Preventive eMMC replacement on MCU1

[LuckyLuke]

I'm considering the same. My MCU crashed a few weeks ago when I tried to switch language. It never came back from a reboot, screen stayed black no matter what I (and Tesla phone support) tried. Car was driveable but no air/heat/music/connectivity, and CID was in miles/h instead of km/h. Took it to service, they had to reinstall firmware twice and then it was back alive. Safe to assume my emmc is starting to corrupt and needs to be replaced before it fails completely.

I'm in the process of sourcing the chip/reader and reading about how to remove the dash&mcu, found this tut:
Fix.My.EV: Tesla Model-S Repair Manual
(although I'm not sure the complete top of the dash needs to be unclipped and removed, just loosen the part above the mcu should be enough)

I can also point you to an experienced technician who can replace the emmc bga for you, he actually lives close to you so you might contact him, his name is Dennis his details are on www.allsystemsgo.nl. (say hi from me if you contact him!) he does all kinds of crazy expert repair work on phones, tablets, laptops etc.

I can confirm this method works, I have had Dennis to replace the busted Hynix emmc chip with a new Swissbit 16GB chip and my mcu is now fully fixed.
Sounds easy but took some iterations because the contents of my Hynix chip were so busted it would not read the firmware partition correctly when we programmed and soldered the first time. This can be fixed relatively easy if you can find the correct firmware file somewhere. Took me a while to find this out. So make sure the contents you flash to the new chip are 100% valid.

Will do Wido's car next month and take some pictures/video's to write a nice blog here on tmc since the original tutorial on fixmyev/diyelectric car seems taken down for some reason.

 

[T.R.T.e.s.l.a.]

I can confirm this method works, I have had Dennis to replace the busted Hynix emmc chip with a new Swissbit 16GB chip and my mcu is now fully fixed.
Sounds easy but took some iterations because the contents of my Hynix chip were so busted it would not read the firmware partition correctly when we programmed and soldered the first time. This can be fixed relatively easy if you can find the correct firmware file somewhere. Took me a while to find this out. So make sure the contents you flash to the new chip are 100% valid.

Will do Wido's car next month and take some pictures/video's to write a nice blog here on tmc since the original tutorial on fixmyev/diyelectric car seems taken down for some reason.

View attachment 428172

Thank you!
Will there be and "easy" fix for all the MCU 1 out there?

 

[widodh]

Thank you!
Will there be and "easy" fix for all the MCU 1 out there?

It will not be easy. But if you have somebody who was done this before it should be relatively easy.

@Lucky Luke did all the hard work, but next month (first spot we could find in our calendar) we will do it on my Model S from 2013 with MCU 1. We'll make videos, take pictures and write a proper howto (as good as we can) on how to do this.

 

[Broker]

Hi everybody,
I am new at this fantastic website, greetings to all members.

I´m the manager of a fleet of Tesla Model S with more than 13 millions kilometers accumulated with all these cars, with big experience with problems Model S as door handles, air condition system, headlight daylight led, drive unit, inverter, MCU and so on.

The problem of MCU black screen is a big and serious problem of this manufacturer, for to reasons: yellow border by degradation of TFT pannel (ALL our cars are with this) that is because the TFT pannel is not a Grade A for automotive applications and the second and most important for me is the black screen (after to replace 2 MCU at Tesla, paying, we have 10 cars more with this problem).

After several claims to Tesla service center in Spain about this topic without a solution (at this moment only solution is to pay 2.485€ spare part with labour plus tax).

Isn't a problem of a total big milleage, we have cars with problems with 100k, 120k, 160k, 180k of kilometers, meanwhile other cars with 250k and 270k are running without problems

We checked mainly that the problem with the eMMc come when the car has some time stopped, 1-2 months and one day re-starting again, after 2-3 days the screen off to black.

Is a problem of design of the computer of system with components without a satifactory and approved quaility control for a car maker.

