Preventive eMMC replacement on MCU1

[SMAlset]

Hi. Then don't give up FM. Instead keep his own screen, and save $250 off the $2500. That makes swallowing the $500 for the FM radio easier. Of course he can add FM back later if he wishes, for the same price separately at $500. So, different ways of doing it.

I've read reports of at least 50 people that have upgraded to MCU2. I've seen none that said it wasn't worth it or they would not do it again.

His appt. is set before end of year. Showed him your response. He’s been communicating with Svc and said he’s going with the MCU2 upgrade and FM. He really wants the faster screen, TeslaCam and some of the games I have on my Model 3, in addition to stopping the black screen reboot issue. Don't remember if he was having the screen updated or not. Just remember him talking about it. He previously had the yellow border issue and something was swapped back then. Then he started to see the yellow border again on that screen after quite some time but their Fix (software?) for that has seemingly taken care of that. One thing I read about with regards to this updating from MCU1 is the issue of the rear camera being too dark and so far no fix coming out.

He’s MCU1, HW2.0. No plans to upgrade to FSD at this point. With everyone having different configs it’s hard to know from some posts if his rear camera will be affected with what he plans to have done. His camera now is very good at night.

 

[Akikiki]

Can anyone definitively confirm what the current MCU2 upgrade is if MCU1 fails?

Don't understand your question. Little more detail, please.

 

[Akikiki]

His appt. is set before end of year. Showed him your response. He’s been communicating with Svc and said he’s going with the MCU2 upgrade and FM. He really wants the faster screen, TeslaCam and some of the games I have on my Model 3, in addition to stopping the black screen reboot issue. Don't remember if he was having the screen updated or not. Just remember him talking about it. He previously had the yellow border issue and something was swapped back then. Then he started to see the yellow border again on that screen after quite some time but their Fix (software?) for that has seemingly taken care of that. One thing I read about with regards to this updating from MCU1 is the issue of the rear camera being too dark and so far no fix coming out.

He’s MCU1, HW2.0. No plans to upgrade to FSD at this point. With everyone having different configs it’s hard to know from some posts if his rear camera will be affected with what he plans to have done. His camera now is very good at night.

Someone on TM's forum pointed out that the part number and the product are different for MCU2 when one has the screen and the other does not come with the screen (because the owner is re-using the screen). The poster was complaining because he had changed his mind and now wanted without screen, and the SC is not permitted by internal policy to simply remove their screen and put his on, so they must now order another from Tesla supply - delaying his installation (and appt) by at least 2 weeks. Word for the wise here.

The yellowing started from a batch of screen in late '16 through '17. His and mine were right smack in the middle. They too replaced mine with another (a new one) in Jan '18. And it started again in less than a year. The problem was not solved by putting another of the same batch in the car. However, the fix was not software. It was UV. The material in under the glass was not cured. It needed more cooking. So, Tesla started using a screen size UV light to cure the goop. Still a problem persisted. Some SCs didn't cure the UV long enough, it could take more than 8 hours. Some longer. So, removing it too soon, was short of a complete repair/fix. And it returned - and now they need to return. But its still fixable. They will likely put the light on it when they have the car for the MCU2 upgrade even without him asking them to fix it.

Probably a good decision to not upgrade to FSD right now. Save the $$$. But, but, there's many reports that SCs have been installing the FSD hardware in the cars with MCU2 Upgrade anyway. Why? No explanation. And anyone getting the FSD hardware for free, without the FSD purchase - well they ain't complaining. Maybe they are doing it because they hope he will buy it later. Maybe they purchased FSD hardware for every promised car and got such a deal it was same price if they had done half as many. We don't know. For us, its a win so why even ask? So, why not buy now? Because EM and Tesla have unexpectedly without fanfare dropped the price on stuff for a fire sale or something. FSD was cut 50%+ a while back. Only risk in waiting is it might go up again, like it did recently. But a week or so ago, he discounted it again to its former price. So why not wait? eh?

Edit:
I forgot to talk about the rear camera. yes, I noticed at night when no other lights are helping its darker. But I drove 47 years without a rear camera. I know how to back up without a rear camera when its difficult to use or see. So, this is a not important and minor issue to me.

 

[SMAlset]

@Akikiki, We both had bought our cars with EAP and I did upgrade mine during the Half off sale back in that March timeframe when they had announced it. Only cost me $2K additional which I thought was a good deal. I recall and suggested he do so too then but he didn’t. Not sure if he ever will but he has mention it off and on. Right now with WFH (and his company said recently not to expect any return to office until at least June 2021), not as compelling to do. Will be interesting to see what happens part-wise when he goes for his upgrade.

Since you had your MS’s MCU2 upgrade, am curious how you get the TeslaCam using a USB. Where does it get inserted? He has Sentry thru current software updates but I didn’t think the older MSs had the capability to use a USB device.

