(A) Columbus bricked? (B) Alternatives

[Devon Wanderer]

Just got my 10 Superb II Elegance from auction. Great deal, but the headunit appears not to work. Symptoms are that the splash screen keeps appearing and disappearing every 30 seconds or so and none of the buttons does anything. The battery was flat when I got the car, so I'd first assumed it might just need resetting, but no. I've tried the "two arrows + i" reboot to no effect. I also tried "setup+eject+i", whereupon it told me it couldn't start and needed SWL-CD. I made one from a link I found elsewhere on this forum, inserted it, and the unit made all the right noises - "searching for image"; "image found"; "you have chosen to install ..." [OK]; "update successful, remove CD and system will boot" - but then went back to doing what it was doing before, and "setup+eject+i" still brings up the SWL-CD prompt. So:

(A) Is there any hope? and

( If not, would I be better off buying a 2nd-hand Columbus from eBay or a new but cheaper alternative (and which one)?

It's not a business car, so all the RNS-510's bells and whistles are more nice-to-haves than essentials. I've never even owned a satnav, though I wouldn't mind one. I do miss the radio, though, and would like to be make use of the MFSW if possible.

All thoughts gratefully received.

[Matt Pez]

I had exactly the same on my Columbus a few months ago, the dealer tried to re-install firmware but to no avail, so they condemned the unit. Lucky for me the lease company stumped up for a new unit witn 45% contribution from SUK, the full price was £2,000 + vat and that excluded the maps but the dealer kindly loaded v7 for free so it came back with full postcode search and latest official maps, later versions are available but not via dealers! Some have said on here that the hard disc can be replaced but can be tricky, best bet may be one off ebay, depending on which build week in 2010 your car is you may also need the bluetooth module upgrade as old unit was rSAP only so will not work with many modern smart phones.

Edited 3 April, 2013 by Matt Pez