Bluetooth connection problems with iPhone 3GS

[grayman]

Been a couple of weeks since I was last here and a good deal of that time has been spent swearing at my new iPhone 3GS. Yes, I know shouting at it won't help but it makes me feel better.

When it first pairs with my Leon's factory-fit Bluetooth ('SEAT_UHV'), it works great - downloads the phonebook, recent call stacks etc - and call quality is OK. So far, so good. I even have it mounted in a Brodit Pro-clip (attached to the A-pillar) and it looks very pretty.

But the problem is that it randomly disconnects while I'm driving and although sometimes it reconnects again a few seconds later, mostly I need to re-pair it with the car to get it to play ball (or stop the engine, remove the key, wait a bit and restart).

I've discovered that if I turn off the 'auto-lock' feature of the phone and leave it turned on all the time, it never disconnects... the problem seems to be that when the phone blanks the screen and goes to sleep, it also puts its bluetooth connection to sleep. Sometimes when it sleeps it stays connected though - so it doesn't lose the connection every time. It's one of those intermittent problems which drives me crazy... especially because I'm 99% sure it's not the car at fault - it worked fine with my Nokia 6300 with zero disconnects that weren't for a good reason (like me walking out of range when it was still connected).

Anyway, my Googling has turned up results about mostly non-VAG cars, so I'm hoping someone here will have solved this and thus will be able to share the magic solution with me before I go completely mad. The iPhone is truly a beautiful piece of kit but this one little thing is spoiling the experience for me a bit.

Anyone have any clues, please?

Probably not of much use, but I have a Blackberry Bold and it does exactly the same thing - although it appears to be worse! I commute 11 miles twice a day and it must disconnect/reconnect 3-4 times on average every trip. When disconnected (for the minute or so it takes to reconnect) I can not make calls but if a call does come in, it reconnects immediately. Very Strange

 

[Glovepup]

Has anyone got an car adapter to power their iphone, just wonder if it does it when connected. I tend to find it disconnects as the battery gets lower. Could be wrong, but the morning journey in the car is fine it tends to disconnect after a days use and on the way home.

Just a thought, it may be aload of rubbish. I am now keeping the phone charged at work, so when i get in the car each night I want to see if it keeps doing it. Wonder if its some kind of power thing kicking in. I could be talking a load of bull here.

 

[GainfulShrimp]

I often charge my iphone overnight and it's on 100% or 99% when I first get in the car... no change to the frequency of disconnects, so I don't think the battery level is a factor.

I did buy a car charger for my iphone when I first got it, so I'll give that a whirl and see if it helps. I only really bought it for emergencies and don't fancy having to use it every time I get in the car, but if the phone stops misbehaving when powered that way then at least I can report that to Apple as evidence that it's the phone behaving strangely when on battery power.

Via Googling, I have found similar reports of frequent Bluetooth disconnects using the iPhone 3GS from users of Audi and VW cars (not surprising as the BT tech is probably very similar), but interestingly also from Acura and BMW forums... so it's not specific to VAG.

Some users report that it's the software - i.e. their iPhone 3G started misbehaving after v3.0 when it was fine on v2.2 - but most seem to say it's specific to the 3GS (running v3.0 from factory, of course).

One things for sure - this issue is one of those infuriating intermittent problems which drive you crazy until you get them fixed. It's not as if it doesn't connect at all - it works really very well while it's connected. It's the sometimes-on sometimes-off inconsistency which bugs me the most.

 

[Glovepup]

I did buy a car charger for my iphone when I first got it, so I'll give that a whirl and see if it helps. I only really bought it for emergencies and don't fancy having to use it every time I get in the car, but if the phone stops misbehaving when powered that way then at least I can report that to Apple as evidence that it's the phone behaving strangely when on battery power.

One things for sure - this issue is one of those infuriating intermittent problems which drive you crazy until you get them fixed. It's not as if it doesn't connect at all - it works really very well while it's connected. It's the sometimes-on sometimes-off inconsistency which bugs me the most.

Well it's nice to know there will be other people complaining to apple then. Let us know if having constant power does make a difference, it was just a thought. This is probably more of a software glitch if people are reporting the issue after upgrading to V3.

 

[jem16]

it was just a thought. This is probably more of a software glitch if people are reporting the issue after upgrading to V3.

I tried to suggest that to them - he kept saying Bluetooth can be hacked easily so they had to make sure it was secure.

Have you contacted Apple?

 

[GainfulShrimp]

I did a restore last night and probably gained a few grey hairs in the process - my (WinXP) PC would reboot instantly every time it said "preparing iPhone for restore", leaving my iPhone effectively bricked as it was stuck in "restore state" until several hours later when I worked out a way around it (do the initial restore on my laptop and then reconnect to my main PC for sync)... phew!

Anyway, I had the charger plugged in on the way to work this morning and it didn't disconnect. One journey isn't enough to tell, though. I'll keep you posted.

The Apple Support guy I spoke to last night said it might be due to the new Bluetooth profiles in v3.0 and basically said there's nothing I could do if that's the case - you can't roll back to the older profiles "without invalidating the warranty". Maybe that means you can if you jailbreak your phone? I'm too chicken to jailbreak my phone at the moment though so will have to live with it for now.

