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I wish I had a picture of it, but I'm hoping that someone else remembers the exact text....
1-2 times per week, I start my 2014 RLX Hybrid, and the main navigation system screen says something to the effect that "the navigation system has lost power and is reacquiring the satellites".
It usually doesn't last long. But at the bottom, it says: "if this happens repeatedly, please contact your dealer".
I thought I remembered a posting in one of these forums about this -- the solution is replacing the hard drive. I thought there was a service bulletin about it.
But, when I took my car to the dealer for scheduled service yesterday, they couldn't find anything about it. They wanted to keep my car (and loan me an ILX!) while they investigated, but I decided I would ask here first.
The only Service Bulletin i could find is for the P-AWS, not the SH.
Maybe if you follow the directions below, you can see if there is a Hard Error to point you in the right direction...
I have had this problem repeatedly since I got the car a year ago. First they replaced the NAV hardware (not home and don't remember what the part was) and then they replaced the hard drive. Not a TSB, just what tech line told them to do because there isn't anything else to change out. It got better for a while, but now it's back to once a week or so. They say they will replace the hard drive again but I think that is pointless. I believe that it is a bug in the NAV software and that the reason it gets better after a hard drive replacement is that the software gets reset in that process. The NAV system returns after about 15 seconds, so it is annoying but not critical in my case.
If you think it is a software bug, perhaps comparing your software versions? If the three of you have the same software version, then you may be onto something.
I have the latest system and the latest NAV software. I'll have to get the numbers when I dig my car out of the Maine snow, but do the versions vary on the Sport Hybrid if we are all current? Also, I believe that every 2014 started with the same system and it has not changed. Only the NAV software has been updated. Am I wrong, Tampa?
I do not think anyone here truly knows how many versions of the software there are. We are assuming they are the same based on a small sampling.
If it is a software bug, determining which release of the software may isolate where the bug resides. I can imagine there is some routine running that may be corrupted and causes a crash and reboot. If it is not software, something power source related or a hardware integration point / connectivity may be the issue (i.e a loose connection between components).
But as pgeorg posted, a hardware issue will likely store a fault code in the NAVI, to aide in the diagnostics. A software issue likely will not post a fault code as it is unexpected, unanticipated and likely no routine written in the code to capture the issue (fault code).
My 2015 RLX P-AWS, did that a couple of times in the beginning. As i posted a few months back i did the software re-load procedure, and it never did it again for as long as i had that car. But by doing that you always run the risk of "bricking" the whole infotainment system, so i understand why you have not tried it fsmith.
I agree with Tampa on the reason why, and to expand a little bit.....i think the software written just overwhelms the hardware, and causes a reboot-freeze......I have to assume that they were pressed for time, to get the RLX out to production.....
I agree with Tampa on the reason why, and to expand a little bit.....i think the software written just overwhelms the hardware, and causes a reboot-freeze......I have to assume that they were pressed for time, to get the RLX out to production.....
My feeling about the software in the SH-AWD is that it is enormously complicated, especially the integration of the electric motors, and while the NAV system should likely be solid by now, overall I am impressed at how few bugs there are. I am settled into the weekly NAV reboots as a minor irritation and still impressed at how rock solid the rest of the system is.
To be clear, the weekly reboots cause a delay of 10 seconds or so. I have had more serious reboots that took way longer, but that is now a very rare thing after the hard drive replacement. It's obviously a software bug, but there is nothing my dealer can do about it except replace parts. If the mother-ship engineers are listening, please take note.
More perspective...so I had a 2014 RLX Advance (not a hybrid) and this happened all the time. When I got my 2016 RLX SH back in August I assumed ACURA would have resolved this issue but much to my dismay it happens on the 2016 as well. It is happening more frequently now and when it happens it takes several minutes to become functional. There is no rhyme or reason as to when it can occur. Coincidently my car was at the dealership today and they were not able to fix it and asked if they could keep it overnight and test the battery in the morning. I agreed but this is not a battery issue! If there is an Acura employee monitoring this site please contact me and I can give you first hand the symptoms.
