JJM

Just wondering if anyone has done any map updates for the Uconnect 8.4 yet and if they can share some light on how to complete them.


Thanks

94zj318

The U Connect 8.4 has both SiriusXM Satellite Radio AND the U Connect ACCESS system that connects over a 3G cellular network through Sprint (at least I believe it's Sprint), so it could update over the cellular network or with your SiriusXM subscription over the satellites, as it uses the satellites to update traffic and weather info. and other info. through the satellite antenna on your Jeep. Another thing that I've heard is that, if you log into your U Connect account at driveuconnect.com , you may be able to download the map update package onto a USB flash/thumb drive and plug it into the USB port in your Jeep and download it that way.

ibicycle

I just bought a 2015 Cherokee and wonder if I have the most current nav maps installed? I did the software update only. 17.43.01
NaviServer 9.10.32.702279 and Map database CMCN4VP4NA;V3 Is this current of even the correct numbers?

thanks

Watchful

I updated my map yesterday morning. What a tremendously frustrating processes. It's like the kids who coded this application have never used the actual nav system before.

First, you plug the little USB stick into the USB slot...and after a few minutes, you're told to unplug the stick from the other one. Right: I have my music plugged into the second USB. That's fine.

But then nothing happens. So you have to turn the ignition off and restart the Jeep. Nothing happens. At all. So I pull the update stick out to reseat it, and an error message comes up asking me not to pull the stick out. Great. How about some feedback letting me know it was actually doing something instead of sitting there? Again, any programmer would know to at least acknowledge something was happening, but not these dwarves.

In it goes again. Finally, after a mysterious length of time, it turns the touch screen to black...and then shows me a keyboard. That's it: no prompt or instructions: just a keyboard.

According to the manual that comes with, I should be looking at a totally different screen. Rest assured, the manual that comes with the update looks NOTHING like the screens you will see throughout this process. Let me just get that out of the way. It's totally wrong: like it's from ten versions or so ago.

I figure out I'm supposed to put in a code, so I grab my phone and go to the nav website.

I have to put in my email address, the vehicle VIN, and the serial number of the disc. That seems a little suspicious, and it takes a couple of tries because the serial number on the disc is something like this: G98WE8RE8SFDUS8WREU9WREU9SFD. Evidently, there must be millions of counterfeit Fiat Chrysler discs flooding the world market, or else there's just a 25-year-old app developer trying to impress his buddies with ridiculous encryption codes.

After a few minutes, not seconds, I finally get my "authorization code" emailed to me. Guess what? It's another number like this: 8F56-G94G-7J4U-N58G. Which doesn't seem like a lot, but here's the thing: you have to type this into the nav system via the touch screen keyboard. Which is reeeaaalllly slow, and because the dingdongs who wrote this decided to mix letters and numbers together, you have to keep hitting the "letters" button then the "numbers" button at the bottom to continuously switch screen modes. Again, anyone's who's actually used a nav system would realize this is a butt-stupid idea and grouped the letters and numbers together to be user friendly.

Oh, and get this: because it's apparently 1985, you have to TYPE IN THE HYPHENS. Because the app code seemingly can't figure out where to parse the digits, and can't automatically enter in the hyphens or advance the text cursor for you. Which is funny, because when I paid $150 for this, the online entry form had no trouble taking my credit card number without hyphens. I'm not the slowest typist there is, but doing letters, numbers, and hyphens on a Jeep touch screen takes about as much time as loading up the updater. If you've lost track, I'll give you a hint: too fricking long.

Okay, well, it checks the disc ID against your VIN (which you better have with you by the way, so get the driver's door open) and email address and the authorization code...and it's ready to install! At least: no blood type or facial recognition ready. Look, I get that a group of people could chip in, buy just one disc, and pass it around. So I get the VIN and the disc ID. But the authorization code and email address exchange seems pointless since the VIN is the unique identifier that ties the disc to the vehicle. The other two items are little more than a pointless exercise in authentication by some kids writing the app before posting their mad skillz on Career Builder.

But okay, now we are ready to install. Be ready! You have to leave the vehicle running for 38 minutes! Don't switch it off or the entire internet will fail. For some reason, you can't leave the Jeep in ACC mode, because maybe they think the battery will drain running a tiny computer for that long. But the warning screen does tell you this could take longer.

It takes longer. A lot longer.

I started the process at 7:55am. It finished at (ready?) 9:55am. See it loads three chunks of data in to update the map. The first two are over in a couple minutes, and I'm thinking "Great, this should be done in about another ten minutes." Then, it zooms up to 20% completion on the final chunk...and sits there. And sits there. And sits there. There's no indication it's doing anything, and for all you know, it could be frozen. Meanwhile, you're burning gas. A lot of it. And finally, after what seems to be forever but was really about 15 minutes, it jumps up to 21%. And sits there.

The longest wait I had was going from 83% to 84% completion, which took about 35 minutes. I got a lot of yard work done in the bitter cold, wondering whether I was just burning gas to keep a touch screen running a frozen app. But joyous rapture, it finally made that increment to 84%! I thought about calling friends up to come over and celebrate, maybe shave off the beard I grew, and celebrate all of the major religions' holidays before it got to 85%. Then, at 88%, it held up again for another 20 minutes.

Okay, this is where I started to do math. The little USB stick they send you in a giant DVD case holds 4.67 GB of data, which finally started to upload around 8:05 am. That means it took about 110 minutes to copy 4.67 GB of data (at most), which is about USB 1/2.0 speed. Roughly, it's working at floppy disk speeds, there, I think. That's a lot of overhead.

And in that time, goodness knows how much gas I burned up in two fully hours of idling. One of you could probably tell me, but that would just hurt more. Think of the pollutants that put in the air, too.

Look, an updated map is important. But in a day and age when you can generally get decent cell coverage in most parts of North America, you can get excellent, updated turn-by-turn directions for free. Or, you could spend $150, two hours, and a gallon of gas, watching a scroll bar not, you know, actually scroll.

I don't recommend the map upgrade. What I DO recommend is for FCA to fire the third-party daycare clinic that codes the installer and hire a group that can prepare a low-overhead, well-compiled fire copier, whose directions actually match the on screen results, and install a map update in a few minutes for $40. Or, you know, maybe even rig it so that for $50 a year, it quietly updates maps in the background when you're driving around so that you're always getting reasonably current maps.

But what do I know? I'm the idiot that lost two hours of a valuable Friday morning watching a DOS 4.0 screen do nothing in numerous 10, 20, and even 35 minute chunks.

ibicycle

What map version was it that you spent two hours of your life installing?

Watchful

Whatever the absolutely latest version is from chryslergroup.navigation.com (they don't update this super-often enough to where it would be replaced with anything newer). I couldn't readily get to the version number.