Sat Nav Database Not Available - can you help?

300Cup

Active Member
Feb 19, 2021
27
15
Hi There,

Am new the forum so hoping this is the right place. Bought a 2018 Leon Cupra 300 this week and we have a problem with the Sat Nav. The car has the digital cockpit but it seems the dealer has lost the SD card for the Nav as it is reporting the message in the title of this thread. I am trying to get the dealer to sort the problem remotely, but if I don't get any joy what is the cheapest fix? I have seen Nav SD cards for Seat on Amazon/Ebay at £20-30 but am unclear if these will fix the problem or whether I need to go to Seat for a fix. For what its worth I seem to have the Seat Navi Plus hardware and the part number is 5QA035874 and H41 Hardware.
 

Jay5959

FR 184
Apr 26, 2020
500
256
I had a similar problem when I bought my car, but the dealer gave me another SD card and that sorted it. Unsure about the ones on eBay for seat cars but I bought one for £20 for my wife’s merc and that worked a treat. Didn’t fancy paying dealership prices for the same thing. If the car has been advertised for sale with sat nav I would argue that the dealership should supply the SD card
 

300Cup

Active Member
Feb 19, 2021
27
15
Thanks and yes I am arguing with the dealer at the moment. It's a bit harder with a remote purchase to pester them as it is easy to not return my calls but I am still hoping they will sort it for me.
 
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Dannnnn

Active Member
Dec 9, 2018
440
200
Hampshire
Iirc the SD card has to match the car.
You can't just buy a generic one off eBay.

The dealer will have to order one in from what I've read, and they aren't cheap.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk
 

300Cup

Active Member
Feb 19, 2021
27
15
Interesting. Surprised that Amazon is selling the cards if it’s guaranteed not to work? I would post the Amazon link but not sure if forum rules on doing so!
 

CupraGeezer

Active Member
May 11, 2018
357
163
This really ticks me off - who takes the SD card out of the car? It's no use in another car.

We had the same problem when we bought my wife's A-class. The dealer (E-H) swore blind that he would send us a new one but, of course, that failed to materialise. Fortunately, a genuine one off eBay fixed the problem for £40 but my understanding is that that doesn't work on a SEAT as the card has to be coded to the car. Last time I asked about an updated card, I was quoted £160 including the coding.
 

Dannnnn

Active Member
Dec 9, 2018
440
200
Hampshire
Might be worth contacting a retrofitting service (like east Yorkshire retrofits) as they could probably program one for you at a fraction of the cost and give you updates maps etc.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk
 

Bedlam

Active Member
Feb 26, 2009
868
236
North Yorkshire
Hi There,

Am new the forum so hoping this is the right place. Bought a 2018 Leon Cupra 300 this week and we have a problem with the Sat Nav. The car has the digital cockpit but it seems the dealer has lost the SD card for the Nav as it is reporting the message in the title of this thread. I am trying to get the dealer to sort the problem remotely, but if I don't get any joy what is the cheapest fix? I have seen Nav SD cards for Seat on Amazon/Ebay at £20-30 but am unclear if these will fix the problem or whether I need to go to Seat for a fix. For what its worth I seem to have the Seat Navi Plus hardware and the part number is 5QA035874 and H41 Hardware.
@Tell is this model number really a Seat Navi Plus?
 

Tell

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@Tell is this model number really a Seat Navi Plus?

That's where you follow the mib2 standard / High (Seat Plus test) under

How do I know which unit I have ?:


Press the “NAV” Button >

Confirm the “Setup” >

“Version information” selection on the display.

Check the first text line in "Version information".

If the first three digits are 6P0 it's a mib2 standard (serial number is also on the card)

5F with a mapping card in the slot it's mib1 standard

If not it's a mib1 or 2 "Navi System Plus" (no card in the slot)

2018 it's mib2 not mib1.

Alternative test is to press the the media button if not Jukebox is shown as a source its a mib2 standard.

