MFD Power Flow & Consumption screens not working

Trying to nurse a 2004 Gen 2 along ...

A while back, the Energy/Power Flow screen and the Consumption screen on the multi-function display stopped working. Blank. Simultaneously. All other screens are fine.

I pulled the MFD and sent it off to AutoBeYours. They cleaned and tested the unit and said it worked fine, including the culprit screens.

So ... Is there another component that feeds only those two screens that could have malfunctioned?

Frankly, the car works fine without those screens, which are mostly for show.

But having already dropped $300 on the MFD, for what turned out to be diagnosis, I'd love to get it working properly again.

 

Yes, that's my understanding of what they did. But it's based on a phone call when they got the unit in, so I might have misunderstood. At any rate, the unit tests out OK.

 

OK, I found the solution, browsing this site, from a hint in "Prius User-Guide (Iconic)". I'll describe it in case it helps someone else.

The guide says if you turn off the screen (Info/Display/Screen Off), you get it back by pressing (Info/Trip Info).

I guess I somehow pressed the "Screen Off" button -- although I don't know why I would.

And I guess I should have pressed all the buttons until I found one that worked. But several things confused me:

1. You would think that the counterpart button to "Screen Off" would be labeled "Screen On," not "Trip Info."

2. You would think that all screens would reset to "on" when you restart the car. They don't.

3. The screens don't come back all at once; they come back in pieces, when you invoke them. So, pressing "Climate" turns on the Climate screen, and pressing "Audio" turns on the Audio screen. But the Energy/Consumption screen(s) stay blank until you do "Info/Trip Info." Instead, you get a blank screen. Even though Energy/Consumption is the default.
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Why did Toyota do it that way? For people who are fine with Audio and Climate, when needed, but find the Energy/Consumption screens really annoying and prefer a blank default screen? I can understand that, but then again most Prius owners care about how their car works and how much fuel they're saving. That's why they bought it.

Anyway ...

I'm red-faced, but it seems to me that this is a common mistake people make. So I'm not sure why AutoBeYours didn't explain that and instead charged me $300. I'll take it up with them, now that I know it's not some other component that failed.

 

I contacted AutoBeYours and was brushed off.

They had called me before they did the "repair" (to clear up some confusion about whether it was a nav unit), and they said it tested fine But they claim they replaced some old parts.

Caveat emptor.

At least I can see the little animated chassis on my display again ...

 

Cool. Glad my *&*()#^$* ordeal helped someone!