TWSOD: Connectivity problems with maps, internet radio, Tesla phone app since March
I have seen a number of threads where people are experiencing different problems with maps or internet radio or such. My problem affects maps, internet radio, and the Tesla phone app. The problem is intermittent; when it occurs failure may last for 15 minutes or 10 hours. It SEEMS to happen only when the car is on 3G. I haven’t noticed it when the car is in my garage and connected via WiFi --- although I haven’t gone out to the garage periodically to check.
I’ll explain the problems below, but first let me state that this has been going on since March 2014 and covers three firmware versions. I don’t recall detailed version numbers, but in March I had not installed 5.9 yet, so I was running the previous version. In mid April, I installed 5.9. And a few days ago, a new version of 5.9 was sent and I installed it. The problems have occurred over all three firmware versions, so the problem appears independent of firmware version.
Maps: Center console maps disappear and I see only a white grid screen. The car icon (red triangle) remains on the screen and continues to rotate to indicate the car’s heading. Interestingly, the text in the upper right of the navigation screen continues to update to indicate the location, although sometime that is very slow to update. For example, I participated in the WV EV Sociability Run this past weekend. The text updated as we drove in a caravan from the APUS charging location to Shepherdstown, but the map display was only a white grid background. I telephoned the local service center once and Tesla Ownership another time during the day. (Ownership transferred me to the local service center so I ended up talking with the service center twice). Three reboots were attempted – the first one revived the maps for a short period of time, after which time they disappeared again. Two more reboots had no effect. I’ve started to refer to this as the Tesla White Screen of Death (TWSOD). Those of you familiar with the Microsoft Blue Screen of Death will understand the origin of the term. In the case of Microsoft, a BSOD could often be overcome with a reboot. But in my Tesla, reboots aren’t always working.
Navigation routing: With no maps displayed, no addresses can be entered for navigation purposes. However, and interestingly, the preplanned SuperCharger locations can be selected, and a route will be displayed on the drivers console (Navigon screen). Using that method I was able to find the Hagerstown Supercharger during the EV Sociability Run event. However, after departing Hagerstown, we were no longer in a caravan of EVs and had to navigate on our own. We needed to return independently to the APUS location for the evening events. I was afraid that I was going to have to pull the 10 year old road atlas out of the trunk and use it to find my way back. Brings back memories!! But fortunately my wife pulled out her iPhone and gave me navigation directions to return.
Internet radio: The symptoms on this failure have changed. When I had the pre 5.9 firmware installed, and then the first version of 5.9, the internet radio would stop at the same time TWSOD appeared. Now with the latest version of 5.9 installed a few days ago, internet radio appears to continue to work even when the navigation maps have quit.
Navigation map labels and traffic: Since the time these problems began, the navigation map labels (street names, traffic information) are intermittent. Sometimes the map will display correctly, sometimes it displays with no labels; but other times it is the TWSOD.
Phone app: When the TWSOD is displayed, there is no phone app connectivity. The app times out every time an attempt is made to connect. This happens with both iPhone and Android. When we were at the Hagerstown supercharger this past weekend, I was unable to connect to check the charge status of my car as we were shopping. I didn’t want to hog a spot in case someone else needed it when my charge was completed, so I put a note on the dashboard with my cell phone number so someone could call me if they needed the supercharger bay.
I have had multiple conversations with the local Service Center, and discussed this with them when the car was in for its first annual service in mid April. I have provided numerous event times (date/time when the events were occurring) to help in the investigation. I understand that multiple reports to Tesla engineering have been made concerning my situation. No one from Tesla has contacted me other than an email from Ownership stating that the local service center was contacted a month ago, so I am unaware of what investigation is ongoing. During this past weekend’s conversation with the Service Center, I was told that “something similar” has been reported by others. However, during the EV Sociability Run this past weekend, no MS owner I spoke with is experiencing similar problems.
Is anyone else experiencing these types of connectivity issues? They are very frustrating. I initially thought it might be a GPS/antenna issue, but when the text location up above the TWSOD was updating to indicate our location, that seemed to indicate the car was receiving some location information. Then I thought it might be a corrupted firmware installation, but given the problems have remained (with some slight variances such as the internet radio connection) across three firmware installations, I’m not sure this is it either.
I participate in a few car events (such as local Cars & Coffee events) and love showing the MS to others. But it is a little embarrassing --- and frankly the car does not show well --- when the navigation screen goes into TWSOD mode.
Any others having these problems? If so, are you getting any response from Tesla? My latest email to Tesla Ownership a couple of days ago has not received a response of any kind.
