I never left US mode. Something was quirky about the v27 cds I made. I noticed that when inserted, they read fine but then would go into the blank screen from which they will never return. I also noticed that the nav drive power light shuts off. Apparently, the discs never initiated the install, so the v26 disc simply brings it out of the blank screen mode without installing either. I'm glad you passed that tip along.

When I placed the good copy of the v27 in the drive, the same thing happened up to the point the light shut off. However, the light came back on and that started the process for the upgrade.

JV, your help was invaluable. Thanks to you and the others for the assistance.

I know about burning at the slowest speed. That's usually just a precaution that I feel has passed down from a time when burners were not nearly as efficient and refined. For instance, 2x or 4x burns used to cause problems back in the days. Drives now come with sizeable buffers, the laser writes more precisely, and CD media is better, too.

I'm also one of those people who pull the usb key storage devices out without "safely removing hardware". =)