 

[Boeingpilot]

As a follow up. Was at SC and they performed some sort of diagnostic stating the eMMC was healthy. Now they say it is a firmware issue that is known, waiting on a fix.

No doubt this is what people are saying is a kernel issue.

so basically, it looks like living with issues until a MCU2 upgrade

 

[tga]

When did this become a Linux kernel issue? Original excessive eMMC wear was due to excessive logging, which was turned down in a prior software release. Logging is application-level code, not kernel code.

If you're out of warranty, you can either pay proactively for a new Tegra board (like I did), wait for it to fail (and get it free, hopefully, under the terms of the recently-extended warranty on the part). If you're still under the 4/50 warranty your eMMC is probably to new to fail since it had little abuse on the excessive logging versions before it was fixed.

 

[Akikiki]

@tga, there's something going on that's not become clear or a pattern yet. A few people have posted here and on TM forum that Tesla won't even fix their cars if they proactively pay for the Tegra board replacement. I believe is a supply issue - shortage of Tegra boards. But some people are even waiting longer than usual for MCU2 upgrades. Again, I think its shortage of parts.

There was a lot of people in mid summer and early fall that opted for paying for their own board - even a few that were hurting. So, I think it used up quickly the supply that Tesla had for months to come. So now, they are cautious what they take in and fix and wish to only fix those that are dead or near dead. I think they are trying to keep crippled cars on the road until they have ample resources to fix anything.

I suspect you will agree with me, that we really don't care what's causing the eMMCs to fail, something is causing it. Its beyond our pay grade to do anything about the cause, we just tired of hearing its happening. There a couple of really smart people that have been studying the failing eMMCs. Two people on different continents are saying its not just the "media space" the cells that are worn out. The eMMC's controller is also a main cause. For instance one has reported the controller is not reading data the same every place/way every time. And it should be behaving the same way. (I'm at a temporary loss for exactly how he explained it.) Point is, a couple of smart folks are convinced its also a bad/flaky controller on the eMMC. Nice they are doing that. But as owners we just know its failing. Right?

 

[Boeingpilot]

Interestingly the SC service advisor (who is an ok guy) pretty much was encouraging me to do an MCU2 upgrade once I mentioned I was considering it

My concern is I’ll drop $3k (won’t do it without the FM/XM radio) and then the MCU2 will have issues

 

[TonyT]

As a follow up. Was at SC and they performed some sort of diagnostic stating the eMMC was healthy. Now they say it is a firmware issue that is known, waiting on a fix.

No doubt this is what people are saying is a kernel issue.

so basically, it looks like living with issues until a MCU2 upgrade

Can you post what version your on? We have noticed from time to time there seems to be some versions that cause crashes, however we didn't get enough info seeing it was a widespread problem. It should be helpful to track this if people with known good emmcs seeing repeated crashing on specific versions.

 

[Boeingpilot]

Can you post what version your on? We have noticed from time to time there seems to be some versions that cause crashes, however we didn't get enough info seeing it was a widespread problem. It should be helpful to track this if people with known good emmcs seeing repeated crashing on specific versions.

2020.36.11

 

[hybridbear]

Can anyone definitively confirm what the current MCU2 upgrade is if MCU1 fails?

$2500 plus tax for MCU2 upgrade. I just asked my local SC. They did not give me the option to save $ by not changing the screen, they just said it's $2500 plus tax.

 

[tga]

@tga, there's something going on that's not become clear or a pattern yet. A few people have posted here and on TM forum that Tesla won't even fix their cars if they proactively pay for the Tegra board replacement. I believe is a supply issue - shortage of Tegra boards. But some people are even waiting longer than usual for MCU2 upgrades. Again, I think its shortage of parts.

There was a lot of people in mid summer and early fall that opted for paying for their own board - even a few that were hurting. So, I think it used up quickly the supply that Tesla had for months to come. So now, they are cautious what they take in and fix and wish to only fix those that are dead or near dead. I think they are trying to keep crippled cars on the road until they have ample resources to fix anything.

I suspect you will agree with me, that we really don't care what's causing the eMMCs to fail, something is causing it. Its beyond our pay grade to do anything about the cause, we just tired of hearing its happening. There a couple of really smart people that have been studying the failing eMMCs. Two people on different continents are saying its not just the "media space" the cells that are worn out. The eMMC's controller is also a main cause. For instance one has reported the controller is not reading data the same every place/way every time. And it should be behaving the same way. (I'm at a temporary loss for exactly how he explained it.) Point is, a couple of smart folks are convinced its also a bad/flaky controller on the eMMC. Nice they are doing that. But as owners we just know its failing. Right?

Agree on your estimate that it's a supply shortage. Probably more repairs than expected. I expect them to refurb the old boards with new eMMC parts, then rotate back into inventory.

