It is scary when your onboard Tesla touchscreen freezes up. I have read that someone was not even able to turn on the hazard lights with a frozen screen. What is causing this to happen? Could it just be a glitch or are future updates needed to correct this dangerous problem. I will outline the different reasons and I will suggest a remedy so that you can drive along in peace in your high-tech Tesla.
Why is my Tesla screen frozen? Your Tesla screen is frozen because the streaming of music is causing the subroutines in the onboard computer to enter an infinite loop. One or more of the subroutines becomes locked in a series of commands that continue without stopping. This problem seems to happen more often with the use of Spotify in a Tesla.
There have been updates that are corrected this problem for many owners, but owners of the Model Y are still reporting that they are having problems with a frozen screen.
What causes the Screen to Freeze in a Tesla Model Y?
When the screen freezes in a Model Y, you will still be able to drive. You will not have access to all your commands. Personally, I would pull over and try to unfreeze the screen. Nevertheless, I have read about an owner that continued to drive for about 30 minutes not even knowing the speed that he was going because of the frozen screen. Miraculously, the screen came back to life and he was back in business.
After the stress of dealing with a frozen screen, it would be nice to be take off your sunglasses to relax your eyes. I re
I recommend that you project the surface of your Tesla touchscreen using the Anti-Scratch Screen Projector that is available at Amazon.
That sort of scenario is scary. To prevent it from happening, you need to determine what could cause your screen to lock before you must deal with this situation while on the road.
One reason for the screen freezing in Model Y was that the owner was switching the USB sticks while driving, causing the screen to freeze. To prevent this problem, just make sure that you are parked when doing so. If you are parking, the system is running less code which could allow the easy switching of the USB stick.
I have not found other incidents of the screen freezing for model Y. I guess that the faster processor in MCU2 can deal with the software upgrades that are helping to prevent the screen glitches.
Why is my Tesla screen black?
Having your screen go black will remind of the black screen days with older computers. Nothing that you can try seems to work to get the screen to light up. One owner explained that even his regular dash went dark once the touchscreen turned black. Others could not even charge their Tesla and they needed to try to conserve their battery before getting into a Tesla dealer garage.
After the stress of dealing with a black screen, it would be nice to be take off your sunglasses to relax your eyes. I recommend that you purchase the center console tray organizer that stores a pair of sunglasses and other items. Check out the JCOVER organizer that is available on Amazon.
Here are a couple of reasons that the screen is black in your Tesla:
- If you have an older Tesla that has the MCU1 (main computer unit), there is a chance that it is the time to upgrade to MCU2. There are a few quick fixes for the problems that you might be having with MCU1, but you will end up upgrading at some point to get the updated features.
- I have read that is suggested that the screen is going black with MCU1 because there is too much obsolete data in the system. A tech might suggest that you delete some of that data, such as the trip information, and even the destinations that you had added that are no longer important. Some owners believe that there is too much logging happening with the MCU1, and that it needs to be reprogrammed to automatically purge itself.
- It could be the eMMc chip in the MCU1 that is blackening the touchscreen. This chip seemed to be one that was ridiculously cheap multimedia memory chip that had a limited number of rewrites that it could perform. Rewrites on a chip for multi-media requires a ton of write cycles.
- I noticed that a Tesla owner stated that he had just performed a supercharge during a period of 10 minutes and then a brief time later, the screen turned black. The three passengers in the Tesla freaked but the screen turned back on after a minute or so. Not sure if this was the cause for this Tesla, but it is something to take note of it if you encounter the dreaded black Tesla screen while on the road.
Most Tesla owners that have a black screen simply reset the Tesla screen. I will explain how this is done.
How do I reset my Tesla screen?
Three are three main ways that you can reset your Tesla touchscreen:
- It is best to get off the road to do this first type of reset. Many drivers are ok with performing it while driving, but multitasking is never a good plan. So, you need to put the Tesla in park. Now, hold in both scroll buttons that are on the steering wheel. Now, the screen will go blank and then after a few seconds, you will see the Tesla logo appear. After another 30 seconds, the reset will be complete. This reset is good if your screen is on the frets and it is displaying a lot of odd behavior. It is what the manual suggests that you try if you are having screen problems.
- The second way to reset the screen is to power off and on the touchscreen. This is done again only if you are parked, and you have the Tesla in the park gear. On the main screen, press ‘touch controls’, then ‘safety and security’, and finally ‘power off’. It best to now wait 3 minutes. After this delay, press the brake, or touch the screen, or simply open the door. The screen will light up. This removes any software errors that can cause problems with the GPS or even the cameras.
- Your third option is to disconnect the batteries. This method is someone that I would not perform because of the high voltage main battery. Nevertheless, if is something that some other owners have suggested. This method is called a hard reset. You will need to disconnect the 12v battery, and then the high voltage battery. Now, wait a few minutes and reconnect the batteries. This tactic is good when you have lost a bunch of functions at the same time, such as the autopilot and GPS. There is a fuse that can trip that will cause you to lose some of these key functions, and to reset the fuse, you need to perform this fix.
The above resets are not necessary factory resets. If you want to set everything back to the factory settings, you will need to a special type of reset.
Here is a video to watch that explains how to do the reboot while you are driving:
What does factory reset do on Tesla?
When you own a Tesla, you end up storing a lot of data that is personal. For instance, the cameras that within your Tesla are storing pictures that might contain images of the inside of your garage, or even people that are around your car since as your family members. Also, driving data that shows exactly where you have been traveling and how long you had stayed in certain areas. It is like you are driving around in a laptop that has a connection to all your personal secrets.
If you were to sell your Tesla, you need to do a factory reset on it to erase all this personal data. Tesla states that they already provide options to do the procedure, but I could not easily find the instructions on how to do so. It exists for the model x and s, but not for the model three.
Once you have done a factory reset, it will get rid of any data that you had inputted, such as: visited locations, navigation data, friends and family destinations and your home destination.
After initiating the factory reset, the firmware will be deleted and re-installed. After this step, you should be good to go, and you can start entering data such the frequency to open your garage door.
Something that you need to be aware of is that you cannot do the factory reset when the thumbnail drive is connected. You must remove it first.
Sometimes, people have had trouble after trying to reset to factory settings. For instance, it took some time for their screen to turn back on.