Time and Date Adjustment

Grant Price

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Hi all

I have exactly the same problem (W216 Cl500) - only noticed it after the clocks went forward & I saw the analogue clock didn't update. Went into the digital date / time settings & saw the date issue (as mentioned by others) which is stuck in March 2018 & refuses to change.

Took the car into Command Online in Lightwater ('really' good team if you haven't dealt with them before).

Spoke to Richard who is a coder by trade and seems to know the Command software as well, or better, than anyone else I've spoken to.

He told me the issue is consistent across the "S" series variants (they were working on another car whilst mine was in & saw exactly the same issue) - problem seems to stem from the date issue. He said it seems to be a software coding error which has set the car in the wrong 26 week date period.

He said it does require a software update from MB. I called MB customer services, explained all the background & that others have reported exactly the same issue - but despite this they just told me to take the car into an authorised dealer for diagnosis. Called the local "Star Systems" specialist at local dealer in Reading & gave him all the background - he said he will investigate & get back to me - no callback as yet.

[The last option Richard said he was happy to try to see if he can go into the code to enable the "times set" menu in the dashboard settings via the steering wheel (an option in other MB variants of the era) and get this to update the analogue clock - I will try this if all else fails.]

For now (Monday 12th November 2018) I am awaiting a call back from the local "Star Systems" specialist in Reading - fingers crossed ...

Will update with any (positive) news ..
 

Grant Price

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Hi again

Had missed the posts on the previous page where the problem had resolved itself over night. Just checked mine - date had changed to correctly read November 12th !

Analogue clock was still 1 hour out but that was aligned with the digital time - corrected it and my analogue clock updated.

The digital & analogue time still seems to be 2 to 3 minutes slow which has always been the case but might this stem from a lag in satellite updates ??

I don't like mysteries either - would really love to know the root cause - since my car is fixed (for now at least) I am not sure there is much I can do to get anyone to explore further.

I started off life as a software programmer - my guess is that it was / is a coding error and somehow the code has just told the car to reset to the correct 26 week time period (!?)

Interested to hear if anyone else find out the actual cause ......
 

slonsdale

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Hi mate that is the most positive post so far. Please keep us informed. If your date reverts to March you have the same misery as the rest of us. Cheers Steve .
 
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S

steve.link

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Just called MB customer Services nationally. They just said take the car to the dealer for a trained technician to look at it. What sounded like a young chap (Gareth) declined to say whether he knew about this issue or to pursue it internally with technical colleagues. I explained everything that has happened. He wasn't interested in this thread and just apologised. Can I suggest everyone calls MB Customer Services on 00800 9777 7777. I e-mailed them last week but have had no reply so I think its time to exert some pressure with a few more calls.
Ok - no harm in a phone call!
I have logged the issue and was told the same - take it into a dealership. I do have it booked in already on 22nd November so will wait and see what they suggest

Steve
 
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steve.link

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Hi again

Had missed the posts on the previous page where the problem had resolved itself over night. Just checked mine - date had changed to correctly read November 12th !

Analogue clock was still 1 hour out but that was aligned with the digital time - corrected it and my analogue clock updated.

The digital & analogue time still seems to be 2 to 3 minutes slow which has always been the case but might this stem from a lag in satellite updates ??

I don't like mysteries either - would really love to know the root cause - since my car is fixed (for now at least) I am not sure there is much I can do to get anyone to explore further.

I started off life as a software programmer - my guess is that it was / is a coding error and somehow the code has just told the car to reset to the correct 26 week time period (!?)

Interested to hear if anyone else find out the actual cause ......

Grant

Mine did that - if you change a setting in the time zone menu it will change back to the March date. Even when the correct November date shows the clock is still an hour fast - i.e. it thinks its still summer time. The wrong time also effects the Sat Nav ETA. There are still plenty of these cars in service so MB needs to come up with a fix!
 

Botus

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the date bug is irritating, but not being able to set the clock to the correct time is real nuisance

I did see traffic updates on mine yesterday both on the map and in the road by road list of issues... the nav appears to think it knows the correct time.
 
