Black Screen, boot fails

Ford SYNC 3 Support
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21

I understand.

22

Re.
To change between brands, the Theme Master Enable must be set appropriately.

Is this something I need to pay attention to?
Because I donā€™t quite understand it. I have no reason to use a theme that is designed or made for something other than an F-150. Want to see change between brands that tells me itā€™s the idea of using a theme that wasnā€™t designed for an F-150 or is meant for another vehicle.

Iā€™m perfectly happy with a standard Ford theme.
Typically anything thatā€™s approved by Ford and used by Ford in an F150 is okay with me.
If Iā€™ve got a theme problem, is it possible forscan was providing information that I shouldnā€™t be using? Or maybe Iā€™m using an as built that I shouldnā€™t be?

Re.
Notes-
Asbuilt data 7D0-09-xx generally requires APIM Strategy firmware 1U5T-14G374-E* to be active.

I noticed mine is 1U5T-14G374-DA
Question: Does that cause a problem for me using this recommended strategy?

Re.

LocationDE02/7D0-03-01: xxxx-

23

Have you tried just loading the factory AsBuilt into the APIM?

That takes you to a known good version, after the APIM boots back up, go back in ForScan and select module reboot (if youā€™re in a current version) or module reset (in earlier versions) .

24

Actually I did that Monday night, maybe I need to make sure the as built Iā€™m using is actually the most recommended?

Iā€™m wondering if relying on forscan to provide an APIM asbuilt is the best way to go about this.

I remember when I went to load default asbuilts for the APIM, forscan said it couldnā€™t find one, there was then a popup, I checked the box to search online.
It appeared to me that forscan did find one online, and that is the one that I chose to load and write.

That didnā€™t change a thing for me.

I hope I answered that question or addressed that topic.

Thanks,

25

If your vehicle came from the factory with Sync 3 you can simply hit the load factory button or you can download your factory AB from https://www.motorcraftservice.com/Asbuilt/ .

If it didnā€™t come from the factory with Sync3, youā€™ve just dropped an incorrect config as ForScan just reads the bits, it doesnā€™t know that youā€™ve done a hardware upgrade/modification.

The ForScan AsBuilt easy buttons are not perfect, as an example, if one has a 2013-2020 Fusion Hybrid and uses the easy button to enable the frost telltale it sets a value of 8 which breaks your cabin heat and throws DTC because it canā€™t contact the aux heat module. The correct value is A for a Fusion Hybrid and no, thatā€™s not in the database, I found that by flipping the values while it was below 39Āŗ F so that I could see if the telltale illuminated or not.

26

SInce you have forscan the vehicle destroyer handy could you check for DTCā€™s

27

Okay thanks,

yes the truck did come with Sync 3 from the factory. I havenā€™t made any hardware modifications to the truck when it comes to the entertainment system or any other major component on the inside.

28

here is what I found with forscan:

Location

DE02/7D0-03-01: xxxx-**xx-xxxx

Values

Visual Themes Sync Versions 3.0 thru 3.3
00=Ford Classic (Blue Theme, Multi-colored Buttons) (Default Theme Ford)
01=Ford Timeless (Blue Theme, Blue Buttons)

Mine is 7D0-03-01-000-0103-00DF - ā€œso mine is set to Ford Timeless hereā€

29

Set 7D0-03-01: xxxx-**xx-xxxx to 00, save it and reset the module from Forscan.

On a personal note, you are making this a lot harder than it shouldā€¦
If you only had posted the full APIM ASBUILT as requested yesterday instead of feeding us bit and piecesā€¦ Thereā€™s another value I would had liked to check, but Iā€™m quickly loosing interestā€¦ :confused:

30

Posting a full ass built as something that is beyond my interpretation or understanding.

Thatā€™s a request Iā€™m not exactly sure how to deliver on.

Until I figured it out on my own, Iā€™m crawling like a baby learning mobility.

I would have to learn how to share my as builts before that could be provided as requested.

Thanks for your help just the same.

1 Like
31

But Iā€™m confussed: how did you find the value you shared before?.
Wasnā€™t it through Forscan?, the UI?. If so, just take a picture of all the values on that screen and share it here.

32

Ok, IF you dropped the factory AB back in this isnā€™t due to a bad config.
Itā€™s either:

  1. a bad APIM
  2. a corrupted or missing file due to what you used for upgrade media.

And before you repeat how much was paid for the micro SD etc, everything you quoted about quality is all about WRITE speed. For an install like a Sync update itā€™s about READ speed, most companies that supply commercial mobile devices with removable storage (eg Motorola) recommend using a class 4 card, not a UHC etc. A higher class number doesnā€™t necessarily make the read speed faster, a class 4 is faster than a class 10.

