MFT Freezing and restarting a lot over the past two weeks!

[uscrules1]

After having the car for almost a year and 11,000+ miles with little to no problems, the MFT system has really started to act up over the past two weeks and it's driving me crazy.

The main screen is freezing up and not taking any inputs. The time is frozen, station, climate etc. I can change the radio station from the dash but it's a pain since the seek/next channel button doesn't work.

Turning off the car results in a fix sometimes but is difficult to do when it dies and I'm on the freeway! After having the car off for about 36 hours, I got back in and the dash was still frozen. I had to resort to pulling the fuse - I don't think I should ever have to do this.

Other times it would freeze for just a little bit and then restart automatically. Other times it wouldn't bring up reverse camera. All of this just started!

I've been on 2.11 for a few months and haven't done anything to change the system so I don't know what has brought these problems on.

I have been totally in love with the system when it's working but these hiccups over the past two weeks are making me mad! Any fixes? Any reason why it started now?

 

[dco43054]

So has anything changed in the MFT environment recently? Added a phone? Added a bunch of contacts to your phone? You haven't mentioned what you have plugged in/attached, like music, etc.

And you don't say whether you have Nav - but if so, have you checked the map card?

Not that hardware can't go bad, but this thing is so software driven, and has such heavy demands at startup and changes that I would be looking at something like that.

First thing I would do is turn off the auto update of the phonebook if it is still on, disconnect everything else from the unit, and then see how it reacts. If it runs fine, then I would start layering back in the attached devices and see which one causes it to have problems.

Or if nothing is attached, then I'd take it straight to the dealer for warranty work.

 

[MrBlonde]

After having the car for almost a year and 11,000+ miles with little to no problems, the MFT system has really started to act up over the past two weeks and it's driving me crazy.

I agree and am experiencing the same issue. Can't explain it since sync is not tied to anything that updates or changes automatically to my knowledge.

I'd had periodic lockups in the past, but over the past say 3 weeks, it's been literally every other day minimum. Many times, I will have a black screen at startup. It takes a power cycle of the car and then it will go to the Sync maintenance screen. The other times it has simply froze at whatever screen it is on. This takes the always-fun contortionistic fuse-pull to resolve.

One thing, I believe those of us with Navigation have more issues. Most of my lockups that occur during use are with an ongoing route.

I'm nearing 36,000 miles on mine so I'm going to take it in and make sure I don't have some sort of hardware problem. REALLY looking forward to the big update...

(I'm on v2.11 since it came out on usb).

 

[Sgt1411]

I have also noticed an increase in frozen screens last few weeks.

It simply locks up and wouldn't allow any inputs. Lasts for a minute or two then corrects itself. Running v2.11 dealer installed.

No new inputs on my system......same iPhone4 only device connected, couple hundred phone contacts. iPod 3rd generation always connected through USB.

 

[StunnedMonkey]

Must be something in the air. I've had more sudden black screen reboots in the last three weeks than I had in the first 6 months. That, and almost constant bluetooth disappearing acts. The Magic Update can't arrive soon enough.

 

[Flying68]

I had my 1st lockup, requiring a fuse pull. All the other times, the system corrected when I cycled the ignition, not this time though. BTW, does anyone know how to actually get to that damn fuse if you actually have a roadside emergency. I had to grab a socket and loosen the two screws at the front of the close out panel, then pull the dang thing far enough to actually get my arm in far enough to pull the fuse. I don't see how anybody could actually get to it while that panel is still attached.

 

[MrBlonde]

I had my 1st lockup, requiring a fuse pull. All the other times, the system corrected when I cycled the ignition, not this time though. BTW, does anyone know how to actually get to that damn fuse if you actually have a roadside emergency. I had to grab a socket and loosen the two screws at the front of the close out panel, then pull the dang thing far enough to actually get my arm in far enough to pull the fuse. I don't see how anybody could actually get to it while that panel is still attached.

It can be done (reference my contortionist requirement noted above) but anyone who would design an MS-based system without a reset/reboot button somewhere handy should have their head examined. Pulling off of the road to fix a lockup (when they know they are going to occur) is unacceptable.

Ford's Beta testers on the original MFT/Sync OS were either moron's or simply ignored over marketing or deadlines - this thing was no where near ready for release...

 

[dco43054]

I got one a couple weeks ago at the same time as the change in my Sirius subscription, but other than that, I have not experienced any lockups.

 

[1995E]

I had the same problems. Everything froze and my SYNC lady went away. Everything came back to normal oddly enough. I don't know if the cold weather has anything to do with it.

 

[FordIVTteam]

Hey everyone!

Let's clear some memory on your MFTs by doing a Master Reset:

MENU > SETTINGS > SYSTEM > MASTER RESET

While your MFT is resetting, reboot or do a battery pull on your phone. Like dco43054 said, don't connect everything back up at once. Add your phone, then your media player, etc. Give it a couple days to see if you're still getting frozen screens and reboots.