If lost card we have that covered in the resource under

Lost, Stolen and Missing Cards from a Mib2 Standard Unit

You need to get hold off any mib2 card off eBay then follow the procedure detailed under lost and stolen, then do the workaround procedure to update it's contents to the most recent. That's because if it ever had a card in it the unit is paired to the release, not the card although the card has to be a Vag one, but any past release will contain a working overall.nds file which then becomes the one to use in the workaround. Use V1 of Seats release for that fix since its a universal fix. Nuggets are all down to everyone that posted on the navigation thread.


Preamble.... but if a mib2 high the Seat Plus and you want to update the maps you have to say hello to a retrofitter to update your navigation FeC. I provide a check on the resource. You are looking for the 073 FeC if you see that, again you have a mib2 high, read off the last two characters, check the table and that's the limit of how far you can update the maps. Early mib2 to 2018 Mapcare was fixed at the build date. Then about 2018 they have you one year. Dealers don't sell Mapcare in the UK. Retrofitter just over writes that code so it becomes a cracked one, it's what they do on all retrofit units.

The board now has a retrofitter sponsor that has a good reputation for this work.


Better off buying a set of keys to remove the unit and send it to them than buy that D-link box talked about on the link for remote update, you would still have to extract the unit or take it too them when lock down is over or call out. With the D-link box they remotely take control of your PC and do the update remotely. Others have just sent their units too them or their sister outfit they work with.

You want this FeC

073000EE

That will give you the update ability untill VAG stop posting the mib2 high map updates last I reckon will be June 2025.
 
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Tell

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Cont....

Ok, if it's the Navigation Plus (high) doing the checks above we can unravel from the previous owner has done. That message probably means they have attempted to update the internal maps held on the SSD by enabling the developers menu. Then going ahead with a map update. If the navigation FeC does not cover the updated map it will take the map, show the map, will enable you to put a destination in, start navigation but 30 seconds later will lock you out of navigation with the message that the navigation database is not valid. Is it doing that ?. The previous owner might have aborted the update and cleared out the memory so you would see no map in that situation.

You shouldn't be able to enter the developers memory in mib2 unless it's been enabled. Entering the menu means someone has been fumbling with it.

Entering the developers menu is covered in this section of the resource:


》》
Retrofit you can use the backend menu ("developers menu") - Long MENU button press with two screen opening up one after the other, second screen select SWDL. The exact process to proceed may vary - ask your retrofitter - the menus can be counter intuitive and the system reboots a few time - power needs to be kept onto the unit by either running the engine or opening the door and closing it every 15 minutes else you are back to square one (extra 5 minute safety net to 20 mintes when power is cut to the unit, circa 45 minute process on European maps). It may also be possible to use the front end screen method on these dependent on the retrofit but is much faster to use the backend developers menu. The backend menu is locked off in high units delivered from the factory. Developers menu can be enabled via VCDS but beware if the navigation FEC does not allow the map upgrade it will import the map with an error marked up and will lock the navigation up within 30 seconds of selecting a destination. You then need to reload a copy of the original maps to get the unit working again or any serial map number before. i.e. have a downloaded copy of the maps the car came with which is your restore option. If you see "N" or "Err" against the NavDB line within SWDL rather than "Y" it's not going to work, the navigation FEC does not allow the map to be successfully uploaded to the unit and used (30 second lock out will occur with an error screen). You need to exit the SWDL menu without going ahead.
《《

If you see the SWDL menu after the long press and the second screen opens means someone has been in the backend. One solution is to load in an old 2017 map, you can load historic maps up to the navigation FeC cut off point, so if you read the navigation FeC 073... last two characters in this scenario, if I had those could point you to a working link for an old map, you need a 32gb SD card in Fat32.

If you want to get the latest maps and it's a mib2 high you need that navigation FeC altered so it's a retrofitter that's required. Possibly sort out any other back end fiddling that a previous owner might have done. Certainly if you see a map which then disappears after 30 seconds then the previous owner probably has not messed it up that much but didn't know how to fix it by installing the map the car came with or one before, but left an unfinished update via the backend.
 
