Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Carlinkit helped my to activate the dongle, I uploaded a log to them and sent a screenshot to them and now it works!

Great to hear that still works! Now that your adapter is activated you should be good to upgrade. Although the advice given a few posts back is sound... if your adapter is working generally well in your vehicle, leave it alone!
 
Their WhatsApp support was on point last night... They were able to provide an updated firmware file and the instructions to resolve the corrupted firmware. Restored the bricked device, and it was able to update to the 2020.08.10 firmware. The new firmware also offers some more settings for compatibility, audio delay customization, and audio quality settings.

I'm on the fence about keeping up-to-date on their firmware releases. I might just ping their support each time to see if it's a recommended release or not. I have an inquiry into them to see what they recommend as far as updating the device goes.
 
that's my case. and it's true that I wondered if my disconnection problems could come from wireless charging. But I haven't tried to take it down. and I don’t think it came from there because Nikomank has the same issues with his class A and I don’t think he has an IQ wireless charger in his car?
No, no wireless charching in my A160 from 2015. Dont think thats the reason. Waiting for the next update...
 
  • Like
Reactions: zeyon
Edit: Support resolved the issue with the bricked device by supplying a download link to an updated firmware. That firmware was able to resolve the main problem, as well as allow the 2020.08.10 firmware to be loaded to the device.

@Sam Abbott

can you please share the link for that updated firmware?
and this firmware was able to "revive" your bricked device?


cheers!
 
Last edited:
Has anyone had a usb-c to usb-c cable work with the usb-c version? I've tried a couple cables now and no luck in my 2020 GMC, as far as I know the usb-c ports are supposed to be data enabled for the infotainment. Thought it would be nice to free up a usb port.

Tried 4 usb-c to usb-c cables, none worked, however what did work was using a USB to USB-c adapter. No idea what is unique about carlinkit's cables but they don't seem to be wired usb-c standard.

I used one of these though and it worked like a charm:

usb to usb-c adapter
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
Tried 4 usb-c to usb-c cables, none worked, however what did work was using a USB to USB-c adapter. No idea what is unique about carlinkit's cables but they don't seem to be wired usb-c standard.

I used one of these though and it worked like a charm:

usb to usb-c adapter

I have had no issues using the cable that came with my Carlinkit USB-C, using the usb-a to usb-c cable from my Nintendo Switch or 4 different USB-C to USB-C cables from Anker, Belkin, my 13" 2020 MacBook Pro and a Google Pixel 4. Tested with my Pioneer HU from 2019 as well as a 2020 Pioneer HU with USB-C.
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
Tried 4 usb-c to usb-c cables, none worked, however what did work was using a USB to USB-c adapter. No idea what is unique about carlinkit's cables but they don't seem to be wired usb-c standard.

I used one of these though and it worked like a charm:

usb to usb-c adapter

I found the post I mentioned earlier: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ert-to-wireless-carplay.2193978/post-28439760

Don't have any of my own experience to add--just thought I would link that for reference.
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
I did see that post and checked the cables I was using, they were actually thinner in the jacket than the stock one and had similar if not longer exposed connector, that said I agree some of them are quite thick and certainly would not seat solidly. I tried Amazon Basics, and 3 other generic but well reviewed usb-c cables from Amazon, I wanted a short 6-9" cable to set it up in the glove box so that eliminated a lot of the usual cable companies that typically make nothing shorter than 3'
 
Ok, I have a 2020 Chevy Colorado. I ordered the carlinkit 2.0. The Chevy has the infotainment 3.0, which people seem to struggle with connecting. Be patient. It can work on 2019 and 2020 Chevrolets. You have to forget your phone in infotainment and forget the mychevy Bluetooth connection. Then you must be patient. Get out, turn car off, lock and unlock the doors, wait a couple of minutes. You know you are ready to try if you get a flash screen before the man screen starts to come on. With all connections cleared, and You plug in your dongle, it should ask if you want to use CarPlay. Say yes. The car link should ask to set up. You’ll make sure your WiFi is on because after the initial handshake with Bluetooth, the heavy work will be done through WiFi. Go under settingS, general, CarPlay, and make sure you erase another CarPlay if there is one. You want the one that car link just added. If you had previously connected through a wire, there may be a second profile. This can be frustrating as crap, but I just want y’all to know it can be done.