That appears as if the NAVI is resetting to out of box factory settings and needs to 'learn' the satellites to track. It is as if it must be re-initialized. The 'lost power' is either key or a generic fault explanation that does not truly identify the source of the issue.
If they want to check the electrical system, perhaps there is a power surge that caused this reboot? Think of your DVR rebooting when you have a power burp during an electrical storm. It must run all initializing routines, which takes some time (and usually occurs at the peak of a game or climax of a film )
I would think if there is an electrical issue, a fault code would be triggered. If it is software, then that message is misleading as to the root of the issue. It kinda reminds me of whenever you call tech support for any device, they immediately want you to reboot. It may clear the issue, but not eradicate it.
I would think if there is an electrical issue, a fault code would be triggered. If it is software, then that message is misleading as to the root of the issue. It kinda reminds me of whenever you call tech support for any device, they immediately want you to reboot. It may clear the issue, but not eradicate it.
I think this is exactly the issue...there is a glitch of some sort but the message is taking the technicians down a path that will not get them to the root problem.
I am sorry to hear that you are having the same problems you were having with the 2014 P-AWS. I would think this would be caused by a loose connector on the back of the unit, or a bad hard drive. You could check the hard or soft errors, if there are any.
Mine has been flawless for the one and half month i have it.
While I haven't seen this screen yet, I have had my infotainment system go dark and then reboot probably a half dozen times in my 16 months with my 2014 SH.
Lonestar, please keep us posted with what you hear about your situation. It is disappointing to learn that the 2016's are still having this problem. It seems to me that Acura needs either a different supplier for the electronics or some top notch in house experts to bring the infotainment system up to the level that matches the great engineering that has gone into the engine and drive train of the SH. They just need to make this stuff easy to use and reliable. To date the RLX hasn't achieved that yet. So sad that a great car has to provide such a mediocre experience I regard to the infotainment system.
LoneStar's screen message is the same one I get every week or so. Mine usually disappears after about 10 seconds, though once in a while it takes longer. I agree with the above analysis that this is a generic eror message that tells us little. I have had both the hard drive and the NAV unit (don't remember the part) replaced. I am surprised that no one else is seeing this message, as I thought it was more common. It is annoying but, as it goes away quickly and is the only bug (note bug, not slowness or design!) I am seeing I am not overly upset about it. What's more disturbing is that it is still there in the 2016. Come on, Acura.
It is annoying but, as it goes away quickly and is the only bug (note bug, not slowness or design!) I am seeing I am not overly upset about it. What's more disturbing is that it is still there in the 2016. Come on, Acura.
Mine does not go away that quickly. Mine sometimes takes 5+ minutes before that message goes away.
So picked up car from dealership tonight...no change. I was basically told we can't replicate it so we can't help! Lame...very lame. I did receive a call from Acura Client Relations today as I posted on their Facebook page last night and they don't like these kinds of posts (with pic). In any event there is no fix...regardless of what the message says contacting your dealership is a waste of time...they have no clue. All the dealership said was "well it's documented now."
Now for the best part...I stopped for gas on the way home and of course turned the car off to fuel. Guess what screen greeted me when I turned the car back on...You got it...the picture above! I texted the service advisor and got this response..."oh wow"!!
I will get this elevated to the proper level in Acura and share what I learn.
LoneStar - That's crazy and totally unacceptable. I would make the Service Director at your dealership swap cars with you and drive yours until he yells "uncle" once he has experienced a five minute start-up delay. Only once have I had that kind of delay, after which they swapped out the hard drive, and since then I have had only short delays with that message. Keep at them!
This sounds like the problem manny of us had with the range on the home link transmitter. When I took it in I was told the same thing -- known problem, no fix. Eventually they figured it out and provided a TSB.
