Official Ford Sync3 3.4 Release

[Bikeman315]

Has anyone managed to get Ford's systems to acknowledge their successful update?
I've uploaded the XML three times, I've even re-generated it using their oficial XML generator, but to no avail. They still keep telling me there's an update pending (which is exactly the same, I checked that).
I know this is supposed to take a bit of time, but it's been three weeks already, so it's obviously not working.
Someone told me that the structure of the XML has changed in v3.4, and that v3.4 update packages (and the generator for that matter) generate XMLs in a format that Ford's system doesn't recognize. But I couldn't find this information anywhere else, so I don't know how accurate it is.

Just call them. Even from Romania it would be easier.

 

[Bit_the_Bullitt]

Has anyone managed to get Ford's systems to acknowledge their successful update?
I've uploaded the XML three times, I've even re-generated it using their oficial XML generator, but to no avail. They still keep telling me there's an update pending (which is exactly the same, I checked that).
I know this is supposed to take a bit of time, but it's been three weeks already, so it's obviously not working.
Someone told me that the structure of the XML has changed in v3.4, and that v3.4 update packages (and the generator for that matter) generate XMLs in a format that Ford's system doesn't recognize. But I couldn't find this information anywhere else, so I don't know how accurate it is.

I'm pretty sure I've gotten it to acknowledge mine, but I also get the "--km" in the cluster when using Android Auto's directions (Waze and Google Maps), so...

 

[Vlad Soare]

Do you happen to still have your latest XML? Would you mind sharing it? I'd like to compare it with mine, to see if there's any difference in structure, a missing tag, or an extra tag, or something.

 

[Gregs24]

Has anyone managed to get Ford's systems to acknowledge their successful update?
I've uploaded the XML three times, I've even re-generated it using their oficial XML generator, but to no avail. They still keep telling me there's an update pending (which is exactly the same, I checked that).
I know this is supposed to take a bit of time, but it's been three weeks already, so it's obviously not working.
Someone told me that the structure of the XML has changed in v3.4, and that v3.4 update packages (and the generator for that matter) generate XMLs in a format that Ford's system doesn't recognize. But I couldn't find this information anywhere else, so I don't know how accurate it is.

Yes mine worked fine

 

[Pero]

Has anyone managed to get Ford's systems to acknowledge their successful update?

Yes, I managed to acknowledge successful update v3.4 (build 20136) to Ford's system in first try without problems.

 

[Pero]

@Vlad: Check your Private Messages.
Good luck with XML comparison and report back the result of your research.

 

[Vlad Soare]

Well, the structure of the two XML files is identical. So my assumption was incorrect.

Many of the values are different, though. That's OK for some of them, since they are MAC addresses and module firmware versions, which one would expect to vary from one vehicle to the next. But others are checksums which appear to be related to the Sync software version. I can't see any software version number, be it for the Sync app itself, or for Gracenote, language packs, maps, whatever, mentioned explicitely in the XML, which makes me believe that they are encoded in those checksums. And if the checksums differ, then that could explain why Ford doesn't know I'm up to date.

The only thing I can think of is that somehow something hasn't been updated correctly or completely. The application itself is at v.20136, but maybe something else, like Gracenote, or language pack, or something like that, didn't update correctly, despite not raising any error message during the update. I'll download the package and will try to install it again, and then see now the new XML looks.

 

[WD Pro]

@Vlad Soare

https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/sync-3-4-build-20136-question.148520/

The only issue I have had a that I suspect it only gives you the latest maps once it knows the software is updated - so are we one map release behind ... ?

WD

 

[Vlad Soare]

Yes, that's what's bothering me. I'm on F8, and I know that F9 has already been released, and I think I won't get that until they acknowledge that my software is up to date.
Of course, there's always the Cyanlabs route. But I shouldn't need to go down that route with a new car. Ford need to fix their damn systems. It's unbelievable that five years after launching Sync 3 - FIVE YEARS for God's sake!!! - they're still not capable of doing such a trivial operation properly. iPhones have been doing this perfectly since 2007, and there are incomparably more iPhones in the world that cars equipped with Sync 3.

 

[Gregs24]

Yes, that's what's bothering me. I'm on F8, and I know that F9 has already been released, and I think I won't get that until they acknowledge that my software is up to date.
Of course, there's always the Cyanlabs route. But I shouldn't need to go down that route with a new car. Ford need to fix their damn systems. It's unbelievable that five years after launching Sync 3 - FIVE YEARS for God's sake!!! - they're still not capable of doing such a trivial operation properly. iPhones have been doing this perfectly since 2007, and there are incomparably more iPhones in the world that cars equipped with Sync 3.

Apple made a mess of some of their updates mind you !

 

[Vlad Soare]

I know that their software had occasional bugs which needed a lot of patches to be released in a short time (iOS 13 comes to mind), and that some beta testers were sometimes unable to switch from the beta version to the regular one once that was released to the public. But I can't remember iOS announcing that there's a new update pending when the device was already up to date. Maybe it happened, but I can't remember it.

 

[Vlad Soare]

OK, I downloaded the package and installed it again. It ran much more quickly this time, and it generated a new XML. When I compare it with my old one I can see two differences:

These seem to be related to a software version, so they could explain why Ford thought I wasn't up to date.
There's one more difference in the free space in one of the partitions, which you can see below. I'm sure this has nothing to do with how Ford determines if I'm up to date, but I think it's relevant in the sense that something new might have been installed today, which wasn't there before.

Let's see. I've uploaded the new XML. I'll keep you posted.

 

[Bikeman315]

Yes, that's what's bothering me. I'm on F8, and I know that F9 has already been released, and I think I won't get that until they acknowledge that my software is up to date.
Of course, there's always the Cyanlabs route. But I shouldn't need to go down that route with a new car. Ford need to fix their damn systems. It's unbelievable that five years after launching Sync 3 - FIVE YEARS for God's sake!!! - they're still not capable of doing such a trivial operation properly. iPhones have been doing this perfectly since 2007, and there are incomparably more iPhones in the world that cars equipped with Sync 3.

Sync version & map updates are independent of each other. That’s why they are on separate websites. F8 is no longer available so if you are able to get a download it will be F9. And on 3.4 it will properly show as F9 as well.

 

[Vlad Soare]

In Europe they're on the same website. When you look up your VIN they tell you if there's a new software update for you, or a map update, or neither. And map updates are not listed unless there's no software update pending.
Here's how it currently looks for me:

"You'll be pleased to hear"... No, I'm not pleased to hear that, because I know it's not true.
But I don't think I'll see any other message in that box as long as there's something to download in the other box. At least that's how it used to work with my Mondeo and Sync 3 v3.0 - always got software updates first, then map updates. Never the other way around, never both at once.

 

[Bikeman315]

In Europe they're on the same website. When you look up your VIN they tell you if there's a new software update for you, or a map update, or neither. And map updates are not listed unless there's no software update pending.
Here's how it currently looks for me:

"You'll be pleased to hear"... No, I'm not pleased to hear that, because I know it's not true.
But I don't think I'll see any other message in that box as long as there's something to download in the other box. At least that's how it used to work with my Mondeo and Sync 3 v3.0 - always got software updates first, then map updates. Never the other way around, never both at once.

Didn’t know Europe handles downloads differently than the US. Oh well, hope you get it sorted out. It’s not the end of the world but it is insanely frustrating.