This is the a recent problem I've been having again with my phone/USB port.

It may work for an hour or more with Android Auto, then it will do this. Any function run through the USB (Android auto, Amazon Music) fails out. If you remove/reinsert the USB cable at the port it will resume operation on the screen until the error happens again. The malfunctions happen in shorter and shorter intervals, and eventually it happens only a few minutes in-between malfunctions. This of course makes Android Auto totally useless.

I typically have a very small form factor USB drive in the port for music. I have ibthink twice heard a strange electronic tone and the USB failed playing.

The first time this problem appeared, I had a broken phone. This is happening with a new replacement phone and different cables.

Does the flash drive still work? Disconnect the battery for a minute so you can hard boot your infotainment system and see what that does. When you say a "small form factor drive" does than mean a thumb drive or an SSD type drive?

 

Same form factor, different color. Basically it's the smallest I could find so that it didn't get bumped and torque on the USB port. I have to keep a paperclip in the loop opening so I have something to pull it out with. It's so small it's hard to grab in the storage well with my hand.

/\
Not my hand.

The likelihood of it being a bad port or bad head unit is very, very small. Phone ports are either micro-USB or USB-C ports, and if not careful, can start giving you weak connections because they are so small and connections are tiny. Just a little bend in one of the connectors can cause intermittent problems. Generally, problems with head units are software related and very consistent. You really don't want to replace the head unit unless you absolutely rule out all other causes because they are so expensive. I have never seen a head unit on a newer car with a hardware failure. It doesn't mean it can't happen, but it is extremely rare. OTOH, software/firmware issues are far more common but they can be fixed by upgrading them. The outlet port on your car is a standard USB A and is extremely stable as it is large -- they are hard to ruin. USB cables with micro-USB or C connectors can also be rather easily bent enough to weaken connections. Most people don't want to believe it is your phone port as the only real solution is to replace an expensive phone. Be very careful when plugging a cable into your phone. Do it slow and straight.

I've used two different phones (new A71 and a new replacement A71). Two cables including Samsung OEM. I have also had a couple of playback malfunctions with the USB drive pictures above. It sounded like when a computer or game console from the 90's would lock-up while playing a digital sound. Just like it's hung while playing a specific tone. This has happened twice. There is also a strange thing where it will start playing a track, but will skip to the next song midway through. Not every song, I've only noticed it on two specific tracks, and I don't know that it's every time either. Yes I've tried replacing the files on the drive.

 

Hi.

Sportage SX 2017 here and I got the same random phone connected/disconnected when using Android auto.

Unplug / Plug the USB cable seems to solve it for a while.

I had weeks of that not happening and then a couple of time that it came about 1h driving the car. This had been going on and off since since I have the car

2 different good working phones (Samsung S8 and S10+). OEM usb cable.

Didn't happen yet my new Samsung S20

Dealer did a reset but no effect on the problem.

My warranty ends in September. If this comes back this summer I'll try to get a least some components replace (usb connector maybe and even head unit if needed)

Keep us posted!

Envoyé de mon SM-G981W en utilisant Tapatalk

 

Hi.

Sportage SX 2017 here and I got the same random phone connected/disconnected when using Android auto.

Unplug / Plug the USB cable seems to solve it for a while.

I had weeks of that not happening and then a couple of time that it came about 1h driving the car. This had been going on and off since since I have the car

2 different good working phones (Samsung S8 and S10+). OEM usb cable.

Didn't happen yet my new Samsung S20

Dealer did a reset but no effect on the problem.

My warranty ends in September. If this comes back this summer I'll try to get a least some components replace (usb connector maybe and even head unit if needed)

Keep us posted!

