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biffyg
08-01-2014, 12:59 AM
Hi All, New poster but been lurking for a while.

I picked up my 61 plate A7 S-line line late November, when I first picked it up bluetooth calls and music worked fine. Now the phone (Galaxy S4) has stopped connecting for more than 10 seconds at a time, I've done lots of online research and I'm fed up trying things now and wonder if anyone else has had similar issues. As far as I know nothing has changed on my mobile since I got the car. I know there are issues with Android 4.3 but initially everything was working fine and it's only the last 10 days that the issues have occurred.

I've rooted/flashed/factory reset until the cows come home, I've applied a bluetooth update from the Audi website via the SD card, I've hard reset the mmi. Nothing has worked.

Rang Audi and they said the car and phone are at different levels and there may be a fix in a couple of months but again nothing has changed so why should it go awry overnight. Sounds like an easy answer for them.

Anybody got any ideas????

Wippa
08-01-2014, 01:37 PM
I think you may be experiencing the RSAP problem that i had a while ago. It looks like the phone is connecting, everything seems fine, then you've got no bluetooth. I'm no expert but I can only tell you what worked for me, courtesy of Silo on here. And another temporary fix if you wanted.

The first temp fix is to connect your phone to Hands Free Profile rather than car phone. This should work fine but you lose things like street view, sms, googlemaps (the sexy stuff). You'll gain access to your call log, contacts etc as per a normal bluetooth connection. I did this pending a more permanent fix that i was happy with.

The second fix is what I ended up doing. Install Cyanogen Mod on your S4, then but the Rsap App from the play store for £7. Once everything is in, it works like a charm. My own experience has been that cyanogen is faster, more stable and reliable than the samsung builds of android. Downside is there are some app clashes and work arounds to be learned but nothing too onerous.

Have a look at my post re another Rsap problem, you should see lots more info on there.

biffyg
09-01-2014, 05:14 PM
Hi Wippa,
Thanks for your reply!! A7's seem to be few and far between so wasn't sure if anybody would be looking.

I'd been reading through your RSAP problems and wasn't sure whether it really applied to me as I don't think my car has the data based features you were talking about, i can't find any options for the street view etc and it didn't read messages etc. I'm not sure whether that must have been an option at new, also I don't see anywhere a sim would go into the dash (It's an option I'd love mind!!!) How did you select that option 'handsfree profile' as I haven't seen that?

It was your thread that persuaded me to look to flash the phone, I'd been looking to root the week previous to use an app called bluetooth fix repair but for the life of me I couldn't get my head round rooting, which is strange because I'm normally quite confident with this stuff, must have been the xmas hangover! In the end I used the Cyanogenmod app to root and flash however once I'd done that I couldn't use that app as it said it didn't recognise the file system. I spent a few days with cm 10.2 installed but decided to flash back to stock firmware and attempt just simple root access which after the fog had cleared was pretty simple to do using the odin software. With cm 10.2 i could get the phone to pair but the problems were all the same. At that point I didn't try the rsap app. Just out of interest which cm version are you using? I toyed with flashing cm 11 but in the problem log it still mentioned bluetooth issues.

Anyway back on the stock rom on Tuesday but with root access i tried the bluetooth fix repair app and it still couldn't read my file system so no joy there, however i'm sure that would be my fix! I tried the rsap app but stupidly hadn't installed the required system files first so my trial period ran out. I plan to install the system files tonight and see what happens, I'll purchase the app and refund within 15mins if nothing works. Something I did do yesterday was install an app from the same developer called 'bluetooth phonebook'. Now my phone is holding the connection for much longer and if it rings I can answer and get about one word in before it switches back to the handset. This is a step in the right direction I suppose. Also I managed about a second of music from the media player.

I might be reading into it but during my call with Audi she said at least 2 or 3 times about this possible update so maybe she was hinting without being able to say too much, fingers crossed!!

Will revert back, once I've tried with the full RSAP app.

Wippa
09-01-2014, 06:39 PM
I'm no expert on these issues by any stretch to be honest and have only experienced them recently, but I'll do what I can to help.I'll try to over your questions in order.

If your not connected via rsap then you won't see street view or text facilities anyway. Someone on here may know when see options came into play but I'd be surprised if they're not on your 61 plate.

To select hands free (hfp) - press tel, Bluetooth, goto bonded devices, select your device and you should see 3 options - Bluetooth audio, hfp and car phone. Connect to hfp. It's the car phone option that you're not getting at the moment. Your Bluetooth audio should work all the time your connected via hfp without any issues. If this connection is unstable then you have a problem with either the phone or the car (not helpful but that the limit of my knowledge at that point).

From my understanding, the problem isn't Bluetooth per se. I think this is why your bluetooth repair isn't fixing the issues maybe? My experience was the android update 4.3 and then subsequent updates that broke the rsap connection though I gather it's not all phones that broke. Silo from Here found the cyanogen workaround that I followed and it works like a dream to be honest.

I'm using 10.2 on CM. The app you need is he rsap app mentioned previously. My gut feeling is if you'd got that when you was playing, you'd have resolved your issues.

Like you, I didn't read the instructions and didn't use the install app so my trial came and went without success. However, used the install, installed the app, connected and was back up in around 60 seconds.

As you know, cutting off after a second isn't normal behaviour and the connection should be solid over such a short distance. My advice is this.

1. Connect via hfp first and see if your getting a stable bt connection. If your not, that implies to me it's a software problem and don't progress any further. Try another phone if possible.
2. Assuming hfp works fine, take the leap back to cm 10.2. Install the install app, then the rsap app and see how that works. Worst case is you have to get a refund from rsap, but from the 2 people who've done this, it's worked.