now mine connects great, like others on here, if there is a cold start...meaning, waiting a couple, of minutes, locking car, gettting out. Not sure all the particulars, but this seems to work for me. If you stop the car and certain components are still powered, it will not go well for you, when you restart after a quick stop.

now, when I have had to do a quick stop, I have found that if you turn off bluetooth in the settings, before you turn the engine off, then turn it back on when the quick out and in is over, this seems to take away whatever conflict is occurring. Works for me. Keep trying. It’s worth it if you can figure it out.

or as others have suggested, lock your car and keep your engine running while you make a quick dash. It’s worth it.
Are you sure that 6,5 CM support carplay? Does wired carplay work?
Yes and yes.
 
@Sam Abbott

can you please share the link for that updated firmware?
and this firmware was able to "revive" your bricked device?


cheers!

Hey man, here's the email they sent me. Let me know if you have any issues downloading it. I backed up the file on my OneDrive as well.. :)

Code:
"Hello there,
This is the version of the firmware upgrade, you can try.
Please enter the link to download the unzipped folder and unzip the file "U2W_Update.img"
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vTRrNbOK2D8-mJ4YXgfF5VoBJWHPAqov/view?usp=sharing
-------------
Upgrade video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1akjOcSqQE3Uf8dfrO8n0JFlvPhzsC_Tc/view?usp=sharing
This upgrade method is different from the past, you need to pay attention to 100% follow our upgrade steps, otherwise the dongle will die.
Please refer to the attached picture.
About upgrading the dongle/power adapter to upgrade the dongle:
●Preparation materials: product dongle, power adapter, USB flash memory
●Method:
1. Please save the Auto_Box_Update.img file on a USB flash drive
(The format must be FAT32/allocation unit size 1024bit or the default value) root directory, and insert it into the USB port of the product.
2. Insert the product into the USB charger (please do not use the USB port of the car and the computer!!!)
3. Wait 2-3 minutes until the red and blue LEDs light up at the same time. Unplug the USB flash drive.
4. When upgrading the product, do not turn off the power or remove the dongle.
●For details, please refer to the attached picture.
After a successful upgrade, you can return to the car for testing.
Looking forward to your reply,
best wishes. "


To clarify, here's what my problem was with the device:
Mine wasn't completely dead. The lights would be on, "red", and it would broadcast a WiFi SSID "AutoBox-582f" (if you see it, you can connect with the Password 12345678). My problem was, the USB-C to USB-A connection didn't provide whatever the car's need to detect CarPlay, and my phone would no longer connect via Wireless CarPlay. Basically, a brick.

The update they had me do, that resolved it was an updated firmware file and then you connect the USB-C to USB-A cable to a power supply (not the stereo, I just used an iPhone 5w charger). Format a USB drive as FAT32, and place the IMG file on the USB drive. Plug in the device, let it power up (usually 30 seconds or so, until the light is red, and I saw the WiFi SSID), and then connect the flash drive. It flashed red/green a few times after connected, and then rebooted. I gave it another 5 minutes (just to be safe) before pulling the power adapter and testing on my stereo. Resolved the issue, and my stereo started to detect the device/CarPlay again.


Let me know if you have any questions.
 
  • Like
Reactions: aurelioc
I have had no issues using the cable that came with my Carlinkit USB-C, using the usb-a to usb-c cable from my Nintendo Switch or 4 different USB-C to USB-C cables from Anker, Belkin, my 13" 2020 MacBook Pro and a Google Pixel 4. Tested with my Pioneer HU from 2019 as well as a 2020 Pioneer HU with USB-C.

For reference, I have swapped out the included cable for a USB-A male to USB Micro male to Micro Female to USB-C adapter. The cable is a flat ribbon cable. Using it for the purposes of hiding my dongle behind a dash door.
 
