NTG 2.5 - iPhone 5S not recognised, SD card problems

[E55BOF]

Good evening all.

I have just bought a 2009 W211, with COMAND APS; I believe it's the NTG2.5 - it has the SD card slot and the six-CD integrated changer (shame - I rather the liked the way the lower fascia pivoted up and out on the earlier ones).

I've tried to get it to recognise my iPhone 5S, but it doesn't find it when looking for Bluetooth devices. I'm no electronics tech, so please bear with me. Do I need some sort of adapter, or is there a problem with the unit? The phone is fine in my 2014 W212.

Secondly, it won't play the music from my 32GB Micro SD card (which plays perfectly in the W212). It recognises there's a card there, but that's it. I THINK (from the handbook - yes, I'm a man, but I've read it anyway...) that the solution will be to transfer the MP3 files to a "16-bit full-size SD card, Type I or Type II" (whatever that means...) with 4GB storage capacity. Can anyone reassure me that I'm right?

 

[Piff]

Recently tried to pair a windows phone & an iphone 5s to a 2008 NTG2.5. It took ages to get the windows phone to connect. The iphone connected easily. I found that holding the phones close to & just above comand did the trick

 

[E55BOF]

Thank you, but I'm afraid that didn't work either. Bugger!

 

[Piff]

Probably took close to an hour & many many attempts. Only reason I kept trying was that I knew someone else had connected a phone to that car the day before.

 

[Druk]

Turn off the Bluetooth on your phone, reboot the phone, turn on bluetooth and try again. Dont know why but it sometimes works. The phone shouldn’t have to be in any specific position, just in the car.

 

[KennyN]

Have you tried connecting a different phone to eliminate a problem with the BT antenna ?

2GB seems the maximum size of SD card compatible with the NTG 2.5 according to the manual.


" Memory cards with over 2 GB of storage capacity
are not supported."

Kenny

 

[E55BOF]

Turn off the Bluetooth on your phone, reboot the phone, turn on bluetooth and try again. Dont know why but it sometimes works. The phone shouldn’t have to be in any specific position, just in the car.

Will just powering off do the trick, or do I have to do more than that to reboot?

Have you tried connecting a different phone to eliminate a problem with the BT antenna ?

2GB seems the maximum size of SD card compatible with the NTG 2.5 according to the manual.


" Memory cards with over 2 GB of storage capacity
are not supported."

Kenny

My handbook actually states that 4GB is the recommended capacity, because of the temperature reached in the unit.

 

[Larkone]

And I am using an 8GB card in mine without issue, have heard people using 16GB. However microsd in an adapter doesn't seem to work.

 

[E55BOF]

Found out how to reboot the phone; rebooted it; no change. The previous owner's phone is still authorised, as is the 'convenience phone', which I presume was/is connected via the gubbins in the armrest.

Thinks: if it persists in refusing to play, would a Bluetooth adapter connect to said gubbins and do the job that way?

For the moment I can't think of anything else to do but just keep trying every time I use the car, until either it connects, or I get sick of trying.

 

[Larkone]

Try removing all of the previous owners phones as well. Unfortunately Apple's Bluetooth implementation has been known for its problems, especially on older phones.

 

[richard]

There's 2 ways of pairing - use the 'External Authorisation' method on the COMAND - I seem to recall if you go to the bluetooth menu and then use the right arrow it is there

Early firmware in the Comand has a low limitation on SD card size. May need a firmware update. If this is the case it will need a firmware update to install a reasonably new map also.

Richard

 

[E55BOF]

Thanks Richard; I was hoping one of the pros would reply. More anon on the external authorisation; wouldn't work last night, I thought because the existence of the device is not detected, but I'll take another look.

Is there any way for the layman to find out from the system when the last, if any, firmware/mapping update was installed?

 

[E55BOF]

Tried again with the external authorisation. It looked good at first; the car found the phone, the phone found the car. When I touched the MB Bluetooth panel on the phone screen, though, all that appeared was the little rotating icon that shows it's doing something. I hung on hoping for the four-digit passkey, but the phone gave up trying before that happened.

So near, and yet so far. Any ideas, anybody?

 

[Larkone]

Long shot but does the phone have the latest OS? You could try a reset on the phone and then update.

 

[E55BOF]

I think it's a phone issue rather than the car, and I'll try the Apple helpline and see what they think. The most annoying thing is that the very same phone paired first time of asking with both the COMAND in the W212, and the system in the 2007 Jaguar.

 

[Alfie]

You arn't far from us why dont you pop in and we will take a look at it for you.

 

[E55BOF]

You would of course have been my next port of call, but it's sorted now. It was, as I was beginning to suspect, operator error...

In the process of pairing to the W212 and the XK, they both generated a 'pass key' four-digit code automatically and sent it to the phone. I had assumed the same thing would apply to the NTG2.5. It didn't; as part of the Remote Authorisation process I had to generate my own pass key when the system asked me to input it, and it only then went to the phone so I could pair it.

Solved. All is well now.

 

[Gollom]

And I am using an 8GB card in mine without issue, have heard people using 16GB. However microsd in an adapter doesn't seem to work.

Just tried a 2GB microsd in adaptor and it worked. Anybody know do I find out firmware level and where do I get the latest version please?

 

[E55BOF]

Have a look at this thread:

Comand APS NTG2.5 version

I'm most interested in how up-to-date the map database is, and post #42 tells me it's the original - BFDB0092. Probably the firmware is original, too.

 

[Larkone]

Anybody know do I find out firmware level and where do I get the latest version please?

Theres a sticky at the top of this forum which covers the NTG2.5
[SOLVED] - CLS Comand software W219