Car wont start! Stuck in grocery store parking lot

[tpedwards]

Fascinating. As I read this thread, I wondered what might happen if an update began over WiFi, and I drove away in the car. It would disconnect from WiFi and likely not be able to resume (zero cell reception at my house for all carriers). What would happen then? Connection was fine when it was parked in the garage, but not once I left my garage.

 

[scottm]

You can't drive while an update is applying itself, won't let you.
The car warns you of this when you accept to install the software.

So.. there is no applying and driving at the same time.

If the whole payload does not come down while downloading the new software, you won't advance to the install stage. It won't offer to install half a package.

 

[apacheguy]

This is likely because something reset from the first drive after he parked it. Once reset, the firmware.rc mismatch caused the lockout. It could even be the car didn't fully go to sleep after the update failure.

This would make sense. Mine always stays awake for a considerable amount of time after performing a software update before going to sleep.

 

[Ingineer]

Yes, once you see the alarm clock everything has already completely downloaded. Internet is no longer needed to deploy the update.

Here's the full process: Once an update is ready on the server for your particular car, the package is then downloaded in the background and even if it gets interrupted, it can resume. Once the download is complete the signature is validated and if it passes, the update is then "staged" and the alarm clock appears along with the mobile app notification. When you choose to install it, (either scheduled or immediate) the updater unpacks it and generates a tarball for all the systems on your car which the Gateway then deploys.

 

[apacheguy]

And then after the update is installed it clearly does additional validation/integrity checks.

 

[Chopr147]

IDK what a tarball is but it sounds reasonable So the car downloads updates which can be interrupted , but come time to install it cannot be interrupted and the car cannot be used correct? How long do the updates take to install? I know this was asked before but I forget the answer

 

[MP3Mike]

IDK what a tarball is but it sounds reasonable So the car downloads updates which can be interrupted , but come time to install it cannot be interrupted and the car cannot be used correct? How long do the updates take to install? I know this was asked before but I forget the answer

It depends on the update. I think the normal time range is 30-150 minutes.

 

[TaoJones]

So that also happened to me in the hinterlands of Acadia NP* one rainy morning in late May. At Otter Cliffs, to be precise. Poor to no connectivity. Decided to apply an update that had arrived overnight. About an hour later, the message referenced above appeared in the IC. Da fook? Per Ownership (via a 1-bar call from the top of a nearby rocky outcropping - did I mention in the rain - woo hoo), the installation wasn't done. Sure enough, more time passed, and the car did eventually start after a couple more reboots.

Perhaps a more descriptive message would be in order. Such as "Software update in progress. Be patient."

All in all, a potentially alarming situation, as for the most part there was no connectivity. Which could have meant a looong walk, a flatbed into the park adjacent Bar Harbor, Maine and from there to who knows where the closest SC is. While Tesla has that new 500-mile towing policy, I'd have to read through it to see if such an event was covered or not. Presumably it would be, but still, that would have ended up being a multi-day pain in the (rhymes with ass).


* Acadia National Park is relatively small - there are no hinterlands, as such. FWIW, it is also the 2nd-most visited national park in the States.

 

[MP3Mike]

So that also happened to me in the hinterlands of Acadia NP* one rainy morning in late May. At Otter Cliffs, to be precise. Poor to no connectivity. Decided to apply an update that had arrived overnight. About an hour later, the message referenced above appeared in the IC. Da fook? Per Ownership (via a 1-bar call from the top of a nearby rocky outcropping - did I mention in the rain - woo hoo), the installation wasn't done. Sure enough, more time passed, and the car did eventually start after a couple more reboots.

Unless I was having major problems with my Tesla that the update was supposed to resolve I wouldn't even think of starting the update in those conditions...

 

[TaoJones]

Unless I was having major problems with my Tesla that the update was supposed to resolve I wouldn't even think of starting the update in those conditions...

Yep. Not my brightest moment.

 

[TexasEV]

This is why I only install updates overnight at home. You don't want to be stuck somewhere if something goes wrong. It's almost never an emergency to install an update-- it can wait until you're home and don't need the car for a while. That's why the default installation time is set for the middle of the night.

 

[tomas]

Yes, once you see the alarm clock everything has already completely downloaded. Internet is no longer needed to deploy the update.

Here's the full process: Once an update is ready on the server for your particular car, the package is then downloaded in the background and even if it gets interrupted, it can resume. Once the download is complete the signature is validated and if it passes, the update is then "staged" and the alarm clock appears along with the mobile app notification. When you choose to install it, (either scheduled or immediate) the updater unpacks it and generates a tarball for all the systems on your car which the Gateway then deploys.

Thanks @Ingineer
{sigh} that's why I wrote a software update wiki a couple of years ago, but nobody contributed, and it didn't get much traffic. Funny, this is topic where owners have the most questions with known answers. If there's one thing that could improve about this forum it is more prominent wikis addressing common questions, because @Ingineer's excellent factual response will get buried... and in 2 months or less, the question will just get asked again. If someone in the know isn't there to answer, some new myth will get started.

 

[ravejads.tmc]

Yes, once you see the alarm clock everything has already completely downloaded. Internet is no longer needed to deploy the update.

Here's the full process: Once an update is ready on the server for your particular car, the package is then downloaded in the background and even if it gets interrupted, it can resume. Once the download is complete the signature is validated and if it passes, the update is then "staged" and the alarm clock appears along with the mobile app notification. When you choose to install it, (either scheduled or immediate) the updater unpacks it and generates a tarball for all the systems on your car which the Gateway then deploys.

Just like your phone or your computer it should download the entire update first and then ask you to apply it.

John

 

[CHG-ON]

Yup. I am waaay too chicken to do an update away from home. I look to a previously bricked iPhone for inspiration on that topic!

 

[hiroshiy]

Just from my experience, I was once told by the Tesla service staff in Japan that some updates require Internet connection to be installed, because it is too big to hold in a car. Not sure it's correct or not. At that time our car didn't have nav at all, and with that huge update they downloaded entire nav component and entire map data for nav.

 

[Ingineer]

The service staff are not engineers and like to spew a lot of nonsense. I can't tell you how many things I've heard they've said that are outright lies.

The way the update mechanism works, it would not be possible to accomplish an update if it all could not be downloaded first, as this where the signature verification is performed.

 

[desidon]

Here we go again!!!
1. New update notification on app. Go to the car at around 10 pm and say begin.
2. Get a message in the morning on the app and car saying update failed and a new update will be sent.
3. Wife gets in to drive the car and getting the same messages as before.

The car drives with these messages on...but this time we are smart enough to park it right back in the garage.

Called Tesla 800# and they are looking at it

Do I have to get this car towed into the service center everytime I do an update? WTF!

 

[Chopr147]

Good luck.
I had gotten these messages "unable to start car" when trying to supercharge last month. Luckily the car does drive because it's a scary message when your no-where near home.
Had no problems with the update though.