Hey man, here's the email they sent me. Let me know if you have any issues downloading it. I backed up the file on my OneDrive as well.. :)

Code:
"Hello there,
This is the version of the firmware upgrade, you can try.
Please enter the link to download the unzipped folder and unzip the file "U2W_Update.img"
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vTRrNbOK2D8-mJ4YXgfF5VoBJWHPAqov/view?usp=sharing
-------------
Upgrade video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1akjOcSqQE3Uf8dfrO8n0JFlvPhzsC_Tc/view?usp=sharing
This upgrade method is different from the past, you need to pay attention to 100% follow our upgrade steps, otherwise the dongle will die.
Please refer to the attached picture.
About upgrading the dongle/power adapter to upgrade the dongle:
●Preparation materials: product dongle, power adapter, USB flash memory
●Method:
1. Please save the Auto_Box_Update.img file on a USB flash drive
(The format must be FAT32/allocation unit size 1024bit or the default value) root directory, and insert it into the USB port of the product.
2. Insert the product into the USB charger (please do not use the USB port of the car and the computer!!!)
3. Wait 2-3 minutes until the red and blue LEDs light up at the same time. Unplug the USB flash drive.
4. When upgrading the product, do not turn off the power or remove the dongle.
●For details, please refer to the attached picture.
After a successful upgrade, you can return to the car for testing.
Looking forward to your reply,
best wishes. "


To clarify, here's what my problem was with the device:
Mine wasn't completely dead. The lights would be on, "red", and it would broadcast a WiFi SSID "AutoBox-582f" (if you see it, you can connect with the Password 12345678). My problem was, the USB-C to USB-A connection didn't provide whatever the car's need to detect CarPlay, and my phone would no longer connect via Wireless CarPlay. Basically, a brick.

The update they had me do, that resolved it was an updated firmware file and then you connect the USB-C to USB-A cable to a power supply (not the stereo, I just used an iPhone 5w charger). Format a USB drive as FAT32, and place the IMG file on the USB drive. Plug in the device, let it power up (usually 30 seconds or so, until the light is red, and I saw the WiFi SSID), and then connect the flash drive. It flashed red/green a few times after connected, and then rebooted. I gave it another 5 minutes (just to be safe) before pulling the power adapter and testing on my stereo. Resolved the issue, and my stereo started to detect the device/CarPlay again.


Let me know if you have any questions.

What version did it show after you used above download?
 
What version did it show after you used above download?

I wasn’t able to see a version. As soon as it worked, I pulled up the webpage and it was telling me an update was available (the 2020.08.10). As far as I can tell, the only time you can see the active version is when there isn’t an update available. But I might have missed it.
 
No, I don't. They'd probably hate me as much as GM itself would. All firmwares and programming for GM vehicles are available to the public, with an appropriate ODB-II tool and server account. I'll have to look, but I think I saw Vauxhall on the server list as well.

Did you find anything out?

Thanks
 
I gave up on Carlinkit/Carplay2air a long time ago due to the audio distortion issue and the GM issue. Happy to report that the 2020.08.10 firmware seems to have mostly fixed the audio distortion issue. I did get a quick audio distortion blip on a drive today, but it quickly recovered itself in about a half second. Might have to play with the delay/CD/DVD quality settings some more.

Still no luck with the GM issue, but at least it's bearable with a USB power switch (or relay which I haven't attempted yet). I have a 2018 Volt and the behavior I notice is that when I shut off the car, the USB port remains powered for quite awhile, so Carlinkit disconnects but never shuts down (light stays red even after I leave the car). Probably looking for a connection but gives up and stays powered on. If I run into a grocery store and come back, it's a no-go for reconnection, but if I park the car for several hours or overnight, it finally gets powered down and I don't have to unplug/replug. It really doesn't seem like that hard of an issue to solve, but I imagine the language barrier might not help in explaining what's happening. I tried to work through it with Carplay2air support, but they couldn't comprehend what I was saying after trying to explain it a dozen different ways in a dozen different emails. They kept just going back to their script of "did you try disconnecting your watch?" :rolleyes:
 
