uConnect 430N Dropping Bluetooth Signals

Has anyone recently experienced the bluetooth connection in their Jeep dropping/reconnecting/dropping repeatedly?

Details
Device: uConnect 430N
Software Version: 44.00.01
Phone: iPhone5, iOS 7.0.5
The problem started on or around 19Feb2014. The iPhone connects immediately, then drops the bluetooth connection after 30 seconds and then reconnects a few seconds later only to repeat the process over and over. There are no new devices in my Jeep that might be causing signal interference, the iPhone is the same one I've had for almost a year, there were no updates pushed to either device around the date the problem started. The iPhone connects via Bluetooth to all other devices without any issues.

I've already tried...
Power cycling the iPhone
Power cycling the uConnect head unit
Factory resetting the uConnect head units phone pairing
Removing the paired connection from the iPhone
Removing the contact sync features
Pairing again from scratch
1800iAmUseless Chat Support

The uConnect techs claim that there hasn't been a software update pushed wirelessly and uConnect doesn't support beyond iOS 7.0.2. However, the connection had no problems for the past 5 months regardless of upgrades from 7.0.2 > 7.0.3 > 7.0.4 > 7.0.5. My current best guess is that the bluetooth module in the 430N has failed or is experiencing intermittent power contact. Before I take it in to the stealership, I'd love to hear if this has happened to anyone else and what fixed the issue.

had the same issue in my 2005 Grand Cherokee, after several visits to the dealer including a replacement unit it was never resolved...

jeeeep said:

had the same issue in my 2005 Grand Cherokee, after several visits to the dealer including a replacement unit it was never resolved...

Click to expand...

Keep your eyes on the "wanted" section of the recycler. If I'm shopping for a 430n, that means they couldn't fix it either.

More Trouble Shooting

I've spent a little more time trouble shooting this issue over the past few days. I timed the connection drops and found them to occur exactly every 27 seconds. I've also gotten my hands on another iPhone5, this one with iOS 6.1.4 and another hands-free Bluetooth system (Audi's MMI). I tested my iPhone (iOS 7.0.6) on the Audi MMI and it worked flawlessly. I then tested the iPhone 5 running iOS 6.1.4 on the uConnect and it also operated flawlessly. The interesting part is after testing my uConnect using the 6.1.4 iPhone and then resetting the uConnect system, my iPhone (7.0.6) started working again just fine. It did so for about 15-20 minutes, and then started to drop the connection again as usual. I power cycled the iPhone (7.0.6) and it connected again for a time, but then went back to it's old 27 second drop off plan. My new theory... Gremlins! Yup, deff gremlins in the uConnect.

I've got an appointment at the local dealership, but I'm pretty sure I'll be canceling that. I can already hear them telling me that they don't support my phone and it works fine with their equipment. Is this issue really worth the fight? Next, I'll be doing a system restore of the iPhone5 on iOS 7.0.6 to see if there's anything that might be corrupted in the current install of the OS that could be causing this issue. Stay tuned!

Make sure you have nothing like this going on near you while you are troubleshooting

Army_Vet said:

KP I don't know how helpful this will be; but... I had a similar problem with my work service truck that our IT guy was stumped by for about a week. As it turns out there was a wireless backup camera that was interfering with the signal.

Make sure you have nothing like this going on near you while you are troubleshooting

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll dump everything out of the Jeep and check again. But I'm running no new electronics since the problem started.

I've done a full system restore on the iPhone 5 (iOS 7.0.6), reset the uConnect 430N, repaired both, tested again and that did absolutely no good. Same connection dropping results. I've checked over the Jeep and there are no electronics or even new light bulbs running that hadn't been running before this problem started. I'm a little stumped as to what else I can check or test at this point.

:question: Ideas or suggestions?

I had the same problem once I upgraded to the newest Android version. I had to go back to the last version.

TUFTRLZ

Oscar35 said:

I had the same problem once I upgraded to the newest Android version. I had to go back to the last version.

TUFTRLZ

Click to expand...

I thought about the system update being the culprit, but the problem didn't correspond with any updates on the iPhone and there were allegedly no updates to the uConnect. I don't think you can load older versions of the iOS from Apple... Can you? I wonder if a jail break would solve that issue?

I'm not sure. I know with a jailbroken iPhone skies the limit.

TUFTRLZ

Per Chrysler support, I performed a soft reset of the 430n, and then retested the Bluetooth connection. No change. I also tried pulling the battery connection for 45+ mins, & retesting. Again, no new results.

Back to the drawing board.

Progress!

After banging my head on this problem for a while and hearing what Chrysler/Jeep corporate had to say, I drove down to my local dealership on a snowy day. Luckily, there were zero customers in there and a bored (but very nice!) service tech that had about an hour or so to sit and trouble shoot the problem with me. As it turns out, despite everything the corporate guys told me my software was WAAAAY out of date.

Performing the update is very simple actually. Just pop in the disc with the most up to date operating software version and it auto loads a version checking protocol.



Click yes to update. My update took me from version 2.22 to 4.07.



Then click yes to update the radio software. This update took me from 44.00.01 to 50.00.07. I specifically told the Chrysler/Jeep support techs what my software version was and they continued to tell me that there were no updates. Thanks a lot 1800iAmUseless email, chat, & phone support.



When the update completes, hit eject to pop out the disc and power cycle the system.

nice! glad you got it fixed!

cozdude said:

nice! glad you got it fixed!

Click to expand...

Well... sort of. Yes, it's updated but as soon as we tested it again after the update, the phone dropped off again. It took longer than the usual 27 seconds, but it still happened at the dealership so they are going to swap out the head unit. That being said, it hasn't dropped off once since then. It's fixed for now until it gets fixed again.