DIY Firmware Updates

[finallycruising]

I took my 3 for it's 4 year service and asked if the firmware update was included. I was told no, but they could do it for £150 - which is ridiculous. My reason for wanting to update is that even though I'm on 70.00.100 EU N I still get occassional random reboots. i.e. the software is still buggy.

From my experience of computer software, such stability updates should be free - though I guess they'd say they are, you're just paying for the labour. So on that issue, there is a site given in another thread, with full details of how to do your own updates which includes the firmware downloads (latest is 70.00.367A EU N). Has anybody else used this site's information and files to update their car? https://my.hidrive.com/share/hsodpqja.l#$/

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[StevenRB45]

Forgive my ignorance slightly on this issue but can you not get firmware free via Mazda themselves?

I've done firmware on both our Citroën and my Mazda (which has an aftermarket Pioneer unit). In most cases maps cost...firmware is free.

Have you tried downloading Mazda toolbox off the Mazda website and gone through your options? Both the Citroën and Mazda (Pioneer) it was case of downloading the latest firmware onto a USB drive, popping it into the car and giving it time to complete.

[finallycruising]

To the best of my knowledge the Mazda Toolbox only deals with updating the SatNav SD card.

The link I provided has official looking Mazda documents which descibe the upgrade process. It sounds like Mazda have made the process unnecessarily complicated, including the need to stop the system going to sleep during the upgrade by pressing the clutch pedel every 20 minutes.

[StevenRB45]

Looking at the notes from the link it would appear the firmware you have is only intended for use on later cars with the android auto/carplay hardware upgrades.

Does your car have these? (as 2016 it predates them unless they've been retrofitted). That may be the reason for your system instability, the supplied upgrade notes say anything over 70.00 build number is for the upgraded cars only.

[finallycruising]

My car was upgraded to 70.00.100 EU N by the dealer at the last in warranty service (2019). The way I read the documentation is that you need at least v70 to support the android auto/car play hardware, but the that software is for use on all cars regardless of if the additional hardware is fitted or not.

[finallycruising]

Just in case anybody comes across this thread in the future, I did a bit of research on other Mazda 3 forums, worldwide, and the above linked firmware site appeared to be accepted as a reliable source. So, I bit the bullet today. I followed the instructions to the letter and the upgrade went smoothly. In fact, when upgrading from 70.00.100 the upgrade screen actually tells you to press the clutch or open and shut the drivers door every 20 minutes. I tried uploading an image of this screen to the forum but I got an error message saying the upload folder is full. It took a little over 50 minutes from initiating the upgrade. Note that the % ready display is non-linear, time wise. i.e. It displayed 75% after 20 mintues but then 83% after 30 minutes - and it seemed to stick at 98% for ages!

While there isn't a changelog for the EU release of 367, there is one for the American version and it states, within bullet pointed list of 23 changes, improved functionality for "The CMU may reboot when playing a CD/DVD & The CMU may reboot while driving." As such, I'm hoping to see less of these from now on.