Firmware Available for MG R Double Din Units

[GilesH]

Hi Sean,

I think its more in the direction of firmware rather than nav software, the loading screen I am talking about is the equivalent to a regular PC's bios splash screen. (I am just not very good at describing things )

The radio side of the head unit seems unaffected, it just seems to be the sat nav related side. (makes me wonder how these things are structured under the covers?!)

Assuming the car is switched off....

1. turn on car
2. head unit gets power
3. head unit displays a "compass" icon in the middle of the screen
4. head unit displays the default start screen with three icons ("launch sat nav",
"entertainment", "settings") ***this is assuming that the "start sat-nav software automatically" setting is deactivated

5. sat nav software starts to load, displaying igo logo, etc

On a really bad day, the head unit doesn't get past (3)

On a not so bad day, the screen for (4) is displayed, but it is non-responsive

On a good day, the sat nav software actually loads after pressing the icon on screen (4) but the head unit will reboot after a random amount of time, returning to screen (3)


I have sent you a pm with my current email.


Cheers in advance for any help

Giles

[HarryM1BYT]

That to me, sounds more like an hardware issue, than software.

I would be in there, reseating all of the internal plugs and sockets I could find inside the unit.

If the software becomes corrupted, usually it will (mis)behave the same way repeatedly. Hardware issues cause random failures anywhere in the process.

[GilesH]

I was leaning in the direction of hardware, but the radio / media player side of the device functions perfectly so I wasn't totally convinced.

Taking it apart and checking all the connections is on the todo list, but for some reason my wife thinks that decorating the bathroom is more important??!

[HarryM1BYT]

Originally Posted by GilesH

I was leaning in the direction of hardware, but the radio / media player side of the device functions perfectly so I wasn't totally convinced.

Taking it apart and checking all the connections is on the todo list, but for some reason my wife thinks that decorating the bathroom is more important??!

I might be wrong, but I think the radio operation does not involve any software or processing hardware. It is just a separate unit, which will work independently, sharing the screen display. Coolcat should be able to say for sure.

[GilesH]

now it is stuck permanently on the pre-boot compass picture

[coolcat]

The GPS board which is mounted vertically in those units on an edge connector can become dislodged and cause problems.
Make sure it is seated properly along with the ribbon cables coming from the front screen and the optical drive.

I'm still of the opinion that your navigation software is corrupted however.
The unit will attempt to boot the navigation software and if it is causing problems symptoms like you mention can occur .

Firmware is rarely an issue on the WinCe units.

So I would try re installing a fresh copy of Igo first and if that doesn't work as Harry said, check all the internal connections and finally if still no joy then firmware.
Lastly, if none of the above cure it it could be a faulty GPS board and would need replacing .

[GilesH]

I have popped the lid off now and had a look inside, could not see anything that looked loose, so I guess further disassembly is required. I did see a vertical board and a couple of ribbon connectors so will have to go round re-seating everything.

regarding the boot up, i don't actually have the SD card in for the sat nav at the moment (was trying to force it to stop on the "desktop" but it doesnt even get that far)

under normal circumstances i see the following during power-on:

1. the boot screen with the compass on it (equivalent to a bios splash screen where memory gets counted, etc - will have to take a picture)

2. the following screen would normally then appear (guess this would count as the windows desktop / replacement shell program if it were a PC)


3. assuming auto-start for sat nav is active, i would then see the igo logo as the satnav starts

right now it is sticking on #1, and does not even make it to #2

any further thoughts or help would be appreciated... otherwise Sean gets another sale

[GilesH]

In the interests of being thorough, I have reformatted my SD card (full format as Fat32, not just a quick format) and then copied a fresh instance of Igo onto it.

Sadly I still get the same result - the head unit stalls on start up. If it were a PC I would say that the hard disk was dead, or at the very least the boot sector was corrupt.

This is the compass image I am talking about:



The compass on a black background that you get as the WinCE side of the head unit starts up.

Reading over all of the previous comments in the post I can see at least one mention of this problem being cured by reinstalling the firmware (#58

Since it would seem I am going to struggle to get a replacement TMC enabled head unit, please could someone PM me with details on where I can get a copy of the WinCE firmware so I can at least try re-flashing the unit.


Thanks in advance....

[coolcat]

Originally Posted by GilesH

In the interests of being thorough, I have reformatted my SD card (full format as Fat32, not just a quick format) and then copied a fresh instance of Igo onto it.

Sadly I still get the same result - the head unit stalls on start up. If it were a PC I would say that the hard disk was dead, or at the very least the boot sector was corrupt.

This is the compass image I am talking about:



The compass on a black background that you get as the WinCE side of the head unit starts up.

Reading over all of the previous comments in the post I can see at least one mention of this problem being cured by reinstalling the firmware (#58

Since it would seem I am going to struggle to get a replacement TMC enabled head unit, please could someone PM me with details on where I can get a copy of the WinCE firmware so I can at least try re-flashing the unit.


Thanks in advance....

Sean would be able to send you the firmware, I know he has been away at the weekend but should be back now