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slonsdale

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Wonderful glad you respect each other so much. cheers
 

slonsdale

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Jumped in the car this morning at 8.15 started it up checked the date for a laugh and LO all correct. drove to town checked again at 8.30 while in traffic queue - guess what, gone back to March. Maybe it will set itself if not moving but reverts to wrong date when in motion?
As for LostKiwi post very interesting but shouldn't be a problem till next year if I have understood it correctly.
 

LostKiwi

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That's why I said read it carefully.
It depends on the firmware defined pivot point date. The GPS standard for L1c communication allows for a 10 bit week code (1024 weeks = 19.7 years).
If the manufacturer set the pivot date at 1998 then 19.7 years takes us to now. This is coded in the GPS firmware.
Later standards (L2c) use a 13 bit week code so will be ok for 4096 weeks (80 years or so).
If the GPS receiver can use the newer 13 bit code it will correctly display the date as long as it can pick up one of the newer satellites broadcasting L2c. This could be why it's sometimes ok, sometimes not.
 

slonsdale

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Jumped in the car this morning at 8.15 started it up checked the date for a laugh and LO all correct. drove to town checked again at 8.30 while in traffic queue - guess what, gone back to March. Maybe it will set itself if not moving but reverts to wrong date when in motion?
As for LostKixi post very interesting but shouldn't be a problem till next year if I have understood it correctly.
 

slonsdale

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Thanks for that again mate the science was little over my head I got the 10 and 13 bit point but didn't factor in different pivot point dates as a possibility.
Cheers.
 

star

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Hi all

I have exactly the same problem (W216 Cl500) - only noticed it after the clocks went forward & I saw the analogue clock didn't update. Went into the digital date / time settings & saw the date issue (as mentioned by others) which is stuck in March 2018 & refuses to change.

Took the car into Command Online in Lightwater ('really' good team if you haven't dealt with them before).

Spoke to Richard who is a coder by trade and seems to know the Command software as well, or better, than anyone else I've spoken to.

He told me the issue is consistent across the "S" series variants (they were working on another car whilst mine was in & saw exactly the same issue) - problem seems to stem from the date issue. He said it seems to be a software coding error which has set the car in the wrong 26 week date period.

He said it does require a software update from MB. I called MB customer services, explained all the background & that others have reported exactly the same issue - but despite this they just told me to take the car into an authorised dealer for diagnosis. Called the local "Star Systems" specialist at local dealer in Reading & gave him all the background - he said he will investigate & get back to me - no callback as yet.

[The last option Richard said he was happy to try to see if he can go into the code to enable the "times set" menu in the dashboard settings via the steering wheel (an option in other MB variants of the era) and get this to update the analogue clock - I will try this if all else fails.]

For now (Monday 12th November 2018) I am awaiting a call back from the local "Star Systems" specialist in Reading - fingers crossed ...

Will update with any (positive) news ..

My apologies if it was us that didn’t return your call, we have had quite a few clock issues recently. Or you may have contacted one of the other indies in the area but they do not have the capability to do updates so may not have contacted you back for that reason?
 
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Botus

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That's why I said read it carefully.
It depends on the firmware defined pivot point date. The GPS standard for L1c communication allows for a 10 bit week code (1024 weeks = 19.7 years).
If the manufacturer set the pivot date at 1998 then 19.7 years takes us to now. This is coded in the GPS firmware.
Later standards (L2c) use a 13 bit week code so will be ok for 4096 weeks (80 years or so).
If the GPS receiver can use the newer 13 bit code it will correctly display the date as long as it can pick up one of the newer satellites broadcasting L2c. This could be why it's sometimes ok, sometimes not.


so if it can get it right sometimes (friday night and this morning), you believe because it probably can cope with later info, it just isn't set up to view the world like this all the time...
in which case its possible it could be resolved with a kick from Mercedes (if they support us)?

would be a help if facelift owners with NTG3.5 could let us know if theirs doesn't have a time date problem
 

LostKiwi

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It will fix itself over time as the old satellites are replaced with newer ones. That's why it works sometimes and not others. It all depends which satellite it pulls the info from. Given it will fix itself and doesn't cause any real issue I think it unlikely MB will fix it.
On the other hand the older units like in our r230 that can't use L2c signals are screwed. It's not a big deal.
 

Botus

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funny an old Nokia phone copes OK (and that's indoors)

Nokia.jpg
 

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