MMI Confusion

[merry2]

Hi all,

First ever post, so hello.

I've just bought my second A6, a 61 plate 2012 (new model) 3.0 S-Line Quattro Avant. It has the HDD based nav system.

I'd like to understand my options for upgrading the MMI firmware as I'd like to use the sim in the dash for data connection but my mobile over bluetooth for telephone.

I'm getting a little lost with all the 2g, 3g, 3g+ MMI basic, plus etc despite googling and searching the forums. Can anyone explain what they all are and what I have if I have the HDD nav. I thought I knew what I had but then lots of videos talk about a joystick in the center console. I just have a button.

I know some people offer a service to upgrade the MMI to support the dual sim/phone connection but don't know if it would work on mine. I'd also be keen to look at some of the other tweaks and find out if there are cheaper options using VCDS.

Does anyone in the Bath are have VCDS that they offer for a reasonable charge?

Also, if you use the Google maps - do you need to bother about map updates for the MMI (I did wonder if I should just use the standard maps as I think I get all the 3d buildings and so on but am not sure).

Thanks for your help.

EDIT:

My current MMI and map versions are:

HN+R_EU_AU_P0518
8R0060884AH ECE 5.13.8

[belly buster]

Wow a lot in one go.

Welcome.

MMI firmware is best done by the dealer, but they may refuse to do it unless you can claim there is a fault. There is another thread with people's experience on getting this done.

You have MMi 3G+ as you have a HDD+Dash SIM. I'm not sure the C7 has ever come with a joystick on the MMI button (happy to be corrected). The equivalent function is now provided by the track pad.

Re VCDS see here (http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?5319-Vagcom-VCDS-User-Locations) and here (https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?dg=feature&msa=0&mid=zwQHurSsCMz8.kMTwqF0PoXwc).

Your maps will be updated automatically for 3 years from new. After this time you might have to pay for updates. As the oldest C7s are only just 3 years old, I'm not aware of anyone here needing to do this yet,.

[johnsimcox]

You have MMi 3G+ as you have a HDD+Dash SIM. I'm not sure the C7 has ever come with a joystick on the MMI button (happy to be corrected). The equivalent function is now provided by the track pad.

Correct the C7 with 3G+ never had the joystick on the MMI controller, it has the trackpad area to the side instead

[Scott K]

There is a sticky at the top of this section about the in car sim and phone connection. You might find an answer in that. All the newer cars had no issues with connecting the phone via Bluetooth and a separate data sim. Your car should support the phone and sim option but I don't know if you need any updates.
You don't say which phone you have as some of them have rsap which allows the car to use them to connect. If you bought it from Audi, I would go back to them and ask them to get it connected.
Be aware that some SIM card providers don't allow data only connection. I have been getting 6gb 3 month ee SIM cards for £15 but will move onto the shared data sim from ee once it runs out. Mitchy has done this and it costs a little more but you don't have to swap the sim over.

[merry2]

Thanks all. Very helpful.

Useful to know which version I'm on. Thanks for the links to VCDS members. I'll take a look although I'll probably find someone web based initially. Don't want to take the mickey with people offering free help when I've only just joined the forums.

I didn't spot the sticky about car sim and phone so I must be blind, will look again.

Scott, I've got a Sony Z2 so no rsap without rooting (which I'd rather not do). It was from an Audi specialist not main dealer so I doubt they'd help out. I've got a GiffGaff sim (on O2) for the dash which at £20/month gives you unlimited data. Might be cheaper to look at your ee option.

[M1tchy]

As Scott says above I've got a dual sim from EE. It's about £7 a month and just shares the data allowance on my phone contract. It's working well so far and not taken me over my data allowance so perfect for me.


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[merry2]

Thanks Scott - will definitely look at this as I've already got an EE contract phone. Only thing is that I was hoping to let the kids use the Wifi connection when in the car so might have to up the data allowance. Is it obvious where you buy the dual SIM from or is it a phone call to them to sort it out?

[M1tchy]

You have to phone them. If you only want data make sure you tell them as they also do a second sim that uses your calls and texts too - but that's more expensive.