Agree that people just want their cars fixed. But my point is just that it's a hardware issue, not software/kernel. The eMMC's controller and flash memory cells are on the same BGA part; it's a hardware failure of the eMMC chip. There's no software bug to be fixed, so it's not a kernel issue.

 

[MP3Mike]

Agree that people just want their cars fixed. But my point is just that it's a hardware issue, not software/kernel. The eMMC's controller and flash memory cells are on the same BGA part; it's a hardware failure of the eMMC chip. There's no software bug to be fixed, so it's not a kernel issue.

So you're positive that there couldn't possibly be any other, software, issue that causes reboots as well?

 

[tga]

So you're positive that there couldn't possibly be any other, software, issue that causes reboots as well?

Of course not. But this thread is about eMMC failures. Those are hardware, not software problems. The excessive wear was caused by excessive logging (not kernel code), which was dialed back way back when. That's the only software issue related to eMMC failure, and it has nothing to do with the kernel.

 

[MP3Mike]

Of course not. But this thread is about eMMC failures. Those are hardware, not software problems. The excessive wear was caused by excessive logging (not kernel code), which was dialed back way back when. That's the only software issue related to eMMC failure, and it has nothing to do with the kernel.

Sure, but how do you know that your symptoms are the result of a eMMC hardware failure, and not a software problem? (People have reported similar problems even after having the Tegra daughtercard replaced.)

 

[tga]

People have reported similar problems even after having the Tegra daughtercard replaced.

I hadn't heard that

 

[mymagiccarpet]

Don't understand your question. Little more detail, please.

MCU1 fails, you go in for replacement with MCU1, and then opt to upgrade to MCU2 - how much does that cost, can anyone confirm?

 

[brkaus]

MCU1 fails, you go in for replacement with MCU1, and then opt to upgrade to MCU2 - how much does that cost, can anyone confirm?

Several have said the MCU price is fixed regardless of the health of the MCU1. I believe I read one got an actual discount.

 

[Akikiki]

@mymagiccarpet, ahh. thanks for the clarification.

Hundreds of us now have paid one of two prices for MCU2, and as @brkaus mentioned, no difference just because there's a MCU1 problem.

The MCU2 Upgrade is $2500. includes labor charge, plus you pay your local taxes. It includes a new screen. They keep your old one. Or you pay a core charge between $600-$1,000 to keep the old MCU.

If you opt to let service re-use your existing MCU's screen, they reduce the price by $250 to $2250 still includes labor charge, plus you pay local taxes. They keep your old MCU, less the screen, since it goes back in your car. Same thing about the core charge.

We've recently learned that Tesla uses to different part numbers for MCU2 depending on one w/screen and one w/o screen. While technically, the MCUs are the same/interchangeable, they will not remove the screen to use your screen. Said another way, If you turn in a work request and inform them you want the new screen, they order a replacement MCU2 with the new screen. Then you change your mind and show up for the service and tell them you want to use your old screen to save $250. They won't disassemble the new MCU2 and remove the screen to put your screen on it. They will order another MCU2 without the screen and call you back in for service to service your car using your old screen. Its that delay because we change our mind that is annoying some people. But its on them for not following through on their initial request.

 

[mymagiccarpet]

@mymagiccarpet, ahh. thanks for the clarification.

Hundreds of us now have paid one of two prices for MCU2, and as @brkaus mentioned, no difference just because there's a MCU1 problem.

The MCU2 Upgrade is $2500. includes labor charge, plus you pay your local taxes. It includes a new screen. They keep your old one. Or you pay a core charge between $600-$1,000 to keep the old MCU.

If you opt to let service re-use your existing MCU's screen, they reduce the price by $250 to $2250 still includes labor charge, plus you pay local taxes. They keep your old MCU, less the screen, since it goes back in your car. Same thing about the core charge.

We've recently learned that Tesla uses to different part numbers for MCU2 depending on one w/screen and one w/o screen. While technically, the MCUs are the same/interchangeable, they will not remove the screen to use your screen. Said another way, If you turn in a work request and inform them you want the new screen, they order a replacement MCU2 with the new screen. Then you change your mind and show up for the service and tell them you want to use your old screen to save $250. They won't disassemble the new MCU2 and remove the screen to put your screen on it. They will order another MCU2 without the screen and call you back in for service to service your car using your old screen. Its that delay because we change our mind that is annoying some people. But its on them for not following through on their initial request.

Thanks Akikiki.

They sure are not helping themselves. If upgrade was sub $1k at the time when they have to replace it anyways, many would opt for that.
It would them in several ways to do it that way, not to mention happier customers
Similarly, for those affected with #batterygate, if they said they'd replace the batteries, or offer upgrade for a few $k, many would opt to upgrade. This would help Tesla and make customers happier. But they haven't even attempted step 1 of this, let alone step 2.