MMI crashed today!

[Tony1982]

Hi all, just wondering if this has happened to anyone or if if anyone knows why it's happened. Hopefully my explanation won't be too long winded.

Ok so today I was driving to somewhere I don't know (about an hours drive) so used the SD nav to get me there and back. On the way there it had no problems and it took me along the same route google maps was telling me on my phone (wanted to compare). Was happy so far Anyway on the way back home (about 10 minutes into the journey) the entire MMI system crashed!!

All of a sudden the music turned off (was listening to music from my iPhone 6 through the MMI cable) and the screen went from the NAV map to a completely black screen.

None of the MMI controls responded once this happened. After about 4-5 minutes of complete un-responsiveness the screen came back to life and displayed the opening screen it normally does when you first turn the car on, but it stayed on this screen for about 5 minutes!

When it finally booted up the navigation was still navigating me but it wouldn't tell me a destination time or distance and the elevation/altitude was not giving a readout. The media started playing where it left off but the track title and artist, and the album artwork were for a different track! And when I skipped the track the information and artwork did not change, but the song did!

After a while the nav gave me the missing readouts (distance, arrival and altitude) but they were frozen and didn't change for the rest of the journey! The nav also would not let me cancel the route or even pick a new destination to nav to.

I decided to leave it as it was as I needed to get back to the office. Once I was at my destination I tried switching the car off and shutting down the MMI etc etc but nothing changed. I had things to do so left the car for about 2 hours, now it all seems fine after leaving it for them 2 hours!! Very strange!

 

[Vertigo1]

Mine's crashed or lost the plot a few times - it happens.

For reference, you can properly reboot it by pressing the Menu, MMI wheel and top-right soft button together.

 

[Tony1982]

Good to know. Not that it does it a lot, but the reboot method you described. Cheers.

 

[Vertigo1]

I wouldn't say it does it a lot but I have had weird issues perhaps once every two or three months. Things like nav map screen freezing, no sound from the radio, stuff like that. The three-button reboot fixes it every time though so no big problem.

 

[Wondering Soul]

That's rather odd !

I've never experienced this exact issue but have had the MMI freeze up when listening to Spotify from my iPhone via Bluetooth. Music stops, HUD freezes where it is with regard to track progress and response to my input. First experienced this on my A1 a couple years back which had tech pack high and have experienced this three times now on the S3, which also has tech pack high preparation. Have always managed to get it back to normal by resetting the MMI:

Hold the 'TEL' button when on the MMI home screen, whilst continuing to hold this button, press and hold the large round MMI knob and the, whilst holding both of these down, press and hold the top right button on the control panel until the MMI resets.

 

[phil1824]

With my previous A3 the MMI system switched itself off and then came back on again two or three times in a week and then was ok for the next 10 months till I sold it. With my new one all has been ok until two days ago when the Nav came up with an error at start, message was something along lines of could not find data, not that exactly, but something like that. Switched it off and then initialised ok.

 

[Vertigo1]

Hold the 'TEL' button when on the MMI home screen, whilst continuing to hold this button, press and hold the large round MMI knob and the, whilst holding both of these down, press and hold the top right button on the control panel until the MMI resets.

Menu + MMI + Top-Right button is far easier. Don't need to hold anything or press in any order, the moment all three are pressed down together, the MMI will reset.

 

[Wondering Soul]

Didn't know about that one. Been using that one since my dad showed me in his old A8, seems to have carried on working on my previous car as well. Should be MENU instead of TEL in my above post though!

 

[gamegenie]

My MMI crashed this week too. It made a loud sound interrupting the music I was listening to from the Juke Box, then it rebooted to the startup screen 'Audi A3 Navigation Plus'. Then the MMI hid away.

I waited for a minute or two driving before turning the MMI back on and it operated normally.

Perhaps it overheated. Who knows.

 

[Vertigo1]

Didn't know about that one. Been using that one since my dad showed me in his old A8, seems to have carried on working on my previous car as well. Should be MENU instead of TEL in my above post though!

If you meant MENU instead of TEL then it's the same three buttons

 

[Wondering Soul]

If you meant MENU instead of TEL then it's the same three buttons

Ha! This is why I shouldn't be allowed to stay up so late, losing the plot!

 

[DickiePhitt]

For reference, you can properly reboot it by pressing the Menu, MMI wheel and top-right soft button together.

Is there a difference between this 'hard' resetting and just switching off ignition and starting again - of after so much time, eg 2 hours?

 

[AJB]

Is there a difference between this 'hard' resetting and just switching off ignition and starting again - of after so much time, eg 2 hours?

No. I think it's exactly the same. Pressing the 3 buttons just reboots it. If you're parked up for a couple of hours the MMI shuts down, so reboots next time you start up.

If you only leave it parked a short time it doesn't shut down, though. And if it freezes whilst you're driving the 3 buttons is the only way. Mine's only locked up a couple of times in 2 years though.

 

[msdmjb]

Mine does this at least once a week, I thought it was more frequent in really hot weather (south of France) but actually now think it is more prevalent when I plug in my iphone6, never happened with my iphone4. I either manually reboot or let it do it itself.

 

[Wondering Soul]

Mine does this at least once a week, I thought it was more frequent in really hot weather (south of France) but actually now think it is more prevalent when I plug in my iphone6, never happened with my iphone4. I either manually reboot or let it do it itself.

Might want to take it in, I've used mine with an iPhone 6 since day one never had any issues! Might have a slight software glitch or something!

 

[DickiePhitt]

No. I think it's exactly the same. Pressing the 3 buttons just reboots it. If you're parked up for a couple of hours the MMI shuts down, so reboots next time you start up.

If you only leave it parked a short time it doesn't shut down, though. And if it freezes whilst you're driving the 3 buttons is the only way. Mine's only locked up a couple of times in 2 years though.

Think I've answered my own question today. The background to this was that I've used VCDS to put the ACC default option onto the MMI. I got the MMI screen and 4 dashes on the DIS but changing the selection on the MMI altered nothing as far as the ACC went. Nothing changed when I used the car the next day. Having now done a hard reset the MMI screen changes the default setting on the DIS. So yes the hard reset is different from letting the car sit a while.

 

[AndyB-S3]

Glad I looked at this thread now. Had the same problem as @Wondering Soul. Sound just completely dies and nothing was helping to get it working again. Has only happened 3 times in 10 months so not too bad but I will remember the reset procedure! Cheers chaps

 

[Geoffads]

Did anyone ever get to the root of this problem, mine will crash all the time now. Audi can’t look at it for a few weeks.

 

[steeve]

Can you imagine if this thing was driving your car and this happened. Are we really ready for autonomous driving?

 

[Geoffads]

The adaptive cruise uses it for reading speed signs and the maps I think.