[nmgeek]

I'd say don't worry about the cause OR the remedy... let the dealer figure out how to fix this.
It's under warranty and they have the entire GM Chevy Bolt engineering team as a resource.

This sounds nice, in principal. However, they gave me the car back and said they don't know how to fix it. The next closest dealership is 70 miles away: too much time for me to blow on a bad clock. I've been without a car for at least 20 days during all the related repairs: I can't afford any more transportation down time.

I'm now on my _third_ radio and have the same clock problem.

There are really two problems: 1) no auto-update and 2) clock resets to 12pm some day in 2017. They had the auto-update problem fixed for a while but the audio system had problems so the radio had to be replaced again and the clock was then broken with both problems again.

Regarding auto-updates, this goes along with the inability to check my software version unless I connect to my home wifi. So, basically, the cellular broadband service does not work. I wonder if it _only_ ever works while Onstar is active and that two of the three radios came with trial Onstar subscriptions. When the trail on my first system ended (back in April) the clock broke.

Regarding the reset to 12pm, this sounds like an electronic clock without a backup battery. So maybe they don't use the 12V car battery as the backup battery and instead use a separate lithium battery? (From searching I see that the GM Equinox has such a backup battery under the seat.) Or the connection to the 12V battery is missing in my car. Bolts are hyperactive when turned off: they turn on their screens, the radio, and beep at you when they feel so inclined. But, eventually the car seems to go into standby so it could be a problem with standby power.

The two problems interact: if auto-updates are working you would not notice the time resets since the auto-update would fix the clock time fast enough that you might not notice. If the standby power is present for the clock then it would loose (or gain) time very slowly.

I was thinking of asking for a trial membership to Onstar data/internet service to test my Onstar data theory.

FWIW, the _audio_ portion of the cellular service works: I can call Onstar from the car and it rings and answers.

 

[drdiesel1]

I wonder if your Battery Saver could be activating from a low 12V issue ?
I don't see a memory circuit for the radio like the older vehicles have.
The 12V power circuit is split into two inputs and they both come from
the Battery Saver Control Relay into the RDO fuse.

Anything is possible. Check your 12V battery. A 12 O'clock reset tells me
the system is loosing it's 12V power until you cycle the key back on.
Are you having issues with the preset radio stations loosing memory ?

 

[drdiesel1]

I would also check these BCM fuses. They're powered all the time, but if one is blown it
could cause issues. They don't give use internal data. This has always been an issue when
trying to repair systems. It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

 

[Boxster1971]

Just like your cell phone your Bolt may require the AT&T connection for the clock to work properly.

 

[gallen]

Ok gang - time to poll for if your Bolt clock changed to standard time by itself or not. Mine didn't (2017, infotainment ver 14.5.0). It's set to "auto" (cell connection) timeset. I drove 3 separate trips this AM (5 to 10 min each), so it's had time to think about it. There's decent ATT cell service where I live. My cell phone (Verizon) did change as expected.



What did yours do?

 

[GJETSON]

Ok gang - time to poll for if your Bolt clock changed to standard time by itself or not. Mine didn't (2017, infotainment ver 14.5.0). It's set to "auto" (cell connection) timeset. I drove 3 separate trips this AM (5 to 10 min each), so it's had time to think about it. There's decent ATT cell service where I live. My cell phone (Verizon) did change as expected.



What did yours do?

Our clock was set to "auto" cell tower. It switched fall of 2017. It switched spring of 2018. It did not switch today. I went into settings and set it manually. If I put it back to "auto" cell tower, it goes back to the incorrect time. I drove around, and tried this routine several times...same screwed up result. I can't wait for autonomous cars...not!!

Our Verizon phones, and the computers that run off their hotspot changed correctly. The setup in the car is AT&T, but they are renting Verizon's system here, as they have no coverage here.

 

[nmgeek]

1. I signed up for a no-cost OnStar 3-month trial and the second they activated OnStar the clock snapped to the correct time and date. I also believe that the network indicators at the top of the screen changed such that a) the WiFi logo turned on and b) the cellular icon showed 4G and then LTE a bit later.
2. With OnStar active I can now check the software version (before I just got errors about network connectivity).
3. With the clock showing the right time I switched to Manual Set mode to see if it ever resets to 12PM again. It has not yet changed from Daylight to Standard time.
4. I will check the "hot at all times" fuses when I get a chance.
5. Radio presets are not lost when the clock resets to 12PM. I assume radio presets are saved to non-volatile memory (used to be called EPROM). Unfortunately, it doesn't work to save the time to non-volatile memory.

Yes, the clock requires a connection to the (AT&T?) cellular network to keep time with super-accuracy. From reading various forum posts it appears that it does _not_ require an OnStar subscription. Although, I learned that there is a free OnStar activation they call the "diagnostics subscription" (same as OnStar Basic?) which could be present for the owners who say their clock works without OnStar: maybe they mean without _paying_ for OnStar?? My current theory is that the free trial you get on purchase reverts to OnStar Basic after 3 months but my replacement radio was not configured to activate the OnStar Basic subscription. I guess I'll know in three months. The green LED above the OnStar button is supposed to tell if OnStar is active.

