Guide: Upgrading Columbus firmware and maps

[Moretreesplease]

G'day and thanks for the instruction which I have followed.  I decided to upgrade the firm where because the navigation system could see satellites but not fix to them.  I was stuck somewhere in Germany although I am in Melbourne Australia.  When i put in a new destination the lovely woman would tell me that there were no routes or something similar.  The upgrade went ok, although it took an age and the next day whenI went to start the car the battery was flat.  Got the neighbour out of bed and jump started and have had no issue wit the battery for the last two days.

 

The upgrade however has not solved the satellite issue in fact now it does not see any satellites and with that does not get a fix.  I am still somewhere in Germany.

 

Any ideas on how to resolve this please.

 

Best wishes

 

andrew

 

 

[Rustynuts]

You probably have a faulty gps antenna. Buy a cheap £5 one off ebay and test it with that, see if it cures the fault.

[Darrenm72]

Where are you getting your maps from?

[chimaera]

I ran the updates this evening, took about 2 h in total - an hour each for the firmware and the maps. A few moments where I wondered if it had all gone wrong when the unit just sat there appearing to do nothing, especially on the map update.

I made use of a nifty tool that allows installation of the maps from an SD card, which made the process much simpler.

 

Firmware is now at 5274 and maps at 8348. Everything seems to be working fine.

[Moretreesplease]

Where are you getting your maps from?

The maps a genuine VW maps V8

[BTW]

Firmware is now at 5274 and maps at 8348. Everything seems to be working fine.

Hi,

 

thanks for the update - does 5274 support DVD playback, whilst in motion?

BTW

 

Edited 10 May, 2016 by BTW

[Rustynuts]

Video in motion is something which can be enabled with the correct tools or a specific update, or some modified firmwares will also do it. You could update to 5274 and not have video in motion, or you could update to a different 5274 and have video in motion.

 

I'm not a personal fan of it for obvious reasons.

[chimaera]

Hi,

 

thanks for the update - does 5274 support DVD playback, whilst in motion?

BTW

 

I have no interest in finding out I'm afraid. Too many distractions while driving as it is.

[Makay55]

Hi Guys. I'm trying to update my maps but the downloading process get to maybe 90% and then starts again? Any ideas?

[Rustynuts]

Either a poor quality disc, poor burn, faulty dvd drive, or maybe hard drive fault.

[Makay55]

Ok I'll try the sd card method. Thanks.

[Rolfey]

Hi, 

 

This is an interesting topic and something I'm dealing with right now, could any of you please give some advise.

 

I have a Skoda Superb 2010 Elegance with a columbus unit, I can't tell what the firmware version is because the hidden menu doesn't appear. I can however confirm I've installed the new 2016 maps, this installed fine.

 

My question is......Is there a way to determine what a likely firmware is by the look of the interface (Are there some give aways) such as the parking sensor screen, the look of the radio etc.

 

I'm happy with the maps, but I have some other functions that I really wish worked, such as the ability to stream music over bluetooth from my phone, also the Columbus can't access my phone book, but can see missed calls and such.

 

It might be that the bluetooth module needs to be replaced in order to resolve that, but I'm not sure.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Mike

[Rustynuts]

The features you mention are related to your Bluetooth kit, not the Columbus. If you touch "Extras" on the radio screen, can you select "Radio Text"? If not then your firmware is before 4120

[Rolfey]

This is what I see, so it looks as though I'm on an earlier firmware right? 

Do I get some more features moving up to the firmware which you mention? and is that firmware you mention the latest I can go up to, or is it hard to tell without know the exact 

model type I have.

 

Ok, I can't share the picture, as this forum wont allow me to use google drive links. but when I press extra's I have scan tp and switch off display only.

 

Thanks again.

 

Mike

[Rolfey]

After reading other posts, it seems that there isn't much to gain by upgrading the firmware, I had a feeling that the reverse sensor screen looked a little better in newer revisions, mine only shows the back of the car at the very top of the screen, it's not the prettiest of graphics, but maybe that's just how it is.

 

Mike

[Rustynuts]

This is what I see, so it looks as though I'm on an earlier firmware right? 

Do I get some more features moving up to the firmware which you mention? and is that firmware you mention the latest I can go up to, or is it hard to tell without know the exact 

model type I have.

 

Ok, I can't share the picture, as this forum wont allow me to use google drive links. but when I press extra's I have scan tp and switch off display only.

 

Thanks again.

 

Mike

There are a few improvements in the later firmwares. You'll be able to load speed camera locations and other Points Of Interest (POI), radio text, new splash screen on startup, and support for later cars hardware. Nothing much other than that really, other than bragging rights if you don't brick the unit.

 

There's a firmware version 5238 which is suitable for all units (apparently) but upgrading is at your own risk. They can brick if you're unlucky, and then you're in trouble.

 

To find out what firmware you have you'll need a vcds scan (data will be in the scan log) or you could turn on the hidden menu, again with vcds.

[Rolfey]

Ok and to turn on hidden menu via  VCDS I guess I have to go to a dealer?