Heard back from Acura Client Relations today with regard to the loss of power message. Basically I was told until I can leave the car at a dealership for an indefinite period of time they will not be able to help me. The person assigned to the case (Tony) alleges that they can find no record of a similar issue in their database of this issue on these cars. When he said that I knew I was not dealing with the appropriate person. If anyone has a connection that you can refer me to within Acura that will take this matter seriously I would be appreciative of any assistance.
Last edited by LoneStar 16 RLX SprtHybrd; 02-10-2016 at 11:32 AM.
Lonestar, Is there any correlation between the "power lost" message and the car being not driven for a period of time???
I ask because I received the message once, very briefly, when I started my car after not driving it for 4 or 5 days. I wonder if the normal parasitic loss drained the battery just low enough to lose the satellite connection and thus the message. In my case, the message went away in less than 10 seconds and hasn't happened again since.
Heard back from Acura Client Relations today with regard to the loss of power message. Basically I was told until I can leave the car at a dealership for an indefinite period of time they will not be able to help me. The person assigned to the case (Tony) alleges that they can find no record of a similar issue in their database of this issue on these cars. When he said that I knew I was not dealing with the appropriate person. If anyone has a connection that you can refer me to within Acura that will take this matter seriously I would be appreciative of any assistance.
That is a simple deflection. If the symptom is unheard of, why did they design an error message for the condition?
Truth is there are FEW if any Acura representatives or techs that have decent to thorough understanding of the infotainment technology. They rely on fault codes for diagnosis and perhaps they are relayed to the software designer, who I suspect is 3rd party. If at the technical level there are few who can respond to tech issues, I guarantee you the Customer Service staff have NONE. So you get the 'Beats me,,,,call later' response.
I do not know if she is still there, but the customer service Rep I have dealt with in the past was Bridgette. She was thorough and unafraid to seek out a resource who could address my issue. Otherwise I would call back and try another rep, and if not satisfied, ask who you may escalate the issue with. And from your dealer side, the service tech may have success via their regional service support reps (who service techs turn to for guidance)
Lonestar, Is there any correlation between the "power lost" message and the car being not driven for a period of time???
So it has happened twice in the past week. The first time I stopped for gas and turned the car off...and then when I went to start it the message appeared...so the car was off for 5 minutes at most. Yesterday it happened again and the car had sat for maybe 3 hours since the last start. Based on when it happens, regardless of what the message says, there has not been a loss of power. My guess is it is some type of communication matter rather than a loss of power matter.
So it has happened twice in the past week. The first time I stopped for gas and turned the car off...and then when I went to start it the message appeared...so the car was off for 5 minutes at most. Yesterday it happened again and the car had sat for maybe 3 hours since the last start. Based on when it happens, regardless of what the message says, there has not been a loss of power. My guess is it is some type of communication matter rather than a loss of power matter.
Did you get a chance to check if there are any errors, using the procedure i posted above? I understand if you do not feel comfortable doing it, but it might point you to right direction.
Did you get a chance to check if there are any errors, using the procedure i posted above? I understand if you do not feel comfortable doing it, but it might point you to right direction.
I was told that the tech at the dealership checked this and that no errors were identified. Since my confidence in Acura has been significantly diminished I will follow the steps above and see if I can identify anything.
If they haven't already done it, your dealer should replace your hard drive. This will fix any issues associated with the drive itself, and I believe that it will also re-initialize the NAV software. Worth a try. The tech who works on my car says that has solved a number of RLX software problems in the past. They really have to just keep replacing parts until the problem is fixed.
Lonestar, Is there any correlation between the "power lost" message and the car being not driven for a period of time???
I'll confirm what Lonestar has written: there's no correlation between the time the car is off and when this occurs. I've see it occur after the car sat overnight in my garage, and I've seen it occur after I parked and ran into the store for an errand.
