Comand button issues
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From: Fredonia, WI
2012 E550 v8-Biturbo
Comand button issues
I have a 2012 E550 with (I think) NTG4.5 comand
For some time now the buttons on the comand console perform a different task than their assigned one. For example, if I press [RADIO], the Navigation appears. If press [DISC] the radio screen appears, etc. If press preset [2], station [3] is switched to, etc.
Others have experienced this – see https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...2011-e550.html
But no one has reported a solution.
I’ve tried a radio reset (hold down the power button for X seconds), pulling the comand fuses for a minute, disconnecting the battery, etc.
Sometimes the issue will resolve itself, but other times it stays a problem for several days. Lately, it has never corrected itself.
Recently, the backup camera doesn’t display an image and I wonder if this is somehow related.
In searching I see other users on other forums report the problem, but no solution. (eg, https://forums.mbclub.co.uk/threads/...change.250909/)
My battery is good (at least I think so). I haven’t changed the backup battery since I’ve owned it, but I wouldn’t think that’s the issue, but what do I know?
So, MB gurus, any suggestions? How can I determine the cause of the problem? I’m not sure my little scanner can uncover the issue.
TIA,
Gary
For some time now the buttons on the comand console perform a different task than their assigned one. For example, if I press [RADIO], the Navigation appears. If press [DISC] the radio screen appears, etc. If press preset [2], station [3] is switched to, etc.
Others have experienced this – see https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...2011-e550.html
But no one has reported a solution.
I’ve tried a radio reset (hold down the power button for X seconds), pulling the comand fuses for a minute, disconnecting the battery, etc.
Sometimes the issue will resolve itself, but other times it stays a problem for several days. Lately, it has never corrected itself.
Recently, the backup camera doesn’t display an image and I wonder if this is somehow related.
In searching I see other users on other forums report the problem, but no solution. (eg, https://forums.mbclub.co.uk/threads/...change.250909/)
My battery is good (at least I think so). I haven’t changed the backup battery since I’ve owned it, but I wouldn’t think that’s the issue, but what do I know?
So, MB gurus, any suggestions? How can I determine the cause of the problem? I’m not sure my little scanner can uncover the issue.
TIA,
Gary
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From: Silicon Valley
W212 MY'14 M276-3.5NA @75kMi
FAILED ENUMS... causes device mismatch
Good job troubleshooting exactly what you got. Now you have a solid error condition to go from.
This confirms a genuine bug of that unit when aging.... What does that tell us?
I bet it's the DVD unit is going missing upon initialization... then being replaced by the next device.
try to disable the DVD or device you think may be missing ("aux input" is a known flaky module!) from within Engineering menus.
You're gonna need to do some pocking around those menus to workaround this.
🤞
This confirms a genuine bug of that unit when aging.... What does that tell us?
I bet it's the DVD unit is going missing upon initialization... then being replaced by the next device.
try to disable the DVD or device you think may be missing ("aux input" is a known flaky module!) from within Engineering menus.
You're gonna need to do some pocking around those menus to workaround this.
🤞
Last edited by CaliBenzDriver; Dec 16, 2024 at 11:53 PM.
Thread Starter
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From: Fredonia, WI
2012 E550 v8-Biturbo
I've never really gone down into the Engineering menu. I'll give that a shot. Although I've been concerned about reports of folks not being able to exit from Engineering ....
One other interesting issue that I forgot to mention originally - when the unit is flakey, it will switch stations when I power the unit down. EG, if I have Sirius playing on Channel 73 and then power down the unit, it will switch to channel 72 before turning off. When you turn in on next it will be on the "lower" station. The same happens if I'm listening to music on the USB stick, it switches to the previous track.
One other interesting issue that I forgot to mention originally - when the unit is flakey, it will switch stations when I power the unit down. EG, if I have Sirius playing on Channel 73 and then power down the unit, it will switch to channel 72 before turning off. When you turn in on next it will be on the "lower" station. The same happens if I'm listening to music on the USB stick, it switches to the previous track.
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W212 MY'14 M276-3.5NA @75kMi
these are interesting clues to help understanding how NTG disfunctions.
Tha means both external SAT and internal radio become unstable.
I don't think its directly a power supply issue
perhaps a distressed CPU searching for missing peripherals.
The hardware is top quality, the software has never been their strong suit because Mitsubishi is primarily a hardware company!
