Bolero - what's the current firmware?

[mark kelsall]

Interesting read, i had a 10 plate facelift car, and always been cheesed off with the long waits for it to read the sd card, so i thought i would buy a good quality 32gb class card, and it still takes an age to read, maybe due the card being alot larger than the 8gb one ive been using.

will get in touch with the dealer about it, is this a warranty thing as my car is already on 72k and just had a new turbo, front shocks and springs today, glad its a comapny car as the bill came to £1200.

[mark kelsall]

Just got this reply back from bickertons in sheffield

Good afternoon Mark,

Unfortunately as far as I am aware we do not have the ability to update an individual components firmware.

When a vehicle is booked into a Skoda Dealer for any type of repair it is automatically check for any outstanding updates on enhancements I cannot recall any of this nature.

Sorry I cannot be of any more help

Kind Regards

[mr_awol]

Just got this reply back from bickertons in sheffield

Good afternoon Mark,

Unfortunately as far as I am aware we do not have the ability to update an individual components firmware.

When a vehicle is booked into a Skoda Dealer for any type of repair it is automatically check for any outstanding updates on enhancements I cannot recall any of this nature.

Sorry I cannot be of any more help

Kind Regards

I'll translate:

We don't know and can't be arsed to find out

[john999boy]

I'll translate:

We don't know and can't be arsed to find out

That seems most odd as their 'sister' garage, Rainworth's in Mansfield, was actually the one that did mine approximately 18 months ago,

Maybe a case of right hand - left hand!

[mr_awol]

That seems most odd as their 'sister' garage, Rainworth's in Mansfield, was actually the one that did mine approximately 18 months ago,

Maybe a case of right hand - left hand!

Could be as simple as depending on who answers the phone - or even what mood they're in!

As I said earlier in the thread, if I was busy at work, with targets to meet, and someone asked about something that my computer system was totally oblivious to, there's only so much time I'd spend looking at this.

Someone on this or another thread said their dealer couldn't find anything but found it having phoned skoda head office. My supplying dealer told me they knew nothing about it and couldn't find anything on the system - the difference is that they (must have) bothered looking into it properly because they phoned back a couple of hours later and told me it was all done

[Clive1942]

Haven't tried an SD card yet. This topic prompts me to do so. Meanwhile, the poxy thing keeps re-tuning itself to some station called Heart which I don't want. As the car has to go in for a "Free" annual check very soon, is it worth mentioning this to them?

[Gti Jazz Blue]

My September 2011 VRS has the following (suggesting I have FW 62) :-

Address 56: Radio (J503) Labels: 5M0-035-1xx-56.clb

Part No SW: 1Z0 035 156 F HW: 1Z0 035 156 F

Component: BOLERO 011 0062

Revision: 0A001001 Serial number: SKZ1Z3LXXXXXXX

Coding: 0D0004000001

Shop #: WSC 73430 790 00098

VCID: 356B5EF29C5A571

Not tried an SD card yet - will have to order one.

Paul

[dubbers]

A possible fix for the lardy 32GB SD problem that Ive tried (and seems to work so far (3000 tracks)) is to format the SD card as FAT32 and select the cluster size to 32KB rather than using the default. I've tried this for a week or so and initial boot up time is a couple of seconds and track seek is only a second. Worth a try if you're struggling with these large SD Cards.

[corbo]

I called a few dealers and none were willing to help with a firmware update. In the end I plumped for a 2nd hand MDI and fitted a HD in my glovebox. 60gb of music (with 340gb free space for more!), reading and browsing the files is a breeze now compared to the SD card.

Would be interested to hear if anyone had success with Dubbers tip though, could be a good lead.

[M4rkos]

Ok, While waiting for my service light to come on (when I will be asking my dealer to look at this), I tried out Dubbers fix, and well...yes..some success. First the bad bit, it still takes my card 4 odd minutes to start playing from turning on ignition, but navigating the menu structure is definately faster.

