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Is it possible to repair or replace Columbus hard drive?


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I purchased my 2009 Superb in March and less than two months later the Columbus died. It goes through the well-known routine of powering up, showing a welcome screen for a few seconds, and then powering off.

 

So... this week I took it to my local Skoda dealer who spent an hour and a half diagnosing it before telling me that it needed replacing and that'll be £1868 please.

 

When I asked them what was wrong they said that it didn't stay powered up long enough for them to get a useful diagnosis from it.

 

I therefore concluded that they didn't know enough to get the right information out but didn't want to admit this as it could prevent them from selling me a new one. From their perspective my name is probably Mr Chump.

 

At the same time I reported an intermittent fault with the right hand multi-function switch on the steering wheel. It scrolls but doesn't always click. They said that this might be down to the defective Columbus and that, in effect, they wouldn't be able to declare it faulty until I'd parted with £1868 for a new Columbus. (The switch was intermittently faulty from the start and remains so now. My unspoken response rhymes with Rollocks.)

 

Nice people. And a great advertisement for every other manufacturer.

 

So I then visited a VAG specialist who spent one minute on it and told me that the radio couldn't get information from the hard drive. This told me that the hard drive had failed. It also told me lots about my Skoda dealer!

 

The annoying thing is that the car has a warranty on it but I would only get £250 towards the Columbus, and then only if I spent £1868 on a new one. And I can't claim £234 for the multi-function switch because the Skoda dealer won't declare it faulty until I give them £1868 for a new Columbus. So, in terms of the warranty company.... nice people as well!

 

The bottom line for me is that I therefore have two-and-a-bit affordable choices: -

 

1) Get the original unit repaired - if that can be done.

 

2) Buy a secondhand Columbus. I can get one from ebay or from a breaker with a 3-month guarantee for less than a third of the new cost.

 

2-and-a-bit) Buy an aftermarket replacement for a bit more money than I would expect to have to pay on a car that has just cost me £9K to purchase. (It's a 2.0 TDI CR 170 Elegance DSG, with 42K on the clock when I bought it.)

 

 

Any input from fellow Superb owners would be most welcome.

 

 

Many thanks.

 

 

 

 

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The HD can be replaced (there's a detailed breakdown on the Internet of the VW RNS-510 which is exactly the same).

RustyNuts on here is the best person to ask.

If you do replace it, go for a larger SSD (see Internet site mentioned) and download and modify the appropriate firmware to give a proportionally larger partition for the music.

The speed improvement will be noticeable, but not major.

Apparently all eBay ones are stolen and will 'brick' if you try to update the firmware! Mine came from eBay, has been updated three times and is still running fine...

I'd stick with genuine Columbus and avoid third party ones. The best integration is genuine and the benefits of third party are minimal IMO.

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Many thanks for the advice.

 

A friend had also suggested as much about the ebay ones. Such warnings should be heeded.

 

Therefore I've used some parts locator sites instead and landed up with three quotes from breakers yards - all of which have a whiff of honesty about them.

 

Sounds like I need to contact RustyNuts and then send him a can of WD40 as a thank you. :)

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Exact same symptoms with my columbus a few weeks ago, well, the dreaded constant reboot, had no drama with the mfsw.

Scowered the Internet and there were vague forum posts about replacing the hard drive might fix it. Gave it ago, fixed it. Had to take the whole columbus apart, buy a m8 torx screwdriver, used hard drive (£10 off ebay) and flash the latest firmware and maps. A cheap fix, but took a little while.

I'll link you to the guides I used when I get a bit more time, any questions feel free to ask on here or pm.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

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Exact same symptoms with my columbus a few weeks ago, well, the dreaded constant reboot, had no drama with the mfsw.

Scowered the Internet and there were vague forum posts about replacing the hard drive might fix it. Gave it ago, fixed it. Had to take the whole columbus apart, buy a m8 torx screwdriver, used hard drive (£10 off ebay) and flash the latest firmware and maps. A cheap fix, but took a little while.

I'll link you to the guides I used when I get a bit more time, any questions feel free to ask on here or pm.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

Many thanks.

 

How much time did it take you?

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Just put a Bolero in it and buy a TomTom with life time Western Europe maps for £80.

 

Loads on eBay for £100-£150.

Edited by silver1011
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I reckon it took me about 3 hours in all, of course I was learning as I went, about 2 hours of it was flashing the Columbus head unit as that takes a while.

 

I mostly followed the guides of Paul Roberts who helpfully placed a lot of good information in one place, his blog.

