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Hard-booting the Bolt? Does it exist?

21K views 15 replies 13 participants last post by  green_jay 
#1 ·
I had an issue where I could not get the bolt out of N or P. I would not go into D, R or L. The dash display said “Conditions aren’t met to shift.” I kept turning the car off and trying to reboot the CPU (if it has one). I hadnt plugged it in overnight but there was still 81 miles charge. I have a Juice box 40A and it is brand new and has worked like a charm for 11K miles. I tried to turn the car off and it would only cycle through the start up process and I couldn’t get it to turn off. I did notice that when I Held the power button down the dash screen would say initializing. I’d never seen that before. I gave up and plugged the car in and went to work in my gas guzzler. I noticed that the screen didn’t recognize the charger. It said I had a 110 plugged in. I called the dealer and arranged to have it towed. 10 hours later I came home and the car turned itself off. I powered up and Still same issue but the car was able to turn off. I plugged it in for a nightly charge. The next morning it started like normal and has worked for the last 1K miles no reoccurrence of the problem. I took it to the dealer and they ran diagnostics and found nothing but normal operation. I’m guessing that somehow the Juice box charged the car up and “resettled” it.

Is there a way to reset or hard boot a bolt like you do a computer when it is having trouble and just needs a new “brain” so to speak?

Has anyone had this issue and is there a fix. The dealer is perplexed.
 
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#2 ·
Turn the Bolt off, get out, close the driver door and walk 25ft (you should hear the doors lock) or so away from the car for a min or two... that should preform a full power down.

I've had to do that once in my Bolt and once in my Volt. The key is getting out, closing the door and getting out of RFID proximity range so the car performs a full power down.
 
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#4 ·
When I got that message, my 12 V battery had gone below 10 Volts. That is a long story covered in another thread. Was there a symbol of a battery in red in the lower right corner of your screen? Probably not, because it would have said, battery saver mode. Part of the trouble was the transmission module had improper code.:nerd:
 
#5 ·
I did notice that when I Held the power button down the dash screen would say initializing. I’d never seen that before.
You probably entered "Service Mode", pg 202 of the user manual.

Service Mode
This power mode is available for
service and diagnostics, and to
verify the proper operation of the
malfunction indicator lamp as may
be required for emission inspection
purposes. With the vehicle off, and
the brake pedal not applied,
pressing and holding POWERO for
more than five seconds will place
the vehicle in Service Mode. The
instruments and audio systems will
operate as they do in ON/RUN, but
the vehicle will not be able to be
driven. The propulsion system will
not start in Service Mode. Press
POWERO again to turn the
vehicle off.
 
#9 ·
I had the exact same thing happen this morning on my 2017. Couldn't shift into any drive mode, pushing the power button restarted instead of powered off, etc. The initialization screen showed up every time it booted, which is unusual. Also, an indicator light was on: a car with an exclamation point.
Not sure what caused it or fixed it, but I was sitting in the car researching the error for a couple minutes when I noticed it was randomly operating normally again (it might have rebooted itself, I can't recall). I hope this doesn't become a common occurrence. It's the first time it's happened in three years.
I like the idea of resetting by disconnecting the 12V should it happen again.
 
#10 ·
I did this exact thing today and these steps fixed it. Saved me a useless tow to the dealership.
  1. Walked away from Bolt with fob, waited 2-3 minutes and was able to start up the car and drive away. This got me out of the loop where I couldn't turn off the car and get my propulsion back.
  2. The service light was on as a result. Later that same day, I disconnected the negative lead on the 12v battery, waited 2 minutes and that reset the service light. Bolt seems to be fine now.
My only takeaway is I will shift into L before driving from a stop not during. This is the only thing that I can think of that caused the issue to occur. I switched into L (while driving at about 40mph) and hit the accelerator at the same time. Even though i've done this many times, for whatever reason the bolt didn't like it and it killed the propulsion. So from now on when I leave park, i'm going to switch to L then drive away. No more on the fly switching between modes.
 
#13 ·
I had an issue where I could not get the bolt out of N or P. I would not go into D, R or L. The dash display said “Conditions aren’t met to shift.” I kept turning the car off and trying to reboot the CPU (if it has one). I hadnt plugged it in overnight but there was still 81 miles charge. I have a Juice box 40A and it is brand new and has worked like a charm for 11K miles. I tried to turn the car off and it would only cycle through the start up process and I couldn’t get it to turn off. I did notice that when I Held the power button down the dash screen would say initializing. I’d never seen that before. I gave up and plugged the car in and went to work in my gas guzzler. I noticed that the screen didn’t recognize the charger. It said I had a 110 plugged in. I called the dealer and arranged to have it towed. 10 hours later I came home and the car turned itself off. I powered up and Still same issue but the car was able to turn off. I plugged it in for a nightly charge. The next morning it started like normal and has worked for the last 1K miles no reoccurrence of the problem. I took it to the dealer and they ran diagnostics and found nothing but normal operation. I’m guessing that somehow the Juice box charged the car up and “resettled” it.

Is there a way to reset or hard boot a bolt like you do a computer when it is having trouble and just needs a new “brain” so to speak?

Has anyone had this issue and is there a fix. The dealer is perplexed.
My dealer fixed the exact same issue with a relay.
 
#15 ·
Do you happen to know the relay and location? I have been having this same issue. So far it has come down to either replacing the battery, a relay, or allowing my car to sit for two weeks at a dealership because there isn’t enough Bolt technicians….
 
#14 ·
I had the same thing happen to me twice. I always step on the brake as I get in, close the door, seatbelt then shift. Twice now, today and 2 weeks ago. Two weeks ago I just left it at home and drove the other car. When I got home everything was fine. I bought a code scanner and there were no codes in memory. It happened again today, I left it on and connected the scanner, again no codes but after unplugging the code scanner it worked fine.
i will put a wrench and the scanner in my trunk in case I’m stuck and walking away for a few moments doesn’t work.
thanks for all the tips, this is a very helpful group.
 
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