2021 Tahoe Z71 disabled after software update

[RC45]

I would advise not to do any software updates. In other words, if it's not broken, don't fix it. A software update could make a change to your vehicle that you don't like, and unlike shopping for a new pair of sneakers, there's NO way to go back. Once you do an update you are STUCK. When I do an update on my Mac or my iPhone, I can read detailed information on what that update is for and what it does. Not so with General Motors.

I agree 100%. I spent 28 years in the software and hardware industry, at the highest level of server consulting and support - and had a 100% success rate of production database, messaging and storage support history across multiple industries.
The difference between me and colleagues with career altering infrastructure failures?
Performing updates on a whim due to the vendor (whether MS, HP, Sun, Veritas, 3Par etc) simply releasing an update firmware/patch.
I was known to be ‘that guy’ that always wanted to know the reason for the update, the mitigation plan, the backup plan, the restore plan etc.

The day this push software nonsense started was the day I started laughing at and not with all the non-tech people gloating over their new cars.

There are going to be tens of millions of dollars worth of bricked hardware in everyone’s future - and they'll finally find out just how thankless our jobs in the server side IT industry were

I love it!!!!

 

[Doubeleive]

The first time I tried to update I got this when I checked back to see if it had been completed:
View attachment 388260


Tried for several days and kept getting the same message. So I brought it to the dealer and they said the infotainment system needed updating and they did that. Got it home and thought I'd check for updates again to see if it corrected itself and got the same message!! Tried it again for a couple of days and just gave up. After a about 6 hours of driving yesterday (roundtrip Oklahoma City to Dallas), today after a short trip to the grocery store and placing it into park, up comes the request to do the update!!! Parked it outside to make sure I had good satellite reception and it downloaded just fine. We'll see if all is well the next time I take it out for a drive.

These updates do not come via satellite they come via the built in 4g cellular data or wifi

 

[Doubeleive]

In my '20 Traverse I have it linking to my home WiFi and run the updates in my garage to avoid any issues.

that wont prevent issue's, it's the software not the connection

 

[Mason1225]

Happened to my 21 Yukon Denali as well. All day there was an alert saying update paused popping up on my screen while driving. Parked in garage overnight and car was dead next morning. I had to trickle charge my battery then jump it. Took it to dealership and they forced the upload and recharged battery and said battery was ok and no other issues with car. Haven’t had issue since.

 

[repairman54]

My point exactly, cellular update can glitch out corrupting data. Even your home Wi-Fi cable co. connection can ''burp'', mine does. Odds are better on your home Wi-Fi than on the cell connection.

 

[kerrijeanmcdaniel]

Be aware of system updates! My Tahoe prompted an update on 12/15/2022. I allowed the install to happen because I have done previous updates without any issue. The car was sitting at my office parking lot in a safe location. Around lunch time I returned to my car to run some errands. When I attempted to start my vehicle... nothing. No power. I called my husband & he just assumed a dead battery. He arrived to try to jump start it without success. We called Chevy Roadside Assistance for a tow. The 1st driver, attempted to jump start it and he was also unsuccessful. He was unable to tow the vehicle because there was no way to put the car in neutral without dragging it. The 'gearshift' is the electronic buttons. No power means we can't shift the car into neutral. We cancelled his services and requested another driver that could lift the vehicle & roll it (aka a Repo Truck). It was towed to the dealership where it has sat for over a week. They have also tried jump starting it. Also, we are being told there's a tool to 'unlock the transmission to be able to put the car in neutral & move it into the shop". The dealership says they only have 1 key and it's currently stuck in another vehicle. I love my Tahoe, and this is the first issue I have experienced with it. We purchased it Oct 2020. I'm beginning to fear that this is a bigger issue than just disconnecting the battery & resetting it. I have tried researching this issue online but can only fine experiences where the car was still drivable. My car is a completely disabled. I can't even lock the passenger door due to no power. Battery tests show that I have full power on the battery. Why is my car dead?!

Keep me updated on yours!!! Mine got towed on Wednesday. Same thing. Got in to try to start it, every light inside came on, heater was running, it was throwing all sorts of errors on the screen and telling me to hit the button again to start. Radio worked and everything, but it would not let me shut anything off and would not actually turn over the engine or start it! I could not disconnect the battery because I did not have the tools. I could not shift it to neutral manually or by pushing neutral, so I had to call a flatbed to come tow it to the dealer. It's a 2021 Tahoe Z71 4x4. I do not know if my vehicle received an update or not one was trying to download for about a week but kept saying it failed to download so who knows. The dealership has NO CLUE what is going on with it. I have tried to tell them stuff on this thread to check but they keep doing their own thing. They have hardly even looked at it. I am so beyond frustrated.

 

[Geotrash]

I agree 100%. I spent 28 years in the software and hardware industry, at the highest level of server consulting and support - and had a 100% success rate of production database, messaging and storage support history across multiple industries.
The difference between me and colleagues with career altering infrastructure failures?
Performing updates on a whim due to the vendor (whether MS, HP, Sun, Veritas, 3Par etc) simply releasing an update firmware/patch.
I was known to be ‘that guy’ that always wanted to know the reason for the update, the mitigation plan, the backup plan, the restore plan etc.

The day this push software nonsense started was the day I started laughing at and not with all the non-tech people gloating over their new cars.

There are going to be tens of millions of dollars worth of bricked hardware in everyone’s future - and they'll finally find out just how thankless our jobs in the server side IT industry were

I love it!!!!

Similarly, I spent many years managing product lines for distributing software to PC's, mobile devices and later, for servers. Distributing software over mobile links requires very specialized code for checkpoint restart and a bunch of other stuff like CRC's, buffer checks, etc, to do reliably. There are no vendors that I'm aware of in the world with the underlying technology to do this with more than about a three 9's (99.9%) reliability, so who knows who GM chose for the underlying transport mechanisms. It's probably a fair estimate to say that with every update they roll out they will brick a few dozen, if not a few hundred, vehicles. They really need a method for customers to use who cannot get their vehicles to a dealer for service once it's bricked.

 

[Roadglide16]

I've seen this happening with the new Escalades. Do you have to do the updates when you get the notice? Does it lock up your screen until you do it? I've gotten several software updates for my Harley, never done them and the bike runs fine

 

[Thomas Schneider]

I've seen this happening with the new Escalades. Do you have to do the updates when you get the notice? Does it lock up your screen until you do it? I've gotten several software updates for my Harley, never done them and the bike runs fine

You don't need to do these updates and it doesn't lock up your screen if you don't. You can actually opt-out of getting these OTA updates if that is what you want. That said, I did have some trouble getting this last update as noted in my earlier post, but I now have the latest update installed.

Since I purchased my Tahoe back in November 2020, I believe this last OTA update is the third or fourth one and I haven't had any problems after the updates were installed. As noted in some of these posts, there are several that are skeptical about what these updates might do and may cause irreversible problems, but my take is that they are doing these for a reason and are done for correcting problems, what ever they may be. Still your choice on what you want to do.

 

[Teamiez]

I would advise not to do any software updates. In other words, if it's not broken, don't fix it. A software update could make a change to your vehicle that you don't like, and unlike shopping for a new pair of sneakers, there's NO way to go back. Once you do an update you are STUCK. When I do an update on my Mac or my iPhone, I can read detailed information on what that update is for and what it does. Not so with General Motors.

Exactly what I was thinking, got my iPhone and I liked how it was. I always turn off automatic updates. Learned that the hard way once when I tried to update a older phone, completely changed the phone and hated it. The updates either change how things look or add functions or problems I don’t want.