Discover Media defaults to "Media" input even when "Radio" is selected

[scobb]

I have a MY 2014 103kW TSI Highline with the standard 5.8" Discover Media infotainment system installed.

The NZ Spec includes an MDI interface, to which I have a USB hard drive attached (but it could equally be a USB pen drive). All inputs work and I can listen to music via radio, SD card, Bluetooth streaming or MDI.

Except...with the MDI cable connected to my USB hard drive, the system always defaults to playing via this input, even when I have been listening to the radio the last time I switched the car off. The sequence is:

• Listening to radio
• Turn engine off
• Turn engine on
• Radio plays for a few seconds (presumably while device attached to MDI initialises), then device attached to MDI takes over and I get music played from whatever device I have plugged into the MDI cable. If I press the radio button, the radio comes back on...until the next time I switch the car off, at which point the cycle repeats.

Surely it should "remember" the last input used?

[scobb]

I just played with this a bit more. Turns out that a USB pen drive connected to the MDI interface does work in the way I would expect it to i.e. remembering what the last media input selected was and restarting a music track where it left off. So it's just the USB hard drive that is misbehaving.

Both devices are formatted identically as FAT32 devices, so I'm at a loss as to why one works correctly and one does not.

[Idle]

Not all USB hard drives are alike — if you can, try one of a different brand.

They don't all work the same on computers, either.

There might also be an effect from the power drain of the two devices — the hard disk draws a lot more than the pen drive, plus it takes longer to start (the head unit mightn't be waiting long enough.).

[DV52]

I just played with this a bit more. Turns out that a USB pen drive connected to the MDI interface does work in the way I would expect it to i.e. remembering what the last media input selected was and restarting a music track where it left off. So it's just the USB hard drive that is misbehaving.

Both devices are formatted identically as FAT32 devices, so I'm at a loss as to why one works correctly and one does not.

scoob: Idle is certainly correct in identifying current drain as a potential issue. However the problem may alo be related to the memory capacity of the USB facility.

Have a read of the table on page 26 of the Discover Media manual (at least this is the correct page on my version which is for a "my13" model). The table says that there are memory limits on the USB facility. If you have a bog standard SDHC stick, your limit is 32GB. If you are using a more up-to-date SDXC stick, then you have a limit of 2TB. I'm assuming that the HDD is the older type magnetic drive so timing problems and access speed will almost certainly be problematic. It's interesting to speculate whether a Solid State Drive would work, but it's probably better to just buy a SDXC stick.

[scobb]

The USB HDD is indeed a conventional 2.5" 500GB old school, non-SSD drive, formatted FAT32, with about 150GB of music loaded. Weirdly, throughout the day today it behaved perfectly, exhibiting none of the issues I raised in the first post in this thread. Then, tonight I got into the car with the radio selected and about 30 seconds after starting, the MDI interface kicked in and started playing the very first track on the hard drive. So, the issue is intermittent...

I'm happy to give a high capacity 256GB SDXC a try. I've just ordered one off eBay. It's probably a more durable solution anyway than a conventional hard drive.

[DV52]

The USB HDD is indeed a conventional 2.5" 500GB old school, non-SSD drive, formatted FAT32, with about 150GB of music loaded. Weirdly, throughout the day today it behaved perfectly, exhibiting none of the issues I raised in the first post in this thread. Then, tonight I got into the car with the radio selected and about 30 seconds after starting, the MDI interface kicked in and started playing the very first track on the hard drive. So, the issue is intermittent...

I'm happy to give a high capacity 256GB SDXC a try. I've just ordered one off eBay. It's probably a more durable solution anyway than a conventional hard drive.

Scoob: Hope the SDXC card does the trick. I'm not sure if you are familiar with these cards, but they use exFAT formatting (it's a proprietary product from Microsoft, I think). If you put the card in a computer and it prompts you to format the drive, DON'T use FAT32 or FAT16 (if you do, problems will ensue). Might be worth checking a few websites before you insert the card into anything. Good luck!

[scobb]

In the end, I opted for a 128GB USB pen drive (formatted FAT32 incidentally). Works perfectly via the MDI USB interface that Golfs come with as standard in NZ. So, problem solved, plus it's a small and robust option compared to using a hard disk.