Hope that helps.



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biffyg
10-01-2014, 08:58 AM
Hi Wippa,

Cheers again!

I did what I needed to do shortly after doing my post last night. If you end the Rsap app task, you keep getting 10 mins more trial each time so that was handy for a good trial. Unfortunately it didn't make any difference. I'm using hfp and still having problems.

I don't have the car phone option, only handsfree and audio player so I guess it is a software issue. I tried with an iphone 5 a few days ago and that seemed to work, but then again, my s4 worked at first. my wife's s4 doesn't work and neither does my brother in law's. You said you didn't have the issue in hfp.

Things really do seem better since installing the phonebook app, connection lasts longer, but as soon as I make a call it goes back to the phone, music is the same.

Wish I could get a solution here, starting to look at new phone options. I know my bluetooth software in the car is the latest but I wouldn't know what the latest car sw version is.

Back to the drawing board.......need to find out how to get the car phone option.

Another thing I noticed is my ami cable doesn't work with my s4, is that the same for you?

biffyg
10-01-2014, 01:27 PM
Just checked on myaudi.com and sure enough mine is listed without car phone receiver, also listed as without multimedia. Hmm, the things you wish you knew when you buy a car!

Wippa
10-01-2014, 06:45 PM
We'll on a positive note, you know what it isn't. Even without the other stuff on there, you shouldn't be having drop outs like that. Maybe time to move the phone on if it's not happening with the wife's. Best of luck


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biffyg
13-01-2014, 10:21 AM
Trying to get hold of another phone to test, think I'll give audi a call direct to ask about this possible update.

On another note, my phone now stays connected until the moment I make the call then it drops off, same with music, loads the track then cuts out. With the fact that your S4 works fine Wippa and the fact that the three S4's I've tried with my car don't work, I do wonder if it's something to do with the car software.

Wippa
13-01-2014, 06:54 PM
This should be pretty simple to test. Doesn't need to be an awesome super-duper phone, any phone with Bluetooth will do. Just connect, make the call and see if the fault is replicated. If that works without disconnecting, move on to Bluetooth audio and keep going until success or failure.

That behaviour is just weird IMHO.

biffyg
13-01-2014, 07:27 PM
Tried a galaxy ace today and it wouldn't work and my phone wouldn't connect at all. Bit the bullet, took it into audi, tech tried it with his phone, didn't work, so perfect outcome! He confirmed there's an issue he's not seen before apart from on an a1 where the bluetooth module needed replacing, totally different tech on an a7 but he said there's a very small chance it could have gone also. Booked in for Thursday which is the quickest I've ever got into liverpool audi before! Also pointed out to him that the name of the car's bluetooth can change Randomly and he found that very strange but he saw it with his own eyes.

Really hope they find something!

silo24
13-01-2014, 10:18 PM
Just checked on myaudi.com and sure enough mine is listed without car phone receiver, also listed as without multimedia. Hmm, the things you wish you knew when you buy a car!

Mine is also listed without Multimedia but I have it....don't necessarily believe the my.audi.com site......

@mark
14-01-2014, 06:00 PM
Mine is also listed without Multimedia but I have it....don't necessarily believe the my.audi.com site......

I believe the Car Phone Receiver is actually the centre handset option you can get not the bluetooth etc

See picture on this page Audi A7 Sportback - Mobile Phones – Audi.co.uk (http://www.audi.co.uk/new-cars/a7/a7-sportback/audio-and-communications/mobile-phones.html)

You will also see on that page where it states that "A built-in hands-free phone system is standard on the Audi A7 Sportback"

biffyg
16-01-2014, 06:33 PM
Yes, looks like it Mark.

Car has been into Audi today and they have just let me know that the car requires a replacement 5f unit which from some google work looks like the bit where the sd cards go in. Part will be there in the morning to be fitted.

Hope all will be back to normal after that. Looks like quite a bit of expensive kit!!

biffyg
23-01-2014, 11:32 AM
Looks like quite a bit of expensive kit!!

Well the 5f unit was £1800 under warranty, it's basically the bit your cd's and sd cards go into, only got the car back on Tuesday after 4 days in Audi, it was originally ready on Monday but as I went to pick it up the coding of the unit failed, at this point I think they felt a bit guilty and sent me away in a brand new top spec A6 with all sorts of bells and whistles. Still missed my A7 though.

Anyway the A7 is back with me now and all in good working order. One thing I did notice though is in the A6 the auto parking brake feature is always on unless you switch it off. In my A7 i have to switch it on every time I get in the car. Any ideas if this is another fault?

neil s
23-01-2014, 02:38 PM
One thing I did notice though is in the A6 the auto parking brake feature is always on unless you switch it off. In my A7 i have to switch it on every time I get in the car. Any ideas if this is another fault?

In later A6s the auto brake remembers whether it was on or off when you start the car but I believe earlier ones didn't. I assume it would be the same with the A7. Not sure when the switch would've been; it might be a MY14 thing.

Neil.

M1tchy
23-01-2014, 06:41 PM
I had an A6 courtesy car last weekend and like the fact then if you opened the drivers door, the engine switched off.


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biffyg
24-01-2014, 10:48 AM
I had an A6 courtesy car last weekend and like the fact then if you opened the drivers door, the engine switched off.


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That's a nice feature, seems like the auto brake memory does come later and there's no software update for it. Oh well, something for next time.