Envoyé de mon SM-G981W en utilisant Tapatalk

The likelihood of it being a bad port or bad head unit is very, very small. Phone ports are either micro-USB or USB-C ports, and if not careful, can start giving you weak connections because they are so small and connections are tiny. Just a little bend in one of the connectors can cause intermittent problems. Generally, problems with head units are software related and very consistent. You really don't want to replace the head unit unless you absolutely rule out all other causes because they are so expensive. I have never seen a head unit on a newer car with a hardware failure. It doesn't mean it can't happen, but it is extremely rare. OTOH, software/firmware issues are far more common but they can be fixed by upgrading them. The outlet port on your car is a standard USB A and is extremely stable as it is large -- they are hard to ruin. USB cables with micro-USB or C connectors can also be rather easily bent enough to weaken connections. Most people don't want to believe it is your phone port as the only real solution is to replace an expensive phone. Be very careful when plugging a cable into your phone. Do it slow and straight.

 

The new April 2021 firmware update has Android Airplay fixes in it. See if it is available for you model year.

 

Well things continue to be flaky. The Android Auto issue seems to be resolved. I functioned perfectly on a 7+ hour drive from Phoenix to Solvang, CA and back.

However Sunday, the head unit acted strangely. It was playing from the new USB and the "music" icon was activating without being touched. It was like the screen was getting tough inputs on its own. It was so bad the entire head unit was essentially locked up for 5 minutes or so. It was like a 90's computer when it would freeze up and just hang.

No touch inputs would work, I removed the USB drive, I even attempted a power off using the know. Eventually either the system managed to process through something and my power off went through or the system crashed and rebooted. After that it worked normally. I had my daughter in the car so she was able to video some of this non behavior where the icons are activated and it is locked up.

This morning on the drive to work, I had the radio on listening to the local news and traffic station when it decided I needed to listed to the USB drive and switched to that source on its own.

The dealership has said it is difficult for them to fix anything without being able duplicate the issue. So unless I have a passenger to record I can essentially never collect any proof of the behaviors.

 

It's been a couple of years, but I had USB music issues until I recoded all of my music. A few of my mp3's were corrupted and a couple had formats the infotainment system didn't recognize that were mis-labeled. That solved all of my USB music issues. I also reorganized all of the songs into a better folder structure so I could play whole albums at a time. I stream most of my stuff now and don't remember the computer software I used -- but it worked great.

 

Here are some pics of this problem in action. The one showing the call screen is actually frozen with that image stuck on the screen. That was 2 minutes into the "lock up"

After I removed the key and restarted the vehicle, I got this... for the next 30 minutes. When I got to my destination, I key out and restarted the vehicle and the frozen phone screen came back (same time indicated on the clock 18:49). This was not almost 40 minutes after the initial problem.

When this happens, all head unit functions are dead. No rear camera, no Bluetooth, no music or radio.


When I returned to my vehicle after I did my shopping, the system was totally normal and functioning as expected, so this would have been approx 45-60 minutes after I parked.

 

When you have a problem like this, you should do a hard boot first. That means disconnecting the battery for 10 minutes or so. If you just open the door after turning the car off, it is a soft boot, not a hard boot unless there was a handshake issue and the unit automatically hard boots.

 

When you have a problem like this, you should do a hard boot first. That means disconnecting the battery for 10 minutes or so.

Wouldn't pressing the reset button on the unit accomplish a reset?

 

Disconnecting the battery resets a whole lot more than just the the Infotainment system. Most of these have a small hole for a pin to do a reset. I have no idea where it is on that model, but I do know where it is on all the cars we own, and they all have it. For instance, on my 2020 Sorento...

#5 is the reset, you use a small pin to reset the system.

 

Disconnecting the battery resets a whole lot more than just the the Infotainment system. Most of these have a small hole for a pin to do a reset. I have no idea where it is on that model, but I do know where it is on all the cars we own, and they all have it. For instance, on my 2020 Sorento...

#5 is the reset, you use a small pin to reset the system.