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[johnsimcox]

Your maps will be updated automatically for 3 years from new. After this time you might have to pay for updates. As the oldest C7s are only just 3 years old, I'm not aware of anyone here needing to do this yet,.
My understanding is that free updates only apply to those with a facelift car and the Tech Pack. All Pre facelift cars and non-Tech Pack facelift cars still need to pay for the map updates

[johnsimcox]

I know some people offer a service to upgrade the MMI to support the dual sim/phone connection but don't know if it would work on mine. I'd also be keen to look at some of the other tweaks and find out if there are cheaper options using VCDS.

The upgrade to offer simultaneous in dash SIM and bluetooth phone is simply an update to the firmware (to v0770 or later) which in addition to having a copy of the new firmware requires someone with VCDS to activate the hidden menu to install it. Using the link in other threads you should be able to find someone local to you who can do this often for free or a few "beer tokens". They may have the firmware update already but alternatively a search on this forum or a Google search should show up places where you can download a copy. Had your car still been under an Audi warranty you might have managed to get them to do the update for you but you would still need to have activated the hidden menu to enable the functionality

[merry2]

Do you know if you can update straight from v0518 to v0770 or do you need to apply v0612 along the way. I'm struggling to find either anyway.

[CharlesElliott]

There is no definitive answer (you can do either), but generally the incremental upgrade is considered lower risk. If you have BOSE, you will likely cause a problem though, so you either need to accept that and pay an Audi dealer to correct it, or manually suppress the BOSE upgrade.

[merry2]

Thanks. Can anyone point me at where you can get the firmware versions from. I can't find them anywhere (except a place to buy them from in Australia that won't ship to the UK).

[CharlesElliott]

PM me.

[merry2]

Thanks - I will once I've got enough posts.

[jbmercapple]

Just thought I'd pass on my thoughts about choice of SIM card.
After eventually getting my dealer to install the 0770 firmware update, I looked around for the best SIM card.
For me I choice a payg sim from 3. Topped it up with £10 and everything works fine. The beauty of the 3 sim is that it doesn't expire if you don't use it much. Also on their 321 plan, data is only 1p per Mb. I've been using it for about a month now even with online traffic turned on it has only used 24Mb at a cost of 24p! I would imagine using Google maps all the time would use more data, but this option works out much cheaper than most other contract sim plans.

Hope this helps.




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[merry2]

Thanks. Will take a look.

[belly buster]

Just thought I'd pass on my thoughts about choice of SIM card.
After eventually getting my dealer to install the 0770 firmware update, I looked around for the best SIM card.
For me I choice a payg sim from 3. Topped it up with £10 and everything works fine. The beauty of the 3 sim is that it doesn't expire if you don't use it much. Also on their 321 plan, data is only 1p per Mb. I've been using it for about a month now even with online traffic turned on it has only used 24Mb at a cost of 24p! I would imagine using Google maps all the time would use more data, but this option works out much cheaper than most other contract sim plans.

Hope this helps.
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Before getting a three 321 SIM see this thread / post for recent issues: Best Value Data Sims for Internet Access: Ideas anyone? - Page 10 (http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?154546-Best-Value-Data-Sims-for-Internet-Access-Ideas-anyone&p=909858#post909858)

[merry2]

Thanks

[belly buster]

Thanks for the thanks. There is a thanks button underneath the post to save having to post a thanks!

[Westyfield2]

Hi all,

First ever post, so hello.

I've just bought my second A6, a 61 plate 2012 (new model) 3.0 S-Line Quattro Avant. It has the HDD based nav system.
<snip>
My current MMI and map versions are:

HN+R_EU_AU_P0518
8R0060884AH ECE 5.13.8



Welcome to the forum :).


MMI firmware is best done by the dealer, but they may refuse to do it unless you can claim there is a fault. There is another thread with people's experience on getting this done.

Bath Audi did it for me :).


You have MMi 3G+ as you have a HDD+Dash SIM
Correct.


Your maps will be updated automatically for 3 years from new. After this time you might have to pay for updates. As the oldest C7s are only just 3 years old, I'm not aware of anyone here needing to do this yet,.
Wrong. On the pre-facelift cars, the navigation updates are chargeable. On the facelift cars, they're free.


There is a sticky at the top of this section about the in car sim and phone connection. You might find an answer in that. All the newer cars had no issues with connecting the phone via Bluetooth and a separate data sim. Your car should support the phone and sim option but I don't know if you need any updates.

