Infotainment system reboots many times when cold on 2016 CX-5

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2014 Mazda CX5
I've had my car in twice for this issue. The first time they upgraded the firmware, the second time they replace an MC unit (I think that's what they called it). Still whenever the temperature gets below 30 degrees (usually around 25 degrees) at night, the next morning the infotainment system keeps rebooting (like 5 times) till the cabin gets warm, then it stays on. This is very annoying as you can imagine. I can't change the radio station or use the nav. I don't know what to do next. I have about 500 miles left on my original warranty and i'm not sure there will be enough cold nights between now and then to let them see for themselves that it's not fixed, so I took a video of it rebooting 5 times when the temp was 12 degrees this morning. Anybody have any ideas? Anyone else experiencing this problem?
 
Keep your video and make more, if it gets cold enough. Get the car to the dealer, explain your warranty situation and see what they conclude.
If their response does not satisfy you, contact Mazda Corp., send them videos, get your case number. This way, you have the claim within warranty period. If they diagnose it to your satisfaction outside of warranty period, you're not on the hook to pay for it.
I find that Mazda's electronics is a piece of... work. From obsolete hardware and blunt design failures (like trunk light that has no fuse and fries the control module while you try to change the bulb) to not very smart software decisions ( car doesn't lock itself if the driver shuts the door first and the passenger follows him after the former stepped out of the range, and many more). It really outrages me how little attention has been paid to electronics, at the same time I admire the work done on the mechanical side of the vehicle.
 
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I really don't think it's a s/w issue as it only does it when it's cold out. otherwise it would do it all the time.
 
yes, I have a video up on youtube now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oATGLPIyIxg&t=41s
someone on another site suggested I clean the connections for the nav card as a bad connection might interfere with proper booting. I think i'll try removing the nav card altogether and see if it boots right when it's cold. If it does I know that's the cause. seems weird though that even if it was the nav card it only does it when it's cold (< 28 degrees) overnight.
 
yes, I have a video up on youtube now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oATGLPIyIxg&t=41s
someone on another site suggested I clean the connections for the nav card as a bad connection might interfere with proper booting. I think i'll try removing the nav card altogether and see if it boots right when it's cold. If it does I know that's the cause. seems weird though that even if it was the nav card it only does it when it's cold (< 28 degrees) overnight.

The issue with nav cards is that when the unit boots, the software routine includes setting up the connection with the nav card. If this connection fails or is poor quality, the system doesn5 get back the response it is expecting, so then the boot process doesnt complete properly and it then gets into a nasty loop.

A poor quality connection to the nav card may well be affected by temperature due to expansion and contraction of the metal pins.

We occasionally have similar issues in our marine GPS units on our boats. Unit wont boot up, or starts OK then reboots multiple times. I have fixed this issue on my boat and on several others by removing the nav card, cleaning the contacts with electronic cleaner, reinserting it, removing, cleaning again and repeating a few times. The multiple cleans help to remove any contaminants from the connector pins inside the card holder. Just do it gently and carefully.

Funnily enough, now that I think of it, most of the issues have happened in our winter, although nowhere near as cold as yours, it may just be the temp differential that creases a poor contact.

I would say that it is definitely worth giving the card cleaning a try. Even if it doesn’t work, at least you have eliminated dirty card contacts as the issue.

In fact, if it persists after that, you could suggest to the dealer that they swap map cards just in case the card itself is faulty.

Faulty SD cards do happen every now and then. And, since you mention that they have replaced other hardware components, the SD card is one of the few remaining things on the list of possible culprits!
 
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thanks Moonlighter. I will certainly give that a try so I'll have something at least to suggest to them next time I take it in. I will try removing it altogether first. If it boots normally, that's a good indicator that it's the nav card.
 
I really don't think it's a s/w issue as it only does it when it's cold out. otherwise it would do it all the time.
I agree with you that your issue has to be hardware related as the software doesnt change its process under different temperature. A while ago when many new 2nd-gen CX-9 owners were having black-screen and rebooting issues on infotainment system it also turned out to be the hardware issue on display driver. Even the bad connection on nav SD card is a hardware issue. But I doubt your issue is caused by that as my nav has been out of service for more than a year now due to possibly bad SD card but Ive never had experienced a reboot once.