 

[Thor_Asgard]

Bluetooth update

Last week i was talking to my local Seat Dealer about my iPhone issues
The guy on the service desk adviced me there was a Bluetooth update available for my car
They gave me a printout of the update
I have a 2.0 Leon FR Tdi (2007)

Acording to the printout i have

Radio Single CD
1T0035095

Telphone
5P0862335B
FSE_2PQ5x H23
Coding 555
Software Version 0060


And the update was a R36_5P_91_____1_0305_Flash_Bluetooth Update
After the update the Software Version was 0107

I also did a iPhone update to 3.0.1

Since this was done i have not had a single Bluetooth drop (7 days now)

Hope this info is of any help to someone
If there is any more info on the print out let me know what to look for and i will get back to you

 

[jem16]

That's good to hear.

I'll give my local dealer a ring on Monday (I think they might be closed now) and see what I can find out.

I updated to iphone version 3.0.1 last week. I have had one short dropout since then where it disconnected and almost immediately reconnected.

 

[P0LKR]

Janice,

Are you going to ask Sandy at Livingstones?

 

[jem16]

Janice,

Are you going to ask Sandy at Livingstones?

Yes I will be. Any particular reason you're asking?

Hi again - we haven't spoken in a while. How you doing?

 

[GainfulShrimp]

Very interesting news, Thor! I did the 3.0.1 update last week and haven't noticed any difference in the frequency of disconnects since then, so my money is on the Seat update causing the improvement/fix.

I just phoned my local dealer - Willoughby Nottingham - and was told by a guy in their service dept that they'd never heard of updates to the Bluetooth system and if I booked my car in "it would be a waste of time". He'd done engine updates via a disk, but never Bluetooth updates. They advised me to call Seat customer services on 0500 222222.

I called Seat CS who were much more friendly and helpful. They politely pointed out that their technical system would also be easily accessible by my dealer and they could have found out about the update for me more quickly - I explained about the ever-so-helpful conversation I'd just had with Willoughby's Service dept. The customer service chap said no problem, he'd find out for me. He looked up my chassis number from my reg number and said he'd call me back within 72 hours.

Fingers-crossed, this might solve the problem. I hope they come back with details of an update for my car too.

 

[jem16]

If there is any more info on the print out let me know what to look for and i will get back to you

Is there a date that the update was released?

I spoke to the service manager today and was told that the car would need to be booked in and attached to the computer to see if there was an update available.

I don't mind booking it in if there is definitely an update available for my car but it seems a bit pointless if there isn't one.

 

[Thor_Asgard]

The update was done on 31.07.2009
And i belive it was only available a few days before that

Part of the print out says

The following control unit data has been read
Part Number 5P0862335B
Software Version: 0107
Next check if an update exists for this control unit version
Carry out phase II of the Bluetooth Control Unit software update
sys77_______1_0507_41_Bluetooth_generico

then later it says
Flash Registery 5P0862335B__0110.sgo

and then later

control unit update via the CD-flash are complied with
Software versio number
0107
Software number version after the update via the CD-flash
0110

Hope this helps

 

[GainfulShrimp]

Quick update... my car's booked in with my local stealer for them to look up whatever caused the 'orange engine' light to come on for a day earlier this week. Although the light has gone off, I'm still taking it in as I'd like to get them to apply an update to the Bluetooth system.

Anyway, when I first phoned the dealer about the Bluetooth, they denied all knowledge of any such software updates for the car - "the only updates are for the engine" - and told me to call Seat Customer Services. I subsequently called Seat Customer Services who were sort of helpful, without being helpful, if you know what I mean? They explained that there "might" be an update for my Bluetooth, but the update would not be explicitly designed to improve compatibility with handsets... but any such update "might" improve compatibility. Essentially, they were using weasel words to say: "it might help but we're not promising anything". Fair enough. However, they refused to tell me whether there actually *is* an update for my car... telling me that my dealer should be able to look that up for me. They said if the dealer doesn't know how to find out, I should point them in the direction of Seat Technical. I'm kinda confused why they couldn't just tell me one way or t'other as they admitted that it's the same system used by the dealers and themselves. Oh well!

I'll let you know how I get on after my car's been in, next week.

 

[jem16]

I have decided to leave mine just now and see what happens.

Since the 3.0.1 update I have only had one disconnection and it immediately reconnected. I also noticed that there was an update called "network carrier" which I would not imagine had anything to do with it but I have had no disconnections for a week now.

 

[GainfulShrimp]

Mine's disconnected twice today (during about 2 hours driving so far) and I'm using the 3.0.1 update. I'm still hoping that an update to the Bluetooth system in the car might help.

 

[Thor_Asgard]

Mine's disconnected twice today (during about 2 hours driving so far) and I'm using the 3.0.1 update. I'm still hoping that an update to the Bluetooth system in the car might help.

Let us know how you get on

if you need i can fax you a copy of the update print out my local Seat garage gave me

 

[GainfulShrimp]

Let us know how you get on

if you need i can fax you a copy of the update print out my local Seat garage gave me

Will do and yes please - that would be useful ammunition to convince the garage that I'm not making it up, thanks. I've PMed you a fax number.

 

[GainfulShrimp]

Dropped off my FR at Willoughby's this morning and had a chat with the rather aloof but seemingly knowledgeable senior technician before I left my keys.

I explained about the Bluetooth disconnections and that I'm hoping an update might help. After giving me a brief lecture about how the fact that it's an import (from Cyprus) made it 'more difficult', he said he should still be able to check and apply any updates which are relevant to my car.

Fingers crossed they'll find an explanation for the 'orange engine' light coming on for a day last week, too!

 

[mds1256]

Let us know how you get on

if you need i can fax you a copy of the update print out my local Seat garage gave me

i take it you havent had any more disconnections since the update?