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My car was built on 5/21/21 and I got the airbag recall update pushed to me today. Luckily I waited until I got home to install the update. The updated failed and now my car will not start. It's basically bricked.
I put the car on a battery tender to avoid the battery draining.
Will the update undo itself? I cannot do a factory reset.
If it does not fix itself, I think my only option would be to have it towed to the dealer at GM's expense.
GM's OTA updates on C8 has been a pathetic fiasco!
It's such a fundamental software function that should have been designed properly to give users ways to restore and back up. Even a mobile phones has a factory reset if something in an update totally gone wrong, so users can at least back out to the original factory state before the update. The problem for car software is that it is based on Linux, which does not have the concept of OS configuration registry restore like Windows, and if the system designer such as GM does not put in some extra work to design a restore function, it will simply brick the hardware (in this case, the car itself). GM should really work on this and add a feature to let drivers to at least reset to the pre-update state or factory reset if an update fails, instead of leaving drivers with a dead car.
The lesson here is that never start an update when you are out on the road, and never do it when the car is in a place that's hard to tow if it ever gets bricked (such as in a cramped space or on a sloped hill, etc. that a tow truck can't easily tow it), otherwise we'd be strangled in a tough place.
It should reboot after a few minutes like it says on the screen. Did it? Worst case unplug the battery for a couple minutes.
It never rebooted. I disconnected the battery to reboot the system after a 5+ min disconnect and still the car will not start. The infotainment system works, but the dash is blank, but illuminated.
Now it's in an endless "checking for updates" loop. Not sure if this is progress as the "update fail" screen is gone. If this does not work, it will get towed to the dealer.
Looks like this trivial update just bricked my car. A 5/21/21 car fresh off the line. Really pathetic.
Last edited by Mark Carlson; Jun 10, 2021 at 09:10 PM.
I don't understand why a battery tender would not keep the system running for the update. The car should not use that much power for the update process. Check the battery with a voltmeter to see if it is in fact dead. There have also been relatively new batteries reporting what sounds like bad cells.. I think somebody else recently had the same issue but the next day the car started right up. Good luck!
I don't understand why a battery tender would not keep the system running for the update. The car should not use that much power for the update process. Check the battery with a voltmeter to see if it is in fact dead. There have also been relatively new batteries reporting what sounds like bad cells.. I think somebody else recently had the same issue but the next day the car started right up. Good luck!
I'm only using the tender to keep the update process from killing the battery during the update like on other people's car. I don't own the GM battery protector.
What in the hell is going on? How is it that a simple update is causing all this heartache? Come on GM. There’s gotta be a better way. I’ve gotten the notice for the update also but I not dare try to upload it for fear of bricking the car. I’ll just wait and take it to the dealer. Pathetic. Why is there such little information about this and it causes such a huge problem? What happens to later updates after warranty is gone?
Last edited by BigButtLover; Jun 10, 2021 at 10:58 PM.
Reason: BigButtLover
GM's OTA updates on C8 has been a pathetic fiasco!
It's such a fundamental software function that should have been designed properly to give users ways to restore and back up. Even a mobile phones has a factory reset if something in an update totally gone wrong, so users can at least back out to the original factory state before the update. The problem for car software is that it is based on Linux, which does not have the concept of OS configuration registry restore like Windows, and if the system designer such as GM does not put in some extra work to design a restore function, it will simply brick the hardware (in this case, the car itself). GM should really work on this and add a feature to let drivers to at least reset to the pre-update state or factory reset if an update fails, instead of leaving drivers with a dead car.
The lesson here is that never start an update when you are out on the road, and never do it when the car is in a place that's hard to tow if it ever gets bricked (such as in a cramped space or on a sloped hill, etc. that a tow truck can't easily tow it), otherwise we'd be strangled in a tough place.
GM's OTA updates on C8 has been a pathetic fiasco!
It's such a fundamental software function that should have been designed properly to give users ways to restore and back up. Even a mobile phones has a factory reset if something in an update totally gone wrong, so users can at least back out to the original factory state before the update. The problem for car software is that it is based on Linux, which does not have the concept of OS configuration registry restore like Windows, and if the system designer such as GM does not put in some extra work to design a restore function, it will simply brick the hardware (in this case, the car itself). GM should really work on this and add a feature to let drivers to at least reset to the pre-update state or factory reset if an update fails, instead of leaving drivers with a dead car.