Someone else posted that they believed the software is written by a third-party. I also believe that, and I think I remember a reference long ago that said the nav/entertainment system was outsourced to Alpine. But, I'm not 100% sure about that.
Frankly, I don't think there was any "loss of power". I think the system is simply rebooting for some reason, and the diagnostic can't tell the difference.
Dedicated systems like this usually have some sort of deadman timer in them, that automatically power-cycles the system if the software doesn't reset the timer periodically. It's intended to recover from an error in the software that results in an infinite loop, or just hung on some operation. But, unless the system dumps state to an external store where it can be recovered and analyzed, finding the problem is just a guessing game.
I've resigned myself to waiting until Acura finally gets enough complaints that it get escalated to the vendor of the software, and hoping they get it fixed and update the firmware before I buy my next car in 10 years or so.
After reading some technical details about our infotainment system, i keep coming back to what i and fsmith have mentioned......it is most likely the hard drive. The whole unit will not work without the hard drive inserted.....also the hard drive is "matted" to the unit and it will not work with any other unit. If by some chance you insert the hard drive from one unit, into another unit without following the proper procedure the whole infotainment unit becomes inoperable "bricked" and it is useless. The first time the hard drive is inserted into the infotainment unit, they exchange certain codes and they become married. After that first time, every time you start the car this happens automatically. I believe that is where the problem lies...... Then you get a generic message, like the one you're getting. I would really push the service department to contact techline and see if they can approve a hard drive swap.
I was told that the tech at the dealership checked this and that no errors were identified.
If it is just a loss of power and nothing else, then there is a chance that it is not leaving an error code that people can find.
Replacing the hard drives appears to fix the issue in some cars, but it is also possible that this is a coincidence and the power loss is not directly related to the replacement of the hard drive. Let's face it: It's possible that the only reason it's being fixed by the replacement of the hard drive (when no code is showing ) is because the connections are being re-secured by the dealership.
You can get a little more attention by doing what Customer Relations asked you to do.
If the car's under warranty, go ahead and leave it and get a loaner car (you should be able to do this because it's going to be a warranty repair related to a possible consumer services issue).
If you send a note to Acura Customer Care via Twitter, just before you take the car in, they will follow up with the dealer, usually within 12 hours.
At least, that's how it was for me about a year ago when they were troubleshooting the wind noise for me.
I found this in the documentation for the MDX, but it might work for our system also. If it happens again, and you would like to make that message go away fast you can press the MENU and INFO button together. As i said this is for the MDX, but it might work on ours. This way you will not have to wait for the system to be functional.
Let us know if this works, if you don't mind.
I found this in the documentation for the MDX, but it might work for our system also. If it happens again, and you would like to make that message go away fast you can press the MENU and INFO button together. As i said this is for the MDX, but it might work on ours.
Wow. Thanks, pgeorg. The MENU+INFO maneuver works fine on the SH-AWD. I can't be sure that the NAV system is fully ready in all regards, but this does instantly bring back the rest of the center stack functionality without having to wait for the NAV reboot. My NAV reboots usually only take ten or so seconds, so I don't know what might happen for a more serious "Power lost" message. Hopefully Lonestar will see this thread and try it. In any case, it works great for me and gets around the delay when I get a "power Lost" screen.
I found this in the documentation for the MDX, but it might work for our system also. If it happens again, and you would like to make that message go away fast you can press the MENU and INFO button together. As i said this is for the MDX, but it might work on ours. This way you will not have to wait for the system to be functional. Let us know if this works, if you don't mind.
Thanks much pgeorg for this tip. It works every time to instantly bring back the functionality of the system. I'm using it 2 or 3 times a week. Maybe Acura will develop a true fix for this issue but at least for now it is a great work around.
I'm posting to this thread to let all the participants/followers know about the available update. I will follow up in a couple of weeks to let you know if the update eliminates my reboots/lost power.
01-15-2016, 08:34 AM
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