Comand ntg 2.5 Memory Cards and Music DVD's

[harveyn]

SD card prevents satellites from being seen

Hi, when I use either a 2Gb or a 4Gb sd card (not sdhc) the mp3's work perfectly, BUT the navigation stops seeing the satellites when the card is inserted, so the navigation won't work whilst the card is in. As soon as the card is removed the satellites can be seen again.

When Richard coded my unit, he said he had seen the problem before, and suggested I try a 'Sandisk 2Gb' card, but after buying one I still have the problem. I assume I have an upto date firmware (as Ricahrd coded it last month) and there are only MP3's on the card, and I have been able to copy the music to the hard drive.

Do people think it is the type of memory card causing the issue, or might a subsequent firmware update cure this...thanks!

p.s I will try an sdhc card this evening to see if that works.

Harvey

 

[npuk]

Richard told me the latest firmware causes the issue above. It doesnt happen on earlier firmwares. This is the reason I havent updated mine to the latest, I am still on the Jan 2010 firmware. So changing SD cards wont solve the issue, you need to wait for a new firmware update or see if you can downgrade to the previous firmware.

 

[350_Coupe]

LOL ... sounds like MB need to employ a decent software geek (hacker) to fix their bugs

I've lost track of the number of "unofficial" bios and firmware updates i've seen for DVD drives and alike, where in the release notes i've read something like.... "oh, and i fixed their bug with blah blah - so unlike genuine firmware, it now works as its supposed to"

 

[rhjcamp]

Just gonna throw a couple of things in here for people to be aware of

1. someone said earlier that format structure was important, ie. it needs tobe FAT16 i think they said - well, if you find the card you have is formatted wrong, then you can try googling for a hp tool (yes hewlet packard) that allows you to reformat any flash drive, or in this case sd card plugged into a suitable adaptor, into any file format, regardless of what it has eben formatted in previously, unlike windows, which will flat blankly allow you to go back from NTFS to FAT

Hi,
Just a FYI, but Under windows 7 you can format a drive to FAT, NTFS or UDF versions 1.2-2.1.

Run 'cmd' and type in 'format /?' and hit return to give you all the options. Clearly do not reformat drive c:.......

For instance, format e: (Drive letter of my memory card) /FS:FAT /q formatted the device to FAT32, but due to size (8 gig SDHC) is refused to format to FAT16 even playing with cluster sizes....

/q is quick so it just rebuilds the way it links blocks together to create files rather than re-format each block.....

Anyway, I digress, and thanks for the advice....

Rob.

 

[350_Coupe]

Interesting, cheers, i was of course meaning form the GUI to keep it simple, nice to know they've removed that restriction in Win7 - it was a pain once something was formatted in NTFS not to be able to switch back easily.

 

[Steve_Perry]

Apologies for dragging up a 2 year old plus dormant thread but I just thought I'd add my observation to the mix.

If you want to burn a DVD MP3 disc for use in a COMAND NTG2.5 unit make sure you choose CDFS (Joliet) when you come to burn the MP3 files to the DVD disc. Do NOT choose UDF. The discs should then be readable by the head unit.

I burnt 4x coasters before figuring this out for myself as if you read the COMAND user manual it states DVD's should be formatted to UDF. What it really means is DVD video discs should be formatted to UDF. DVD MP3 discs should be formatted the same as CD MP3 discs.

That is all I'll let this thread go back to resting.

S.

 

[sspeed]

I use nero express to burn a "jukebox DVD".
I've never had an issue with mp3's being burned to a DVD.
Best thing I ever did was having the NTG2.5 retro fitted by Comand online.

 

[markjay]

...
Best thing I ever did was having the NTG2.5 retro fitted by Comand online.

Seconded

 

[wongl]

Just stumbled across this thread while googling for "Calibrate NTG2.5" as I wasn't sure if this unit required a calibration after fitting (like the old becker sat nav used to require and maybe even the old APS 30 I fitted to the W210).

I retrofitted the NTG2.5 to a W169 last weekend and everything working well despite not giving much thought to the GPS antenna location until I came across this thread. Wife had complaint that once or twice it was showing her driving down a parallel road for short periods, but I couldn't reproduce this effect. Using the engineering menu this morning I noticed that on startup the NTG2.5 was only locking into 3 sat in front of the garage and locking onto the 4th sat after driving several metres away from the garage front.

