# Virtual Cockpit won't switch on.



## AdamA9 (Jul 8, 2011)

Morning guys. En route to work and looked down and noticed my virtual cockpit had switched off.

Pulled over and tried switching the car off etc. but nothing seems to get it back on. Obviously I don't want to break the speed limit, so any ideas as to what I might be able to try to get it back on?

Thanks.


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## noname (Aug 20, 2015)

Off like when the car is parked so no back-illumination at all or is black illuminated?
Anyway, if it doesn't restart after work, the only hard reset is to detache the battery but you need some tools to do that


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## AdamA9 (Jul 8, 2011)

Off as in no illumination. No noise when indicating either. Dead. Dangerous this. What with their emissions issues they really don't want this to be widespread.

Also noticed the valves in the exhaust are open (I'm in comfort) and the speaker inside that plays the sound is off. Sounds amazing.


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## Dano28 (Feb 10, 2013)

Make sure you take some pictures/video to show the dealer when they turn around, sorry can't find any codes or anything wrong


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## noname (Aug 20, 2015)

Normally In comfort the valve are closed.. Even if it restart after detached the battery, Audi should check the car anyway!


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## audinut (Oct 2, 2015)

ManuTT said:


> Normally In comfort the valve are closed.. Even if it restart after detached the battery, Audi should check the car anyway!


I always see the valve opened, no matter in what mode, everytime I look down inside the pipe, it opens. When ignition off, it opens too.

The flap is juts like in the photo (the bottom right) all the time, never seen it closed

does it suppose to be like that ?


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## BHL (Jun 1, 2015)

audinut said:


> ManuTT said:
> 
> 
> > Normally In comfort the valve are closed.. Even if it restart after detached the battery, Audi should check the car anyway!
> ...


Hi, R both exhaust supposed to be open at all times?


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## SiHancox (Sep 12, 2011)

AdamA9 said:


> Morning guys. En route to work and looked down and noticed my virtual cockpit had switched off.
> 
> Pulled over and tried switching the car off etc. but nothing seems to get it back on. Obviously I don't want to break the speed limit, so any ideas as to what I might be able to try to get it back on?
> 
> Thanks.


Crazy idea, but does the VC have a fuse and if so have you checked - not with my car at the moment so can't look at manual, but worth checking.


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## SiHancox (Sep 12, 2011)

BHL said:


> Hi, R both exhaust supposed to be open at all times?


I'm running in the Economy setting at the moment, previously tried Comfort - but when parked up the valve always appears open for both settings (only have a valve/actuator on the left, not the right side on my petrol Sport). Never checked while engine is running though so it might close then and only open again when stopped (for some technical reason), will look next time I use car.


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## noname (Aug 20, 2015)

no, the valve is open only when you turn on and off the car then is closed if you are in efficiency,auto and comfort..or individual if you have exhaust dynamic.
I have it on the left with petrol engine but maybe it's because I have left driver side.

take a look at the manual and find the fuse as they said, it's faster than detach the battery


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## Mr R (Mar 1, 2015)

AdamA9 said:


> Off as in no illumination. No noise when indicating either. Dead. Dangerous this. What with their emissions issues they really don't want this to be widespread.
> 
> Also noticed the valves in the exhaust are open (I'm in comfort) and the speaker inside that plays the sound is off. Sounds amazing.


Worrying and dangerous as you say. Keep us posted on how you get on and whether it recovers or what the dealers say.


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## AdamA9 (Jul 8, 2011)

SiHancox said:


> AdamA9 said:
> 
> 
> > Morning guys. En route to work and looked down and noticed my virtual cockpit had switched off.
> ...


I've not checked. The car is in the carpark now until tonight. I'm calling Audi to get them to look at it. The last time I started correcting problems on my Mk2 without going via Audi I had problems later down the line that I wish I'd had fixed properly.


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## AdamA9 (Jul 8, 2011)

Mr R said:


> AdamA9 said:
> 
> 
> > Off as in no illumination. No noise when indicating either. Dead. Dangerous this. What with their emissions issues they really don't want this to be widespread.
> ...