I did slightly re-arrange the collection of music on the car, and split it up more, so before it was A-G, H-N, O-Z and Various, and now its A-C, D-H, I-P, Q-S, T-Z and Various to make the lists a little shorter, but either way its definately a little faster with a top level folder loading in say 5 seconds (prior to the fix this would take 25-30 seconds) and navigating down a menu to a particular band also only take 2-3 seconds now, before fix it would have been about 10 seconds, so its a definate improvement!!!.

I am definately still going to get my dealer to look at this, but maybe a faster SD card might make my performance like Dubbers?

Dubbers what class fo SD card do you have? mine I think is only a class 4.

Anyways definately an improvement so thanks for the top tip and I would recommend others trying this if your at your wits end! Although really with all the forum posts on here (and various other threads) about firmware update 54 fixing the issue entirely - I still think a dealer fix is the best result really.

Thanks again Dubbers

[dubbers]

Ok, While waiting for my service light to come on (when I will be asking my dealer to look at this), I tried out Dubbers fix, and well...yes..some success. First the bad bit, it still takes my card 4 odd minutes to start playing from turning on ignition, but navigating the menu structure is definately faster.

I did slightly re-arrange the collection of music on the car, and split it up more, so before it was A-G, H-N, O-Z and Various, and now its A-C, D-H, I-P, Q-S, T-Z and Various to make the lists a little shorter, but either way its definately a little faster with a top level folder loading in say 5 seconds (prior to the fix this would take 25-30 seconds) and navigating down a menu to a particular band also only take 2-3 seconds now, before fix it would have been about 10 seconds, so its a definate improvement!!!.

I am definately still going to get my dealer to look at this, but maybe a faster SD card might make my performance like Dubbers?

Dubbers what class fo SD card do you have? mine I think is only a class 4.

Anyways definately an improvement so thanks for the top tip and I would recommend others trying this if your at your wits end! Although really with all the forum posts on here (and various other threads) about firmware update 54 fixing the issue entirely - I still think a dealer fix is the best result really.

Thanks again Dubbers

Glad to hear that the fix is helping (if not solving) the problem for you.

Class 10 according to the label - purchased from Amazon

[DGW]

And this is the scan result for my my October 2010 Octavia:

Address 56: Radio (J503) Labels: 5M0-035-1xx-56.clb

Part No SW: 1Z0 035 156 G HW: 1Z0 035 156 G

Component: BOLERO 014 0029

Revision: -----28S Serial number: SKZ4Z3K1123547

Coding: 050004000001

Shop #: WSC 73430 790 00000

VCID: 36694FA8815C5C9

[dubbers]

Quick update - Reformatted 32GB SD Card again - This time using FAT32 and 64Kb clusters (using Windows 7). Speed is now incredible, fraction of a second delay in resuming, searching and playing tracks (including hour long MP3's).

[alberg]

June 2010 (DGW has the 28S Revision)

DGW do you have front parking sensores ( coding yours having 05 and mine is 0D)

Address 56: Radio (J503) Labels: None

Part No SW: 1Z0 035 156 G HW: 1Z0 035 156 G

Component: BOLERO 013 0029

Revision: -----27S Serial number: SKZ4Z3K1102933

Coding: 0D0004000001

Shop #: WSC 73430 790 00000

VCID: 366824867E1D6BAC

[DGW]

DGW do you have front parking sensores ( coding yours having 05 and mine is 0D

No.

[mark kelsall]

I have a class 10 16gb card that takes an age to read data, will try formatting in fat32 and 64kb to test and will get back to u guys with my results, my car is a fl 2010 car.

[mark kelsall]

Well stacked a 16gb class 10 card with mp3's and tried it today, formatted in windows 7 at fat32 and 64kb, still takes an age to read from the card, i actually got fed up and removed the card it was taking so long.