So I removed the air vents and started playing around with the positioning of the GPS antenna - to my surprised, as pointed in this thread, the unit is really sensitive to small changes in the position of the antenna. I think I may have now found the ideal position (on the left hand side above the passenger airbag) where it can lock onto 7 sat on start-up and the 8th sat after driving several metres away.

Will see if my wife reports anymore "parallel road" syndrome this week following this "fix".

 

[bswift2]

Feedback

Great post on this subject all,

As a new member to the forum and a recent 09 plate 350SL owner, this topic was a real ordeal for me.

The 2Gb SD Only card fixed the issue for me (Not SDHC)...

Grouping MP3's by folder also allows a significant increase on the memory card size being read by the command system.

Hope this was helpful.

Barry (and BTW my brake calipers are silver not red) ...

 

[joeysnowey]

Anyone know how big the music register space allowed is on the internal HDD? I have NTG2.5. I only just found the music register thing ,and being disappointed not to have iPod functionality (no media interface), I am trying to find ways to get my 38GB music collection usable in the car. Not sure I can. I have aux plug in the glovebox but no other connections, and that aux in is terrible, volume extremely low. I will be upgrading firmware soon (mine is 2009 never updated) and someone said that might bump the volume up to a reasonable level. But would still love to have my entire music collection in the car if possible

 

[Larkone]

NTG2.5 has a whole whopping 4GB - though as it is MP3 only then it can take quite a lot. Get the firmware upgraded because that gives a 'boost' option for the volume. On mine I also use a headphone amp (Fiio E12A Mont Blanc) between my DAP and the aux socket. The DAP I use is a Shanling M2S as this can take up to 400GB Micro SD and supports FLAC so a big improvement over MP3. Also it can be remotely controlled from a phone using the HibyLink app.

 

[joeysnowey]

That's an interesting idea too! Thanks

 

[Gbrowncls55]

I know that mine is ntg1 not ntg 2.5 but so far as burning mp3s onto DVD I use Ashampoo to burn (have used Nero but Ashampoo allows vol equalisation). Mine will only work with DVD+R discs and for some reason not with all brands. TDK DVD+R recordable discs seem to always work whereas with others I get the" cannot read disc" error message like you.

 

[E55BOF]

My NTG2.5 will happily read a 32 MB sdhc memory card now that I have the latest firmware, though I've only got about 40 CDs on the card.

MB will update the firmware to the latest version at no charge to you. Draw their attention to MB TIPS document number
GI82.85-P-046208.

My local dealer's initial reaction was "No we don't; that's not a warranty reference", but once it was referred to the 'man who knows about these things' (when he came back from lunch...) they were happy to do it. I think they must be able to claim for the labour back from MB.

Here is also some useful advice I got from another forum member:

"You need to update the firmware of COMAND NTG 2.5 to the latest version. After that it will recognize 32GB SD-Cards. If you intend to fill the SD-Card with music you need to divide your folders into other folders (in other words, you cannot simply drop 200 folders into the root of the SD-Card but maybe divide those 200 into 10 folders with like 20 folders each). It must be FAT32 formatted and only MP3 (not FLAC). I don't think it's the folders in itself but the amount of files under a folder structure. Before you can update to the latest or recent maps you also need to update the firmware (requirement)."

I have about 40 folders, all standalone, on mine so far, and have had no problems. I used Freerip MP3 Converter software to rip the CDs.

 

[esscee]

Some useful info for NTG2.5 unit owners on last post for anyone not sure how to format SD cards.

 

[joeysnowey]

Excellent info thanks very much. I intend to blast my whole iTunes library across, which I think is divided into folders. May need to convert it all to mp3 though which I think can be done en masse.
That's the first I have heard about MB doing firmware update for free!

 

[Larkone]

Just be aware that MP3 is not gapless - which is really annoying having 1 second gaps between tracks on albums that are designed to be continuous - drove me mad hence the DAP option. Other option is to create a single file for each album which is tedious if you have a lot to convert.