I have booked it in for Wednesday. I'll have to drive home with no speedometer. Lucky the law allows for this, however, I'm not sure traffic will be too happy with me driving slower as my roads are littered with speed traps and 20mph zones.



> A vehicle's speedometer shall at all times it is used on a road be maintained in good working order. The only exceptions to this are when:
> 
> * the speedometer became defective during the journey being undertaken, or
> * steps have been taken to have the defect remedied by replacement or repair as soon as possible.


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## blaird03 (Nov 9, 2013)

AdamA9 said:


> Mr R said:
> 
> 
> > AdamA9 said:
> ...


If it was me, I would not accept this.
AUDI should be out to collect the car and drop of loaner - the only acceptable option.


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## Mr R (Mar 1, 2015)

Have you checked the car again to see if the VC has recovered after a period of rest?


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## AdamA9 (Jul 8, 2011)

Mr R said:


> Have you checked the car again to see if the VC has recovered after a period of rest?


I won't be back to my car until tonight after work in a few hours.


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## Mr R (Mar 1, 2015)

My guess is that it will probably have fixed itself when you get back to it, in which case its probably a software bug. If its still dead, I guess its hardware...?


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## noname (Aug 20, 2015)

I think because has windows installed!! if was Apple, the vc wouldn't have blocked!!


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## SiHancox (Sep 12, 2011)

ManuTT said:


> I think because has windows installed!! if was Apple, the vc wouldn't have blocked!!


Would guess it's a power issue or hardware fault if completely dead (no illumination) - but if it was Windows software tripping up would we not see the "Blue screen of death" - only joking all you PC Windows users


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## AdamA9 (Jul 8, 2011)

There's no sound from the indicators and the Audi Heartbeat didn't sound when shutting down the car. This is the VC as I left it this morning.

I'll be heading back to the car soon. Audi still want it back whether it's working again or not to run diagnostics to see if there's an underlying fault with it or just a glitch.


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## noname (Aug 20, 2015)

If you don't have sounds,is a central unit's fault, not the vc..anyway,warranty!


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## AdamA9 (Jul 8, 2011)

ManuTT said:


> If you don't have sounds,is a central unit's fault, not the vc..anyway,warranty!


Excellent. Wonder if the unit will need replacing. Very poor if these things can just die like this. Thankfully I wasn't on one of my 500+ mile trips around the country! Should be able to get home within the speed limit. Will just switch on Waze and use that as a guide.


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## SiHancox (Sep 12, 2011)

Adam, never really noticed on mine before, but is the main VC separate from temp/fuel gauges - your pic seems to show the gauges working so power is getting to some part of the unit - probably won't work, but have you tried pressing the volume knob on the centre console. Read that can turn on and off the MMI and it will not come back on even when you start the car until pressed again, wonder if it also has some effect on the VC screen.


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## swanny78 (Oct 14, 2015)

If you have sat nav on your phone you can usually display vehicle speed on map as an option. Could be a workaround for missing Speedo until Audi fix.


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## ZephyR2 (Feb 20, 2013)

Call out Audi Assistance. Tell them the car is not legal or safe to drive and they will take it to your Audi dealer and provide you with a courtesy car.


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## Mr R (Mar 1, 2015)

SiHancox said:


> Adam, never really noticed on mine before, but is the main VC separate from temp/fuel gauges - your pic seems to show the gauges working so power is getting to some part of the unit - probably won't work, but have you tried pressing the volume knob on the centre console. Read that can turn on and off the MMI and it will not come back on even when you start the car until pressed again, wonder if it also has some effect on the VC screen.


Yes, fuel and temp gauges are just 8 led's each.

Weird that no indicator sound or main display screen.


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## TheDriver (Nov 13, 2015)

As a temp workaround, search for "Speedometer" in Apple or Android stores and download one of many for free on your mobile!


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## AdamA9 (Jul 8, 2011)

Hello!

