I have been using the SD card without issue in a 2015 GTI and now a 2018 R. I originally had some issues, but I have never had a problem since getting rid of mp4. I now use mp3 only. I have a 256 GB PNY SD Card formatted with exFAT. I have 20,000 songs on the card. I use the file format of Music>Letter(A-Z)>Artist>Album>Song. I have all the music in FLAC and then convert to MP3. I then embed the album art in the MP3 with MP3Tag. Then resize art with Sanse MP3 Art Sizer. I get all art from either Album Art Exchange or Amazon. All art is called cover.jpg. Using this, I have never had an issue with any feature.
7
2018 GTI SD Card Issues
- Thread starter 442GTI
- Start date
Luckyarmpit
Ready to race!
- Location
- NC
I'm at the dealer now. I was re-explaining the problem to the Service Advisor and another Advisor overheard and asked how many folders I had? I said I had about 20 GB of music and there's a folder for each band, then a sub-folder for each album. He said it may be the number of folders that's causing the infotainment system to freak out sometimes. So they're going to check to see if there's a limit for the total amount of folders, assuming there's no software update and/or known problem.
If that's the case then that means I'll just have to make sure the metadata on all the files are correct (like you mentioned above). Will post back once I get my answer.
steveaustin
Ready to race!
- Location
- OR
Well we both have Discover Media with Nav and have 2018 7.5 headunits. There must be an issue with either the unit firmware or how the units read SD media cards. I am using only MP3s and it's formatted exFat as it's over 4GB in Music (it's around 8GB). I also deleted all unnecessary files aside from just MP3s so it's a cleaned card with 100% of the songs with images (I went OCD on this) - I also went so far as to validate all MP3s. I used the same folder structure as iTunes. Let me know what the dealer says as I think this is unique to our model year and headunit firmware. Sounds like 2015-2017 SD cards work flawlessly.
KevinC
Autocross Champion
- Car(s)
- '19 Golf R, '21 M2c
If anybody wants to mail me a blank card, I'll copy mine over to it, and you can try it and see if everything works properly in your car. If it doesn't - then something is definitely FUBAR with your MIB2 firmware or hardware, because it's 100% functional at my end, with 2016 TechniSat MIB2 unit. PM me if interested and I'll provide my address.
Luckyarmpit
Ready to race!
- Location
- NC
Good news is that VW fixed the issue with my glove box light... apparently when the car was built, they forgot to plug in the harness under the hood.
Bad news is that they couldn't reproduce the issue with the SD Card and infotainment system. The system behaved perfectly while they had the car (of course). They said they couldn't find if there was a limit, so to speak, on files/folders. The Service Advisor said he had a theory on what could be wrong- components inside the infotainment system - but he can't just start replacing parts without at least being able to replicate the issue. I said I understood and that made sense of course. He confirmed I was on the latest/greatest firmware and there were no updates available.
He did say, however, say there were things I could to do help him troubleshoot. The next time it acts up for me to take a video... scroll over to the mileage... scroll over to the VIN, and then send him the video. If he has video proof that it's acting up he can try to get authorization to replace parts. He also said if it's acting stupid and I happen to be in the area, to swing by so he can see if for himself.
So the saga continues until I can reproduce. In the meantime I'll take a count of the files/folders I have, and perhaps slowly reduce them to see if there's a point that the issue stops?
VDubberinDE
Go Kart Newbie
- Location
- Delaware
- Car(s)
- 2018 VW Golf R
Good news is that VW fixed the issue with my glove box light... apparently when the car was built, they forgot to plug in the harness under the hood.
Bad news is that they couldn't reproduce the issue with the SD Card and infotainment system. The system behaved perfectly while they had the car (of course). They said they couldn't find if there was a limit, so to speak, on files/folders. The Service Advisor said he had a theory on what could be wrong- components inside the infotainment system - but he can't just start replacing parts without at least being able to replicate the issue. I said I understood and that made sense of course. He confirmed I was on the latest/greatest firmware and there were no updates available.
He did say, however, say there were things I could to do help him troubleshoot. The next time it acts up for me to take a video... scroll over to the mileage... scroll over to the VIN, and then send him the video. If he has video proof that it's acting up he can try to get authorization to replace parts. He also said if it's acting stupid and I happen to be in the area, to swing by so he can see if for himself.
So the saga continues until I can reproduce. In the meantime I'll take a count of the files/folders I have, and perhaps slowly reduce them to see if there's a point that the issue stops?
If you e-mail one of your songs that does not work, I can try it in my car since we have same year and model.
Luckyarmpit
Ready to race!
- Location
- NC
Be happy to. I need to take screenshots of the total amount of music/files/folders.
steveaustin
Ready to race!
- Location
- OR
I have tried troubleshooting this so many times...whether voice commands affect it or not, leaving the card active before shutting off the car or switching to either bluetooth before shutting off. I just can't seem to find what triggers it. It's always on shuffle and randomly starting the car it goes back to my first track alphabetically and the menu is grayed out for 5 minutes or more. Once the menu reappears I scroll to a song and re-enable shuffle. I assume people are all using shuffle when listening to their SD Cards. It seems the shuffle order never changes if you start it from the first song (could be wrong here). The user manual indicates there is a limit to the number of folders. I took this from the manual (on vw website, put in VIN and then search radio manual for SD Card). These are the media requirements for SD Cards:
Requirements for playing audio files.