 

Here's how he shows to disassemble the unit, he was replacing the Hard Drive with an SSD at the time:

 

Replacing the HD with an SSD on the RNS 510

 

Points to note, he mentions you need a T10 and T8 Torx screwdriver and a replacement hard drive. You could get a T10 Torx bit for a screwdriver that accepts different heads, but you will definitely need a standalone T8 Torx screwdriver (Specifically on Step 6 of his disassembly), a screwdriver with removable heads will be too wide to fit in the hole provided for 2 of the T8 Torx Screws. 

 

Once I had installed the replacement Hard Drive, the Columbus booted straight up, it recognised the hard drive but could not use it, I had to flash the firmware in order for the harddrive to be formatted and partitioned correctly. I then flashed the navigation (maps) data, however, I had to flash the firmware again to get the unit to work.

 

He also has another blog entry on how to flash the lastest firmware and maps:

 

Upgrading firmware and maps on the RNS 510

 

 

In Summary

 

The bits you'll need:

  • T8 Torx Screwdriver 
  • T10 Torx Screwdriver or Screw driver bit
  • Replacement Hard drive, 2.5" IDE (Very important) 40GB or more
  • x2 DVDs or CDs you can burn the Columbus Firmware to, I went for DVD rewritables as if I need to change anything I could use the disk again
  • SD Card over 6GB or more if you want to flash the updated maps

The Order of install:

  • Remove Columbus out of the car
  • Disassemble
  • Replace hard drive
  • Reassemble
  • Install Columbus back into the car
  • Flash the firmware using a CD/DVD to format and partition the Hard drive correctly
  • Flash the latest navigation data using a SD Card
  • Flash the firmware again using a CD/DVD

 

I cannot guarantee this will fix you Columbus, but, it did for me, it was cheap, and provided you have the right tools, easy to do if you follow the steps and take your time.

 

I'll also happily do it for you, for free (obviously you'd have to supply the hard drive, I've got the rest), but I'm not sure I'm near you, give me a pm if you're interested.

 

There are also companies that will repair Columbus's much more cheaply than Skoda will replace, google rns510repairserviceuk or hazzydayz and I'm sure you'll find them, I've not used them myself but I seem they know their stuff.

 

Many thanks for the information.

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Just put a Bolero in it and buy a TomTom with life time Western Europe maps for £80.

Why would you waste £80 for TomTom if you can use Google Maps on your phone for free?

Or you can run TomTom on Bolero and £80 is only for lifetime update of speed cameras?

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Your assuming the phone always has sufficient signal to run Google Maps.

 

Also some phone contracts limit data usage or charge more for it.

 

Use your phone abroad on holiday as a sat nav and pay exorbitant roaming charges.

 

You also need to buy a mount to stick it to the dash or windscreen.

 

Alternatively chuck an £80 TomTom with lifetime map updates in the glovebox and then pay no more. You can also lend it to friends and family.

Edited by silver1011
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Use your phone abroad on holiday as a sat nav and pay exorbitant roaming charges.

No longer valid :) now it's pretty cheap :)

You also need to buy a mount to stick it to the dash or windscreen.

Alternatively chuck an £80 TomTom with lifetime map updates in the glovebox and then pay no more.

So how will you use TomTom?? Display it on Bolero??

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Your assuming the phone always has sufficient signal to run Google Maps.

And - you can download Google Maps for offline use :)

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So to summarise, quite a lot of faffing about.

Depends on what you like and what you are looking for ;) it's like choosing iPhone or Android phone ;)

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Too true, shame some people think the iphone is the better choice lol

I don't understand it either :(

You have to pay for everything :( and hardware isn't much better than branded phones :)

Sorry ;) much worse ;)

http://www.phonearena.com/phones/compare/Apple-iPhone-6,Samsung-Galaxy-Note-4,Apple-iPhone-7-Plus/phones/8346,8577,9816

Edited by jafo
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Amazing!

 

This is turning into the kind of thread that I see on some US music forums.

 

For everyone's information, with hugely appreciated help from a couple of Briskoda members I've now opted to purchase a secondhand Columbus and get it coded to my car.

 

There. I've said it.

 

Now, back to the discussion of the relative merits of phones, satnavs etc.

 

What I can offer on this topic is.....

 

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I'm now sorted. :sun:

 

Rustynuts happened to have a 2012 Columbus unit at a good price and VRSPhil was kind enough to fit it for me.

 

Thank you both. This is greatly appreciated.

 

What surprised me was that as well as better software and graphics the replacement unit has a far superior sound. A real Brucie bonus!

 

My guess is that the power amp has two or three times the power of the original unit. The sound now has far more weight and authority and the amp goes properly loud without distorting or sounding strained.

