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MCU failure poll #2: what *type* of failure did you have?

If you've had a MCU failure that led to a *replacement*, what was the cause?

  • Yellow banding

    Votes: 1 6.7%
  • Screen bubbling

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Phantom touch / misclicking

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Flash memory problem

    Votes: 10 66.7%
  • Screen failure / dead screen

    Votes: 4 26.7%
  • Other known cause (please list)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Unknown cause (please describe)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    15
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KarenRei

ᴉǝɹuǝɹɐʞ
Jul 18, 2017
9,618
104,600
Iceland
A followup to this thread to help break down the problems by incidence rate. This poll is only for people who had their MCU fail in a manner that required replacement. Thanks!

(If you share this poll, please only do so in threads where there's not likely to be sampling biases!)
 
Last edited:
  • Helpful
Reactions: SW2Fiddler
Contact either @TonyT or @wk057, you can mail off your module (if you are willing to disassemble your dash), and they can do it for you for much less than Tesla's cost to replace your MCU.

The real trick is if your existing flash is not so toasted as to make extracting some key files impossible. I had to go through some interesting contortions to get mine finally...
 
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Reactions: TonyT
I've heard about them leaking. Rich Rebuilds has mentioned it a couple of times. I found some liquid in the pocket below the screen that I couldn't identify and just figured my wife or kids put something in it but now I'm not so sure. My screen works fine however.
 
Contact either @TonyT or @wk057, you can mail off your module (if you are willing to disassemble your dash), and they can do it for you for much less than Tesla's cost to replace your MCU.

The real trick is if your existing flash is not so toasted as to make extracting some key files impossible. I had to go through some interesting contortions to get mine finally...
Interesting, how would I know if the flash drive is fried? I’d be willing to disassemble the dash and take out the MCU, but would not want to have the car out of commission for more rhan a week or two.
 
Interesting, how would I know if the flash drive is fried? I’d be willing to disassemble the dash and take out the MCU, but would not want to have the car out of commission for more rhan a week or two.
I'd have to let the individual folks speak to how quickly they could tunr things around for you once you ship it off to them... but I would think inside your window is more than reasonable.

As to understanding if your flash (it's a soldered-on chip, not like a removable "flash drive") is too far gone, there's no real way of knowing ahead of time now that you can't boot your MCU. It will require de-soldering the chip, mounting it on a recovery workstation, and seeing if data can be read off of it.

You really don't need all the data from it. There are about 5 critical files that allow for the VPN connection back to the tesla mothership (allowing for your app to manage your car, etc...), app-to-drive functionality, etc... if you can get those 5, most everything else can be reconstructed from alternative sources (i.e. the actual boot partitions, etc...)

Even if you don't have those critical files, you can still make your car driveable, so you can get back on the road... it just won't get updates any more, be manageable, etc...
 
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Reactions: Shadious
I've heard about them leaking. Rich Rebuilds has mentioned it a couple of times. I found some liquid in the pocket below the screen that I couldn't identify and just figured my wife or kids put something in it but now I'm not so sure. My screen works fine however.
That is the start of the screen delamination. Do NOT wait, it will get worse and it is very hard to remove. You can buy a new screen from Tesla, or go used via eBay. You have to remove the dash to get to the MCU...