Sat Nav Fault - Help Needed

[Brilliant Eclipse]

Hello Folks,

Grateful for help with the following fault on the Sat Nav on my XC90 (Oct 2011).

I believe the Sat Nav is the RTI MMM+ HDD system that comprises the screen that rises from the dashboard and a box under the front passenger seat that contains a DVD drive, a 40Gb hard disk and some circuit boards.

I recently had the vehicle's battery changed and then updated the mapping software. All went well and the Sat Nav was used on a number of long and short drives. A few weeks later the following fault appeared:

- The Sat Nav turns on as normal and the screen rises from the dashboard.
- The Sat Nav offers the options of booting in Simple or Advanced modes.
- Regardless of which option I select, about 15 secs later the screen displays the following message, 'Unable to access the hard disk. Please wait...'
- This is accompanied by a repetitive clicking sound from the box under the front passenger seat.
- The message and the clicking sound continue until the car is turned off at which point the screen sinks back into the dashboard.
- I am not sure if the clicking is coming from the hard disk or DVD drive.

I have tried resetting the fuse that powers the system and removing and re-seating the cables at the back of the box under the passenger seat but to no avail.

A Volvo main dealer conducted a diagnostic check and told me that the 'hard disk is corrupt' and that they would replace the whole unit for £1250.

I have taken the box apart and cleaned the DVD lens but that did not work. I am also wondering whether I can replace the hard disk and what would be needed to reprogram it.

Is anyone able to suggest a fix for this problem? Thanks in advance.

[reggit]

I don’t have one of those units, but the clicking sounds like a failed hard drive. Is it possible to swap the HDD out in the nav unit?

[Brilliant Eclipse]

I can swap the hard disk but do not know how to reformat / initialise it. does this need specialist Volvo tools and software?

[reggit]

Absolutely no idea I’m afraid, but I’d be inclined to put another hdd in and see what happens

[GenericVolvoDriver]

You're in a really interesting position! I've always wanted to back up my hard drive and replace it with an industrial SSD.

Since you're technically inclined would you be open to trying a few experiments to get it going?

Swiss and I have done some reverse engineering of the satnav.
I've started down the path of reverse engineering the firmware using SEGA Dreamcast SH-4 processor tools.

BMW uses the same 2.5" PATA IDE drives in their late model iDrive units (you'd be surprised how many cars today still use 2.5" PATA drives):
https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1426773

Since their system loads a lot more from the drive (and stores music to the drive) there is an incentive to upgrade.
People have found combinations of drives that work best at emulating old mechanical PATA 2.5" drives.
Some SATA to PATA converts do not perfectly emulate old mechanical drives while others work perfect and lead to near instant load times.

You're in the perfect position to try installing a new PATA 2.5" SSD and see if using DISC1 reinstalls the map data onto the HDD. I've also heard of a menu that forces a re-install of the map data onto the HDD via the RTI screen.

Since you have nothing to lose, are you willing to try ordering a PATA ssd from amazon? Worst case you just return it.

[GenericVolvoDriver]

From what I can tell so far, the MMM+ boots of flash first then loads off of the HDD (why your RTI screen still pops up).

Worst case if there isn't some way to initialize the hdd via a RTI debug menu or VIDA, someone can image their own HDD and that can serve as a way for others to restore their hard drives in the future. BMW owners have done this with notes what files need to be modified (serial numbers, etc) to overcome a failed CIC drive.

I'd be interested in trying to restore your old HDD too if you get back up and running. Swiss might also be interested in seeing the contents of your broken drive / trying to recover + image it.