Do hear the DVD doing it's normal initialisation
can the unit play a regular music CD
(These unit laser diode pick-up go blind as they age)
Tha means both external SAT and internal radio become unstable.
I don't think its directly a power supply issue
perhaps a distressed CPU searching for missing peripherals.
The hardware is top quality, the software has never been their strong suit because Mitsubishi is primarily a hardware company!
Do hear the DVD doing it's normal initialisation
can the unit play a regular music CD
(These unit laser diode pick-up go blind as they age)
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From: Fredonia, WI
2012 E550 v8-Biturbo
With the ignition switch was on but the engine not running, I went into the engineering menu. (end-call + 1 + # for 10 seconds)
I first checked HU Diagnostics and everything was OK. I was going through some other data and then found "3.16 battery voltage information" which showed
(a) supply voltage of HU 11.9v
(b) battery voltage via CAN 11.7v
uh, that looks low to me.
I've not had any issues with the battery starting the car, and I had the battery maintainer on the battery while I was running these tests.
A few seconds later the comand shut down. I know it shuts down after 15 minutes or so, but this was much less than that (maybe 5 minutes?)
So I tried again. This time comand shut down after 2 minutes.
Hmm
After the battery maintainer turns green I'm going to check voltage on the battery and then again in the morning.
Could low voltage be the issue here?
I first checked HU Diagnostics and everything was OK. I was going through some other data and then found "3.16 battery voltage information" which showed
(a) supply voltage of HU 11.9v
(b) battery voltage via CAN 11.7v
uh, that looks low to me.
I've not had any issues with the battery starting the car, and I had the battery maintainer on the battery while I was running these tests.
A few seconds later the comand shut down. I know it shuts down after 15 minutes or so, but this was much less than that (maybe 5 minutes?)
So I tried again. This time comand shut down after 2 minutes.
Hmm
After the battery maintainer turns green I'm going to check voltage on the battery and then again in the morning.
Could low voltage be the issue here?
Out Of Control!!
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From: Silicon Valley
W212 MY'14 M276-3.5NA @75kMi
With the ignition switch was on but the engine not running, I went into the engineering menu. (end-call + 1 + # for 10 seconds)
I first checked HU Diagnostics and everything was OK. I was going through some other data and then found "3.16 battery voltage information" which showed
(a) supply voltage of HU 11.9v
(b) battery voltage via CAN 11.7v
uh, that looks low to me.
I've not had any issues with the battery starting the car, and I had the battery maintainer on the battery while I was running these tests.
A few seconds later the comand shut down. I know it shuts down after 15 minutes or so, but this was much less than that (maybe 5 minutes?)
So I tried again. This time comand shut down after 2 minutes.
Hmm
After the battery maintainer turns green I'm going to check voltage on the battery and then again in the morning.
Could low voltage be the issue here?
I first checked HU Diagnostics and everything was OK. I was going through some other data and then found "3.16 battery voltage information" which showed
(a) supply voltage of HU 11.9v
(b) battery voltage via CAN 11.7v
uh, that looks low to me.
I've not had any issues with the battery starting the car, and I had the battery maintainer on the battery while I was running these tests.
A few seconds later the comand shut down. I know it shuts down after 15 minutes or so, but this was much less than that (maybe 5 minutes?)
So I tried again. This time comand shut down after 2 minutes.
Hmm
After the battery maintainer turns green I'm going to check voltage on the battery and then again in the morning.
Could low voltage be the issue here?
With poor GND connection the modules connected get lower voltage... exactly what you're seeing.
NTG has a 20A fuse so it runs on 15Amp and that benefits from a reliable power connection.
You can also explore what F-SAM relay feeds the (+) side of power to "consumers".
Disconnect both batteries while cleaning the painted GND posts on both sides starting with driverside/SAM
Thread Starter
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Joined: Jul 2015
Posts: 1,071
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From: Fredonia, WI
2012 E550 v8-Biturbo
@CaliBenzDriver thanks for your help and suggestions. I've seen the posts you and @S-Prihadi and others have made discussing grounds. I agree that having a good, clean ground is important for all of the electronics in these cars.
Today I went into the engineering menu with the car running. It now reports a supply voltage of 15V so I'm thinking the battery is still good and the grounds are adequate. The HU diagnostics show everything as "OK." Interestingly, the head unit and buttons are acting correctly today.
