Over the last two months I tried several times to install the update NA 1.19 map to my SYNC3 navigation system on my 2019 F350 truck. It was very frustrating. I nearly bought the $40 USB loaded with the map update. However, I was finally successful a few days ago and wanted to share my experiences in the hope they may help someone else. I'm tech savvy with IT and Engineering background, and this was one convoluted update.

Here are a summary of the lessons that might help others that are facing similar challenges updating the SYNC Nav Maps.

1. GETTING THE MAP UPDATE FILES (maybe for free)
Start here to see if there is an update available for your vehicle. https://syncnavigation.com/ford/home.
You'll need to enter both your VIN and ESN (electronic serial number) for your SYNC system which was the second, not the first, ESN listed on my SYNC3 General -> Sync Info page. Once I put in my VIN and SYNC ESN I was offered a free download or I could order a USB from Ford with the files installed for $40. I accepted the offer to download the files myself. If you do this, be sure to look for and save the email sent from alom.com. The email is from no-reply@alom.com with subject Order fConfirmation - syncnavigation.com. If you have an issue downloading files and come back to the top level syncnavigation.com website, it did not offer me the free download again but appeared I would have to pay $40 to order the USB. HOWEVER, since I had saved the email when I "ordered" the download, I was later able to go directly to that page using the links in the email and download the files again.

2. FORMATTING THE USB
At first I formatted 32 GB USBs using MacOS devices--I've done this many times before for other devices without issue. However when I took the USB to the truck, started the truck and installed the USB, the truck never saw the USB.I finally formatted a brand new 32 GB Kingston USB using a Windows10 computer and finally the truck recognized the USB. In any case you want to format the USB to exFAT.

3. FILE LOCATIONS ON THE USB
Make sure you place the "license" file inside the SyncMyRide FOLDER on your "SyncMyRide" USB, not in the root directory of the USB drive. Otherwise the truck will not find your license file and may give you "Installation Failed: Error Code LST_ERR005".

4. CORRECTING LICENSE FILENAME EXTENSION
OK, after doing all of the above correctly, I was STILL getting an "Instillation Failed: Error Code LST_ERR005" which meant that the truck was not finding the license file but it was in the proper location and was exactly the file I had downloaded from the website. I then happened to see another post regarding filename extensions. It turns out the license filename must have an extension of ".TAR.GZ" (just like the other files in the same folder) but the file download had an extension of ".GZ" which is NOT correct. I corrected the license filename extension to ".TAR.GZ" and then the update to map NA 1.19 went smoothly.

5. DISABLE "AUTO ENGINE OFF"
Be sure to disable the Auto Engine Off feature or else the truck will shutdown in about 15 minutes and the update will fail. I didn't have an issue doing this but wanted to remind others.

6. STRANGE SCREENS/STATEMENTS AND REBOOTS--> BE PATIENT
All I can recommend here is be very patient during the update process until you get to the final "really" complete screen. For me the update took a full 60 minutes. So go get some coffee! LOL Do NOT remove the USB until it's been a good while (60 minutes) and the final "Update Complete" screen has been shown for a while. WARNING: Be warned I saw a weird "Update Complete" statement placed on the screen at the very beginning of the update process. I ignored this message wondering what had happened now, when the message was replaced with "System Update In Progress". So do not be too quick to pull the USB. Make sure you get all the way to the complete screen that holds steady for a few minutes.

I hope this will help others that may be struggling with the SYNC3 Nav Map 1.19 update.

Frank

 

I just did the update by downloading the files. Picked up a 32gb usb 3.0 from bestbuy for $6 - files took over 4 hours to download from ford. once downloaded I extracted the files, and it took forever to copy them to the usb I had formatted to exfat. I started the truck, and everything was in slow motion. after several seconds the do you want to update messages appeared. i responded to start the installation and all I got that anything was happening was an installtion in progress msg across the top of the screen. I took off on some errands and spent over an hour driving around. Bought lunch, pulled into a parking lot and ate with the truck still running. I got a message that the 2nd part of the installation would start when I started the truck the next time. turned it off, waited 15 seconds and started the truck again. Same installtion in progress msg across the top of the screen. Drove home, left the truck running, locked it and went inside for a break. Came back out and same msg. right about 70 minutes I get another 'installation will continue msg when you restart. so I started truck again and drive around the neighborhood. By this time i'm 95 minutes into this and no indication if I screwed up or how long is left. I decided to wait two more songs on the radio and give up.

Litrerally in the middle of the second song, about 100 minutes after starting this I get a message that the update is complete and everything will be fine when i next start the truck. Shut it off, pulled the USB, waited 15 seconds, started the truck and no msgs or anything. I assume it updated since I eventually got all the correct messages. I forgot to check versions before i came back inside the house. So from starting to download the files till finish about 6.5 hours total on this update. utter nonsense from a technical point of view.

version NA 119 which is the latest from what I can see. Just checked after a trip to the store. No more messages.

 

I had a similar experience. On newer macOS computers there can be a hidden partition, the EFI system partition, which MacOS has a habit of creating on Mac formatted external drives, including Flash Drives. The SYNC system sees this hidden MacOS formatted partition and rejects the Flash Drive as unsupported. Erasing the Flash Drive with the MacOS Disk Utility does not remove this hidden partition in most cases. The only way I was able to remove this hidden EFI partition, was to erase the Flash Drive as Format: MS-DOS (FAT), Scheme: Master Boot Record. This will remove the hidden EFI partition. If necessary, erase / format the Flash Drive to format exFAT if need be.

 

Your thread was very helpful and the process took about an hour just to update the map via the USB drive. The only thing I would add is that about 20 minutes into the process, the screen requested a "key cycle". Soooo, I went ahead and restarted the car - 20 mnutes later the update was complete. It does require a second "key cycle" to activate the new maps in the navigation system.