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300Cup

Active Member
Feb 19, 2021
27
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Wow. Ok thanks. I need a sit with a coffee and go through all this info to decipher what I need to do. Many thanks in any case!
 
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jcbmally

Started with nowt and still have most of it left.
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Dec 26, 2013
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Cybertron
Hi There,

Am new the forum so hoping this is the right place. Bought a 2018 Leon Cupra 300 this week and we have a problem with the Sat Nav. The car has the digital cockpit but it seems the dealer has lost the SD card for the Nav as it is reporting the message in the title of this thread. I am trying to get the dealer to sort the problem remotely, but if I don't get any joy what is the cheapest fix? I have seen Nav SD cards for Seat on Amazon/Ebay at £20-30 but am unclear if these will fix the problem or whether I need to go to Seat for a fix. For what its worth I seem to have the Seat Navi Plus hardware and the part number is 5QA035874 and H41 Hardware.
IMO. Unless it was advertised as “no satnav card” then I would expect the dealer to cover the cost. So if it was advertised as having satnav get the dealer to sort it out.
 

Tell

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IMO. Unless it was advertised as “no satnav card” then I would expect the dealer to cover the cost. So if it was advertised as having satnav get the dealer to sort it out.

Chances of getting a dealer to sort out a mib2 high unit are pretty slim, they would probably end up replacing the whole unit if someone had meddled with it rendering deleting the maps held internally in it, circa £800 piece of hardware to change. As you say depends whether it was sold with a working sat nav, if it wasn't then worth following the checks in case the maps have just been deleted and need installing for the valid release it was paired with. The navigation FeC gives that, happy to identify the working web link for the map update... test that, if it works them consider getting the navigation FeC updated by a retrofitter so map updates can be made for the next 5 or so years. If however if it is bust and no sales warranty then over to a retrofitter to fix rather than the £800 job.
 
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jcbmally

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Chances of getting a dealer to sort out a mib2 high unit are pretty slim, they would probably end up replacing the whole unit if someone had meddled with it rendering deleting the maps held internally in it, circa £800 piece of hardware to change. As you say depends whether it was sold with a working sat nav, if it wasn't then worth following the checks in case the maps have just been deleted and need installing for the valid release it was paired with. The navigation FeC gives that, happy to identify the working web link for the map update... test that, if it works them consider getting the navigation FeC updated by a retrofitter so map updates can be made for the next 5 or so years. If however if it is bust and no sales warranty then over to a retrofitter to fix rather than the £800 job.
Agree with you but it’s a bit of a piss take when you expect it to be all good. I remember buying and A3 Saloon and the card was missing, dealer told me that it was u/s for anyone else to use but they replaced mine etc.
On a side note, your write ups make good reading Tell and you have way more patience than me to figure some of this stuff out(y)
 

Tell

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Agree with you but it’s a bit of a piss take when you expect it to be all good. I remember buying and A3 Saloon and the card was missing, dealer told me that it was u/s for anyone else to use but they replaced mine etc.
On a side note, your write ups make good reading Tell and you have way more patience than me to figure some of this stuff out(y)

Mib2 high gets all the more tricky for dealers since they never understood how they worked. Not supporting Mapcare in the UK was just power for them to wash their hands of these units whilst Skoda and VW gave life time update ability. Someone, somewhere had their head in the sand in Seat UK, why workarounds were found and people tinkered.

The mib2 high FeC navigation secret retrofitters kept to themselves and some short changed people by fixing it low on their work to aid repeat work linking firmware upgrades to Mapcare upgrades so you needed a new one each year - you don't need a firmware update unless there is an issue in its performance. Saying that the board sponsor has a good reputation in getting the navigation FEC right.

I only found out about the all important navigation FeC when the guy tapped the screen with ten FeC codes on them or so and said your problem is here on a visit to get it fixed a year later. I had photographed the previous FeC list and compared it after they magically fixed it. Found the one they had changed and found a Russian Audi post, shifted the quarters and tallied with the Seat behaviour. Comes fRom being an Operational Research Scientist 😉.
 