The lesson here is that never start an update when you are out on the road, and never do it when the car is in a place that's hard to tow if it ever gets bricked (such as in a cramped space or on a sloped hill, etc. that a tow truck can't easily tow it), otherwise we'd be strangled in a tough place.
A battery tender is all I had too.I use it to keep the battery up on my lawnmower.I was lucky too because the car was in the driveway when I ran the update. When I tried to move the seats the battery was flat.I had to jump it to back it into the garage. The battery tender was all i had to bring the battery back up.It worked. When i had my 1st.service the dealer checked out the battery and said it was fine.Someone at GM really goofed with the update. Mlne was for the Infotainment system..Lots of other C8 owners were left with dead batteries with this..I'm lucky i was in the driveway.
carefully oversaw the update last night- left the frunk open- went back to check the car an hour after i initiated it- all good- update success and no battery drain- started today no problem
I did this update last night on my 21. I made sure to connect to my home wifi and put the battery tender on and let it start. It took maybe 10 minutes and was done. Don't know if i was lucky or just had a good wifi signal but I was really worried after reading all the stories about these updates. I will follow this same process in the future and hopefully have the same results.
I just did the update in my 21 this morning. Made sure to do it outside on the driveway because the signal gets lost when the car is in my garage. Sirius for example doesn't work in the garage. The update took 15 minutes and worked perfectly. Car started right up after and I checked the updates tab under settings and it said everything is up to date. I know it sounds silly, but I bet some people have started the update in an area where the wifi or connection just gets lost and then it fails.
A battery tender is not the same as a dedicated 12V unit designed for this purpose. They are pricey however.
Really should not need to be on a tender/charger for freakin' updates. That's just ridiculous. I've had 3 cars now that do OTA updates and I'm seeing that the C8 update method apparently needs to be improved.
GM's OTA updates on C8 has been a pathetic fiasco!
It's such a fundamental software function that should have been designed properly to give users ways to restore and back up. Even a mobile phones has a factory reset if something in an update totally gone wrong, so users can at least back out to the original factory state before the update. The problem for car software is that it is based on Linux, which does not have the concept of OS configuration registry restore like Windows, and if the system designer such as GM does not put in some extra work to design a restore function, it will simply brick the hardware (in this case, the car itself). GM should really work on this and add a feature to let drivers to at least reset to the pre-update state or factory reset if an update fails, instead of leaving drivers with a dead car.
The lesson here is that never start an update when you are out on the road, and never do it when the car is in a place that's hard to tow if it ever gets bricked (such as in a cramped space or on a sloped hill, etc. that a tow truck can't easily tow it), otherwise we'd be strangled in a tough place.
The issue is GM, not that it's running on Linux or not. Linux is one of the most stable operating systems you can run. Anyone with real IT skills runs servers on Linux boxes. I've had Linux servers last 10yrs of 24/7 use while Windows ones crash regularly. The issue here is GM. The update process should include a step where prior to even downloading the update, the car should create a backup image of the system, then download, then update. If it fails, we should have an option to reset it, where it can then load the last good image and we're back in business.
I have a huge Chevy dealer 5 mins from me and I'm thinking that what I'll do is go sit in their parking lot and do my updates there, using my phone as a hotspot. If it bricks the car, I can simply hand over the keys and grab a loaner. It's pathetic how the don't think about these things. They could have probably coded all of that in a few days and tested it.
Excellent idea doing the update in a dealer's parking lot, just in case. There have been far too many reports of the same problem OP is experiencing.
BTW, you don't need a Wi-Fi connection to do the update. It happens via the OnStar system, regardless of whether you are subscribed or not, and I wonder if that's part of the problem. Our Ram truck and previous Jeeps always completed the OTA updates perfectly every time w/ their equivalent of OnStar, UConnect.
On another theme that popped up here, a Battery Tender™ does fundamentally the same thing as the GM-supplied unit, which is just a low-end CTEK maintainer with a Corvette emblem. I use BTs and CTEKs interchangeably on all our vehicles, and either should keep a battery from running down.
Last edited by Foosh; Jun 11, 2021 at 02:09 PM.
Reason: typo
Designer Imagines A Corvette That Looks More Like a Corvette Than the Corvette
Slideshow: A Jaguar designer's personal project imagines what a modern front-engined Corvette might look like if Chevrolet revisited the golden age of the Stingray.
Car dead after update fail - suggestions?