It seems to me that the LTE and 4G indicators are 100% relevant to my issue. When they are missing, maybe the car has only voice service and no data. You would need some basic data service to receive a time update.

 

[sparks]

Ok gang - time to poll for if your Bolt clock changed to standard time by itself or not. Mine didn't (2017, infotainment ver 14.5.0). It's set to "auto" (cell connection) timeset. I drove 3 separate trips this AM (5 to 10 min each), so it's had time to think about it. There's decent ATT cell service where I live. My cell phone (Verizon) did change as expected.



What did yours do?

clock is correct always correct I do nothing - no paid subscriptions
vehicle is always correct no complaints no issues least of all clock

 

[gallen]

2. With OnStar active I can now check the software version (before I just got errors about network connectivity).

You should also be able to get a "check" for SW with the car connected to your home wifi regardless of any OnStar account or lack thereof.

Yes, the clock requires a connection to the (AT&T?) cellular network to keep time with super-accuracy. From reading various forum posts it appears that it does _not_ require an OnStar subscription. Although, I learned that there is a free OnStar activation known as the "diagnostics subscription" which could be present for the owners who say their clock works without OnStar: maybe they mean without _paying_ for OnStar??

With the OnStar free "basic" plan [apparently no longer available since Bolts bought May 1, 2018 or later?] the car does have network connectivity via ATT OnStar. I can get charge status, tire P, FOB commands, etc etc thru the app or the my.chevy web site from far away [out of keypass range] as long as the car has an ATT cell signal. For cars bought after May 1 much/most of this goes away w/out paying $$$, altho the car can still communicate with the world when GM wants it to. I'd assume the cell clock set would still work - for it not to would be insane. You have to pay $15/month to get the clock to keep good time?


It's 1 pm now, and the clock is still on DT after more turn on/off cycles.....

 

[nmgeek]

clock is correct always correct I do nothing - no paid subscriptions vehicle is always correct no complaints no issues least of all clock

Could you check if there is a green LED lit above the OnStar buttons near the rear view mirror? And is there an LTE or 4G indicator at the top of your center screen? I believe these would indicate OnStar Basic is active.

Again, I think they didn't reactivate OnStar Basic (the free service) when they replaced my radio. Ironically, the first radio replacement was to fix the clock problem.

 

[gallen]

If you can get charge status on the app when not within keypass range, and your car is older than May 1 2018, and you're in an area that should have good ATT cell coverage, and you don't pay any monthly fee, then you have onstar basic.

 

[nmgeek]

You should also be able to get a "check" for SW with the car connected to your home wifi regardless of any OnStar account or lack thereof.

With the OnStar free "basic" plan [apparently no longer available since Bolts bought May 1, 2018 or later?] the car does have network connectivity via ATT OnStar. I can get charge status, tire P, FOB commands, etc etc thru the app or the my.chevy web site from far away [out of keypass range] as long as the car has an ATT cell signal. For cars bought after May 1 much/most of this goes away w/out paying $$$, altho the car can still communicate with the world when GM wants it to. I'd assume the cell clock set would still work - for it not to would be insane. You have to pay $15/month to get the clock to keep good time?

It's 1 pm now, and the clock is still on DT after more turn on/off cycles.....

Unfortunately, it is impossible to park the car close enough to my home wifi access point to connect (at least without major yard or wall damage).

Owners of 2018 GM cars get a 10-year free OnStar subscription: http://gmauthority.com/blog/gm/gene...ral-motors-technology/onstar/onstar-plans-pricing/onstar-basic-plan-info-price/

Given my experience with the clock I would not be surprised if GM invents a new, indefinite, OnStar program 3 years from now in order to keep the Bolt clocks working. Or they could issue a software update that disables the "Set from Cell Network" option when OnStar is not active. The latter might simply be a bug in the current software version. My car _also_ appears to have a backup power wiring problem that affects the clock when in Manual Set mode. Presumably that doesn't happen to other owners.

 

[sparks]

Could you check if there is a green LED lit above the OnStar buttons near the rear view mirror? And is there an LTE or 4G indicator at the top of your center screen? I believe these would indicate OnStar Basic is active.

Again, I think they didn't reactivate OnStar Basic (the free service) when they replaced my radio. Ironically, the first radio replacement was to fix the clock problem.

my best response
1. I do not see colors - most of the displays are lost to me.
2. no light above on star edit: GF came over there is indeed a green light over the on star (who knew)
3. 4g indicator - yes

 

[gallen]

Owners of 2018 GM cars get a 10-year free OnStar subscription: http://gmauthority.com/blog/gm/gene...ral-motors-technology/onstar/onstar-plans-pricing/onstar-basic-plan-info-price/

Well that's a fairly useless piece of GM marketing cr@p. It reads as if they are giving you a better deal [10 y] compared to the old Basic deal [5 y] with the same features. But the old Basic gave you "Remote vehicle status in app", despite what this chart says...