There is a reset button on the Sportage to the upper right of the volume knob on the navigation model. And yes, that should be tried first before you disconnect the battery. However, I don't know if that is a hard boot or a soft boot. I've never used it... I've disconnected the battery several times because of some of the electronics mods I've done on the car. Reconnecting it doesn't seem to change anything. What do you think it resets besides the infotainment system?

 

Well, it will also reset the ECU and it will forget all the stuff it's learned like shift points, etc.

Car Battery – Before You Disconnect It – Know What Can Go Wrong

 

Nah.

Memory Savers Not Recommended By Industry Experts

 

While I understand the "soft boot" vs "hard boot" recommendations, this has been to the dealership service dept for this. While they were attempting to diagnose the issue one would assume that they would know about the reset button and presumably use it as a baseline "fix". The fact that my continued issues are now to the realm of intermittent power to the unit, a reset doesn't seem like a likely remedy.

Video to go with the previous post images. This is the second time I have had a no power, no function condition, and the first for the frozen screen image. It's even weirder that it came back after the screen was black for so long. The other functions (BT, usb, am/fm) were dead while either condition was present (black or call screen)

 

Understand it's old thread and OP might have his issue resolved since, but in case it helps others, I was tearing my hair with the issue around flickering USB message wrt reconnecting across multiple phone and USB drives, turns out using a lower powered device (tho it's my assumption, nothing scientific) like ottocast u2-x / carsifi seems to work.

To be precise, the issue I was facing surfaced always when playing media while android auto navigation (tried with google maps as well as amiGO ) was running, and once I started having the issue - anything inserted via USB would result in frequent reconnection as in first post. It's never a pattern in terms of time when I see the issue, but was always when I started playing audio (FM was fine).

However, using any of the two devices mentioned above - I am not facing this issue. Might be worth a try to anyone facing this issue

 

The other thing worth trying is cleaning the car's USB-A port.
I do this with small pipe cleaners (can be purchased at dollar stores). I spray a little contact cleaner onto the pipe cleaner and gently run it into the USB port, above and below the center tab in the port. Being in a car, that USB port is subject to a lot of dust and dirt. So it may just be a dirty USB port not making proper contact.
I've seen this happen with old computers, USB device would constantly disconnect and reconnect, it was a dirty USB port, after cleaning it, all issues were fixed.
Regards: Jack

 

I have a 2017 Kia Sportage and the USB random disconnect drove me nuts. I recently updated the infotainment and nav system via SD card update flashed on SD card from update.kia.com. A few days in fingers crossed but haven't experienced the issue since the update! I was convinced this was a physical problem but had basically ruled everything out before doing the software update.

It's worth noting that I also bought a Motorola MA1 wireless Android auto dongle to try as an option before the update. Before the update it too would randomly disconnect USB to the infotainment system. Since the update I have mainly used the dongle. I don't think the dongle has anything to do with it but wanted to specify my experience in detail just in case.

Now I just wish I could figure out how to have the USB data port's (dongle led stays lit) power turn off when the car is off so I don't have to unplug/plug it every time shut off or turn the car off but this is so much less annoying than android auto disconnecting over and over on a drive.

 

I understand this is an old thread but still wanted to chime in.

We are experiencing the same kind of issues with our 2021 Sorento:

— No charge via USB in the front console.
— No charge via USB in the center console.
— No connectivity to Apple Carplay or Android Auto via USB cable.

It randomly comes and goes and we yet have to try the "battery disconnect" approach suggested in earlier posts before I can report further, but reading this thread just reinforces my disappointment for choosing a KIA vehicle. It's been a bunch of "small" issues that keep adding up.

 

I've found that these intermittent problems are mostly the cable. Each cable has very small connectors that sometimes do not fully contact each internal connector. The tiny connectors flex which enables the connections. These can wear over time and not give a strong connection. This sometimes even occurs with "high quality" cables. Sometimes, these connectors get dirty. One time, I went through three cables before I found one that offered a stable connection. This can occur on the USB side or the phone side. Cables are cheap. Buy several of them from different manufacturers.