Modem “disabled”

[mixduptransistor]

Just picked up my Mach E and I’m having an issue with the connectivity. I get the following message on the hotspot screen and I can’t activate Ford pass. The app just says activation pending. I called Ford pass support and they said the car hasn’t pinged since October (when the car was built). She thought the modem just needed to be reset because it had sat for a while but told me to take it to the dealer. A master reset of Sync didn’t fix it

anyone see this before or know if a way to reset the modem without the dealer? If I can get it going tonight that would be awesome

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[breeves002]

Do a master reset on sync 4 by going to settings - general - master reset. See if that allows you to connect fordpass. Also remove the car from the app before the master reset.

 

[mixduptransistor]

Do a master reset on sync 4 by going to settings - general - master reset. See if that allows you to connect fordpass. Also remove the car from the app before the master reset.

I've already tried that, for some reason the lady at the ford call center thought the modem was in a "deep sleep" and needed some kind of special reset to wake up

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

I've already tried that, for some reason the lady at the ford call center thought the modem was in a "deep sleep" and needed some kind of special reset to wake up

Call your dealer and get it done by them.

It would seem they dropped the ball by not ensuring everything was ready to go for you.

 

[mixduptransistor]

Call your dealer and get it done by them.

It would seem they dropped the ball by not ensuring everything was ready to go for you.

Yeah, but it was a little my fault, I wanted them to get it ready asap. I didn't have them detail it, I'm having it detailed and ceramic coated, etc

Probably pushed it a little too hard on the speed aspect. Was just hoping there was a way to do it without going back, which will probably result in me being without the car for a day or two

 

[breeves002]

I've already tried that, for some reason the lady at the ford call center thought the modem was in a "deep sleep" and needed some kind of special reset to wake up

PM me your VIN I want to see if it is uploading data to Ford or not. My guess is no but doesn’t hurt to check.

 

[Badger_Prof]

Just picked up my Mach E and I’m having an issue with the connectivity. I get the following message on the hotspot screen and I can’t activate Ford pass. The app just says activation pending. I called Ford pass support and they said the car hasn’t pinged since October (when the car was built). She thought the modem just needed to be reset because it had sat for a while but told me to take it to the dealer. A master reset of Sync didn’t fix it

anyone see this before or know if a way to reset the modem without the dealer? If I can get it going tonight that would be awesome

That message in your photo is a message about the optional (in the sense that it is not needed for the car to function and costs extra after 3 months) wifi hotspot in the car. This is not about the modem that connects the car to Ford and thus unrelated to FordPass. Hope this helps.

 

[mixduptransistor]

That is a message about the optional wifi hotspot in the car. This is not about the modem that connects the car to Ford and thus unrelated to FordPass. Hope this helps.

I think it's related, though. I did activate the 3 GB/3 Month hotspot trial and I'm still getting that message

 

[mixduptransistor]

So I wonder if this could be related to my dealer not finalizing everything with Ford? This guy having his send profile to car starting to work out of the blue at the same time he got his rewards points for buying the car in another thread leads me to believe maybe the car has to be authorized before you can add it?

I guess I am going by the dealer today, just curious if it's something the sales guys can fix with my account with Ford or if it'll need to be done at Service

I almost got a little further last night. after doing a couple more resets I did get the app to give me a little bit more (previously it had been just going directly to Pending Activation, this time it gave me the message to wait 90 seconds, and eventually when it timed out it gave me a "sorry activation failed" in the app) but now I'm back to Pending Activation and nothing happening

 

[Badger_Prof]

So I wonder if this could be related to my dealer not finalizing everything with Ford? This guy having his send profile to car starting to work out of the blue at the same time he got his rewards points for buying the car in another thread leads me to believe maybe the car has to be authorized before you can add it?

I guess I am going by the dealer today, just curious if it's something the sales guys can fix with my account with Ford or if it'll need to be done at Service

I almost got a little further last night. after doing a couple more resets I did get the app to give me a little bit more (previously it had been just going directly to Pending Activation, this time it gave me the message to wait 90 seconds, and eventually when it timed out it gave me a "sorry activation failed" in the app) but now I'm back to Pending Activation and nothing happening

Here is how I handled mine and it worked. I deleted the car from Ford Pass (I had entered it before receiving it). I deleted the FordPass app and downloaded it again. I added the car to FordPass by scanning the code on the door frame. I then was able to request activation from the app and confirm it in the car. I then went through the specified process for setting everything up (did this with my salesperson as he also walked through his check list that Ford provided him). Everything has worked well for me since doing this. Good luck.

 

[ROBOHOBO]

Just picked up my Mach E and I’m having an issue with the connectivity...

I'm having the same problem with FordPass app activation, but not the hotspot. I spent some time on the phone with Ford support last night and they came to a similar conclusion: their servers showed no record of the car ever having checked in, and I need to take it to a service center to have the FordPass Connect modem diagnosed. They wanted me to make sure I specified the problem was with the "FordPass Connect modem" - not the "Modem modem" - so I guess there's two, which if true might explain why the car shows some level of LTE service and web connectivity but still isn't communicating with Connect. I have an appointment scheduled first thing tomorrow, but the local tech thought it was likely we would have to replace the modem, so it could be a while as we wait for parts to become available. I'll post updates as I hear anything worth sharing.

For anyone else struggling, I'll add that I've tried just about everything others have shared in just about every combination: removing and adding the car from the app, clearing app data / reinstalling, resetting the Connect data from the car, master reset from the car, sending the request before powering the car on, powering the car on before sending the request... The car does appear to have some amount of connectivity; I just never see the yes/no prompt to accept the activation and the profile never downloads to the car from the app.

