naregkar

Hello All,

I own a 2015 Mercedes C250 (W205).
The car is equipped with two USB ports.

Ever since I got the car, I am using my USB flash drive which includes hundreds of MP3 files to listen to music.

As of yesterday, the USB drive is not readable by the car. I tried the USB on my PC and the laptop is not reading the flash drive.

I got a new USB flash drive, added some music to it, and still the car did not play. Moreover, the new USB drive is not readable by my PC anymore.

I am guessing that the car is "burning" the USB drives. What might be the problem?

Thanks in advance.

Yours,
Nareg

netboy

try to reformat the usb stick if possible

naregkar

Thanks for the reply.
The problem is that both USB sticks are not usable anymore, can't format from my PC.

Mike5215

That's odd. Very low voltage (5v) in a USB port. The most it could possibly get in the car is 12v and I'm not even sure how the ports could get energized by 12v without blowing a fuse.

Here's a simple diagnostic. You'll need a sacrificial USB cable and a basic voltage meter.

Take the USB cable and cut it open. There are 4 wires. Green and White are data, red is power and Black is ground.

Strip power and ground, make sure they're far enough apart from each other (if they touch they'll short). Plug the cable into the car and put a voltage meter leads on the power and ground wires simultaneously to see what voltage the port is putting out. Should be no more than 5v.

naregkar

Thanks a lot for the detailed guideline. I will try as you said and check the output voltage.

Moreover, usually 3-5 minutes after ignition, while driving, I hear a sound like "tskk tskk tskk" near the Touchpad control. Is there any relation? Or that is something ordinary?

hpilot

My car has destroyed two expensive SD Cards in the the same manor. However, for about six months it has been OK. I feel your pain...

naregkar

I did what you explained. Both USB ports show 5.16V which I assume is a normal voltage rate.

But still the two old USB flash sticks are not readable by the car.

Waveform2

yeh the USB couldnt provide 12volts without a fuse blowing so thats a bit of a mystery, ive never had this problem (So far touch wood)

Mike5215

I'm thinking that a short in the USB port that allowed the 5 volt current to energize the data wires that would fry the drives.

naregkar

Today I noticed that in the first USB port, the white plastic has been detached. However, it used to play without that white plastic.

I inserted a new USB in the second port, it did not play but this time, the USB is still healthy, readable by the PC.

Attached you will find a pic.



Do you think it is related to that white piece of plastic in USB 1?

Thanks again

GerritKw

This definetely doesn't look good.
Though port 1 might be working there is a big risk you get a shortage.
I think it was not always like this, and that the USB port has been damaged by excessive force while closing the armrest.
I would advise you to not use port 1 anymore until it's fixed.

Mike5215

Yes. It's an insulator.

naregkar

Thanks guys for the feedback.

This means without fixing port 1, I won't be able to use port 2, right??

Wish there was a way to disable port 1.

Mike5215

Port 2 should be unaffected. The insulator prevents you from inserting the device upside down (there's a second insulator in the USB cable). That's why USB cables can only be inserted in one orientation.

If you happened to insert your drives upside down into Port 1 you accidentally put the two data connectors of the device into contact with the power connectors of the port, which cooked the drive. You can repair the port by pulling an insulator from a spare cable and sticking it in there.

naregkar

And finally it worked!!! Port number 2 is unaffected.

Apparently all my USB sticks were burnt since I inserted them upside down to port 1.
Either I'll stop using port 1 or fix it by sticking an insulator in it.

Thanks a lot!! Much appreciated

vladarh

I had the same problem. The plastic broke after less than a week from buying the car. Went to the dealer and they replaced the entire module. Treated it like a factory issue.

ionitoiuionut

Hello Nareg and MB users.

I have same problem few days ago (USB drive is not readable) and I just fixed it.

Problem was that the files was not mp3, was mp4... What I did, I downloaded PAVTUBE convertor and I inserted the sounds and converted in mp3 file.

I am using SanDisk Cruzer Blade usb memory. Everything work properly nowl

ManiacGT

StuiegC250

My Sept 2015 w205 also has the usb ports vertical, not horizontal. I can only think that if they are horizontal they are more likely to be ripped out and damage the port. Whereas if they are vertical, they will be more likely to be pulled out without damaging the port / usb stick. I don't like the usb sticks sitting where they are in the center arm rest, too much other stuff in there to cause them to be knocked. I'm thinking of getting a couple of usb cables and routing them to the rear of the arm rest, then plugging in the stick to prevent damage. something like this;

Msami

What did you do to make port 2 work again?

benzdude

I had an issue where the music files wouldn't be found by the command.

You will laugh at the solution to this. You MUST put your music files in a folder named "music" on your >64gb usb drive.

From the 2015 C-class command manual.




Not sure who at MB thought it this was a good idea.

KCaudell

Thanks! This is exactly what I've been searching for. I have two 128GB Sandisk drives, one for my wifes music and one for mine. Once I loaded 70GB it stopped being recognized by the system. After reading this and moving the files to a Music sub-directory it works just fine. All is well with the world again! The great thing about these $25 drives is that they don't protrude into the storage space and aren't susceptible to to anything sitting down on top of it and breaking the port.

Maui5150

May be re-raising an old problem, but I will try the "music" folder to see if that helps.

My issue has been inconsistent reading of the USB in my 2016 GLC 300.

I have one of the 128GB Sandisk drives like above, and when I first insert the drive, it may take some time, and some jumping around different options in Media (like to SD and Back to USB, etc) but after a few tries, it reads and is able to play fine... No issues during that trip.

BUT...

If I leave the USB plugged in, I turn off the car, and next day go to head into work again, It will not read the drive. It seems to recognize USB and says something like no media found, etc. If I unplug the drive, wait like 15 seconds and reinsert it, I can generally get it to read it (though I still may have to bounce around to different option in the Media section for a while)

This is really annoying. I am so used to my Infiniti, where I would just leave the USB plugged in and never have to think about it. Granted, what was annoying on the Infiniti is it would take about a minute to minute and a half to read all the folders to generate the mapping (only takes about 10 seconds in the GLC) but I almost never had to touch the USB. I am hoping creating a "Music" folder will address.

benzdude

When you first insert the USB drive your head unit will take some time to read and index songs. The time will vary based on number of songs.

I have a USB drive with 6000 mp3s and it is always plugged in. If I press media and spin through the media types I can see the USB drive name listed. This tells me that it has been recognized by the command.

If I select the thumb drive, it plays the last song and remembers the play order. I use the music folder and never have issues.

Try the music folder
Try the other USB port
Check the formart of your drive? NTSC, exFat?
Get another USB drive, only put 5 mp3s on it and see if the issues remains.

**I also had a command software update last year

Marsdenisin

This is my first time on a forum, apologies if I am writing in the wrong part, The same thing has happened to me where the plastic has broke, how did you attach a new peace of plastic in there? Did you use glue or some sort of adhesive and ho did you make sure it was aligned?