Highline Software Update

Mod Description

The Bosch Highline stereo received an update, what does it do?

Mod Details

PremiumYes Difficulty Mod ID898 Creditevilution Linkhttps://www.evilution.co.uk/mod/highline-software-update.htm Copy to Clipboard

Bosch Highline V1 Or V2?

Most people don’t know that there are 2 versions of the Bosch Highline stereo. Anything manufactured up to July 2011 (serial number 000001 to 0032999) was version 1. Units manufacturered from August 2011 onwards (serial number 0033000 onwards) was version 2.

Version 1 shipped with software version V0815 or V0820.
Version 2 shipped with software version V1208.

What Is The Difference?

Just by looking, there is no difference. Even the way it works is the same. The version 2 Highline stereo just had different display hardware.

Why Was There 2 Versions Of The Stereo?

There were a few stories of screens becoming darker and darker until they had no backlight at all so there was an obvious fault with the original display. It could have been the graphics controller, the backlight or the PWM controller for the brightness. As far as I can tell, all the screen faults were on the V1. Bosch may have updated the stereo to fix the problem.

Software Updates – What Did They Do?

The V1 was updated from V0815 and V0820 to V0923 and the V2 was updated from V1208 to V1223.
There was no difference between a V1 with V0820 and a V2 with V1208.
There was also no difference betweena V1 with the V0923 update and a V2 with the V1223 update.

There was only 2 different types of update because of the 2 different display hardwares.

V0923 and V1223 only did a few things, they:

Sorted out bluetooth connection issues that some iPhone owners were having with connecting to the Highline stereo.
Added a region code change option in the general settings / system settings menu.
Ever so slightly sped up the satellite navigation software.

Is It Worth Getting?

Yeah, why not! It really shouldn’t cost you anything however, actually getting your stereo updated isn’t easy. I personally battled with a Mercedes/Smart dealer to no avail in an attempt to get my stereo updated. Eventually I managed to get the software from a helpful guy in a smart parts department. I handed over 2 SD cards, he copied the files on there.

My Smart Dealer Doesn’t Have A Clue

or “my smart dealer is hundreds of miles away” for you Americans.

Not surprised. I can see where you are going with this, you want a copy of the update to do it yourself. Click me for the firmware files.

Testing

I am testing this update on an American V1 and a European V1 and so far they seem fine. I haven’t tested any updates on the V2 yet.

What Does The Updating Look Like?

Nothing particularly interesting. You get to watch it progress on this page for about 18 minutes.

And if you are REALLY bored at work, here is the heavily truncated video of the update.

Hacking Possibilities?

Yes there are. I will add it all to a this page, however, there isn’t much to say at the moment.