W205 C Class - Bootloader active --> Comand unit stopped working

[fab1975]

Hi guys,

long time no... post


This morning I had been driving my C300h to the office for over one hour and everything worked fine.

After about 8 hours I turned on the ignition and to my great surprise all I could see on the central Comand display was the message "Bootloader active".

The car could still be driven, but the following functions were not available:

1) Satellite navigation
2) Radio
3) Media player
4) Telephone
5) The climate control seemed to work, but I could not display any setting. In fact, regardless of what buttons I pressed, all I could see was "Bootloader active".

The small display on the dashboard behind the steering wheel was still working properly, but when selecting any of the above functions, none of them worked and all I could see was this symbol: --

I managed to restart the Comand unit by keeping the CD eject button pressed for over 10 seconds, but nothing happened. If I do it for a second or third time the central display goes completely black and then I need to repeat the reset procedure to get at least the "Bootloader active" message back.

The Comand power button did not work at all (even when pressed for over 10 seconds) and restarting the ignition multiple times did not change the situation either.


Have you experienced anything like that? It might be the result of a failed OTA software update. Definitely I did not change anything since as I said all I had done was to park my car and then take it back after work.


Many thanks


Fab

 

[guhvies]

Better hurry to your dealership before your warranty runs out. That looks terminal and you don't want to be out of pocket for its repair.

 

[fab1975]

Better hurry to your dealership before your warranty runs out. That looks terminal and you don't want to be out of pocket for its repair.

Thank you for replying.
I have just come back from the dealer.
I was hoping for a quick fix, but they said that they need to inspect the car with their diagnostic tools and "it might be just a matter of updating the software".
Unfortunately that could not be done on the spot as it was already very late and in any case I would have needed to arrange a loan car.
The icing on the cake is that the warranty expired at the end of April this year. The fact that I had the car since new and it is still covered by a 2-year service plan is not relevant, even if the dealer might then ask MB UK for a "gesture of goodwill", depending on what the actual issue is.
Do you think it is going to be expensive?
As far as I am concerned, if it is a software issue, that can only be the result of either a bug in the last dealer software update (April 2018), or most probably a failed update over the air (OTA) that must have taken place today between 08:00 and 16:00.
Cheers
Fab

 

[Deleted member 126969]

Personally, I wouldn’t expect to pay a penny to have that fixed given the circumstances. You get a better warranty on a TV.

Please keep us posted.

 

[GeeJayW]

Didn't know that COMAND NTG 5.x did OTA updates... Is it user initiated or automatic?

As for being expensive, everything on these cars is expensive. They might fix it under the 'goodwill' programme, but I wouldn't hold your breath.

 

[Deleted member 126969]

“Mercedes goodwill” seems to be something of an oxymoron.

I have a Pioneer TV. It came with a 5 year warranty. It developed a problem about 6 months after the warranty ran out. Pioneer paid for the (expensive) part needed, I paid the labour. That would be good service if MB offered something similar in this case. Better would be to just sort it FOC.

 

[Yex]

OP, if your dealer isn't going to play ball here would it be worth speaking to this guy:

Comand Online Ltd, Discounts on Map disks, Bluetooth, Phone kits, CDC kits etc

In my short time here he has been worth reading and has a strong reputation for understanding the complexities of the COMAND platform.

 

[fab1975]

Hi guys,

Many thanks for your replies, first of all.
The situation is still the same after a good night sleep in my garage (referred to the C300h, not me)
Still "Bootloader active" and a strange fan noise coming from the central console, but not (apparently) from the air vents. It is worth pointing out that the noise stops for a few seconds when I reset the Comand with the CD eject button.
@GeeJayW I thought about a failed OTA update because the Comand was working perfectly fine when I left the car parked at 8am yesterday, but then displayed that weird "Bootloader active" message as soon as I turned on the ignition 8 hours later.
In any case, MB Cheshire Oaks will be inspecting my car on Wednesday 31st October and I really hope I will not be charged for updating a software that potentially had a bug in the first place (like it happened in at least a couple of cases in Spain and the Netherlands). So far my experience with MB Cheshire Oaks has been excellent, so hopefully they will fix it FoC.
I will keep you informed on any developments, but please let me know if you have any more suggestions in the meanwhile.

Cheers

Fab

 

[kit17]

“Mercedes goodwill” seems to be something of an oxymoron.

I have a Pioneer TV. It came with a 5 year warranty. It developed a problem about 6 months after the warranty ran out. Pioneer paid for the (expensive) part needed, I paid the labour. That would be good service if MB offered something similar in this case. Better would be to just sort it FOC.