 

Is there more than one version of that firmware, by that I mean one for say Skoda or VW, I don't really want the VW logo popping up on a Skoda car lol.

 

Mike

Edited 20 June, 2016 by Rolfey

[Rustynuts]

You need someone with VCDS to turn on the hidden menu or do a scan. Dealers have da different software setup (either VAS or ODIS) and VCDS is an aftermarket tool. Many users have it.

 

The firmware won't alter the VW or Skoda branding of the unit, that's different settings which need a different tool to change.

[Rolfey]

Is it fussy about what you load it from, for example a DVD, or a CD obviously a nice slow burn. 

I recently updated the maps off a DVD, and it copied to the hard drive without a problem, do you know where the firmware is flashed to? is it to a system partition on the hard drive or some sort of eprom within the unit?

 

I am guessing there must be some sort of recovery CD/DVD if the firmware upgrade fails as well.

 

Mike

Edited 20 June, 2016 by Rolfey

[Rustynuts]

Firmware upgrades are a leap in the dark. There's never a guarantee you can come out the other end with a working unit. There is a software repair disc flying about which will usually get things back to how they were, but I've seen a good few killed completely by failed firmware updates (I have half a dozen on the shelf here, all bricks). The firmware is flashed onto internal rom chips, not onto the hard drive, so if something fails to load then the main bard can be corrupted and scrap. If that's the case then a new main board is more than the cost of a nearly new unit off Ebay. Best using a high quality dvd-r disc, but some systems prefer dvd+r or cd. No way of telling until it fails or loads. Burn the image as slow as possible using imgburn and verify the disc afterwards.

[Rolfey]

A lot to think about there, I've worked in IT for 15 years and no stranger to flashing all sorts of hardware,  but this is an expensive risk for sure, I would like Speed cams, but disastrous if it goes wrong, and it's not just the navigation gone, no radio, not music....all gone.

 

Plenty to think about here.....

 

I don't suppose it's any smoother in navigation, or any other pluses to way up?

 

Mike

[Rustynuts]

No, there are improvements if you move on to later hardware which is faster etc. but like an old windows XP computer, putting windows 10 on it ain't gonna make it fly. Yes, it'll probably be a little getter, but nothing you're going to be ecstatic about.

Then again, updating yours might go very smoothly with no hiccups. I've probably done a few hundred machines and never had any issues (except my own first time which had a dodgy dvd drive and it couldn't read the disc). All the bricks I have are ones other people have made by doing something wrong and killing them.

[Rolfey]

Well I know 2 things up front, my burner is reasonable because I just burned the maps dvd, and secondly it copied the map to the hard drive in abut 45 mins, so it must have been reading off the DVD well enough as well. 

 

So onto a few last questions really, because it's easy to miss something stupid when flashing something you've not dealt with beforel

 

Roughly how long should the upgrade take?

Can I have the car running while I do it so the battery doesn't take too much of a hit?

And lastly, are there any real DONT'S or stupid mistakes that many people repeatedly make resulting in a needless brick.

 

And I am guessing that not knowing your exact hardware version might be one of them lol.

 

Thanks for all your help.

 

Mike 

[Rustynuts]

Well I know 2 things up front, my burner is reasonable because I just burned the maps dvd, and secondly it copied the map to the hard drive in abut 45 mins, so it must have been reading off the DVD well enough as well. 

 

Always a good indicator.

 

So onto a few last questions really, because it's easy to miss something stupid when flashing something you've not dealt with beforel

 

Roughly how long should the upgrade take?

 

Half an hour to 40 minutes.

 

Can I have the car running while I do it so the battery doesn't take too much of a hit?

 

No, engine off and key out of the ignition. Make sure the battery is chargedbeforehand if you feel it might be an issue.

 

And lastly, are there any real DONT'S or stupid mistakes that many people repeatedly make resulting in a needless brick.

 

When you insert the DVD and it starts the procedure, make a note of any error messages which pop up, as they usually tell you what's going on (and they're not all the same). If there's an error number then write it down and ask a question before trying to force the update. If it's not gonna work, then trying to make it work probably isn't going to help. Don't try to load a firmware which is clearly incompatible. Newer isn't better usually, so if someone says "Don't use a 6*** firmware on anything other than a 6*** based unit", it means just that. The unit will shut down and restart a couple of times when you start the process. Don't assume there's nothing happening and eject the disc when it looks like it's turned off. Wait until it's been inactive for a quarter hour or so first as it might just be working in the background. If the screen is showing a progress bar on any of the modules updating, and it's not moving, this is entirely normal. Just leave it to finish.

 

Make sure you have plenty of time. Don't start doing it at 6.00 in the morning if you're needing the car to go to work at 7.00. That's just silly.

 

And I am guessing that not knowing your exact hardware version might be one of them lol.

 

Maybe. Although the 5238 custom firmware should cover all the bases.

 

Thanks for all your help.

 

Mike 

[Rolfey]

Ok, 

 

Well I've found the firmware 5238 Update by josi.

I've burned a DVD at x2 speed lol, and prepared several changes of underpants.

Never in all time have I been so worried about a bloody firmware upgrade haha, I'll report back with any error messages.

 

Mike