USB disk identification failure

My wife had the "disk identification error" on our MG4 Trophy. My phone works good. So after rebooting her phone (not the car) all worked fine. You can test your phone by connecting with your laptop, then the phone should be visible in the file explorer. If not, just restart your phone.
 
More questions - sorry! I'm hoping the collective experience can help me please?

So it's taken since 27th May till today (10th July) for the car to go into the MG dealership for yet another diagnostic and ironically it's first year service. Six weeks is the quickest they could do - which I guess reflects the number of MG's out there with issues?!?

Today, the staff at the dealership were more contrite / apologetic after I explained that I was getting fed up with having an unreliable car (it's broken down 3 times in its first year) and between the four parties involved (MG UK, MG Assist (aka the AA), the lease company (Tusker) and the dealership (Richmond Southampton), they have all just passed the buck onto one of the others and no one appears willing or able to take responsibility for reaching a solution.

When I collected the car the Service guy explained (as they had previously) taht they'd found "nothing wrong" and that they were limited with their investigations as MG Assist / AA had cleared all the error codes when they last attended (I did ask the AA guy not to, but I'm not sure that's even possible given they are re-setting it to make it work??) They went on to explain that the "USB Disk Identification error" issue was only supposed to occur with "incompatible phones" (and of course an iPhone should be fully compatible) so they couldn't explain why it keeps happening. He also reassured me that mine wasn't an isolated example but it was "relatively rare" issue. I told them I hadn't used the Apple car play since the AA reset it and I hadn't had any issues since, so all things point to the compatibility between the Chinese software, US iPhone and using Apple Carplay. The guy explained that, in their experience, once the USB Disk ID error starts there's nothing a user can do to stop the 'cycle' the software gets into, the radio stops working, followed quickly by failure of the 12v battery due to a parasitic drain. (All the more reason they should have proactively helped when I took it into them two days before it last failed, explaining that it was stuck in that cycle and would fail again). He told me they had done an update and the "USB disk ID failure" was in the list of the 30+ fixes the software upgrade is supposed to fix so he was hopeful it would not reoccur.

However, after I left, I felt the guy was choosing his words pretty carefully. I had taken a photo of the software versions before it went in this morning and checked them afterwards and they appear to be exactly the same........

Now I would have thought any update would show a new version number? And given the careful use of words this got me thinking....

View attachment 27965View attachment 27966

If I was cynical, the way he said they'd "done the update" could have been referring to update after the second diagnostic back in March? At the time, they couldn't tell me for definite whether that would fix it (and it didn't, obviously) but they may now have looked at the fix list and that issue is listed. So despite giving me the impression they'd done an update today, could they be referring to the fixes in the previous update and in effect have done nothing? If that's the case, the problem will undoubtedly reoccur if I use Carplay! His last comment as I was leaving about "just keeping an eye on it" would now make sense.

However, giving the guy the benefit of the doubt, is it possible for smaller patches / upgrades to be applied which don't show as a new software version?

Does anyone have any experience of the update process, whether this always changes the software version number or even if there's a publicly accessible record as to what each update is supposed to fix?

Thanks as always for any assistance anyone can offer. Much appreciated in advance.
Hi, did you ever manage to get this issue resolved?

My MG4 has had this exact issue from the day we got the car however we have never used android auto/apple car play, it happens every time we go on a long journey some times the issue can persist for a week with a flat battery every morning we don't seem to be getting anywhere with the dealer (Richmond Southampton) we just do not trust the car at all any more.

Thanks
 
About 6 months ago my SE SR infotainment system completely froze displaying this message. When the dealer took it in to sort the issue all they did was disconnect the 12V battery and would not update the infotainment as requested as they claimed R13 was the latest!

I updated to R33 and I had the same issue about 3 weeks ago. About 10 days ago I had a completely flat 12V battery which I have now replaced - on connecting the new battery everything started working again.

Both times it froze I was on a long journey and using Android Auto with a wired connection (no idea if this is relevant or a factor).

It would appear the dealers and MG don't know what the cause is and the fix is disconnecting the 12V battery to reset the system - it's easy enough to do yourself if you can't be bothered to return it to the dealer to sort.
 
Hi, did you ever manage to get this issue resolved?

My MG4 has had this exact issue from the day we got the car however we have never used android auto/apple car play, it happens every time we go on a long journey some times the issue can persist for a week with a flat battery every morning we don't seem to be getting anywhere with the dealer (Richmond Southampton) we just do not trust the car at all any more.

Thanks
Hi there, same issue and same garage! I had thought it was due to me connecting my phone but I reset the car by disconnecting 12v and did not connect my phone. After about 10days same fault returned and had subsequently happened another 3 times after battery reset. So frustrating! It has to be a dodgy cable in the infotainment system not our phones that's doing it!
 
Hi there, same issue and same garage! I had thought it was due to me connecting my phone but I reset the car by disconnecting 12v and did not connect my phone. After about 10days same fault returned and had subsequently happened another 3 times after battery reset. So frustrating! It has to be a dodgy cable in the infotainment system not our phones that's doing it!