His car is a MY2012 running its very original firmware P0518, he will need an update.
The simultaneous Bluetooth + SIM option was added in firmware 0770.
Any car that shipped with P0770 or later has it enabled from the factory.
Any car this is updated to K0770 or later needs it enabling in the hidden green menu, after the firmware has been updated to K0770.


The upgrade to offer simultaneous in dash SIM and bluetooth phone is simply an update to the firmware (to v0770 or later) which in addition to having a copy of the new firmware requires someone with VCDS to activate the hidden menu to install it. Using the link in other threads you should be able to find someone local to you who can do this often for free or a few "beer tokens". They may have the firmware update already but alternatively a search on this forum or a Google search should show up places where you can download a copy. Had your car still been under an Audi warranty you might have managed to get them to do the update for you but you would still need to have activated the hidden menu to enable the functionality
Correct.


There is no definitive answer (you can do either), but generally the incremental upgrade is considered lower risk. If you have BOSE, you will likely cause a problem though, so you either need to accept that and pay an Audi dealer to correct it, or manually suppress the BOSE upgrade.
Incremental is strongly recommended.
One of the firmware updates (I forget which one) can cause problems with the BOSE, so it's recommended that you get the dealer to do that update. But once the car is past that update then the others are safe.




@OP: If you've just bought the car, then you'll have the AUC warranty - even if the original warranty has expired. Personally, when I bought my A6 as an AUC from a Dealer, I had them update the car to whatever at the time was the latest MMI firmware and navigation database as part of the deal. But that's too late for you.
Then when my car was in at Bath Audi having some work done under warranty, I asked them if they could update the firmware to 0770 at the same time and they obliged. They didn't really understand why I wanted the firmware updated, but I'd read online about this new 0770 firmware containing hidden options.
Then when I got the car back I went into the hidden green menu and got the simultaneous Bluetooth + SIM working.
See this thread for details. Bluetooth Phone and Dashboard Data SIM Card (http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?158127-Bluetooth-Phone-and-Dashboard-Data-SIM-Card)

If your car is one of the early ones, you probably don't have online traffic data enabled. Again, that's something that a firmware update adds the software for, and then you can enable using VCDS. See this thread for details Enable Online Traffic Data (http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?158151-Enable-Online-Traffic-Data)

[CharlesElliott]

When you do the upgrade it lists the components to be upgraded - if you have BOSE, check that BOSE isn't one of them!

[noscream]

Thanks for the thanks. There is a thanks button underneath the post to save having to post a thanks!
I thinks someone is clicking post count..... to open more forum options.





All good advice in this thread.



Basically, Get a dealer or an Audi specialist garage to do the update, less risk & it costs approx £22 for 518 to 770 software update plus garage time (normally 1 hour) so all in all approx £80 - £90 @ a specialist garage or £150-180 from Audi franchise garage (dealer).

MMI Nav Plus (or 3G+) is the HDD based system, you also need "Audi connect" option, for the Hotspot AP (access point).

The 770+ ver firmware for MMI gives the car the ability to use the SIM slot and mobile phone via Blue-tooth at the same time. The SIM slot is set to DATA, the mobile phone to Handsfree (enabled via GREEN Eng. MENU) for voice & music streaming (if your phone supports it).

The best SIM I've found is THREE 321 PAYG, SIM is 99p & put £10 credit on and it will be good for months unless you use a hotspot.

If you have a dual SIM one number option from your provider, you stick one SIM into the car slot & set it to DATA. The mobile phone still connects via bluetooth for voice calls on the other SIM with the same number. The SIM in the car will not receive calls while this setup is active.

Google Maps:

The maps from google are downloaded via your DATA SIM (car sim) and overlay onto the MAPS your car carries. So your car maps do matter, for Google maps/ google earth you need the "AUDI CONNECT" option active in your car.

Also, with Google maps there is an option with Audi for Online Data/ Traffic, in this comes the ability for google maps to contour warp the display image so you get a better terrain image. When your on a hill the google image will appear like you are higher etc. Also live traffic data can be switched on via MMI menu to show on top of your google map images. You need an active "Online traffic data" licence , normally active for 3 years from new and then extended on request (UK Audi).

VCDS is needed to activate the so called GREEN (engineers) MENU, so you can select certain options to have the 2 phone SIMS working with all options, once activated you can disconnect VCDS & still get to this new hidden menu with a special button combo press.