 

[GJETSON]

We have never paid anything to OnStar. We got the free 3 month trial, and the free 5 year basic plan, July of last year, when we got the car. Our center screen has always shown the LTE and 4G indicator. Our car shows the version 14.5.0 infotainment update we had done at the dealer back in April, because we never received an email, or a message on the car that any over the air updates were available. The MyChevy website sort of works, and the phone app works fine.

I just went out to the garage, and tried using the "auto" cell tower setting again. It has healed itself. My guess is there was a snafu at ATT or GM, which has now been resolved.

 

[jon8491]

'19 Bolt Premier. I have never activated the OnStar connection. There are no lights on the OnStar overhead panel. My Bolt was no plugged in last night.
My date/time is set to Auto-Cell Tower. My provider is Verizon. My time stayed on DST, I was parked in the garage since last night.
I connected my iPhone to CarPlay and it displays my phone time correctly in the small vertical panel to the left of the projection screen (don't recall seeing that before). The wifi on the top bar is greyed out but the settings show the car connected to both my home wifi and to the built in vehicle wifi. I moved the car out of the garage (better cell signal??) and will check again in a few hours.
My infotainment software (settings screen) is at 34.7.1

 

[nmgeek]

Anything is possible. Check your 12V battery. A 12 o'clock reset tells me the system is loosing its 12V power until you cycle the key back on.

There might be something to this. Around the same time the clock started misbehaving, the shifter failed. (You can scan this site for the intermittent issues with the Bolt shifter.) In order to recover from the total system lock-up caused by the shifter problem you had to cold-boot the car - disconnect and reconnect the positive 12V battery cable. Because this was happening repeatedly while I was waiting for the replacement shifter to arrive, I deliberately under-tightened the positive battery terminal bolt so I didn't end up breaking the connector completely (as they are made of a soft lead-like metal). When the car went 100% dead one, I discovered I had left the positive battery connection so loose that the car lost all 12V power.

After that incident I tightened the connection all the way (the shifter had been fixed by then).

Possible root causes are then:

1) Clock resets to 12pm ... caused by loose positive terminal connector on 12V battery (likely to disconnect as temperature falls and rises overnight)
2) Clock does not auto-set from cellular network ... caused by Chevy Service not reactivating free OnStar subscription when changing out the radio (assumes you need at least a Basic OnStar subscription for auto-set to work. It's hard to prove if this assumption is true until 5 years have passed since GM started selling Bolts.)

Also, I _was_ going to check those fuses but it's not for the faint-at-heart. Micro-fuses are too small for me to pull with my fat fingers and disconnecting "hot at all times" circuits might wreak havoc with some function of the vehicle. BTW this vehicle appears to have over 100 fuses ... amazing.

 

[XJ12]

What did yours do?

my car didn't change the clock today. set to auto by cell tower. hooking to WiFi didn't change anything.

edit: but I can get my.chevrolet.com to connect to the car and give my charging history. thought that would trigger a clock update. but no love.

 

[jon8491]

First I moved car outside to get a better cell signal. After a few hours no change.
Next I tried the reboot of the infotainment system. That did not fix it.
So, in Settings, I changed the time from auto via cell tower to manual. Moved the 1 hr manually and returned the setting back to auto from cell tower.
It has maintained that setting....so far.

 

[drdiesel1]

There might be something to this. Around the same time the clock started misbehaving, the shifter failed. (You can scan this site for the intermittent issues with the Bolt shifter.) In order to recover from the total system lock-up caused by the shifter problem you had to cold-boot the car - disconnect and reconnect the positive 12V battery cable. Because this was happening repeatedly while I was waiting for the replacement shifter to arrive, I deliberately under-tightened the positive battery terminal bolt so I didn't end up breaking the connector completely (as they are made of a soft lead-like metal). When the car went 100% dead one, I discovered I had left the positive battery connection so loose that the car lost all 12V power.

After that incident I tightened the connection all the way (the shifter had been fixed by then).

Possible root causes are then:

1) Clock resets to 12pm ... caused by loose positive terminal connector on 12V battery (likely to disconnect as temperature falls and rises overnight)
2) Clock does not auto-set from cellular network ... caused by Chevy Service not reactivating free OnStar subscription when changing out the radio (assumes you need at least a Basic OnStar subscription for auto-set to work. It's hard to prove if this assumption is true until 5 years have passed since GM started selling Bolts.)

Also, I _was_ going to check those fuses but it's not for the faint-at-heart. Micro-fuses are too small for me to pull with my fat fingers and disconnecting "hot at all times" circuits might wreak havoc with some function of the vehicle. BTW this vehicle appears to have over 100 fuses ... amazing.

Loose terminals will wreak havoc on computer controlled vehicles. The 12V system
is the foundation of everything. Voltage drops and low voltage issue will kill an
EV's ability to function properly. Think of putting a clamp on your throat and running
the 100 yard dash. Call the Paramedics before attempting this test.

You have become your own worst enemy! Don't do this kind of stuff to your cars.
This is why we have so many problems diagnosing a vehicles electrical systems.
Customers use DLC devices, unhook the battery or leave the cables loose and remove
or correct theses issues before bring the vehicle in for a complaint. It's madness!