I still have my Pioneer Tv, awesome bit of kit back in the day, shame they stopped making TVs.

 

[Deleted member 126969]

I still have my Pioneer Tv, awesome bit of kit back in the day, shame they stopped making TVs.

[Thread drift on/]
Me too. KRP500A plasma. Great bit of kit. OLEDs are barely just about as good now. I'm hoping the faithful old beast will last a few more years yet before it gives up for good. Been having to tweak it a bit lately - it had developed pink sparkles in highlights. Thankfully still had a copy of some old software I bought long ago, and an even older XP laptop to run it, and was able to get at the engineering menus.

[/Thread drift off]

 

[fab1975]

Still no update guys...
Unfortunately the dealer could not investigate the problem today, due to a widespread IT issue. Spooky
I will let you know tomorrow... fingers crossed.

 

[fab1975]

Hi All,

problem solved... or maybe not.

First the good news: MB Cheshire Oaks managed to bring the Comand back to life once MB Stuttgart eventually reset my unit remotely. They updated the software to the latest version and charged me only a nominal amount for their own labour cost, which I have been very happy to pay.
They also replaced the Start and Stop battery with a generous 80% contribution from MB UK, due to the fact that it had already been replaced under warranty less than 2 years ago, as mentioned in this old thread:
New C300h Hybrid Owner - no start/stop or electric even on Eco?

In fact, immediately after the "bootloader active" problem started, I had also experienced an issue with the Start & Stop and hybrid functions not working for about 3 days, in the same way as it happened two years ago when the battery had to be replaced. Last Monday, while the Comand was still out of order, both the Start & Stop and hybrid functions came back to life.
Therefore, the fact that there was an issue with the battery did not come as a surprise and I am happy I got it sorted.

The bad news is that the strange fan noise coming from the central console is still there and I am afraid it might be linked to the above battery problem. That noise persists even with both the engine and the Comand switched off, but it is definitely coming from the Comand unit, since it stops for a couple of seconds if I turn the Comand on.

In summary, it seems that the Comand fan stays on for hours after I lock the car, which is exactly what started happening after the main "bootloader active" issues and is not exactly a life booster for the battery and in any case is not normal.
I will be contacting MB Cheshire Oaks tomorrow, as unfortunately I only noticed the problem when I got home and parked my car in the garage.

Have you ever experienced any issues with a noisy Comand fan?
Am I sitting on a (ventilated) timebomb?

Cheers

Fab

 

[H4yd3n]

Hi All,

problem solved... or maybe not.

First the good news: MB Cheshire Oaks managed to bring the Comand back to life once MB Stuttgart eventually reset my unit remotely. They updated the software to the latest version and charged me only a nominal amount for their own labour cost, which I have been very happy to pay.
They also replaced the Start and Stop battery with a generous 80% contribution from MB UK, due to the fact that it had already been replaced under warranty less than 2 years ago, as mentioned in this old thread:
New C300h Hybrid Owner - no start/stop or electric even on Eco?

In fact, immediately after the "bootloader active" problem started, I had also experienced an issue with the Start & Stop and hybrid functions not working for about 3 days, in the same way as it happened two years ago when the battery had to be replaced. Last Monday, while the Comand was still out of order, both the Start & Stop and hybrid functions came back to life.
Therefore, the fact that there was an issue with the battery did not come as a surprise and I am happy I got it sorted.

The bad news is that the strange fan noise coming from the central console is still there and I am afraid it might be linked to the above battery problem. That noise persists even with both the engine and the Comand switched off, but it is definitely coming from the Comand unit, since it stops for a couple of seconds if I turn the Comand on.

In summary, it seems that the Comand fan stays on for hours after I lock the car, which is exactly what started happening after the main "bootloader active" issues and is not exactly a life booster for the battery and in any case is not normal.
I will be contacting MB Cheshire Oaks tomorrow, as unfortunately I only noticed the problem when I got home and parked my car in the garage.

Have you ever experienced any issues with a noisy Comand fan?
Am I sitting on a (ventilated) timebomb?

Cheers

Fab

Heya mate, i know this is a long shot as this was years ago and you’ll most likely never see this, but I had the exact same problem and solution as you managed to get the bootloader up and running again but the fan is still blowing non stop. Did they ever manage to find a fix as I went to the main dealer and they said there’s nothing they can do other than purchase a new command unit which wouldn’t be worth it and live with it? Thanks