All new Audi's are 3G & 3G+ and I think a newer one just came about (4G) .... all older Audi's are 2G & 3G. 3G+ is the MMI NAV Plus system with "Audi Connect" option (Google & online services to you & me). Also it has a bigger 8" screen (not the 6.5" screen). There is also a central D.I.S. which is bigger on NAV PLUS (compared to the basic DIS).. you have an option to have MMI touch, so you can write into the MMI using your finger on a pad). Lastly there is a full voice address entry system if you can talk clearly or let the system learn your voice (before hand).





All fun.

[nicegraham]

Hi All,

Apologies for resurrecting an old thread but...

I just bought my car second hand ('12 A6 Avant 2.0). It has installed the software as OP and also includes the tech pack and Bose upgrades. Following the advice here I rang my 2 local Audi dealers to see if I could book in to get the MMI upgrade done. The first wouldn't commit to anything other than running a diagnostic for €90 and then deciding what the next steps could be. The second one said he could enable the functionality without upgrading the firmware for a cost of €200. My preference is to have the firmware upgraded to latest so any other bug fixes and features are resolved / enabled especially at that cost but he said he could not do that unless there was a flag on the system to upgrade MMI, he said that without that happening he wouldn't have access to the media to upgrade.

I would tackle it myself but the Bose system seems to add a complication and to be honest I haven't found any instructions which are as definitive as I'd like given the potential risk.

Any advice or guidance on how I should proceed?

thanks,
Graham

[CharlesElliott]

What version software does the car have now?

[nicegraham]

Media version: HN+R_EU_AU_P0518
Nav. database version: 8R0060884AH ECE 5.13.8

[CharlesElliott]

The BOSE update is in 518, so you should be OK and have it already.

If you can get hold of 770 or 900, when you start the process you can see the modules it is going to upgrade so it is possible to change BOSE to 'N' if there is an update flagged - but I don't think there will be. At worse, if you do update it, it will trigger Component Protection and you will nead a dealer to remove it.

If you want to enable dual SIM/Bluetooth, you will need a script to enable the green menu, or use VCDS to do it.

[nicegraham]

Ok, that's promising!

Can I go straight to 770 from 518 or should I do the interceding updates?

By the looks of it that path looks like 518 -> 612 -> 614 -> 770.

If that's the better approach do I need to do 612 and 614?

[CharlesElliott]

you can go direct. Like any upgrade, you can see why smaller increments might be 'safer', but that's not really based on anything tangible.

[Westyfield2]

The BOSE update is in 518, so you should be OK and have it already.

If you can get hold of 770 or 900, when you start the process you can see the modules it is going to upgrade so it is possible to change BOSE to 'N' if there is an update flagged - but I don't think there will be. At worse, if you do update it, it will trigger Component Protection and you will nead a dealer to remove it.

If you want to enable dual SIM/Bluetooth, you will need a script to enable the green menu, or use VCDS to do it.
Agreed.

I'd skip the 600s but probably do 770 -> 783 -> 900.

[nicegraham]

Agreed.

I'd skip the 600s but probably do 770 -> 783 -> 900.


I'm struggling to find any live links for anything other than 900. Any resources you can recommend that may have the software still available?

Appreciate all the help!

[AT.]

Any resources you can recommend that may have the software still available?

Here you are: Audi updates sat nav maps dvd sd card 2016 firmware activation (http://www.audiupdates.com/#!navigation-updates/c1s7r)

[RhysoTDI]

I went direct from 485 to 900 without issue :)

[Westyfield2]

i'm struggling to find any live links for anything other than 900. Any resources you can recommend that may have the software still available?

Appreciate all the help!



MEGA (https://mega.nz/#F!JxgWBAbT!FIsyTThfxCO80pjYFe3poA)

[nicegraham]

Thank you sir!

hould I go the user defined route and uncheck anything Bose related or can I go with the standard install?

[CharlesElliott]

I would look through the list and check that BOSE is listed as 'N'. If it is, then accept the defaults. If not then manually deselect it.

[nicegraham]

Did as you suggested and am on k900 now and BOSE still seems to work :) Thanks for the help!

[nicegraham]

Agreed.

I'd skip the 600s but probably do 770 -> 783 -> 900.

I did this but couldn't get google maps to work... I went back and installed 612 and it started working, not sure what's in there but it looks like it's needed :)