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300Cup

Active Member
Feb 19, 2021
27
15
Update. Still promised that the original missing card is “in the post” by the indie dealer but my hopes are fading fast. I still don’t understand all the steps and advice outlined by Tell above but need to read it through a few more times, but one question.
Is it really the case that a missing or damaged SD card automatically results in £100s in repair replacement costs or having to modify the ICE system permanently? Seems pretty extreme but also seems to be directionally what I am reading on this thread. Gutted I didn’t get them to show me the Nav on the inspection video but wasn’t aware of this SD card dependency on modern VAG cars so just assumed it would work. Gutted.
 
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Tell

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Update. Still promised that the original missing card is “in the post” by the indie dealer but my hopes are fading fast. I still don’t understand all the steps and advice outlined by Tell above but need to read it through a few more times, but one question.
Is it really the case that a missing or damaged SD card automatically results in £100s in repair replacement costs or having to modify the ICE system permanently? Seems pretty extreme but also seems to be directionally what I am reading on this thread. Gutted I didn’t get them to show me the Nav on the inspection video but wasn’t aware of this SD card dependency on modern VAG cars so just assumed it would work. Gutted.

There is only so much I can do remotely. You were suppose to do the check of whether it was a mib2 standard or plus (mib2 high). But from post #1 with that serial number it's a mib2 standard. Googled the serial number, see attached image, says standard on it, STD with that serial number.

So you get a dealer to give you any Seat card and you, your self follow the lost and stolen card text of the resource I linked to or just buy the lowest price Vag card off ebay. It's dug a fair few people out of a hole. The method uses the "workaround" plus a feature that became evident on how the workaround works about two years after the method was found. You go back to year dot of Seats Mib2 Standard map release, pull out the overall.nds file then that becomes your overall.nds file for the workaround.

Yes they do charge you about £120 for a map update since they never sold Mapcare in the UK, the workaround saves you £120 every six months. Possibly why the board called it the "workaround". You got Stefan to thank for that who identified the "workaround" via a bin walker... was said in the text at the time. Used across Europe now with pesky Mapcare on standard units.

It does trigger a software change flag in VCDS (SVM flag) you can try to clear it via VCDS tools. Has been successfull, it works happily with that flag. Those that haven't got VCDS tools who have used the method probably don't know they have the flag, nobody is too bothered about that flag set, you read German boards saying in German no big deal nobody pays attention of that. True. Cars have been driving about with the flag set for 4 years now.

Retrofitters now sell their own workaround fix for £20 or so which saves you from doing a simple file copy operation, although you can use any SD card. I've not heard of any reports on how good this is. It must patch the firmware so it doesn't read the Seat card CID or look at the overall.nds file. Whether it sets the SVM flag pass.

Personally I'd save £20 and stick to the workaround as document on that link. I would do those checks thou as I said. Certainly if it doesn't say Juke box as an audio source when you press the media button, then it's a mib2 standard if it's got the navi button for the year in question. Being a Cupra we though a Plus unit which is why Bedland and myself though a Plus unit.

Or you could wait for the dealer.
 

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300Cup

Active Member
Feb 19, 2021
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There is only so much I can do remotely. You were suppose to do the check of whether it was a mib2 standard or plus (mib2 high). But from post #1 with that serial number it's a mib2 standard. Googled the serial number, see attached image, says standard on it, STD with that serial number.

So you get a dealer to give you any Seat card and you, your self follow the lost and stolen card text of the resource I linked to or just buy the lowest price Vag card off ebay. It's dug a fair few people out of a hole. The method uses the "workaround" plus a feature that became evident on how the workaround works about two years after the method was found. You go back to year dot of Seats Mib2 Standard map release, pull out the overall.nds file then that becomes your overall.nds file for the workaround.

Yes they do charge you about £120 for a map update since they never sold Mapcare in the UK, the workaround saves you £120 every six months. Possibly why the board called it the "workaround". You got Stefan to thank for that who identified the "workaround" via a bin walker... was said in the text at the time. Used across Europe now with pesky Mapcare on standard units.

