tomtom xl help needed.

Hey all,

A friend gave me a Tomtom xl that he had not used in ages. Before he gave it me he turned it on only for tomtom to come up with black screen and what looks like tech data in white writing.
I turned tomtom on and after the drum sign sure enough it went straight to black screen with white writing giving info of tomtom. I cant do anything with the tomtom, not even turn it off? the only way to get rid of screen is to push reset button and it just starts all over again and back to black screen with data.
i've connected tomtom to my computer and it doesn't even recognise it, as a drive letter or in tomtom home.
The only way i can get tomtom to go off completely is to let the battery run flat.

Hoping someone can help me with this. I dont mind wiping it and doing a complete reinstall of everything, but i don't have a back-up of it.

Thanks in advance.