Ongoing AMiii issues
Ongoing AMiii issues
Author
Discussion

M5MarkM

Original Poster:

1,686 posts

202 months

Monday 31st October 2016
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I've got to say AMiii is increasingly frustrating. It crashes constantly and gets frozen screens in all different menus. I've had it stuck with the image of the reverse camera, radio, nav system, audio, the AM logo. You name it- it has frozen in that menu. There also seems to be no method to the crashes. Initially I thought it was upon car start up but it can happen anytime. 75% of the time it is on start up though. Radio and music system can just stop working anytime it likes, again I cant fathom any catalyst for the crashes to happen.

AM came to my house to do a software update which still doesn't hasn't solved any of these crashes. This is my 3rd AM so I'm used to the "character" of electrics failing and I'm in 2 minds as to whether it is acceptable "just because it is an AM" however this is my first NEW AM and I would have hoped on a £200k plus new Vanquish these things shouldn't happen. Do others get these issues with previous generation systems? Must say I've never had them on my DB9s I owned previously.... Anyone else found a solution to these issues?!

DocW

315 posts

173 months

Monday 31st October 2016
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Hi Mark, I understand your frustration with the faulty system. I have AMii and have had a few problems such as the GPS not knowing where I am but this has happened less than half a dozen times in 2500 miles around France this year. I did have more trouble in my last N430 which was due to battery drain and the low voltage sent it haywire and did not appear to affect any other functions. It was inspected by AM and nothing else found. The symptoms were re-booting without warning where the screen would go blank and then the AM logo would appear and the system restarted or the screen would close for no reason. I haven't had any problems since returning to England, your problems don't sound like a characteristic of Astons but a faulty system unless of course there is a voltage drain. Good luck in getting it sorted.

hashluck

1,626 posts

306 months

Monday 31st October 2016
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I don't think enough people have AMiii to be able to comment whether it is you or endemic. I am sure the AM line will be it is just you.

I have AMii in my Vanquish and all well so far aside from a couple of Sat Nav aberrations

M5MarkM

Original Poster:

1,686 posts

202 months

Tuesday 1st November 2016
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Quick update. About 20 minutes after posting this I had a call from Gaydon saying a new update came out last week and they will install it tomorrow. So once again, I'm really impressed with good after sales service, but a little tip chaps - proactive - call people and tell them there is an update rather than be reactive and let them get upset first smile

Thanks also to those who sent me a PM. Hopefully this latest update will help.... Did I ever mention the time issue.... smile I'm told my vanquish was on of the first off the production line with the AMiii system... it would appear nobody had written anything into the software to allow the time to be changed/modified! THAT is character and perfectly acceptable of an AM I think smile

hashluck

1,626 posts

306 months

Tuesday 1st November 2016
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M5MarkM said:
..... but a little tip chaps - proactive - call people and tell them there is an update rather than be reactive and let them get upset first smile
+1 sadly in many aspects of AM after sales. Good luck gettng it fixed.

irish_david

4 posts

123 months

Wednesday 2nd November 2016
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Hi Mark,

I've recently taken delivery of an V8V S with the new AMi 3 system but i haven't been having any of the issues that you've been describing. Maybe there are some hardware differences between the Vantage and the Vanquish but i don't think i've had any weird restarts since i started using the car about 3 weeks ago. The dealer did say that it was one of the first MY17's off the line and it was the first time they'd really seen the final version of the AMi 3 system. The only issues i've been experiencing are:

- The clock was an hour slow when i picked the car up and when i mentioned it to the dealer we were unable to figure out how to adjust it. As you mentioned, there didn't seem to be any way to manually adjust the time or enter any adjustment for DST. The car is booked in for the update on Fri which apparently solves the problem but since the clock change last weekend the clock is now correct again. I'm going to be going to the Netherlands on Saturday so i'll be able to test how the updated system handles different time zones and if i can't set it correctly to Dutch time i'll let you know.

- The traffic information on the Sat Nav system doesn’t seem to be working at all. As you know it’s supposed to use the TMC information that’s embedded in the RDS FM system to stay updated of any traffic issues on a calculated journey, but I never get any traffic information for any journey i’m on regardless of the traffic situation. Today I was able to compare the system with a colleagues Porsche which uses the same TMC channel in it’s PCM 3.0 system and on an identical journey the PCM system was picking up and displaying traffic information while the AMi 3 system was showing nothing at all.

- The Sat Nav system will crash and need to be restarted if a space character is entered for the street name after initially entering a postcode. I’ve found that by following the steps below the problem can be repeated but it will work for any postcode that does not have any associated street names. First enter ‘G40 1HF’ (not my postcode) into the ‘Town / Postcode’ menu entry. When the next menu pops up try to enter a street name. The street name entry menu will be blank with the only option being to enter a space character. If a space character is entered then the Sat Nav system will enter a state where it will not accept any other inputs or remove the space character that was entered for the street name. This means that map screen is selected it will stay locked to the current location or if the ‘POI’ menu is selected and a POI category selected the system won’t go past the ‘Searching’ screen as the space character is still “stuck” in the street name entry screen. As there is no way to delete the space character the only method i’ve found to free up the system is to switch the ignition off for approximately 3 mins.

Overall i'm pretty happy with the system and none of the above issues really bothers me. I get the feeling that the software that's currently on the cars has only just been finished and hasn't really been properly tested yet, but as long as AM keeps updating and fixing the bugs then i think it'll be a pretty nice setup.

Dave

dbs2000

2,756 posts

223 months

Thursday 3rd November 2016
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Have fun in NL, AM spotting over here is a tough sport smile

spyker138

930 posts

255 months

Thursday 3rd November 2016
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Refer to the v12 Vantage thread and people preferring cars to be analogue.

Not trying to be funny, but to adjust my clock see the pic below. Press the button on the clock adjust it. It is not even mentioned in the short manual. There are no menus. The battery does not drain. The metal pedal on the right is in sport mode when more than half way down. The carb intakes then make a much louder sucking noise. That's it.



irish_david

4 posts

123 months

Thursday 3rd November 2016
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I've just had the dealer confirm that all my issues and a bunch of other stuff is fixed in the latest update. Looks like it's really worth getting it done...

AstonZagato

14,294 posts

241 months

Monday 11th September 2017
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Has anyone found a way to force the clock to adjust itself?
Currently the display in the dash is 14 minutes slow versus actual (and the time on the sat nav screen).

M5MarkM

Original Poster:

1,686 posts

202 months

Monday 11th September 2017
quotequote all
AstonZagato said:
Has anyone found a way to force the clock to adjust itself?
Currently the display in the dash is 14 minutes slow versus actual (and the time on the sat nav screen).
If it is the AMiii system it will need the software update to allow time correction.

tonyhall38

4,194 posts

247 months

Monday 11th September 2017
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no problem with mine at all......and the times correct.....

irish_david

4 posts

123 months

Monday 11th September 2017
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The software update just adds the option of moving the clock an hour forward for daylight saving time and i don't think there's a way to manually change the time. As far as i know the system get's its time from GPS and there's no way to adjust it. If your time is wrong it could be that the bit of software that parses the time from the GPS signal has gone a bit wonky in your car. I would imagine a dealer could reset it or a battery disconnect might work.

Dave

AstonZagato

14,294 posts

241 months

Monday 11th September 2017
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It was fine but the car was in the dealer last week. I suspect that they updated some software and banjaxed the clock. It was perfect before.

I've asked the dealer if there is a way to force it to update but he didn't know how - other than a battery disconnect. He has gone away to investigate.