Id suggest you to contact Customer Experience Center at Mazda North American Operations and create a case. You should suggest them to replace the entire infotainment hardware unit, including the display so that you can be sure your problem can be truly resolved. Since the winter is coming, you want to make sure if the problem for some reason is still happening after you have had a whole new unit and your warranty has expired, Mazda still has the obligation to fix it as they have never fixed your infotainment system at the first place under warranty.
 
The issue with nav cards is that when the unit boots, the software routine includes setting up the connection with the nav card. If this connection fails or is poor quality, the system doesn5 get back the response it is expecting, so then the boot process doesnt complete properly and it then gets into a nasty loop.

A poor quality connection to the nav card may well be affected by temperature due to expansion and contraction of the metal pins.

We occasionally have similar issues in our marine GPS units on our boats. Unit wont boot up, or starts OK then reboots multiple times. I have fixed this issue on my boat and on several others by removing the nav card, cleaning the contacts with electronic cleaner, reinserting it, removing, cleaning again and repeating a few times. The multiple cleans help to remove any contaminants from the connector pins inside the card holder. Just do it gently and carefully.

Funnily enough, now that I think of it, most of the issues have happened in our winter, although nowhere near as cold as yours, it may just be the temp differential that creases a poor contact.

I would say that it is definitely worth giving the card cleaning a try. Even if it doesn’t work, at least you have eliminated dirty card contacts as the issue.

In fact, if it persists after that, you could suggest to the dealer that they swap map cards just in case the card itself is faulty.

Faulty SD cards do happen every now and then. And, since you mention that they have replaced other hardware components, the SD card is one of the few remaining things on the list of possible culprits!

thanks Moonlighter. I will certainly give that a try so I'll have something at least to suggest to them next time I take it in. I will try removing it altogether first. If it boots normally, that's a good indicator that it's the nav card.


Did I not suggest that you clean the nav card contacts in another thread/forum? It's simple to do and it might just save you a trip to the dealership.

https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123862143-2017-Mazda-infotainment-turns-off
 
I agree with you that your issue has to be hardware related as the software doesn’t change its process under different temperature. A while ago when many new 2nd-gen CX-9 owners were having black-screen and rebooting issues on infotainment system it also turned out to be the hardware issue on display driver. Even the bad connection on nav SD card is a hardware issue. But I doubt your issue is caused by that as my nav has been out of service for more than a year now due to possibly bad SD card but I’ve never had experienced a reboot once.

I’d suggest you to contact Customer Experience Center at Mazda North American Operations and create a case. You should suggest them to replace the entire infotainment hardware unit, including the display so that you can be sure your problem can be truly resolved. Since the winter is coming, you want to make sure if the problem for some reason is still happening after you have had a whole new unit and your warranty has expired, Mazda still has the obligation to fix it as they have never fixed your infotainment system at the first place under warranty.

Really? Jeeze, why not try a simple solution first? Please read what Moonlighter posted as he hit the nail on the head.
 
Yes its definitely the SD card or reader. This morning i popped it out prior to starting and it booted up normally and did not reboot. As soon as i put the nav card back in it started to reboot. Will try cleaning the card and replacing a few times as moonlighted suggested. Is there a good way to clean contacts in the reader or does just cleaning the card and replacing a few times do that?
 
Really? Jeeze, why not try a simple solution first? Please read what Moonlighter posted as he hit the nail on the head.
Yeah I agree the OP should try some simple solutions first and I should add to my previous post that he should try to clean the SD card contacts and do hard reset to his infotainment system several times. But I still believe it wont really resolve OPs issue and we can wait and see if that step can truly resolve his issue. Even if OP found once he re-insert the SD card the system reboots, it still means something is wrong on the system, and I believe cleaning the SD card contacts may not be able to fix problem.

Remember Mazda dealer had looked OPs problem before and several parts got replaced. If the culprit is as simple as bad connection on SD card they should have fixed his problem long ago! He should let MNAO aware his issue and handle the problem, even if its as easy as cleaning the SD card contacts. In case his problem is lingering on past the warranty period and he has the ammo to tell Mazda his problem has never got fixed under warranty.

As in my case Ive been tried so many suggestions to fix my nav issue to no avail.
 
Yes it’s definitely the SD card or reader. This morning i popped it out prior to starting and it booted up normally and did not reboot. As soon as i put the nav card back in it started to reboot. Will try cleaning the card and replacing a few times as moonlighted suggested. Is there a good way to clean contacts in the reader or does just cleaning the card and replacing a few times do that?

Ok, good work. You now have narrowed down the problem.

Looks like either the contacts are dirty or the card itself is faulty, or the card reader could be faulty.