[Ric_H]

Just dropped my 2009 Octavia in for service today. First service since I bought the car second hand last October, and it's still under the Skoda warranty extension. The dealer is telling me that the firmware update (mine is currently version 040) is not covered on the warranty, and want to charge me £95 + VAT. Seeing as the car is already having a £340 service at the same time it seems a bit steep to me for a plug-in/download! Have others found that this was covered on the Skoda warranty? I consider the earlier firmware not fit for purpose but perhaps they take a different view. Presumably no-one other than Skoda dealers can access these updates?

[lozparry]

Just dropped my 2009 Octavia in for service today. First service since I bought the car second hand last October, and it's still under the Skoda warranty extension. The dealer is telling me that the firmware update (mine is currently version 040) is not covered on the warranty, and want to charge me £95 + VAT. Seeing as the car is already having a £340 service at the same time it seems a bit steep to me for a plug-in/download! Have others found that this was covered on the Skoda warranty? I consider the earlier firmware not fit for purpose but perhaps they take a different view. Presumably no-one other than Skoda dealers can access these updates?

see my thread here.. http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/250813-at-last-bolero-and-sd-sorted/

[musaphir]

I recently bought an Octavia and found that the bolero system does not shuffle tracks on SD cards and CDs properly. I will shuffle within an alphabet ie; A then goes to B etc. instead of randomly shuffles the tracks as all mp3 players do. Has anybody found similar issue with the bolero system?

[Tightmartin]

I had my software updated on my Bolero today at Progress Letchworth and I have to say that changing tracks and folders is now miles quicker. Also when reversing the music does not mute at all now but I don't think that is a problem.

As for the shuffle I have never got that to work properly and it looks like the softare update has not changed that but I am not bothered about that.

After over 3 years I have bolero I am totally happy with. I first reported this "fault" a year ago and even though the warrany has now expired 2 days ago Progress had it as an open warranty claim so I got it updated for free.

The SD card I am using is only a class 4 and my understanding of flash memory is that the class is all about the write speed to the SSD chip and not read speed, so I think that is a bit of a red herring.

Edited 16 November, 2012 by Tightmartin

[Wardy]

Glad you're sorted.

Read speed is also covered under the Class system, but you're right it's a red herring as that should never be a bottleneck or reason for slowness, when you're talking about MP3 files.

[JB-)]

That seems most odd as their 'sister' garage, Rainworth's in Mansfield, was actually the one that did mine approximately 18 months ago,

Maybe a case of right hand - left hand!

I went to Rainworth today as pre-booked a week ago, to get my Bolero looked at for slow SD access. My car is under warranty, and knowing there is a fix and that they've done it before I expected it all to be sorted no problem.

The service guy there told me he had never heard of this problem, but I explained that many people on here have has the same issue, told him what the fix is, and that I know they have done the job before for at least one person on here, and told another dealer what to do.

After about a 40 minute wait the guy comes and gets me, and tells me that the computer says there are no updates for my car when scanned, so they can't do it under warranty. However if I want them to manually force the update to the version 54 firmware it needs, it will cost me £56. He also tried to tell it's because I'm using a 32GB card and that I should only be using a 16GB card which would work fine. This was despite me telling him that previously tried 2 and 4GB cards perform exactly the same.

I will not be returning to Rainworth.

[JB-)]

Well, I put a call in to Skoda UK today, who were equally unhelpful, saying that the firmware update is not intended to fix the slow SD card access, and since that's the fault I've reported they "can't" do the update. They also blamed me for using a 32GB card, even though I once again said that I am quite prepared to prove that 2GB and 4GB cards behave in exactly the same way.

I'm pretty sure my next car will not be a Skoda.

[Wardy]

Yes, this is a familiar tale unfortunately. It's not listed as fixing the SD card access issue, even though it does. I don't think SUK have ever publicly admitted there is an SD card access issue anyway....

It's also an issue for Bolero users who are out of warranty, as even if you do get them to look at the firmware update, they're likely to charge you circa £60 for the privilege as it does take a while to write to the HU. Even though it's likely to be 10 minutes work at most for the technician to plug in and start the process....

Haven't had any luck in sourcing the necessary files yet unfortunately!