So that makes 3 of us with the same issue using the same garage..... what's the chances?!?! :(

After the last update I hadn't had any issues and was starting to feel it had been resolved. Until I recently suffered 3 three re-occurrences close together - standard USB disk identification error followed by loss of all radio (which would have undoubtedly lead to a dead 12V battery if I hadn't DC'd the battery when the radio stopped working).

Anyway, I believe I can trace these to very specific scenarios and you're right that it's nothing to do with connecting a phone (I haven't done that since the earlier problems).

When Wave 105 was sold out I changed to Nation Radio South - which can only be accessed via the South Hampshire DAB radio group. On all 3 occasions I was listening to Nation and drove some way out of county (London x 2 and Swindon). Each time, the radio stopped working (as you'd expect on leaving the broadcast area) but soon after I got the usual USB error. Next time I came to the car no-radio at all - on any channel. So I am utterly convinced it's a software issue - I think as it isn't a national DAB channel it just "didn't know where to go" when it couldn't get a signal and got caught in a loop. So I DC'd on return to Hants each time and, hey presto, everything was restored and no further problems (till the next out of county trip...)

I reported this to Richmond Southampton and, after waiting several weeks for them to see it, took it in today to be greeted by the same warm, welcoming and re-assuring staff (not!). Anyhow, they "found no faults" (again, of course, because DC'ing and reconnecting removes the error codes) BUT they have upgraded the software from R33 to R38 - see pic - and asked me to "monitor it". They were "optimistic" that would solve it, but that's what they said after each of the last updates too.... :rolleyes:

MG.webp


Will update further with any news......
 
Last edited:
Well that's reassuring - looks like my theory was correct as same behavior experienced by another MG4 owner....


Perhaps the solution is simply to change to a national DAB channel on long journeys?!? :cautious:(y)

.... though I will "test" the R38 upgrade to see if it behaves when listening to a "local" DAB station on out of area journeys and report back. :)
 
Last edited:
Some more details of the firmware versions are found in the hidden menu. Whatever happens with the car, I would suggest you copy these versions asap. So, if you need to get another update it may show a difference. I admit it is 'may'. Some system updates simply are not shown as I found out myself... Btw, your SE has the latest infotainment version (R33).

Hi, sorry meant to ask before - how do you access the hidden menu? Thanks!
 
Well that's reassuring - looks like my theory was correct as same behavior experienced by another MG4 owner....


Perhaps the solution is simply to change to a national DAB channel on long journeys?!? :cautious:(y)

.... though I will "test" the R38 upgrade to see if it behaves when listening to a "local" DAB station on out of area journeys and report back. :)
Mine regularly freezes on a long journey when I'm on BBC 5 live - normally around Lincoln when I'm travelling down from N. Yorks.

Infotainment version R13 and R33 were both exactly the same.
 
Mine regularly freezes on a long journey when I'm on BBC 5 live - normally around Lincoln when I'm travelling down from N. Yorks.

Infotainment version R13 and R33 were both exactly the same.
Ah…. Ok….. which software version are you on?

Does it show the USB identification error message and result in a parasitic drain on the 12v battery also? Or just freeze?

I won’t mind so much if it’s just the latter … it’s the risk of coming back to a dead 12v battery (and having to disconnect & reconnect it after the error occurs to prevent that) that’s driving me mad……

Thanks 🙂
 
Ah…. Ok….. which software version are you on?

Does it show the USB identification error message and result in a parasitic drain on the 12v battery also? Or just freeze?

I won’t mind so much if it’s just the latter … it’s the risk of coming back to a dead 12v battery (and having to disconnect & reconnect it after the error occurs to prevent that) that’s driving me mad……

Thanks 🙂
Currently on R33 (self installed!) and I've not had any battery drain although I have replaced the 12V battery a month or so ago.
 
I have this usb disc identification error for 2 years now, when driving out of Dab range 'Greatest hits south coast'. The battery eventually died having been dis charged regularly. (Replaced under warranty) AA got fed up visiting my drive. So I started doing the battery disconnect fix. Dropping the car in to Hendy Poole for it 8th visit for this problem. I'll see if the manager is willing to share some info on the problem from MG technical.
 
I have this usb disc identification error for 2 years now, when driving out of Dab range 'Greatest hits south coast'. The battery eventually died having been dis charged regularly. (Replaced under warranty) AA got fed up visiting my drive. So I started doing the battery disconnect fix. Dropping the car in to Hendy Poole for it 8th visit for this problem. I'll see if the manager is willing to share some info on the problem from MG technical.
Will be interesting to hear if they discover anything and if it will be covered by warranty (not sure if the infotainment is covered for 2 years but if you have reported the issue it should be covered).

I've got one of these to fit (can't remember who recommended it) so hopefully will make sorting it a bit easier

 
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Are you enjoying your MG4?

  • Yes

    Votes: 910 77.7%
  • I'm in the middle

    Votes: 171 14.6%
  • No

    Votes: 90 7.7%
Support us by becoming a Premium Member

Latest MG EVs video

MG Hybrid+ EVs OVER-REVVING & more owner feedback
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom