Gen 4 Infotainment re-booting itself while driving?

I posted this, perhaps erroneously, in the Prius Troubleshooting Forum

This worked for me. YMMV.

BLUF: Reboot your phone

Long version:

I am using Entune 1.19.502.219 on Android 7.0 on a Google Nexus 6P.

For the first time yesterday, I suffered the Entune constant reboot problem. I was using Nav and bluetooth audio at the time. I had a long trip ahead of me and was....concerned. I tried some of the things that I remembered reading: turning the car off and on etcetera. Nothing helped. So I decided to be more methodical.

I tried only using Nav. No luck still rebooting.
I tried only using bluetooth. Same.

Then I remembered that I had intended to reboot my phone because it was acting sluggishly. Voila! Reboot problem solved. I used the Entune head unit for Nav and bluetooth for about 6 hours total and the problem did not return.

On reflection, this makes sense. The Entune app on your phone is constantly feeding data to the head unit. Apps are notorious for behaving badly. Assume some kind of memory corruption, bad garbage collection and the like, and you could easily be feeding bad data to the head unit. Back in the day, feeding an operation system bad data from a trusted source was a very common way to force a reboot of the operating system in preparation for some other mischief.

I haven't had the opportunity, yet, to repeat the experiment. But, I feel pretty good about the hypothesis and the first test results.

 

Just purchased a 2016 Prius 3 about a month ago. With about 1000 miles on it, I started getting the reboot problem. It started with an unexpected reboot while driving and then resumed normal operation. But before I arrived at my destination, it did it again and then the reboots became more frequent. Of course, I lost some preferences which had been previously set. It eventually started rebooting continuously and would never advance beyond the logo and caution screen. Nothing was useable. Called the dealer and they said they would install new software. However, I grew impatient and decided to try a cold boot while waiting for my appointment. I assumed the car was still sending power to the head unit even when the ignition was off. So I removed and reinserted the inconveniently located radio fuse under the steering wheel. The radio and nav all came back to life and has functioned normally ever since. I did have to reset some preferences. I kept my appointment with the dealer and they informed me that the software was already up-to-date and would order a new head unit. I checked the software version using the instructions provided a few messages ago by ATHiker in message #59. My software in fact did show it was up-to-date. The replacement radio has arrived and the dealer will install it next week. If your system is unuseable, you might try pulling the fuse or main battery and see if it helps.

 

Very interesting AoLiver.

I hade multiple reboots on one drive around 11k miles and another drive around 30k miles. Each time the issue resolved itself the next time I go into the car.

My dilema is that I drive about 3k miles a month and I will be out of warrantee in January. I really don't want the dealer to swap the head unit (if they even would) given the minor inconvenience so far.

But...

 

I am so glad I got Trim Two without this complicated mess.

 

Do you not have "Multi Function Display" period, or it's more rudimentary?


Our 2010 Canadian Touring has zip, nada tv-type screen, and I thank God. I'm still not happy: it still has the unintuitive buttons, near indiscernible LCD icons for climate control, but at least it's ONE level removed from this MFD all-in-one cop out all the manufacturers are in love with.

I figure it's a commie plot, to sap our precious..., uh, n'mind.

 

I have the "Multi Function Display" with Bluetooth & radio / CD player. No "Entune" or navigation.

 

Snap!

 

Keep all cell phones as far away from cars as possible, we would never have these ridiculous problems.
And no distracted driving! It's now the number one cause of accidents and fatalities in California. I wish people would just turn those damn cell phones off when they're in the car.

 

I was walking the dog the other night (well lit intersection), crossing an intersection in a crosswalk with walk sign. Guy was turning left heading for us. I stopped, raised my arms, waved. No reaction, carried on, rolled through in front of me. Think he was looking down, but hard to tell. Either on the phone or brain-dead, pretty useless either way, lol.

Or having troubles with the MFD...

 

Yep, and it's getting worse and worse every day. When I saw the pictures of the new Prime, with that big giant screen, the first thought I had was… "Oh man, there's going to be a lot of distracted driving with that!" Your eyes will just be drawn to that big thing staring you in the face.

I know I sound like an old coot, but this distracted driving and all this cell phone stuff is really getting out of hand. I understand keeping one in the car with you for emergencies, but other than that, I wish they would please stay off of it or just turn it off completely.

I never see kids anymore that are walking with their head held up. It's always down, staring at their stupid cell phone. And then when they get a license to drive a car, they continue on with the same habit.

 

Grand kids were over last night: sitting in a line on the couch, head phones on, staring at their "devices". It's sad, all they know. You don't see me sitting staring at a screen all day, erm...

 

I assume you never use the car radio or talk with your passengers either, correct?

 

Sure I do, but I don't take my eyes off the road when I'm listening to the car radio. Or when I'm talking to a passenger.

But the stupid texting while driving is getting ridiculous and it's out of control. And causing fatal accidents.
Some people are just idiots, ignore the law, and they won't learn until they wrap their car around a tree. And I know a couple young people who have done just that! Totaled their car, because they just couldn't resist looking at, or replying to a stupid text message. Some are even doing Facebook while driving! One young girl now has a big ugly permanent scar across her face.

Call me an old dude, or old fashioned, or whatever… But I just don't understand why people have to "live" on their cell phone so much. It's like it's their whole life! They can't do anything without it! And I am totally against these big giant screens they are now putting in cars, like the new Prime. I believe that's just going to be another huge distraction for drivers. At the very least, the auto manufacturers should make sure all that stuff is disabled while the car is moving. The navigation is fine, but you don't need to be checking restaurants and the latest movies while you're driving down the freeway!

 

I wish I had did the same, prodigy. And I could've saved $3000. I played around with the navigation the first month I had the car, and I haven't touched it since. And the 2017 Two model like yours is even better, because it has the Toyota Safety Sense technology.

And as I mentioned earlier I'm not a big cell phone user, so I have no need to program it into the car, or the Entune or whatever. (I apologize for sounding so judgmental, but probably all of the thousands of "distracted driving" accidents are preventable.)

 

Does the level 2 have 2-door and hatch touch unlocking?

 

I don't think the 2016 model does, Mendel. Not sure about the new 2017 Two model. The hatch touch locking is a nice feature, I use mine every day unlock / lock the car from back there.

 

Radio is just a different distraction for a different generation.

 

The outside lock/unlock sensors are only on the drivers door. For some reason i seem to need to have all doors unlocked before the hatch unlock button works.

Is that what you mean by touch unlocking?

 

Yeah. On our 2010 I can touch either front door or hatch, opens that door/hatch and unlocks 'em all as well. Forget the acronym, SKS??

 

Back on topic...

My unit had rebooted once or twice before, but the random and frequent reboots started for.me just this weekend. Rebooting my phone made no difference.

I've only had OTA updates, and my "audio" version is now newer than what you show from the TSB -- but the issue is still there.

Audio: 010182
Audio System: 000095
DSP module: A10010
Sub: 010001
Can: 130209

Very unhappy right now.