(I don't usually play CD/DVDs so I'll have to find one to test out the optical drive)
I thought that the issue with the backup camera might be related to the flakey comand buttons, but maybe it's something else. Some others are mentioning the cable to the camera itself, so I'll look at that.
Today I went into the engineering menu with the car running. It now reports a supply voltage of 15V so I'm thinking the battery is still good and the grounds are adequate. The HU diagnostics show everything as "OK." Interestingly, the head unit and buttons are acting correctly today.
(I don't usually play CD/DVDs so I'll have to find one to test out the optical drive)
I thought that the issue with the backup camera might be related to the flakey comand buttons, but maybe it's something else. Some others are mentioning the cable to the camera itself, so I'll look at that.
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Out Of Control!!
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From: Silicon Valley
W212 MY'14 M276-3.5NA @75kMi
@CaliBenzDriver thanks for your help and suggestions. I've seen the posts you and @S-Prihadi and others have made discussing grounds. I agree that having a good, clean ground is important for all of the electronics in these cars.
Today I went into the engineering menu with the car running. It now reports a supply voltage of 15V so I'm thinking the battery is still good and the grounds are adequate. The HU diagnostics show everything as "OK." Interestingly, the head unit and buttons are acting correctly today.
(I don't usually play CD/DVDs so I'll have to find one to test out the optical drive)
I thought that the issue with the backup camera might be related to the flakey comand buttons, but maybe it's something else. Some others are mentioning the cable to the camera itself, so I'll look at that.
Today I went into the engineering menu with the car running. It now reports a supply voltage of 15V so I'm thinking the battery is still good and the grounds are adequate. The HU diagnostics show everything as "OK." Interestingly, the head unit and buttons are acting correctly today.
(I don't usually play CD/DVDs so I'll have to find one to test out the optical drive)
I thought that the issue with the backup camera might be related to the flakey comand buttons, but maybe it's something else. Some others are mentioning the cable to the camera itself, so I'll look at that.
No guarantee it will fix everything A to Z but note CAN-B RFK camera relies on it for networking:
The CAN-Bus bars are referenced using footwell GND shared with... : NTG!
RFK Camera has multiple incarnations including one with a control module hosted at driverside rear wheel well likely solderless unit!
It's interesting you noted that your NTG works well when it reports good voltage supply...
NTG relies on CAN-B as well.
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Thread Starter
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From: Fredonia, WI
2012 E550 v8-Biturbo
I haven't had a chance to investigate much more with this. We've been having a snow event here in WI and I'm spending the time plowing.
I did try a DVD and it plays just fine, so the optical drive is working.
I did try a DVD and it plays just fine, so the optical drive is working.
Thread Starter
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From: Fredonia, WI
2012 E550 v8-Biturbo
The comand buttons have been working correctly the last two days.
Unfortunately my backup camera is still blank, so perhaps that's a wiring problem that I will investigate later.
A weird issue ... I went to play from the SD card and the HU reported "no music files." Hmm. I pulled the SD card out and all of the music had been deleted. There were other files on there such as phone contacts. I'm not sure how that happened. (I was in the engineering menu, and i did play a DVD....) I'm putting files back on the card and will try it again. I've never had this issue happen before.
Unfortunately my backup camera is still blank, so perhaps that's a wiring problem that I will investigate later.
A weird issue ... I went to play from the SD card and the HU reported "no music files." Hmm. I pulled the SD card out and all of the music had been deleted. There were other files on there such as phone contacts. I'm not sure how that happened. (I was in the engineering menu, and i did play a DVD....) I'm putting files back on the card and will try it again. I've never had this issue happen before.
Last edited by ghlkal; Dec 21, 2024 at 08:54 PM.
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From: Silicon Valley
W212 MY'14 M276-3.5NA @75kMi
good troubleshooting.... SD-Card may be the elusive ghost input tripping device enumerations
The one option you NEVER want to try is "factory reset": it will virginize (brick) the unit.
The one option you NEVER want to try is "factory reset": it will virginize (brick) the unit.
Thread Starter
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Jul 2015
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From: Fredonia, WI
2012 E550 v8-Biturbo
I reformatted my SD card and added music to it. Now it is working. So, at this instant everything is working well on the head unit.
I guess the way to "fix" things is just to post about the issue and then it will magically go away.
