s system modification that does the recognizing. Without the software, macOS has no idea what to do with the connected device. It seems to recognize that it is some sort of storage device, but otherwise has no ability to handle the device without the system modification handling the device.

As mentioned something must have changed with the latest macOS update. It worked before (not sure what version I last used it with) and still works with the MacBook Air and Monterey.

The Garmin software; Garmin Express which does the software updates and BaseCamp which allows route planning have always been poorly written programs in my opinion. Express would not always run when the GPS was recognized and BaseCamp is very confusing to use with a very high learning curve.

I checked my Garmin InReach Mini today to see if there would be a problem with Garmin Express running on my MacBook Pro M3 Pro running Sequoia 15.3.2. When I started Garmin Express I was notified that an update is available. I installed the update. After the update was complete I connected my InReach Mini to my MacBook. The original InReach cable had a USB 1 type connecter so I used an adapter to connect that cable to a male USB 3 connector. I had no problems connecting he InReach to the computer and Garmin Express recognized the InReach and checked for updates.

So if you have not downloaded and installed the later version of Garmin Express which is 7.24.0.0, I suggest you do so and try to connect your Gamin GPS device again.

Thanks Ralph,

I checked my Mac Mini M1 and the Garmin Express version is 7.24.0.0

My Zumo is old so there may be some issue related with that. The motorcycle GPS units are expensive so keeping this operational is a priority.

You're probably right Barney but as mentioned before it works, after repair, with my MacBook Air and Monterey but not with my MacMini M1 and Sequoia.

This leads me to believe that it was Apple macOS that changed and not the Garmin software.

With regards to the Garmin Express software:

The disk not readable is the error reported so it would not ever be recognized by the Garmin update software.

Stokester wrote:

You're probably right Barney but as mentioned before it works, after repair, with my MacBook Air and Monterey but not with my MacMini M1 and Sequoia.

This leads me to believe that it was Apple macOS that changed and not the Garmin software.

With regards to the Garmin Express software:

The disk not readable is the error reported so it would not ever be recognized by the Garmin update software.

Well, yes, it was a change to the security model in Sequoia such that the Garmin software no longer works. Sometimes uninstalling and reinstalling the software fixes the problems. Garmin needs to update it to work in Sequoia.

I had the same problem with my Garmin 65s when it suddenly would not connect with my Apple MacBook Pro running Sequoia 15.3.2. The MacBook would not recognize the disks. The 65s has a microSD card as a storage device.

Garmin Express would not recognize the 65s when I had it plugged in first using a USB-C then when using the original cable from my older 60CSx. What I was able to do was connect the 60CSx to Garmin Basecamp. But the 60CSx is no longer supported by Garmin Express. As a side note I like the 60CSx better for off-road motorcycle riding but had too upgrade to stay current with maps.

I then removed the 16gb microSD from the 65s and plugged the 65s into the original Garmin cable from the 60CSx and it WORKED. Garmin Express recognized the 65s and is allowing me to update the software.

Now I have a couple of hours of updates before I can find out if everything works as it did before.

My guess would be you need some sort of system modification for the Garmin software to mount the device as it uses some obscure file system.

I had this issue with my old Zumo 390 motorbike unit using MacOS Sequoia 15.3.2 on a MacBookPro (Intel) - wouldn't recognise it at all, but wiping the Zumo back to factory settings worked for me.