Rebecca

 

[harlenm]

I've been having a lot of issues the last few weeks as well. 2 lock ups in one day, one ended up doing a reset on its own. Nav has really been killing me lately. I used it twice in the last 4 weeks to actually get to a destination I was unaware of, and both times it locked up requiring me to pull over and restart the car. The first time I ended up in one of the worst sections of Trenton, NJ, not somewhere I want to get stuck. Totally unacceptable and I am waiting for the new upgrade desperately.

In the last 2 weeks, I've probably had 5-6 lockups, and I'm on my last straw with this car.

 

[MrBlonde]

Maybe it is the cold.

Yesterday it started lagging between screens. In fact, I actually backed out of the driveway and drove 1/2 a mile with the backup camera on before it switched back to the home screens!

Concurrently, the Nav starts popping up that it is not working properly and need to take my car in for service. I did a fuse pull this morning and it has resolved it for now. I guess I will do a master reset yet again but I am sick to death of reloading all of my saved destinations.

I am SO looking forward to this update in January...

 

[dco43054]

I guess one important question is "what do you call a lockup?"

My definition is when MFT freezes, will do nothing, and when you leave it alone for 5 minutes it still does nothing, and turning the car off/on does not clear it.

I have gotten some instances of the system lagging for 10 to 30 seconds after pressing the voice button. When that happens, I do nothing so I don't stack commands in the processor, and then I wait for the system to finish whatever it is it is doing in the background, and then it is fine again. That has happened at least once a week while I have owned the car for the past 6 months.

I am going to try a master reset top see if that clears things. Just haven't gotten around to it yet.

 

[HDJulie]

Maybe it is the cold.

Yesterday it started lagging between screens. In fact, I actually backed out of the driveway and drove 1/2 a mile with the backup camera on before it switched back to the home screens!

Concurrently, the Nav starts popping up that it is not working properly and need to take my car in for service. I did a fuse pull this morning and it has resolved it for now. I guess I will do a master reset yet again but I am sick to death of reloading all of my saved destinations.

I am SO looking forward to this update in January...

Not January -- that's already been stated. My guess is March.

 

[gdecamp]

Not January -- that's already been stated. My guess is March.

Maybe the Easter Bunny will bring it if we have to wait any longer...

 

[Sgt1411]

Given the level of owner frustration out there with MFT, some even using their Lemon Law rights or selling. Combining all that with all the negative media coverage, you would think releasing it sooner rather then later would be better for everyone.

 

[gdecamp]

Given the level of owner frustration out there with MFT, some even using their Lemon Law rights or selling. Combining all that with all the negative media coverage, you would think releasing it sooner rather then later would be better for everyone.

You said it! It's like another slap in the face from Ford!

 

[1995E]

Given the level of owner frustration out there with MFT, some even using their Lemon Law rights or selling. Combining all that with all the negative media coverage, you would think releasing it sooner rather then later would be better for everyone.

Maybe they aren't going to just throw a temporary solution at us but rather actually TEST the software and perfect it so we don't bash it anymore. At this point however, with the constantly reoccurring problems. I'm not surprised if it turns out to be hardware that's the main issue.

 

[dco43054]

Given the level of owner frustration out there with MFT, some even using their Lemon Law rights or selling. Combining all that with all the negative media coverage, you would think releasing it sooner rather then later would be better for everyone.

You said it! It's like another slap in the face from Ford!

Maybe they aren't going to just throw a temporary solution at us but rather actually TEST the software and perfect it so we don't bash it anymore. At this point however, with the constantly reoccurring problems. I'm not surprised if it turns out to be hardware that's the main issue.

Yep - I'd hope the delay was because they continue to test to make sure it really works and doesn't just provide additional problems - that and the logistics of creating the fulfillment apparatus for all of the USB sticks and materials they have to send out, getting their customer services folks up to speed, etc.

Now if this new release is a dud - then the delay certainly will not have been worth the wait. But I'm willing to wait in the hopes they are really trying to do it right. We'll see what the outcome is in a couple months.

 

[dco43054]

Hey everyone!

Let's clear some memory on your MFTs by doing a Master Reset:

MENU > SETTINGS > SYSTEM > MASTER RESET

I am going to try a master reset top see if that clears things. Just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Well that was interesting. Did a master reset as I was heading out the drive and off to work. It took a few minutes. When it came back up, I had my radio presets, my phone was no longer connected, and none of the Sirius radio channel commands worked. ("E S P N Radio" would come back with "No USB Device connected" or somesuch...)

Thankfully, when I got back in to go home, they were working again. I don't know if it was the 15 minutes time it took to get to work that gave the processor time to restore the voice commands, or powering down/up again. But at this point, I guess I have to re-pair my phones, which is not a huge deal.

No noticeable difference in performance, but it was just one half-hour drive home.