33

Re.
But Iā€™m confussed: how did you find the value you shared before?.
Wasnā€™t it through Forscan?, the UI?. If so, just take a picture of all the values on that screen and share it here.

I am getting there, this dilemma is forcing me to learn things about forscan and cyanlabs tools that I did not know before.
I think I can figure out how to share or post here my APIM As Builts.

More to follow

thanks,

34

re.

Ok, IF you dropped the factory AB back in this isnā€™t due to a bad config.
Itā€™s either:

  1. a bad APIM
  2. a corrupted or missing file due to what you used for upgrade media.
    **I canā€™t be sure, I am not 100% sure how many different ways a bad APIM would behave, the media point can only apply to trying to rescue the device, i did not get into trouble until I chose to do a master rest on the head unit. I never tried to update this unit any other way besides letting it do itā€™s OTA updates while parked in my driveway at home. I have a big high speed mesh system and those updates always went as expected, they all seemed successful. Could forscan make boot screen changes to a head unit with a bad APIM? I guess it is possible.

And before you repeat how much was paid for the micro SD etc, everything you quoted about quality is all about WRITE speed. For an install like a Sync update itā€™s about READ speed, most companies that supply commercial mobile devices with removable storage (eg Motorola) recommend using a class 4 card, not a UHC etc. A higher class number doesnā€™t necessarily make the read speed faster, a class 4 is faster than a class 10.

**I replied to a quality point raised, based on the performance of the cyanlabs tools, I feel pretty confident my flash drive situation is not a place where I am struggling or falling short. I think my unit is experiencing a corrupt boot cycle and gets locked up.

Thanks,

35

That gets us back to either a bad APIM or a corrupted file.

But just for grins and giggles, try pulling the battery cable for ~35 minutes to force a complete cold boot of all the modules on the off chance something is hung up on one of them.

36

Thanks for the tip!

I did that last weekend, I think it was disconnected for about 45 minutes. Iā€™ll try it again though.

Thanks,

37

---------------3/29/2024---------------
VIN: 1FTEW1E52KKD44287
Version 5U5T-14G381-ET
APIM Model: KU5T-14G371-CDF
APIM Type: Navigation
APIM Size: 32GB
APIM Free Space: 4.6G
3/29/2024 4:54:13 PM +00:00

APIM AsBuilt
DE00: 2A2A000600022904048A
DE01: 55530103C402429080004005
DE02: 0000010300
DE03: 000014030E0001
DE04: 1A681A6838A4
DE05: B0
DE06: 46003300000000029A000056569200C8

Partition Type = Free / Total
/fs/sd/MAP/ = 12M / 1.4G
/fs/sd/MAP/ = 36K / 1.4G
/fs/sd/MAP/ = 148K / 1.4G
/fs/sd/MAP/ = 12M / 1.3G
/fs/sd/MAP/ = 3.0M / 922M
/fs/sd/MAP/ = 9.3M / 1.3G
/fs/sd/MAP/ = 16M / 1.7G
/fs/sd/MAP/ = 16M / 1.7G
/fs/sd/MAP/ = 13M / 2.0G
/fs/Nuance/ = 15M / 1.6G
/fs/Nuance/ = 10M / 1.1G
/fs/Nuance/ = 25M / 2.6G
/fs/Nuance/ = 3.2M / 465M
/fs/rwdata/ = 4.0K / 1.2G
/fs/rwdata/quip/ = 35M / 35M
/fs/mp/ = 132M / 1.4G
/fs/images/ = 4.6G / 25G

Installed Packages
4U5T-14G421-CAC
4U5T-14G421-CFC
4U5T-14G421-CBC
4U5T-14G421-CCC
4U5T-14G421-CDC
4U5T-14G421-CGC
4U5T-14G421-CHC
4U5T-14G421-CJC
4U5T-14G421-CEC
4U5T-14G422-CAJ
4U5T-14G422-CBF
5U5T-14G391-CP
4U5T-14G422-CCF
4U5T-14G424-CC

38

I do find that the cyanlabs rw data wipe tool does work, using the log file tool before and after is my proof.
I find that forscan does communicate with the APIM well enough to successfully change the splash screen selection in the beginning of the boot cycle.
I find that my current version of sync is 3.4.21194
I have tried to install the most current sync version with the cyanlabs downgrade tool.
Since I cannot see anything other than black screen, I have no way of knowing if the downgrade tool is even working at all.

I may try to create a force reformat disc, as a last resort, maybe a force update? force install downgrade?

If I am stuck with a black screen, what do I have to lose?

39

That tool is from Ford.

1 Like
41

You need to fix thisā€¦