The Columbus in my 2011 Superb Elegance CR170 has a frozen screen. No sound from the unit at all, and no response from any controls or from the touch screen, nothing seems to work. I have tried pressing < > and the button to the right of the CD eject button and I've gone though the 'reboot' procedure several times, but no joy. Is there anything else I can try? Many thanks!

if the unit does not turn itself off, you may have to resort to disconnecting the battery for a few minutes.

Thanks for the quick response. The screen does switch off when the ignition key is removed etc. When the ignition is switched on it comes on with the 'Welcome to Skoda Navigation' or whatever, then goes to the screen I attached the photo of (radio stations etc) but pressing any of the buttons doesn't do anything.

it sounds like its possible the navigation data is corrupted on the HDD or the HDD itself is acting up. If you have a map DVD you could try turning the unit on, and inserting that. The columbus will then read the DVD for navigation data.

Thanks. Would that affect the operation of the radio as well? As nothing is working, I thought it must be another problem. I will be back home tomorrow and could try the map DVD then.

If the battery disconnect does nothing then Manny's DVD suggestion is a good one to see if the unit is at all reponsive, but my first thought too was a HDD issue.

The only other thought I have is had you been trying a firmware update at all? I only ask as mine did similar when an firmware update crashed during the final gateway update procedure. The solution was to reflash the software which needed a specialist piece of computer software.

A firmware re-installation will fix this.  Get hold of 402x firmware from a nearby internet; this will* work regardless of how old your unit is.

 

* the only certain things in life are death and taxes; I've done this process and helped others to do it, but the risk is ultimately yours...

Thanks for the responses. I hadn't been attempting any updates, or anything unusual. I had driven the car on a 3 hour journey into London and all had been fine, I had the satnav going and the radio playing. it was when I got back into the car after a short break that I found it was frozen and unresponsive.

 

Incidentally I do have 7 digit postcode search facility on the satnav.

Well I might have got somewhere! I disconnected the battery for about 20 minutes, now when I start up the Columbus is asking for the code which I don't have, so presumably it will probably work when the correct code is entered. My next question is how do I obtain the code? I haven't found any note of it with the books etc. I bought the car in June. I have searched the forums and haven't found the answer yet!

If the car doesn't know the unit and is forcing a code request, then it sounds like a corruption of the units hardware (motherboard) or something. Once the unit is code accepted in the car then they will always communicate on startup and will allow it to start.

 

You can possibly get the code from the units serial number (taken from the sticker on the top of the unit) via one of the ebay sellers, for a tenner or so. Unless the unit is stolen and has been reported to Skoda and marked as such, in which case they'll refuse it. Or if you know someone with RNS service tools then it's a simple enough job to retrieve the code with a laptop and cable.

This is also what happened to mine when rebooting after the gateway update corruption. I could reinstall firmware as the unit was too unresponsive and it was the rns software that rusty mentions that got me out of my particular hole...

I got the radio code via eBay, unfortunately the touch screen doesn't respond. I'm sure not money wasted as presumably I would still need the code if/when I get the unit fixed. I am grateful for the eBay suggestion as my local dealer was going to charge a lot more! Thanks for the references to Firmware, I really don't know what this involves, but there seem to be references to this elsewhere on this site. Worst case scenario, used units seem to be around the £450 mark on eBay, but I hope it doesn't come to this!

Don't be scared about firmware updates, you'd update your Windows or Apple PC or your phone with no worries, it's pretty much the same with a Columbus. You just need to get the correct firmware version for you on a DVD and post it into the slot and wait. Hundreds of people on these forums have done it and if you can find someone near you to help it would be less scary. 

He has...(found someone close!)

Knowsley and I met up today to try and fix his unit. We tried variois things but on trying to install 4120 firmware, we kept hitting an error early on mentioning ecuorder.txt. Anyone had this and solved it pls, googling isn't too helpul.

Note that because the unit has limited response we can't try to install earlier firmwares than 3980 which the unit now thinks its on as we cant enable sw downgrade..

Thanks

Adam

It's most likely the mainboard mate. It's possible to repair maybe, but I'm not sure. The mainboard has corrupted the mapping file which reads the EcuOrder.txt file from the firmware disc. If it can't read the EcuOrder.txt then the unit doesn't know what functions to perform on the update and in what order, so it just throws it back.

 

It's possible (perhaps) to reprogram the mainboard but might need desoldering and resoldering to do so, or a new mainboard.

 

I've not had one to repair yet, but that's my understanding of the process.

I should like to say a huge thank you to adamal for all his efforts - certainly not for want of trying. And many thanks to everyone else for their input. I will post the outcome as and when!

@Rustynuts: Thanks for the response. What you say makes some sense. I wonder though if a good version of this file can be forced on to the hdd?

It's not on the hard drive though, it's embedded in the mainboard on an eeprom. Hence possibly needing to desolder the eeprom to recode it. I'm not sure though.

Ah ok makes even more sense now. Bugger (but many thanks)

Thank you rustynuts and adamal I will speak to Hazzy Dayz tomorrow and see what they say.

What's the part number of the unit please?

3T0035680A as I recall manufactured in later 2010. Definitely has the A suffix so not one of the older revision A units. Its on 2724 firmware but because we tried a SWL recovery disk based on 3980 and that apparently succeeded, I suspect it thinks that's the current version.

What is odd is has worked as normal for a short period since it first got into this state.

Right, so it's an LED version then (as I recall). That's unfortunate as I have a mainboard here for the earlier LCD one, but not a later one at the moment.

I have emailed Rustynuts a photo of the label. As adamal says, my Columbus did work yesterday morning when I first went out to the car, but when I returned to the car just a short while later it wasn't working again.