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A Navigation Problem


chimaera

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Lately I'm having some weirdness with the navigation function on the Columbus unit in my car. It seems to be getting a poor satellite fix or none at all, but it's not defaulting to a location in Germany and only showing that. When driving it'll show a moving location on the map in a different part of the country, and behave as if it has a satellite fix there.

 

My guess is an antenna failure but I figured I'd throw it out here in case anyone else had seen a similar problem. I'll be scanning with VCDS as soon as I get my cable back from the person I lent it to last week: is there anything particular here to look for?

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Same issue on mine when i bought the car, after searching on here seemed the quickest, easiest and cheapest attempt to fix was a fakra gps antenna, worked perfectly on my car

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GPS-FAKRA-antenna-Audi-RNS-E-MMI-BMW-CCC-CIC-Mercedes-Comand-APS-Vauxhall-Opel/291703296515?epid=2155309277&hash=item43eadf1203:g:~RMAAOSw6dNWTCBC

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just started having exactly the same problem. I bought a new antenna as suggested by Rustynuts and a666andy above and fitted it. It worked immediately, for about two hours and then showed the same fault as the original aerial. Show 0/10 same as Chimaera

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I'm far from an expert but may be worth double checking the connector has not come out, else a reset of the unit just in case.

 

If not, from my previous reading on here it could be the actual unit itself and a problem on the board. From memory something rustynuts may be able to repair (apologies in advance if I've remembered incorrectly)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have exactly the same issue with my Columbus Sat Nav. Although I'm picking up 10 satellites it doesn't know where I am in the country. Had the system diagnosed by a skoda specialist who said it was working correctly but was due a software update, but this could only be carried out by a dealership. I contacted the local dealership who stated that this would cost me £250  for the update disc. After me shouting at them about what a rip off, they said I was free to contact Skoda UK customer services which I did and they were spectacularly unhelpful! 

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You say you're picking up 10 satellites? That's half the story, because it needs to both see the satellites and also lock onto them. The number of satellites is a double number like 10 / 12 (10 locked on to out of 12 seen) so what have you got?

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I've been doing a bit of investigating [maybe you all know this already but I didn't so itmay help].

Skoda have an update portal into which you can type your VIN http://updateportal.skoda-auto.com/en-gb     For my VIN it said there were no software updates available, but there might be for the others on this thread.

There's also a setup screen that you can access by pressing and holding the Setup button on the unit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVOtVIFn-3g

When you use it to access the GPS set up it will at least tell you whether your antennae is actually connected [see pic below.]

I can't work out anything else that can be done with this Setup screen though - it doesn't seem to have any functions.

So far then, I've worked out that;

1] When I replaced the original antenna with a new one everything worked fine again for two hours and then it lost contact mid-journey.

2] The unit can see the satellites and is "connected" when I plug the original antenna back in but now reports the antenna status as "Disconnected" when I plug the new unit in!

 

So, does anyone know if the tracking of satellites is a function of the antenna or a software function within the unit?

 

IMG_20180319_171749.jpg

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The update portal is for the newer MIB units, not the RNS510 based Columbus. No dice trying to get any updates there for this unit I'm afraid.

 

In your picture above you have 9 satellites visible but none tracked. Either your new antenna is faulty or the radio board in the unit is fried. Another antenna first and if that doesn't work, then a new radio bard and reinstallation of software and maps should be the problem sorted.

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@Dougal Entendre   Nice find on that extra hidden menu - there's info in there that I was trying to find a few weeks ago with VCDS to no avail.

 

@Rustynuts  My unit is showing antenna as connected, but no fix, similar to Dougal's. Does this point towards a dead/dying radio board? Or can a failed antenna still show up as connected? (I have a new antenna on order)

 

Something else I found in the HDD menu is a message showing 'tempStatus: Degraded': is this something to worry about or just normal behaviour?

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4 minutes ago, chimaera said:

 

 

@Rustynuts  My unit is showing antenna as connected, but no fix, similar to Dougal's. Does this point towards a dead/dying radio board? Or can a failed antenna still show up as connected? (I have a new antenna on order)

 

Something else I found in the HDD menu is a message showing 'tempStatus: Degraded': is this something to worry about or just normal behaviour?

 

If it's showing as seeing 9 satellites but not tracking any then it's generally the antenna. Only maybe one in a hundred will be a faulty radio board.

 

Temperature status will always show as "Degraded", so nothing unusual there.

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7 minutes ago, Rustynuts said:

 

If it's showing as seeing 9 satellites but not tracking any then it's generally the antenna. Only maybe one in a hundred will be a faulty radio board.

 

Temperature status will always show as "Degraded", so nothing unusual there.

Cool. New antenna should be here mid week so fingers crossed that sorts it.

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  • 1 year later...

Same here. Just brought my superb 2 3 weeks ago and already found that both front heated seats don't work and now my sat Nav is showing me in Germany....... Has anyone tried taking the ariel base off and cleaing it? Surely it must be a connection issue that end perhaps causes by water ingress? Sat Nav was working fine for a couple of weeks until we had some heavy downpours. 

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Thanks rustynuts. It's going back to the guy who supplied it unfortunately as the front heated seats don't work and the sat Nav issue. Pita as its a tgree and a bit hours drive away and I'll probably have to get a train home and then vice versa when it's fixed 🙄 lovely car though. Well pleased bar these faults. 

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  • 2 months later...

My Columbus satnav on my 2010 Superb estate also started to fail, intermittently at first and then completely. It shows 0/X satellites (press Navigation and then Current Position to see this) and soon drifted off the correct position and eventually reverted to a location in Germany. 

 

I have now fixed this problem! It is the shark fin corroding inside. Water gets under the seal as the rubber ages and then into the electronic components. At first it seemed to dry out and the system would work again, but after months it packed up completely. Once removed I could see the screws all rusted inside. 

 

The only solution I found is to replace the shark fin. This is easy and takes less than an hour. Once I had done this the satnav worked immediately. 

 

Order a genuine new part (part no. is on underside of the fin). I paid £74 from Skoda in Sheffield, including delivery - shop around. It comes with a new seal. To change the whole fin you only need to remove the trim on the rear offside pillar (the rear driver side). This pulls off from the top edge (don't lose the metal clips). Then pull down the corner of the roof lining - this is held by velcro. You will see the nut on the under side of the shark fin and two cables going to the right, close to the back edge of the roof. These have connectors clipped to the roof. They are difficult to see without a mirror. Unclip these (they have a securing clip which need to be lifted). Then undo the nut to the fin. Help may be required to hold the fin down. The nut may not come completely off - it has an anti-theft device - a small flap of metal on the nut. Once the nut is turning freely pull the fin up from the outside (may have to pull quite hard). The nut will fall off. Lift off the fin, pulling the short cables and connectors through the square hole in the roof. 

 

Clean the roof around the fin base and fit the new fin by reversing the procedure. Don't forget to reconnect the cables correctly - they are colour coded. When pushing back the roof lining make sure the velcro connects properly and the rear door rubber seal fits over the roof lining. The plastic trim on the rear pillar just pushes on, but if the metal clips remained in the metal pillar when removing the trim, they will have to be pulled out and fitted back into the plastic lining first. Again - check the read door seal is fitted over the plastic trim. 

 

It should all now work perfectly. 

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