Just a details...
- How is possible that the first screen included at car only have a warranty of 80k kilometers? but when you repair an MCU paying 3.000€ you have 4 years...
- Tesla don't sell MCU as spare part independent you must to give your old MCU to interchange by other to factory (after to pay 3.000€???).
- Why Tesla don´t sell as split spare part these 3 parts: 17" touchscreen, processor card and mainboard?

At this moment the better tips for to keep the good health of you MCU is to delete memory of device and making factory reset each 2-3 months.

I´m trying to obtain firmware for to repair these screens.

The better news are that I don`t have a battery with problem, have cars with more than 270.000 kilometers having 6% of degradation, charging everyday at supercharger, good work Mr Musk with BMS and battery, but you have a lot of problems of quality control that you must to solve asap.

 

[McMetric]

Hi,

same issue here, would like to swap the emmc before it dies. CPO warranty is over
Already got the 64gb Swissbit, the Allsocket and someone who can solder/unsolder the emmc (phone/computer repair shop)
Root access via Etnet did not work, so lets go the other way, hardware. Car is still 2018.50 / 2014 AP1 S85

I also got a second complete and working MCU from a salvage car. Will unsolder and dd that emmc first to see if that works.
This also seems to be the perfect timing to install root access. Got the (now deleted) pages from Quantum, but I need to polish up my Linux skills.

 

[MP3Mike]

- Tesla don't sell MCU as spare part independent you must to give your old MCU to interchange by other to factory (after to pay 3.000€???).

In the US state laws require that they return the old part to you if you request it in advance. They can charge a "core" charge for this, but Tesla has yet to do that from what I have seen.

 

[widodh]

Hi,

same issue here, would like to swap the emmc before it dies. CPO warranty is over
Already got the 64gb Swissbit, the Allsocket and someone who can solder/unsolder the emmc (phone/computer repair shop)
Root access via Etnet did not work, so lets go the other way, hardware. Car is still 2018.50 / 2014 AP1 S85

I also got a second complete and working MCU from a salvage car. Will unsolder and dd that emmc first to see if that works.
This also seems to be the perfect timing to install root access. Got the (now deleted) pages from Quantum, but I need to polish up my Linux skills.

If you replace the eMMC getting root access is easy. Won't post it online as Tesla will then block that route in a next update

 

[T.R.T.e.s.l.a.]

At this moment the better tips for to keep the good health of you MCU is to delete memory of device and making factory reset each 2-3 months.

I´m trying to obtain firmware for to repair these screens.

Having one emmc going wrong is bad enough, but having several is must be a nightmare!

How do you delete the emmc memory?
Don't factory resets create other issues?

 

[tga]

At this moment the better tips for to keep the good health of you MCU is to delete memory of device and making factory reset each 2-3 months.

So your solution to the "excessive writes cause the eMMC flash to fail" problem is to trigger more writes to it? Yeah, that'll work well...

 

[MP3Mike]

Isn't a problem of a total big milleage, we have cars with problems with 100k, 120k, 160k, 180k of kilometers, meanwhile other cars with 250k and 270k are running without problems

Correct, it isn't mileage that causes the eMMC failure, it is up-time on the MCU. So a car driven at high speed for the same mileage as a car driven at low speed would have less eMMC wear. (i.e. a Taxi is likely to have much higher eMMC wear as the car is up and running a lot more of the time vs. parked and sleeping.) If you have an app, say TeslaFi, keeping the MCU awake because of polling it will cause the eMMC to fail sooner than if you don't have the app and the MCU is allowed to properly sleep.

 

[Broker]

Hi,

same issue here, would like to swap the emmc before it dies. CPO warranty is over
Already got the 64gb Swissbit, the Allsocket and someone who can solder/unsolder the emmc (phone/computer repair shop)
Root access via Etnet did not work, so lets go the other way, hardware. Car is still 2018.50 / 2014 AP1 S85

I also got a second complete and working MCU from a salvage car. Will unsolder and dd that emmc first to see if that works.
This also seems to be the perfect timing to install root access. Got the (now deleted) pages from Quantum, but I need to polish up my Linux skills.