 

It also seems that the harsh, trebly sound of the old unit wasn't the speakers after all inasmuch as the new unit sounds more like a proper stereo should sound, with no obvious over-emphasis at any particular frequency.

 

What this has also shown, however, is that the speakers are still not the best in town, but nonetheless the listening experience is thankfully no longer tailored towards the local bat population.

 

 

What this experience has also reminded me about is the huge value of the internet and forums such as this. 20 or 30 years ago this would not have been possible and we Skoda owners would have been isolated and entirely dependent upon the goodwill of dealers and other garages. Now we can exchange ideas and generally help each other even though we are located all over the world. Fabulous stuff!

 

Set against this is that on some forums (not this one as far as I can tell) members forget the value of what they have and end up bickering and exchanging insults, which is so destructive.

 

So... please everybody keep this forum as it is, which is a great place to find support from kind and thoughtful people.

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I reckon it took me about 3 hours in all, of course I was learning as I went, about 2 hours of it was flashing the Columbus head unit as that takes a while.

 

I mostly followed the guides of Paul Roberts who helpfully placed a lot of good information in one place, his blog.

 

Here's how he shows to disassemble the unit, he was replacing the Hard Drive with an SSD at the time:

 

Replacing the HD with an SSD on the RNS 510

 

Points to note, he mentions you need a T10 and T8 Torx screwdriver and a replacement hard drive. You could get a T10 Torx bit for a screwdriver that accepts different heads, but you will definitely need a standalone T8 Torx screwdriver (Specifically on Step 6 of his disassembly), a screwdriver with removable heads will be too wide to fit in the hole provided for 2 of the T8 Torx Screws. 

 

Once I had installed the replacement Hard Drive, the Columbus booted straight up, it recognised the hard drive but could not use it, I had to flash the firmware in order for the harddrive to be formatted and partitioned correctly. I then flashed the navigation (maps) data, however, I had to flash the firmware again to get the unit to work.

 

He also has another blog entry on how to flash the lastest firmware and maps:

 

Upgrading firmware and maps on the RNS 510

 

 

In Summary

 

The bits you'll need:

  • T8 Torx Screwdriver 
  • T10 Torx Screwdriver or Screw driver bit
  • Replacement Hard drive, 2.5" IDE (Very important) 40GB or more
  • x2 DVDs or CDs you can burn the Columbus Firmware to, I went for DVD rewritables as if I need to change anything I could use the disk again
  • SD Card over 6GB or more if you want to flash the updated maps

The Order of install:

  • Remove Columbus out of the car
  • Disassemble
  • Replace hard drive
  • Reassemble
  • Install Columbus back into the car
  • Flash the firmware using a CD/DVD to format and partition the Hard drive correctly
  • Flash the latest navigation data using a SD Card
  • Flash the firmware again using a CD/DVD

 

I cannot guarantee this will fix you Columbus, but, it did for me, it was cheap, and provided you have the right tools, easy to do if you follow the steps and take your time.

 

I'll also happily do it for you, for free (obviously you'd have to supply the hard drive, I've got the rest), but I'm not sure I'm near you, give me a pm if you're interested.

 

There are also companies that will repair Columbus's much more cheaply than Skoda will replace, google rns510repairserviceuk or hazzydayz and I'm sure you'll find them, I've not used them myself but I seem they know their stuff.

 

Thanks for this info, I'm going to upgrade mine tonight with a 64gb ssd card with a pata adapter. Not because its faulty but because I want to. :p

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Sorry to barge in on this thread but it rather soudns as if your unit is having the same as mine has suddenly developed..

 

All was working fine on Sunday on a 3 hour journey home from Bristol.

 

Monday morning - nothing. Screen turns on, can hear the little motor whirring to check if there's a CD in place, and then screen goes off. I can still feed a CD in and eject it, but nothing plays.

 

Is there really no warranty on these from Skoda, as just like the OP, mine is a 2009 model and has just ticked over 61k, but in a car that's less than 7 years old, this kind of item should not be failing IMO. It was an integral part of the choice for me when buying the car given the miles I'm putting on to it and the time I spend in it where having the traffic updates, maps etc etc all integrated is so useful. £1868 is a LOT of money to spend on this which I do not consider to be a "Consumable" item or "wear and tear" item such as belts/pads/filters etc.

Will it help that I am still paying for the car through Skoda/VW finance?

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You can only ask, I suppose. But warranty won't cover something 7 years old I'm afraid, so more likely to be a goodwill gesture if anything. Then again, a goodwill gesture of 50% is still £900 when a second hand unit will cost much less than that.

 

Edit: And yours sounds more like main board failure than hard drive. That's a scrap unit really, as mainboards are either unavailable, or 500 euros to buy.

Edited by Rustynuts
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