This thread explains it: https://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32753
Applies to SD memory cards1) and USB storage devices with the FAT16, FAT32, exFAT and NTFS file system:
MP3 files (.mp3) with bit rates of 32 to 320 kbit/s or variable bit rate.
WMA files (.wma) to 10 mono/stereo to 768 kbit/s without write-protection.
WAV files (.wav) (64 - 1411 kbit/s)
OGG-Vorbis files (.ogg) (32 - 576 kbit/s)
FLAC files (.flac) (maximum 96 kHz).
AAC files (.m4a, .m4b, .mp4, .aac) (16 - 400 kbit/s)
Playlists in the M3U, M3U8, PLS, ASX and WPL formats
Playlists no larger than 20 KB and with no more than 1,000 entries.
Maximum of 32 playlists on a data carrier.
Maximum of 1,000 folders and 30,000 files on a data carrier.
The maximum size of an individual file in the FAT32 file system is 4GB.
Requirements for playing audio files.
This thread explains it: https://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32753
Applies to SD memory cards1) and USB storage devices with the FAT16, FAT32, exFAT and NTFS file system:
MP3 files (.mp3) with bit rates of 32 to 320 kbit/s or variable bit rate.
WMA files (.wma) to 10 mono/stereo to 768 kbit/s without write-protection.
WAV files (.wav) (64 - 1411 kbit/s)
OGG-Vorbis files (.ogg) (32 - 576 kbit/s)
FLAC files (.flac) (maximum 96 kHz).
AAC files (.m4a, .m4b, .mp4, .aac) (16 - 400 kbit/s)
Playlists in the M3U, M3U8, PLS, ASX and WPL formats
Playlists no larger than 20 KB and with no more than 1,000 entries.
Maximum of 32 playlists on a data carrier.
Maximum of 1,000 folders and 30,000 files on a data carrier.
The maximum size of an individual file in the FAT32 file system is 4GB.
Last edited:
KevinC
Autocross Champion
- Car(s)
- '19 Golf R, '21 M2c
I do use shuffle, though not all the time. Works fine with or without it. I can't remember the last time I experienced ANY media-related glitch of ANY kind.
Gotta be something FUBAR in newer firmware and/or hardware that's causing this, I'm starting to conclude. All other explanations have seemingly been eliminated.
Gotta be something FUBAR in newer firmware and/or hardware that's causing this, I'm starting to conclude. All other explanations have seemingly been eliminated.
Yep, I had the issue you were experiencing. I had to reorganize the folder structure. As someone earlier mentioned, Music > #/A-Z > Artist > Album > Song.
I have two folders in the root directory of my SD. One is Music and the other is a folder with a few FLAC albums.
To shuffle I can go into the root directory and it will shuffle songs between the two folders. If I go into a specific folder I can shuffle those as well. Since reorganizing, the head unit remembers everything and never resets.
Luckyarmpit
Ready to race!
- Location
- NC
Thanks for that. Interesting that you have to go to the online manual to find that and the novel that VW included in the glove box doesn't contain that info.
I checked my Music folder and here's what I have:
18.5 GB total size
4231 songs
480 folders
So if that number is accurate, I'm way below the maximum file/folder count... not even close actually.
And that's how mine is...
Root
--->Music
------>Artist
--------->Album
------------>Songs
And of course it's been behaving perfectly fine since yesterday.
steveaustin
Ready to race!
- Location
- OR
Yeah it's so annoying that this is an obvious issue that VW hasn't fixed. I would point the dealer to the thread link I posted in my previous reply next time you reproduce it and show them. Keep us posted!
I believe this data is in the glovebox -- did you not receive a separate manual for the radio/headunit? I know mine included this information in printed form.
I believe this data is in the glovebox -- did you not receive a separate manual for the radio/headunit? I know mine included this information in printed form.
KevinC
Autocross Champion
- Car(s)
- '19 Golf R, '21 M2c
My infotainment manual is quite comprehensive. Here's what it has for media requirements:
Luckyarmpit
Ready to race!
- Location
- NC
My infotainment manual is quite comprehensive. Here's what it has for media requirements:
I did, got a pretty thick manual for the infotainment system and even a supplement, but what was posted above wasn't in there. I may have Man-Scanned it; I'll check again.
Luckyarmpit
Ready to race!
- Location
- NC
So I'm still having this problem and it's becoming more annoying. I took a video per the service rep's instruction but I have no way to get it to him (it's too big for email and none of them seem to know how Google Drive works) short of driving by the dealership and giving it to him on a flash drive. Less than ideal since they are closed by the time I get off work.
I might try to sneak that way tomorrow during the day; I have to get this video to them before they can even begin to investigate the issue.
I might try to sneak that way tomorrow during the day; I have to get this video to them before they can even begin to investigate the issue.