Inside eMMC have the VIN number

Having one emmc going wrong is bad enough, but having several is must be a nightmare!

How do you delete the emmc memory?
Don't factory resets create other issues?

Factory reset clean the user memory at MCU as some LOGs, addresses

 

[brkaus]

Inside eMMC have the VIN number


Factory reset clean the user memory at MCU as some LOGs, addresses

Memory is “cleaned” by writing to it. That creates more wear.

 

[Broker]

Memory is “cleaned” by writing to it. That creates more wear.

We have two possible problems with the component:
- Memory wear, created by the limitation of flash memory with a finite number of erase cycles, tipically available flash products like Hynix have more than 100.000 cycles and some manufacturarers have more than 500.000 cycles. Some cars with this problem don't have this used number cycles for this.

- Read disturb, an eMMC have three internal blocks, core, flash memory, interface and controller, the problem is created by the method used for to read NAND flash memory, that is some surrounding cells in the same memory block sometimes are over-programmed at case that if the flash controller don't clean each cell when the limit objetive of registers are exceeded.

 

[Cross]

Since the loss of eMMC/MCU-service life is also caused by ageing due to temperature, it makes sense during eMMC replacement to free up/ enlarge the ventilation holes? IMHO 7/8 of the bottom air flow is blocked on my S85D from '2015 - anybody can confirm? (simply remove MCU drawer)

 

[possum22]

My MCU in my 01/2015 build Model S 85 started failing 2 months out of warranty(4yrs 4mths old) with 20,500 km, I brought the car with just under 8000kms at 3.4 yrs old.

Tesla have quoted me about $3,800AUD to replace the MCU, bluetooth antenna and back-up camera, after trying to fix it remotely.

The last reset caused the screen to stay off and HVAC to stay on, the car now dosen't charge, so I have pull out the MCU, I got a 64GB eMMc, and back up the old eMMc to the new eMMc as per the procedure linked in this thread.

 

[rooter]

... We'll make videos, take pictures and write a proper howto (as good as we can) on how to do this.

I'm tellin' you. Better not. You'll get shut out by those who matter. Notice that Luke isn't sharing any details?

I'm the author and I'm still down. Got some help from an old friend for a bit, but not lately.

My articles are 'down for some reason'? Read my note more carefully. Somebody saved my article in case -I- took it down? Be honest; you saved it case it got taken down by outside forces. Don't bite the hand that fed you.

There's an easy way to recover hard-to-read chips which was in one of my posts over there. Research recovering flash data.

 

[widodh]

I'm tellin' you. Better not. You'll get shut out by those who matter.

I'm the author and I'm still down. Got some help from an old friend for a bit, but not lately.

My articles are 'down for some reason'? Read my note more carefully.

There's an easy way to recover hard-to-read chips which was in one of my posts over there. Research recovering flash data.

I'm not saying I'll be posting it here. The internet is bigger than TMC.

As I own the car I can take it apart how I like and document anything I do with it.

What I won't do is tell people how to 'root' the MCU. I'll just tell them how to copy the eMMC to a new one.

 

[sorka]

My MCU1, which was just replaced last year, is getting into reboot loops more and more frequently. Phil isn't responding any more. I'd really like to find someone who has done the replacement before and is well qualified.

 

[sorka]

Also, I'm still on v8 and staying on it by keeping the car connected to a null wifi hotspot while it's parked. Does anyone know if that will increase local logging since the car can't reach Tesla during those times?

 

[Tozz]

Also, I'm still on v8 and staying on it by keeping the car connected to a null wifi hotspot while it's parked. Does anyone know if that will increase local logging since the car can't reach Tesla during those times?

I don't think so. The logging we are talking about is generic Linux syslogging. If you are not using Sentry the car will go asleep when you park it and then all logging will stop.

Not able to connect to Tesla's mothership might add a line here or there in the log, but a working connection might do the same. Something like 'Checking for update...', 'No updates found. Latest version is x.y.z. I am at x.y.z'.