One way to tell that everything is talking and it's not a problem with the phone or app: if I do a Connect reset from the car while an activation is pending, I receive a notice on the phone within seconds that the request was cancelled; so I know the car is talking to Ford in some capacity, but maybe they can't reply back? (The phone is not connected to the car's bluetooth or WiFi - everything is going over the internet.)

 

[mixduptransistor]

I'm having the same problem with FordPass app activation, but not the hotspot. I spent some time on the phone with Ford support last night and they came to a similar conclusion: their servers showed no record of the car ever having checked in, and I need to take it to a service center to have the FordPass Connect modem diagnosed. They wanted me to make sure I specified the problem was with the "FordPass Connect modem" - not the "Modem modem" - so I guess there's two, which if true might explain why the car shows some level of LTE service and web connectivity but still isn't communicating with Connect. I have an appointment scheduled first thing tomorrow, but the local tech thought it was likely we would have to replace the modem, so it could be a while as we wait for parts to become available. I'll post updates as I hear anything worth sharing.

For anyone else struggling, I'll add that I've tried just about everything others have shared in just about every combination: removing and adding the car from the app, clearing app data / reinstalling, resetting the Connect data from the car, master reset from the car, sending the request before powering the car on, powering the car on before sending the request... The car does appear to have some amount of connectivity; I just never see the yes/no prompt to accept the activation and the profile never downloads to the car from the app.

One way to tell that everything is talking and it's not a problem with the phone or app: if I do a Connect reset from the car while an activation is pending, I receive a notice on the phone within seconds that the request was cancelled; so I know the car is talking to Ford in some capacity, but maybe they can't reply back? (The phone is not connected to the car's bluetooth or WiFi - everything is going over the internet.)

There's only one modem that I'm aware of, at least, there's only one modem serial number in the 'about' pages. Now, there may be multiple modules and definitely multiple settings in the various ECMs that handle network communication and/or hotspot connectivity but I think my modem issue is the root cause of several problems:

• Obviously, the FordPass Connect app failures
• Unable to use the hotspot, even though it's "activated" with AT&T
• Unable to use fast charging--I stopped at an Electrify America station near my house and it wouldn't charge on three of four stations. I'm going to another EA station in town today and will see if it was the station or the car
• Unable to activate SiriusXM--this one I'm only 50/50 being modem related, but when I try to add the car to my SiriusXM subscription I get a weird error on their website. There is a modem/online component to SiriusXM in the Mach E (SXM 360L) but it may also be an issue with SXM's website not being able to handle the fact that the Mach E comes with a three month trial, and the radio I'm replacing has like 3 weeks of service left. I haven't called in to do it over the phone because there's no rush and I might as well wait for the modem issue to be resolved

The Ford Pass stuff doesn't work when I'm on wifi, so obviously that stuff has to go over the LTE modem. And the SiriusXM activation fails when I'm on wifi too, but it's very quick so I think that is a SXM website problem. If EA doesn't work without wifi today, I'll connect it to the hotspot on my phone and then see if I can charge. I suspect that the car needs connectivity to fast charge, at least at an EA station. Or, possibly I need to get FordPass all setup so there's no confusion between the car and station around Plug and Charge config

The modem itself is powered on, when I'm on the hotspot screen it shows an LTE signal strength of 3 bars, but for some reason it's not communicating with the rest of the car

My car was built in October 2020, and sat around and wasn't shipped until Feb 25. It arrived with about 70 miles on it so I'm not sure why it took so long to ship (it was a dealer stock order, I didn't order it) or what they did with it in the interim. It had all the plastic on the seats (I saw it after it came off the truck) so it wasn't a test vehicle. That early build time coupled with the 3-4 months sitting around has me thinking stuff went into a deep sleep or other error condition and also many modules may need software/firmware updates. I have an appointment on Monday to take it in and leave it with the dealer to check it all out

 

[ROBOHOBO]

There's only one modem that I'm aware of, at least, there's only one modem serial number in the 'about' pages. Now, there may be multiple modules and definitely multiple settings in the various ECMs that handle network communication[...]

That sounds right to me - they probably meant to say "module".

I just got my car back from a couple of days at the local dealership with no news. Based on the amount of snow on it, though, I don't think it saw a lot of hands-on time. Ford corporate provided the usual troubleshooting steps they'd already suggested (i.e. reinstall the app) and now the local tech is waiting for someone higher up the chain to get involved. Now I'm waiting on some parts for the roof to arrive before I bring it in again, so I'm guessing this will sit on the backburner until then ?If anyone else gains some insight in the meantime, I'd love to hear about it.

 

[mixduptransistor]

That sounds right to me - they probably meant to say "module".

I just got my car back from a couple of days at the local dealership with no news. Based on the amount of snow on it, though, I don't think it saw a lot of hands-on time. Ford corporate provided the usual troubleshooting steps they'd already suggested (i.e. reinstall the app) and now the local tech is waiting for someone higher up the chain to get involved. Now I'm waiting on some parts for the roof to arrive before I bring it in again, so I'm guessing this will sit on the backburner until then ?If anyone else gains some insight in the meantime, I'd love to hear about it.

Hrm, that's not good. I would not be taking the car back until the issues are resolved. My car also will not charge at DC Fast Charging stations (it will charge at level 2) so I am not accepting the car until both of those are fixed. If it stays there 30 days Ford will be obligated to buy the car back under Georgia's lemon law as that definitely "substantially impairs the value" of the car

 

[mixduptransistor]

Anyone who is interested, my dealer got with Ford and they are replacing the "antenna" on the top of the car. When the tech plugs into the car they can't communicate with the LTE module at all. I assume the LTE modem/radio is in the antenna housing. They should have it Monday, but the service manager said it is marked Paint to Match so he may have to paint it, or, he's not sure if the cover comes off the old one

On top of this they have a charging system issue to diagnose and resolve so I may not have the vehicle back Monday

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