It does trigger a software change flag in VCDS (SVM flag) you can try to clear it via VCDS tools. Has been successfull, it works happily with that flag. Those that haven't got VCDS tools who have used the method probably don't know they have the flag, nobody is too bothered about that flag set, you read German boards saying in German no big deal nobody pays attention of that. True. Cars have been driving about with the flag set for 4 years now.

Retrofitters now sell their own workaround fix for £20 or so which saves you from doing a simple file copy operation, although you can use any SD card. I've not heard of any reports on how good this is. It must patch the firmware so it doesn't read the Seat card CID or look at the overall.nds file. Whether it sets the SVM flag pass.

Personally I'd save £20 and stick to the workaround as document on that link. I would do those checks thou as I said. Certainly if it doesn't say Juke box as an audio source when you press the media button, then it's a mib2 standard if it's got the navi button for the year in question. Being a Cupra we though a Plus unit which is why Bedland and myself though a Plus unit.

Or you could wait for the dealer.
Thanks again Tell, really appreciate your attempts to help!
I think I can confirm it’s the std because there is no jukebox option on the media menu.

I’m giving the dealer until the end of the week and then I’ll order a replacement card and try to follow the suggested steps. Will keep you posted!
 

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Tell

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Thanks again Tell, really appreciate your attempts to help!
I think I can confirm it’s the std because there is no jukebox option on the media menu

Definitely a standard.

You can either hold out for them to do the work if as was said higher up if they are legally bound or do it yourself if you get fed up waiting and have reasonable computer skills. Mac computer are the ones that people can have issues with. You just need any VAG SD card, follow lost and stolen cards. Test it in the car, then use the workaround method as covered in the resource to update to the latest maps. Covered in the resource.

If you are going to update the maps from here in you need to be able to do the file copy yourself in any case. As said the lost and stolen part of the text has helped a few people. Before we tried to rummage back through map releases guessing which one the unit was paired with then doing the workaround to update. Now one jumps to the first release of the maps on the mib2 standard for Seat to retrieve that file but you might as well put the card in the car at that point to test the file copy is fine. Should see the map.

If a PC you need 7zip installed, free, Mac CleanMydrive and the Mac unzipping program. Whilst you can cut corners by not doing the VW recommended software tools to unpack the zip file and clean the stuff that Mac's put on, not recommended since it just causes more grief to work out what happened.

The card you could blag from your dealer since they normally have a few stuffed in their draw, any VAG map card or get one off eBay.

See under Lost and Stolen cards


You can use either link:

V1 link (Credit Markobc with that one):

http://infotainment-cdn.skoda-auto.com/base/maps/0430_MP143-1248.0EUR.zip

or Skoda's download manager version (more resilient to network timing out issues)

http://infotainment-cdn.skoda-auto....der.exe?ver=636797902467464786&extension=.exe

Bottom link will copy it to the card, first link you do the unzip yourself and copy to the blank card.

Test in the car, take a copy of the overall.nds file as identified in the workaround instruction. Download the latest maps and follow the workaround instructions. That overall.nds file save in a directory since that is the one you use each time you do a map update. e.g.. the one in the 0430 release.

I always say put a reboot in between changing map cards by holding the on / off button for 10 seconds or so till it restarts, that's to force the unit to re-read all of the map files rather than use what it has in memory.

BTW if the unit has never had a map card in it, in its life it will pair to the card you put in it. That's how people living in Israel get their maps working where the Vag cars are sold without map cards. One of those other questions I got asked once 🤣. How dealers send maps through the post to people after purchase. If it's been paired to a card but the card is lost, then the DIY technique is as described.
 
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300Cup

Active Member
Feb 19, 2021
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Quick update. The dealer is still stringing me along about posting out a card claiming the last one must have been lost in the post. Latest is they have ordered a brand new card from Seat and will forward it to me allegedly next week. From the above, I know it will not work unless I make the DIY changes above, but at least I will have a card (if they actually send it). Will update mid next week but I’m not holding my breath!
 
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