I have to 2017 F150. I have followed Ford's instructions to the T. When I insert the USB drive, nothing happens. I see the light on the drive blink, but no messages or anything is displayed.
This also happened when trying to to do the 2.3 update. However, the 2.2 update worked. All with the same drive and truck.
Any ideas? Thanks

 

Did you erase everything on that USB stick beforehand? Are you sure it`s not corrupted?

You mentioned that this also happened to you for the 2.3 update so what did you do then to finally make it work.

Since you didn`t have any problems with this USB stick going back to the 2.2 update, i`d say your problem might be with the USB stick itself.

I`m not sure how long you left it in the USB drive, but when I did the 3.0 update, it took 5 minutes before the Updating System message came up on the SYNC screen and others have reported longer and shorter times before the same message came up on their screen.

Let us know what happens.

 

Yes, I erased everything even tried another USB stick but had the same result - no result.
I never got the 2.3 update to work. I just gave up and hoped the next one would work.
I didn't leave in for five minutes, maybe only 30 seconds. I'll try waiting longer

 

I also had problems updating to 3.0. Here are two things I did to make it work:

Ford tells you to download the zip file, unzip it to someplace on your computer and then copy all the files and folder to the USB drive. When I did that it didn't work. What I did try next was to download the zip file and unzip it DIRECTLY to the USB drive.

I also left my phone in the house so that no phone was connected to SYNC. You will need to re-pair your phone when the update is completed.

After I made those 2 changes, the update started after about 2 minutes. It took less than 20 minutes. There were NO intermediate messages and there was no "shut it off lock the doors wait 5 minutes" voodoo afterwards. The message simply stated that the update had finished and would be applied on the next start-up. The process wrote the successful completion file to the thumb drive for uploading back to Ford.

Hope some of this helps you.

 

Hmm, that might be your problem.

Just leave it in the USB drive until the message comes up. Perhaps you`re one of the unlucky ones that it`ll take awhile for the Updating message to show up on your screen.

You`ll know if it does or doesn`t work because you`ll either get an Updating message or an Error message.

Let us know what happens.

 

Unfortunately, none of those suggestions worked. I left my truck on for 30 minutes and nothing happened, no messages at all.
When I insert the USB drive the light on the drive blinks a few times. Then, those lights never blink again. So I have to think nothing is happening at all. If files were being copied, I would think the lights would blink.
I have also tried to different USB drives with the same results.

 

Flash drive needs to be 32g or larger. Drive need to be formated to fat 32 format. Files need to be unzipped and the copied to the flash drive. No other flies can be on the flash drive.

 

 

2018 Platinum, Tried to update mine by wi-fi and it didn't work, took to dealer they couldn't either, found out sync has been out for 5-6 days so in the mean time they burnt a module out, got new parts still don't work ,now going on third day. Still in shop waiting for parts.

 

Very strange indeed.
Is there anyway that you can show us a screen shot of the files you downloaded onto you desktop and also a screen shot of what`s actually on your USB stick.

One USB stick not working I can understand but several not working is very odd.

In the mean time, just leave the USB plugged into USB port on your vehicle. You might just be one of the unlucky people that the Updating System Message will take awhile.

For what it`s worth, the USB stick that I use is by Verbatim... V3 USB Drive and it has worked perfectly for me for the 2.3 & the 3.0 updates and I only use it for SYNC updates. The specs are 32GB USB 3.0 SuperSpeed. No flashing lights on it and I purchased it from MicroCenter for $9.99

 

Sync 3 / Sync3 upgrade fails , displays error INSTL_ERR01 - workaround below.

Updating Sync 3 from 2.0 and 2.1 to 3.0 fails with above error message. Install instructions say to use a 32 GB or higher USB flashdrive. In my case, I was using a 64 gb flash drive which would fail the upgrade as above. Next I tried a 128 gb flashdrive, same failure. I repeated a few times. I also validated the drive was working fine.
The resolution for me was to use a 16 gb USB flashdrive, make sure it is formatted with Fat32 only, copy the files and rerun the installation. Since I did not have a 32 gb drive I could not test it, but it certainly failed with 64 and 128 gb drives.

I am unclear of the reason why, but I suspect that there is a bug using USB drives > 32 gb in size, or with the filesystem type, or the combination of the two. Many operating systems have bugs dealing with filesystems or address ranges greater than 32 gb, or possibly the bug is limited to the installer. The 3.0 upgrade is less than 4 gb in size, so it fits comfortably on a 16 gb flashdrive. I can see that the base firmware / OS seems to be some derivative of Linux, possibly Android, but can read a Windows style filesystems, so this combo may have bug.

 

Good morning, is this something that a Ford dealership could, would or should do for someone? I have a 2019 bought new from a local Ford dealer, and I would think they could do that at my next service. Is that out of line thinking? I don't see it any difference in that and computer update for a transmission flash or something like that.
keep on informing us of all the great things going on.

Thanks

 

I just did the 3.0 update on my 2018. Used Ford's instructions. I screwed up the firs attempt, got exactly the results you did (drive activity, then nothing), but then I realized that I missed the step of moving the unzipped files back to the root of the USB drive. Once I did that and reinserted the USB drive, got an "Updating System Software" message almost immediately, the update too about 20 minutes.

 

Yes, any Ford dealership can do it for you but depending on the dealer, some might just do it for free but more than likely, the majority will charge you for doing the update.

They won’t just automatically do it at your next service so yes, that thinking is out of line because that’s not what you’re bringing your vehicle in for.

 

GABAR, Thanks for the info.