Jeff Ostroff

Hi all, just joined the forum, this is my very first post as a proud new Mercedes owner. I had traded in my 1998 Lexus SC300 sport coupe which served me well for 19 years! I just recently purchased this used 2014 Mercedes Benz E350 in March and it has run flawlessly until today.

While sitting in our driveway, I tried to pair up my daughter's iPad to the COMAND center Bluetooth, and as I was going through the menus looking for it and selected into the phone menu, suddenly my COMAND screen went black, except for the time in the upper left of the screen. See screen shot below. The satellite radio had been on and playing the 80's on channel 8 at the time and it all stopped, no button I push and no control knob movement will give me any activity on the screen, it's now just a brick.

Now I suddenly have no radio, no backup camera, and nothing will make the screen come back on, even shutting off the car for a few hours. I have seen posts about this in years past where people check fuses, but that's not the issue here, and I saw no resolution posted from any of those other people, so now I am stuck.

So is my Command Center dead? Is there nothing I can do? I have an appointment scheduled Monday at a Mercedes dealer and this should be covered under the warranty until July.

Anyone have any suggestions on things for me to try to recover this on my own? It could not have possibly been anything I did, the engine was on and running and I clicked into the phone menu and that was it, the screen is totally black except for the time.

KEY08

Maybe try disconnecting the battery. See if it will reboot.

AkaSigFreak

Press the POWER button and hold it for 8-10 seconds. See if it will reboot.

Jeff Ostroff

Problem solved!

Problem solved!

Problem solved!

Thank you so much akaSigFreak, for that suggestion of holding down the radio power button to reboot the COMAND it worked!

When I started the car up this morning I pushed the ON button for the radio in the center of the radio controls and held it for 10 seconds then I saw the time in the upper left of the screen disappear so I knew something was happening then suddenly the Mercedes-Benz logo came back and then two seconds later the command screen is back on!
And the radio came on instantly and started playing again.

Once again I am back to abnormal!

Thanks for that suggestion you saved me a lot of time my friend. I had already booked Mercedes-Benz yesterday for the service department for 8:30 tomorrow morning to bring my car in, fearing that there was a whole system failure of some sort and that would have created a huge logistical problem for my entire Monday but now I have my Monday back thanks!

This case is solved!

thefisch

When the car is off and not in retained power mode, then comand is powered down and has to reboot upon startup. The restart procedure you did essentially performs the same task without having to turn the car off and back on. I've used it a lot recently with BT connection issues.

While I am glad comand is working for you again, it seems odd that a reboot would solve something that power cycling the car would not do. Be sure to keep an eye on it especially since you are still under warranty.

AkaSigFreak

Jeff, You are certainly welcome!

TheFisch- As far as the Command "rebooting" when you start your engine- that is not entirely correct. If you have ever pressed the ON button without the vehicle running- the Command will start up. There is always some juice to it. The "hardboot" procedure I described is identical to a PC/MAC or Smartphone. It clears any cache and, just like the other devices, seems to fix a lot of issues. If the problem persists- like a computer, Mercedes-Benz is constantly working on software patches and updates which require a trip to the dealership. I just had one about the auto trunk opener which caused it to close on me on three occasions.

Jeff Ostroff

What about the feature that automatically rolls down the windows on the car when you press and hold the unlock button on the remote? Sometimes it just does not work at all. Am I doing something wrong? Sometimes it won't work unless I'm right at the car but then it takes away from the whole idea behind it.

Johnny Rad

I think you're doing it right, but Merc is doing it wrong. I believe it's "line of sight" technology to the sensor on the driver's door handle and has a poor range to boot - which all conspires to limit its value tremendously. If you can't see your driver's door handle, I don't think it'll work. If you can touch the driver's door handle, you're in range which begs the question why use it! If I'm wrong, someone will pipe-up.

Happy to hear that you're back to abnormal with the system reboot!

Jeff Ostroff

Johnny, thanks for clearing that up about the line of site to the driver side door handle. Come to think of it, when my remote did not open the windows from my remote today, I was approaching the car from the passenger side. That is pretty short-sited of Mercedes!

AkaSigFreak

Have you checked the battery in the keyfob? It might need to be replaced. Do you have Keyless Go? If you do- it doesn't matter which side of the car you are facing. If you don't have Keyless Go- you must be facing the driver's side door.

raja777m

lol, problem solved and abnormal didn't sink in quite well for me.
Glad it fixed the issue. BTW, Is the vehicle still under warranty? If so, get the new firmware for the Command.

Jeff Ostroff

Yes, still under warranty until July. Is there a way to check what my current firmware version is?

raja777m

I know how to find Nav's version, but not command's version.
My car's warranty ends in July too, 16th to be precise, but I got the MB ELW.
Did you get the extended warranty yet?
Just go in the morning, around 7.30am, get it verified, if in case it needs new firmware, and they will say 1-2 hrs, try to get the loaner vehicle, sometimes it takes more time than expected, unless your merc. location treats you better with lots of treats, in that case, I love to enjoy the lounge

tmon101

Hi,
There seems to be a lot of knowledge on this thread, so I said I would describe my problem and look for your thoughts.
I have a 2013 facelift E220 saloon for 2 years (UK car) now and everything on the COMAND used to work fine until about 6 months ago.
First I noticed the reader wouldn't read SMSmessages when phone was connected.
Then the NAVI was very slow to come on when pressed.
Eventually not allowing me to input a destination
Next COMAND would shut off and immediately back ON, intermittently
Now COMAND shuts off every 3 mins and back ON straight away.

When COMAND is on all steering wheel controls work.
I have removed fused and let sit for 15 mins
Had a garage check with a diagnostic tablet and they say there is no voltage loss during shutdown.
Any ideas would be great.
Thanks
Tom

(sp?)

Comand has been recalcitrant of late. Works fine in the AM whenever I drive it, but quite often would be black in the afternoons after errands. did the 8-10 second reset and everything is better. vehicle is a '14 GL350.

Thanks!

Steve

lion.pappa

Wondering if you have solved your problem as I'm experiencing the same thing right now...tried holding power/radio button, removed fuse, disconnect battery and going into engineering mode to reset. Still haven't fixed it.