OSM map of Romania on a Garmin, but when I look for something it says that it can't find it

You don't tell us which Garmin model you are using, and how you tried to install the map. The easiest way to do it is to get hands on a pre-compiled gmapsupp.img file which you put into the "GARMIN"-directory on the memory card. Then restart the device and it will automatically load the map.

It would be really useful to know what you're looking for that the device can't find. There are a couple of possibilities:

1. The item that you're looking for isn't on the map yet.
2. The item is on the map, but the map created for the Garmin device can't find it.

Were you looking for a place such as a city, or a street address, or something else? It would help if you could say what it was and provide a link to the map (click the "permalink" button in the bottom-right corner of the map) - that would help us to tell whether you ought to be able to search for it or not. For example, it's possible that what you're looking for is on the map but doesn't have any address information stored against it, or that the way that the map was created didn't infer address information where it could.

The other possibility is that you've hit some of the known issues with the current versions of mkgmap (the software that's mostly used to create Garmin maps from OSM data. There's lots more information about this on the mkgmap list, but what would help us first would be to say where you got the map of Romania from - did you create it yourself or did you download it from somewhere?

In answer to your "please tell me how you did try " answer, here's what I did to install a map of Romania:

1. I downloaded a map from http://osm.stilpu.org/garmin-routable/ (garmin-routable-20110313.zip, which was the latest at the time).
2. I then unzipped it. Inside there there is a "gmapsupp.img" file.
3. I plugged my Garmin (an eTrex Vista HCx) into the USB port of my PC.
4. On the Garmin I selected "setup", "interface" and "USB mass storage".
5. The Garmin's appeared microsd card appeared as "Drive D" on my PC (on your PC it might be a different drive letter)
6. I copied the "gmapsupp.img" that I had downloaded to "D:Garmin" and waited a few minutes for it to transfer.
7. I then presses the "off" button on the Garmin which restarts it in its normal mode.
8. I tested searching for various data by e.g. "Main Menu", "Find", "Food & Drink" (I had to "change reference" to set where I was searching to within Romania, but you won't have to do that).
9. I could successfully find cities, transport infrastructure, and food places. I didn't try searching for addresses or intersections - they don't work in mkgmap yet.

One thing that would be really helpful would be if you could answer some of the questions that various people have asked above, such as:

1. which Garmin model you are using (eTrex? Nuvi? Dakota? Something else? Also, I'm not sure where Garmin XT on Symbian and Windows CE" fit in)
2. how you tried to install the map
3. what you're looking for that the device can't find (you said in the question "but when I look for something he says that he can't find it")

so this sounds more like an issue of the programm (Garmin XT) you are using then of the actual map. On Garmin devices the search function is working. I suggest you have a look at alternative programms to bring the maps on your device, e.g. trekbuddy for maptiles or GPSmid (java-midlet) for routable vector maps: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Gpsmid

as dieterdreist says.find a pre built file, unzip it, rename the file to gmapsupp, put it in a folder called garmin. put the garmin folder with its contents into the micro SD card. put this into you garmin and it should work fine. for the UK I use www.talkytoaster.info/ukmaps.htm but I have not looked for Romania maps. I'm hoping you have a garmin that will accept a micro SD or as a lot of built in memory.You may find a device suitability list with the map files.

my UK file was 316 MB zipped and they take 25 mins to download on my broardband so looking at http://osm.stilpu.org/garmin-routable/ they are small.I would have a look for other osm on garmin sites.try this one sounds ok ftp://ftp5.gwdg.de/pub/misc/openstreetmap/download.openstreetmap.de/aio/regions/europe/gmapsupp/gmapsupp_europe.img.zip let us know if it works ok. good luck

Lambertus runs a server that generates tiles for the entire planet, if you don't mind waiting in the queue.