I have seen a number of threads where people are experiencing different problems with maps or internet radio or such. My problem affects maps, internet radio, and the Tesla phone app. The problem is intermittent; when it occurs failure may last for 15 minutes or 10 hours. It SEEMS to happen only when the car is on 3G. I haven’t noticed it when the car is in my garage and connected via WiFi --- although I haven’t gone out to the garage periodically to check.
I’ll explain the problems below, but first let me state that this has been going on since March 2014 and covers three firmware versions. I don’t recall detailed version numbers, but in March I had not installed 5.9 yet, so I was running the previous version. In mid April, I installed 5.9. And a few days ago, a new version of 5.9 was sent and I installed it. The problems have occurred over all three firmware versions, so the problem appears independent of firmware version.
Maps: Center console maps disappear and I see only a white grid screen. The car icon (red triangle) remains on the screen and continues to rotate to indicate the car’s heading. Interestingly, the text in the upper right of the navigation screen continues to update to indicate the location, although sometime that is very slow to update. For example, I participated in the WV EV Sociability Run this past weekend. The text updated as we drove in a caravan from the APUS charging location to Shepherdstown, but the map display was only a white grid background. I telephoned the local service center once and Tesla Ownership another time during the day. (Ownership transferred me to the local service center so I ended up talking with the service center twice). Three reboots were attempted – the first one revived the maps for a short period of time, after which time they disappeared again. Two more reboots had no effect. I’ve started to refer to this as the Tesla White Screen of Death (TWSOD). Those of you familiar with the Microsoft Blue Screen of Death will understand the origin of the term. In the case of Microsoft, a BSOD could often be overcome with a reboot. But in my Tesla, reboots aren’t always working.
Navigation routing: With no maps displayed, no addresses can be entered for navigation purposes. However, and interestingly, the preplanned SuperCharger locations can be selected, and a route will be displayed on the drivers console (Navigon screen). Using that method I was able to find the Hagerstown Supercharger during the EV Sociability Run event. However, after departing Hagerstown, we were no longer in a caravan of EVs and had to navigate on our own. We needed to return independently to the APUS location for the evening events. I was afraid that I was going to have to pull the 10 year old road atlas out of the trunk and use it to find my way back. Brings back memories!! But fortunately my wife pulled out her iPhone and gave me navigation directions to return.
Internet radio: The symptoms on this failure have changed. When I had the pre 5.9 firmware installed, and then the first version of 5.9, the internet radio would stop at the same time TWSOD appeared. Now with the latest version of 5.9 installed a few days ago, internet radio appears to continue to work even when the navigation maps have quit.
Navigation map labels and traffic: Since the time these problems began, the navigation map labels (street names, traffic information) are intermittent. Sometimes the map will display correctly, sometimes it displays with no labels; but other times it is the TWSOD.
Phone app: When the TWSOD is displayed, there is no phone app connectivity. The app times out every time an attempt is made to connect. This happens with both iPhone and Android. When we were at the Hagerstown supercharger this past weekend, I was unable to connect to check the charge status of my car as we were shopping. I didn’t want to hog a spot in case someone else needed it when my charge was completed, so I put a note on the dashboard with my cell phone number so someone could call me if they needed the supercharger bay.
I have had multiple conversations with the local Service Center, and discussed this with them when the car was in for its first annual service in mid April. I have provided numerous event times (date/time when the events were occurring) to help in the investigation. I understand that multiple reports to Tesla engineering have been made concerning my situation. No one from Tesla has contacted me other than an email from Ownership stating that the local service center was contacted a month ago, so I am unaware of what investigation is ongoing. During this past weekend’s conversation with the Service Center, I was told that “something similar” has been reported by others. However, during the EV Sociability Run this past weekend, no MS owner I spoke with is experiencing similar problems.
Is anyone else experiencing these types of connectivity issues? They are very frustrating. I initially thought it might be a GPS/antenna issue, but when the text location up above the TWSOD was updating to indicate our location, that seemed to indicate the car was receiving some location information. Then I thought it might be a corrupted firmware installation, but given the problems have remained (with some slight variances such as the internet radio connection) across three firmware installations, I’m not sure this is it either.
I participate in a few car events (such as local Cars & Coffee events) and love showing the MS to others. But it is a little embarrassing --- and frankly the car does not show well --- when the navigation screen goes into TWSOD mode.
Any others having these problems? If so, are you getting any response from Tesla? My latest email to Tesla Ownership a couple of days ago has not received a response of any kind.
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