It can be risky poking cotton buds in to the card reader, which is why we clean the card contacts and put it in and out a few times, cleaning each time.

Up to you though, it can depend on the card reader design as to how easily you can get at/see the contacts and be sure that you are gentle with them and dont leave any cotton residue in there

Maybe try the card cleaning as described and see how it goes. If that doesnt work, I would be inclined to take it back to the dealer and show them what happens when the card is removed.

If they have any sense, they will try a different card in it as the next step. If that doesnt work, it would mean that the card reader is the problem.

But I am betting that its either dirty contacts or faulty card.
 
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Ok, good work. You now have narrowed down the problem.

Looks like either the contacts are dirty or the card itself is faulty, or the card reader could be faulty.

It can be risky poking cotton buds in to the card reader, which is why we clean the card contacts and put it in and out a few times, cleaning each time.

Up to you though, it can depend on the card reader design as to how easily you can get at/see the contacts and be sure that you are gentle with them and dont leave any cotton residue in there

Maybe try the card cleaning as described and see how it goes. If that doesnt work, I would be inclined to take it back to the dealer and show them what happens when the card is removed.

If they have any sense, they will try a different card in it as the next step. If that doesnt work, it would mean that the card reader is the problem.

But I am betting that its either dirty contacts or faulty card.

It's possible it's further upstream in the system (like where the reader interfaces with the unit, a weak or cracked solder joint could cause this). Try the easy stuff first though.
 
Of course, try cleaning the SD card first.

What I was saying is that, I have the software updated 4-5 times in the past on my Mazda3 ('14).
This boot error happened to early versions. It no longer happen with new v.59.
Same car, same SD card.
Software could also be coded better to handle corner cases... just saying.
 
Of course, try cleaning the SD card first.

What I was saying is that, I have the software updated 4-5 times in the past on my Mazda3 ('14).
This boot error happened to early versions. It no longer happen with new v.59.
Same car, same SD card.
Software could also be coded better to handle corner cases... just saying.

Read his first post. He said that he had it to the dealer and they already updated the software. And replaced some hardware.

And, the issue only happens when it is colder that usual. How would software be the root cause of that??

Problem solving is most often achieved with a logical and methodical approach, changing one thing at a time and noting the effect to see if it tells you anything. Removing the SD card has had a measureable and beneficial effect. Which makes it a great candidate as the culprit and for priority attention. Logic also says to start with the card itself and the physical connection of card to reader, as they are far more likely to be compromised than the card reader itself.

It may not end up being the cause, but given whats already been done and the symptoms, it makes sense to pursue that simple line of investigation first, rather than tossing the marbles up into the air and hoping one of them lands on a solution.
 
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Just an update. Last week i took my car back in to the dealer (with 30 miles left on the warranty) and they had it for 4 days(!!!). The first day (wednesday) the tech called me and said he needed to download an update to the system firmware, which would take 3 hours and wanted me to leave it overnight again. Next day called me and said he tried to install the update, but it wouldn't take it. Something wrong with ECU and it had to be replaced, so he ordered the replacement and i had to wait another day. Next day he said he got the part but it arrived broken, so he couldn't install it. At that point I took it home for the weekend, but he wanted it back on monday. On monday he installed the new ECU and updated the firmware. that's all he did despite me explaining that it was a problem with the SD card and/or reader. I can tell it times out when loading the navigation after loading the phone contacts. So I took it home and 2 days later we got a cold snap and sure enough it's still rebooting. Now I have to drop it off tuesday evening so they can look at it wednesday morning when it's cold. crazy when i told them where the problem was in the first place. was wondering if just putting a piece of masking tape on the other side of the SD card would give the contacts a tighter connection, but i can't do that or it might somehow void the warranty. hope they fix it this time.
 
Did you try cleaning the contacts on the Nav card as was suggested or not?
 
Yes i cleaned them a few times (installing and uninstalling), but it didn't help.

Cleaned with what? Did you use some contact cleaner or 'cleaned it' just by removing and reinserting the card? If you don't have any plastic safe contact cleaner and for what ever reason don't want to buy some, a clean pencil eraser can remove oxidation and contaminates from the contacts on the card (won't help for the contacts inside of the reader for obvious reasons). This won't prevent the contacts from oxidizing again but it will clean them temporarily. Give that a try and see what happens.

Here's what you need, there's also a spray version.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)

81AYrURzAFL._SL1500_.jpg
 
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