Still no luck with the GM issue, but at least it's bearable with a USB power switch (or relay which I haven't attempted yet). I have a 2018 Volt and the behavior I notice is that when I shut off the car, the USB port remains powered for quite awhile, so Carlinkit disconnects but never shuts down (light stays red even after I leave the car). Probably looking for a connection but gives up and stays powered on. If I run into a grocery store and come back, it's a no-go for reconnection, but if I park the car for several hours or overnight, it finally gets powered down and I don't have to unplug/replug. It really doesn't seem like that hard of an issue to solve, but I imagine the language barrier might not help in explaining what's happening. I tried to work through it with Carplay2air support, but they couldn't comprehend what I was saying after trying to explain it a dozen different ways in a dozen different emails. They kept just going back to their script of "did you try disconnecting your watch?" :rolleyes:
They claim the next build will help the issue.

But I found something interesting over the weekend: Carlinkit plugged in, no bluetooth (in troubleshooting the Carlinkit I removed the CUE system from bluetooth pairing altogether), I was driving and realized I have no music because Carlinkit refuses to connect at vehicle start and I hadn't plugged my phone in. Plugged my phone into it's regular USB port for CarPlay and when I did that it came up on the wireless dongle instead of the cabled connection.

Still scratching my head on that one.
 
Good news GM owners!!! Looks like Carlinkit has finally fixed the need for a start up time delay relay in the manual firmware update 8-22-20.

I’ve been running it for a couple hours and plugged into a regular USB port and has connected every time now.

Looking at the lights from my CarPlay2air it blinks red at start up then I think it checks if it’s displaying anything on the screen if it’s not it restarts itself and then connects total time about 25-30 seconds.

Good job Carlinkit!!!

I knew software could fix the issue!
 
Good news GM owners!!! Looks like Carlinkit has finally fixed the need for a start up time delay relay in the manual firmware update 8-22-20.

I’ve been running it for a couple hours and plugged into a regular USB port and has connected every time now.

Looking at the lights from my CarPlay2air it blinks red at start up then I think it checks if it’s displaying anything on the screen if it’s not it restarts itself and then connects total time about 25-30 seconds.

Good job Carlinkit!!!

I knew software could fix the issue!

Thanks for reporting @2018 Denali, your help is really appreciated. I am not sure from your post whether that is applicable to Carlikit dongles alone or both Carlinkit and Cplay2air dongles? Also, is the new firmware 8-22-20 free of the GM 5 minutes audio problem? And finally, is it OTA or manual install?
 
Thanks for reporting @2018 Denali, your help is really appreciated. I am not sure from your post whether that is applicable to Carlikit dongles alone or both Carlinkit and Cplay2air dongles? Also, is the new firmware 8-22-20 free of the GM 5 minutes audio problem? And finally, is it OTA or manual install?

It’s a manual usb install only at this time. I’ve been using it for a couple hours and no 5 minutes noise issue.

Yes firmware is for both Carlinkit/CarPlay2air dongles.


 
  • Like
Reactions: BUXjr and Fluke1

Attachments

  • 5F4F0809-48D5-4A2F-866C-2A0DBAE44BA4.png
    5F4F0809-48D5-4A2F-866C-2A0DBAE44BA4.png
    811.7 KB · Views: 547
  • 2EEBF61C-8D12-43FA-81C0-FF6753641E06.png
    2EEBF61C-8D12-43FA-81C0-FF6753641E06.png
    797.3 KB · Views: 403
Hey @BUXjr I got ahold of Carlinkit via WhatsApp and explained to them how you and I were able to bring back a Bricked nonresponsive Dongle back to life. I provided them with the step-by-step method used. They confirmed their engineers didn’t know that was possible. They will run some test to confirm it works. They Will look into providing an IP address that can be used on the phone that allows the current available firmware to show up and push it through using the lightning cable to the bricked dongle to bring it back to life. This will eliminate the need of another working dongle to check for firmware update availability.

Hopefully they confirm soon this will save them thousands $ in returns they are having. If the user can Bring them back to life themselves.

Hi Denali, any progress regarding separate IP address for bringing bricked unit back to life via your method? I have bricked cplay2air, bricked during OTA, no red lights, nothing:-( so now I have a brick worth 150$ and no options to resurrect it. And I’m really not going to pay another 150$ for a new one. Thanks !
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.