Power cable does not activate unit. It was working fine then went to battery low - now it will not charge or run.

Make sure power voltage is adequate. If using a battery, the LED will light LONG after the batteery is beyond usability.

This may sound stupid but try this, for some reason this seem to work on 6 and 9000 units with charging problems.
With the unit running, disconnect the battery and allow the unit to run for 60 seconds, then plug the battery back in, again with the unit running.

Bad or very low battery
Replace at Garmin
But first know this:
Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} Sounds like a bad or low battery. Do you have the Garmin approved charger / car charger?? You may have to send your 265 in for battery replacement or try this:
There are three ways to charge the internal battery in your automotive GPS unit.1

1. Use the provided vehicle power cable that came with your GPS unit. The unit will charge while powered on and using the device as well as when the GPS unit is powered off and plugged into a running vehicle. About 3 hrs for a full charge. If the unit will not charge in the vehicle, check the fuse in the power cable for the unit and the power outlet in the vehicle.
2. Use an AC power adaptor. Some units come with this power cable to plug the GPS unit into a wall outlet allowing the GPS unit to take a charge. For units that do not come with this cable, one can be purchased from Garmin's online store.
3. For most units, the final way of charging the battery is to plug the GPS into a powered on computer with a USB cable2. This method of charging will be a trickle charge and it may take longer (like a full day) than the other two options, however it will still charge the battery. A USB cable is provided with a few GPS models. For those that don't come with this cable, one can either be ordered from the online store or you can use a standard USB to mini-USB cable that fits the unit and plugs into your computer.

1 - Please note that temperature can play an effect on the charging of a device. If the battery registers a temperature of 0°C and below or 45°C and above (32°F and 113°F respectively) then it will not charge. When connected to external power it will only be operating off of external power.
2 - The Quest® and Quest® 2 will not charge using a USB cable.

If the unit is only a year old? then I would suspect that the charger has a problem that has damaged your battery. Do you use an external power continuously?

Try a different charger or if you have a meter make sure the charger is putting out close to the specs on it. Try using the usb cable to charge it.

The low battery and shutting off are typical of a battery that won't/can't hold a charge. That is typical after 2-3 years plus but not one year. It can also be indicitive of the charging circuit needing to be reset. The problem is it needs to be started and run long enough for it to recognize the reset command. To do this, hold your finger on the bottom right corner of the screen while powering the unit, until it asks if you want to reset it. That might get you running.

While I would be suprised at the battery going out within a year or so it is not unheard of. You may have to replace the internal battery pack. The unit is new enough your only source is probablly going to be Garmin. They might replace the battery under warrenty or out (if you talk nice).

battery likely not holding strenght, light will stay on as a reminder of the problem, disconnect the negative cable of the battery for 5 minutes and reconnect it, this reset the error codes ( that is what the light is, an error code), good luck

You are absolutely correct Jim. Low Battery

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} There are three ways to charge the internal battery in your automotive GPS unit.1

1. Use the provided vehicle power cable that came with your GPS unit. The unit will charge while powered on and using the device as well as when the GPS unit is powered off and plugged into a running vehicle. About 3 hrs for a full charge.
2. Use an AC power adaptor. Some units come with this power cable to plug the GPS unit into a wall outlet allowing the GPS unit to take a charge. For units that do not come with this cable, one can be purchased from Garmin's online store.
3. For most units, the final way of charging the battery is to plug the GPS into a powered on computer with a USB cable2. This method of charging will be a trickle charge and it may take longer (like a full day) than the other two options, however it will still charge the battery. A USB cable is provided with a few GPS models. For those that don't come with this cable, one can either be ordered from the online store or you can use a standard USB to mini-USB cable that fits the unit and plugs into your computer.

1 - Please note that temperature can play an effect on the charging of a device. If the battery registers a temperature of 0°C and below or 45°C and above (32°F and 113°F

Sounds like you both have a battery problem. I experienced a similar problem when trying to charge via the USB-cable connected to my computer.
Ended up buying an original charger (expensive) and the charging went smooth.
The car charger should in any case work fine, so probably your battery is not very healthy.

Try holding your finger on the battery symbol for about 10 sec. The unit will then switch to a technical page. There you can observe the battery and charging voltage. When I plug in my computer USB-cable, I read around 4,4V and that is not sufficient for charging my battery.
When connected to the original charger, this voltage rises to about 5V which gives a nice charge. When unplugging charger, the unit displays the battery capacity. If the charging voltage is OK, but battery capacity drops quickly after you unplug charger cable, the battery is probably bad. (Of course you have to charge is for some time) I think around 4V battery voltage give 100% capacity. 3,9V gives about 90% capacity.
This will not solve your problem, but can give you an idea about what is wrong.
Good luck.

You left the key too long in the ignition switch. This sent an alert as if it were being stolen. Remove the key from ignition. Lock all doors. Wait about an hour or so. When you open the doors, put your foot down on the gas pedal and release. Put the key into the ignition and turn the car on.  Make sure you have the shift in "Park" position.

I just called tech support at 1-800-800-1020 and I was told that the battery on the unit may be so low that it won't power on even with a power source. The unit actually uses more power than it's taking in from the car charger. I was told to plug it into the computer using the USB cable and give it a few hours to replenish the battery. Apparently it should be plugged into the computer ever so often to keep the battery from getting too low.

Hi, Does the unit run off of the battery? Also, try running the unit without the battery. This tells us several things. Nice unit; I'm working on a similar one now. good luck Harvester3