So I did a software update (from Lexus website), due to nav sometimes glitching. Something happened and I think it corrupted the operating system. Now the screen flashes pink every 10 seconds. It seems similar to an issue RX350 owners faced in 2016.
Here's a video if what its doing

What works:
- Monitor
- Reverse camera shows up
- Apple CarPlay (will show up as long as I don’t put it in park or reverse during my drive)(if I do, the CarPlay screen won’t show up unless I restart the car and keep it in drive)
- Climate control buttons (only on radio unit)

What doesn’t work:
- Infotainment/entertainment (Audio, Bluetooth, Radio)
- Navigation

The car and everything else is working fine.
I’ve tried disconnecting/reconnecting radio unit plugs and the main battery. Plugs are tight.
I noticed the OS is controlled by a micro SD, so maybe that needs to be replaced. Worse case is a chip on the motherboard has short circuited.
Lexus dealer’s solution is to replace the unit.

Has anyone encountered this issue before or have any other solutions?



Possible Micro SD Card replacement needed

OEM Head Unit Label

Updated Head Unit Label

 

Were you performing the procedure outlined in L-SB-0094-16? Mine didn't do this when I updated the system. Do you still have a warranty on the car? If you do, take it to the dealer and have them fix it. If not, there's not a whole lot you can do - there are some threads in the GS forum about the microSD card and issues related to it, but I didn't read much into them because I'm not having any issues with mine.

This thread might help https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...o-sd-card.html. Hope it's that simple for you!

FWIW, I just looked up a new SD card for 2016 model. It's part number 86271-60422 and retails for an insane $1026.43. Internet pricing is around $750. Doubt they'll sell many more of these when 3G shuts down unless they have your specific problem out of warranty. I've never updated the wife's car except to reflash with the code from the Tech Bulletin, and that went just fine. I really couldn't care less about the maps anyway, so there's nothing I'm concerned about long term as long as the system boots and plays music. Would be nice to keep maintenance records there too, but not a must have.

Lexus shows a "navigation update" available for $210 retail - https://lexus2.custhelp.com/app/answ...urchase-one%3F

That might be all you need too since you already have an SD card, but I really don't know how all that works.

 

Yep, I was performing the nav update as stated in L-SB-0094-16. Unfortunately it's out of basic warranty. I did go to the dealer but they were trying to figure it out within that day as they had no loaners for me. They were unable to put it in diagnostic mode and even tried the reset by taking the negative battery cable off for 30 minutes. Those two solutions didn't work so they suggested me to replace it with 86804-30F20 EXC for nearly $3800.

As far as the micro sd goes, I saw that the radio unit uses 2. One that goes under the ML flap for the navigation and one that is tucked away under a metal cover on the right side of the radio unit. We aren't supposed to access the second one but apparently that has the OS stored in it, so maybe a replacement could fix the issue. I'll look into the $750 one that you provided; I believe the apps and nav all show up through that OS, while the map information is stored in the other sd card.

I'm also wondering if the dealer keep my car for a longer period of time, would they be able to dig into it more and find another solution such as updating it through the OBD2 port or did they do that already while attempting to run diagnostics?

Thanks for your suggestions!

 

They have a special kit for the Infotainment system, and it has its own connector near the DLC connector. It would seem to me they would be able to recover from a situation like this with a reflash and their special kit, but I don't own one (and never will, it's way too expensive for just one car) and I am not at all sure if this is actually possible. It really, really sucks this happened out of warranty when you were just doing a simple update. You have my greatest sympathy. It's not supposed to happen this way.

I just took a brief look at TIS. Their solution to anything like this problem is to replace the entire radio assembly. They don't even suggest attempting to reflash the main SD card. Pretty sad if you ask me.