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Yeah it's just a configuration on the headunit, the software is not different. When I was digging through the console menus I did see a menu item for changing the vehicle ID. I kind of doubt your headunit has gone bad though, its probably just a failing HDD.
I feel my 2014 HDD is on "borrowed time" as occasionally it takes a significantly longer time to load though I often wonder if the microSDCard plays a role...
Look on the bright side, with the newer cars, when the flash craps out, you need to replace the whole unit. At least with the mechanical drive you're golden if you made a backup prior and can source a proper drive. Of course both still require tearing the dash apart to get at the brain box.
I update my garmins every other year. Probably be doing the same with the car.
Legertas helped me w/ a similar question I had once years ago. He means well, and is a great guy who knows his stuff. But, first and foremost he is a businessman.
I disagree here. These headunits were mass produced and as these cars rolled off the factory line, the configurations were written to the system. Folks with these same headunits have been able to unlock the HDD, reconfigure the "setup" and run the GT-R "theme." It is just a matter of being able to write the new configurations. If they can do it on a Murano unit, it can theoretically be done on just about any similar Nissan unit.
Good luck.
Some of what he said may have been translation error as well, as he followed up that response with "G37 will work without GTR functionality , TPMS and probably will not control AC ." so I am assuming he meant that the software on the HDD was not all that was required and there is some hardware changes?
Don't think those are hardware changes but rather config written to the firmware on the headunit like I was saying before. So yes, he is probably right in saying that just popping the GT-R drive into a G unit would not unlock the GT-R functionalities, but he also may not know that it's possible to change configurations on the headunit via serial connection. The only reference I've found for anyone getting console access were those 2 random Russian blog posts, so I don't think it's really common knowledge.
I have a feeling your headunit is probably fine anyways. Hopefully we can just get a working image off the drive, you can write it to a new drive and be good to go. Let's see.
Well, good news. The GT-R drive is unlocked. The model number is same as the 2009 G37 drive I have. Toshiba 40GB MK4036GAC. It is different from the 2014 drive however.
The drive does seem maybe a little noisy. Hopefully I can pull a complete image from it. One of the partitions did have some files with weird symbols, which I just don't remember seeing from the G37 drive. Hopefully not corrupted.
I have not, I only tried two different MSATA to IDE adapters. I suspect a IDE SSD without an adapter might work. the one you linked might work, it's just really hard to say without having it.
I checked my other 2 drives and the first 298MB partition is the system. Did the car ever boot at all? I know you mentioned it showed some hard drive errors but was it intermittent or always?
I checked my other 2 drives and the first 298MB partition is the system. Did the car ever boot at all? I know you mentioned it showed some hard drive errors but was it intermittent or always?
Yah, the car always booted without issue, and then out of the blue one day, it did not boot. It booted one more time after that first failure, and then never booted again. It would hang on the GT-R load up screen for quite some time, like it was trying to read the drive, but eventually would time out and give the error.
I think actually you want the 2009 image that I made, because I looked at the UI for the 2010 GT-R and it's the same system as the 2007-2009 G. 2010+ Gs have the newer system, but it looks like the 2010 GT-R still has the older system.
I've never had the chance to sit in a GT-R (still one of my dream cars) but I looked at this video and it confirms that the 2010 uses the older system:
We don't have the MFD or tire pressure menus for our cars. When I dug through the image from the 2009 I didn't see any of that stuff, but other than that it looks identical.
So, maybe if you use that 2009 image, it'll boot (without those features)? Worth a try for sure. I think at this point it's safe to say your head unit is actually fine, it's the drive that has the problem. The system partition is clearly corrupted. I'll keep playing around with it a little and see if I can get anything though.
