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Intermittent Head Unit Reboots (ECU Reset)

Old Mar 23, 2023 | 11:14 PM
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2011 E550
Intermittent Head Unit Reboots (ECU Reset)

2011 E550 Sedan Team MB, I have had a few random and unexplained reboots of the head unit (nav screen) along with a warning inside the odometer display (like ESP or ABS disabled or something, never had time to fully read the message), The reboot never lasted more than one second. No engine light or any other code. Car works fine. Went to the head unit diagnostic page and found these, see photos. Not sure if the reboot was caused by a signal that told the ECU to reboot or if the ECU rebooted in its own and caused the head unit to restart. Any hint of what could be a possible cause? Thanks.

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Old Mar 24, 2023 | 01:13 AM
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W212 MY'14 M276-3.5NA @75kMi
The Chicken or the Egg...

Originally Posted by mbfoup
2011 E550 Sedan Team MB, I have had a few random and unexplained reboots of the head unit (nav screen) along with a warning inside the odometer display (like ESP or ABS disabled or something, never had time to fully read the message), The reboot never lasted more than one second. No engine light or any other code. Car works fine. Went to the head unit diagnostic page and found these, see photos. Not sure if the reboot was caused by a signal that told the ECU to reboot or if the ECU rebooted in its own and caused the head unit to restart. Any hint of what could be a possible cause? Thanks.

> ISSUE:
High mileage random NTG reboot with ESP faults over IC display.

How do you open the engineering menu on NTG... It's somewhat exciting to see NTG watchdog interface exposed - Let's see if we can gatger any wisdom out of this
​​​​​​

I wonder if the ESP crashes the NTG through CAN
or if it's the NTG that's crashing the ESP CAN ? ?

What would help is some form of evidence to lean one way or another towards the cause...

The ESP features pressed pins

Bosch ESP controller 😳
Dual multicore processing, nice circuit board!
Bosch is seriously infatuated with pressed pins all over the place (ECU??) - Me itchy solder iron now... this time I will wait to scalp my $2000+ brakes ESP lol

​​​​​​At the end of the day its gonna be either an issue with a bad module or with the host car wiring.

+++++ expectations... ++++
What sort of inputs are you looking for?
Do you want to repair modules or understand causes ?

​​​​​​​

Last edited by CaliBenzDriver; Mar 24, 2023 at 01:59 AM.
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Old Mar 24, 2023 | 01:08 PM
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2011 E550
Originally Posted by CaliBenzDriver
> ISSUE:
High mileage random NTG reboot with ESP faults over IC display.

How do you open the engineering menu on NTG... It's somewhat exciting to see NTG watchdog interface exposed - Let's see if we can gatger any wisdom out of this
​​​​​​

I wonder if the ESP crashes the NTG through CAN
or if it's the NTG that's crashing the ESP CAN ? ?

What would help is some form of evidence to lean one way or another towards the cause...

The ESP features pressed pins

Bosch ESP controller 😳
Dual multicore processing, nice circuit board!
Bosch is seriously infatuated with pressed pins all over the place (ECU??) - Me itchy solder iron now... this time I will wait to scalp my $2000+ brakes ESP lol

​​​​​​At the end of the day its gonna be either an issue with a bad module or with the host car wiring.

+++++ expectations... ++++
What sort of inputs are you looking for?
Do you want to repair modules or understand causes ?

Thanks. At this point I am not sure yet what is going on. The logs show "ECU resets" and "lost com with CGW". BTW I press the [1] key, the [#] key and the [red phone] key simultaneously to enter the debug menu. I also believe this started a while back with only the head unit rebooting. Only recently do I also see a message in the odometer. I hence kind of believe the message I see (something with ESP or ABS) is just the consequence of a reboot happening on the bus. I will need to find a way to capture this on tape. Where are the ECU a the CGW located in the W212, I could check the connections or bang on them and see if that does anything (typically bad solders can be caught that way)? Thanks.


Last edited by mbfoup; Mar 24, 2023 at 01:11 PM.
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Old Mar 24, 2023 | 04:25 PM
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>>>> NTG ! <<<<

your next step would be to scan your car to retrieve the list faults.

Do not bang on Mercedes electronic modules in search of bad solders... some of it is not soldered at all. For the same reason don't disturb connectors unless you have to. This only creates additional problems.

The CGW is often chilling under passenger feet. The ECU doesn't have this chance, its attached on the engine.

-- My best guest is to focus on NTG as the cause of issues. Check/restore the GND points under both front carpets after disconnecting batteries.
-- Have you ever had problem operating the rotary console dial to navigate display options??
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Old Mar 26, 2023 | 12:13 PM
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2011 E550
Originally Posted by CaliBenzDriver
your next step would be to scan your car to retrieve the list faults.

Do not bang on Mercedes electronic modules in search of bad solders... some of it is not soldered at all. For the same reason don't disturb connectors unless you have to. This only creates additional problems.

The CGW is often chilling under passenger feet. The ECU doesn't have this chance, its attached on the engine.

-- My best guest is to focus on NTG as the cause of issues. Check/restore the GND points under both front carpets after disconnecting batteries.
-- Have you ever had problem operating the rotary console dial to navigate display options??

Thanks. I will try to catch this on tape and correlate with the diagnostic reports. I was hoping, by sharing on the forums, that someone would have had the exact same issue before. But it also looks like "lost comm with CGW" messages are not that uncommon even when nothing is wrong.

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Old Mar 26, 2023 | 12:42 PM
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CGW ..?

Originally Posted by mbfoup
Thanks. I will try to catch this on tape and correlate with the diagnostic reports. I was hoping, by sharing on the forums, that someone would have had the exact same issue before.
But it also looks like "lost comm with CGW" messages are not that uncommon even when nothing is wrong.
You can pretty much disregard the "lost comm with CGW as insignificant. It's caused by the scanner connection/disconnection.
Always try to exit out of scanner menus before pulling DLC plug... and even that's not a guaranted.

CGW is an honestly built robust module in contrast with others.

Read around the forum for tips to easily enhance your ownership - Todays tip: refrain from spraying any liquid near your MB electricals! Water in the harness is not better than oil in the harness. Loose pins go extra bad faster.

++++ Surgery time ++++

I think the bad NTG are heading towards lab-bench surgery. There's something inside calling for service attention.
✌️


Last edited by CaliBenzDriver; Mar 26, 2023 at 04:33 PM. Reason: guidance >>> open heart surgery!
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