Well surprise, the screen has come back on now. Audi want the car anyway to take a look but cannot see them finding anything as my understanding is that these cars don't cache fault codes.


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## BumBum_BumBum (Mar 10, 2015)

That suggests to me either a dampness/condensation issue with the 'control unit' or a problem with its power supply (which is separate) and I predict you won't be the only one complaining about it this winter Adam!

Any 'bugs' I've experienced with the VC such a blank or frozen screens this past summer have generally cropped up after I've washed the car or after heavy rain. However, while none of the infotainment functions would work, the speed and rev dials always persisted which led me to believe they were running on a separate, independent system to protect them from simple software lockups.

Still, having mentioned it to Audi, they seemed content with thinking there might be some sort of condensation or temperature issue with the unit and were 'looking into it'.

As you said - the system didn't throw up any fault codes as it was working again when I brought it in.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## AdamA9 (Jul 8, 2011)

BumBum_BumBum said:


> That suggests to me either a dampness/condensation issue with the 'control unit' or a problem with its power supply (which is separate) and I predict you won't be the only one complaining about it this winter Adam!
> 
> Any 'bugs' I've experienced with the VC such a blank or frozen screens this past summer have generally cropped up after I've washed the car or after heavy rain. However, while none of the infotainment functions would work, the speed and rev dials always persisted which led me to believe they were running on a separate, independent system to protect them from simple software lockups.
> 
> ...


That's interesting to know. The car isn't going back to the dealer as there will be no fault code for them to look at so a pointless exercise. They've asked that I keep an eye on it and let them know if it happens again.

Pretty poor from Audi (not the dealer, there's little they can do without a fault code). I'm tempted to lodge a complaint with them over this. Not that I expect it to go anywhere but at least it will be on their radar.


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## leopard (May 1, 2015)

The classic dealer one liner then,

"Let us know if it happens again"


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## marco968w (Mar 8, 2016)

"Thankfully I wasn't on one of my 500+ mile trips around the country!"

Did you notice when your V.C was offline and no speedo did the miles still clock up on the odometer?!?!?!
Could be a nice little work around for all those out there on limited mile lease deals!!!!!! :twisted:


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## SeacourtMike (Jul 23, 2015)

Hi,

I had this today for the first time.. It was fairly hot in the car, but stopped in Staples Car Park to get something and all was good. Got back into the car 10 mins later and all was not alright! No VC or indicator sounds... Turned it all off and restarted but no joy.

Managed to limp home avoiding all speed cameras and then started to see if a fuse might have blown but couldn't work out which one it might be and my fuse box looks different from the handbook, so was about to call audi assistance, but thought I'd try it one more time and guess what. It works.. hmm. not good. Wonder if it has something to do with the heat?

Any ideas?

Pic below.. if you look carefully you see fuel gauge and temp gauges working but nothing else..








Thanks

SeacourtMike


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## noname (Aug 20, 2015)

I don't remember how the other guy has solved the problem, but do functions like drive select, cruise control, button on the steering wheel work?
I mean the MMI unit works so it's only a cockpit' problem..but better check in Audi and ask to replace it!


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## SeacourtMike (Jul 23, 2015)

Yep all the other functions seemed to work. The MMI was on and there was music playing from the speakers. Without the display it's a little difficult to work out if anything else wasn't working.
I did notice that the indicator "click" wasn't there so it was a little strange to have no indicator noise.

I'm wondering if it was due to excessive heat, but it wouldn't have been over 20c yesterday. Seemed fine when it cooled down and all is ok today.

Strange..

SeacourtMike


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## mr gee (Apr 20, 2007)

Anyone tried MMI reboot?


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## ZephyR2 (Feb 20, 2013)

Yep Audi's equivalent of the Blue Screen of Death but without the indecipherable error messages.
Not good but reassuring I suppose that if the VC does pack up while you are driving that you can still continue to drive, albeit without your speedo etc.

I suppose you could use one of the various phone navigation apps to display your speed as a stand-in.


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