Initializing Indication

[DarkCherryBolt]

Has anyone else seen, upon attempting to start the Bolt, the Driver's Information Center (DIC) display a sort of slowly spinning globe and the label: "Initializing"? A few weeks back, I had the car washed, drove it home, and parked it in the driveway to towel off in inevitable drips that emerge from hiding after the wash and drive. The key fob was in my pocket as I went around opening doors, wiping down the insides, and then the exterior. I went to put it in the garage and it wouldn't start. The "Initializing" message came up on the DIC and when I tried to shift into drive, a second warning came up saying it wouldn't shift out of park.
I shut it back off with the power button, waited a moment, and turned it on again. Once again, the Initializing warning and spinning globe appeared in the DIC and again, it would not shift into either drive or reverse.
I powered it off, got out of the car, closed the driver's door - and wondered what kinds of jeers my ICE friends would say. Tense moment. I got back into the car, stepped on the brake (I'd been doing that all along), pressed the power button - and it all came up just fine. There have been no other episodes like that since, but I'd like to know if anyone else has experienced the issue.

 

[ChevyCustomerCare]

Has anyone else seen, upon attempting to start the Bolt, the Driver's Information Center (DIC) display a sort of slowly spinning globe and the label: "Initializing"? A few weeks back, I had the car washed, drove it home, and parked it in the driveway to towel off in inevitable drips that emerge from hiding after the wash and drive. The key fob was in my pocket as I went around opening doors, wiping down the insides, and then the exterior. I went to put it in the garage and it wouldn't start. The "Initializing" message came up on the DIC and when I tried to shift into drive, a second warning came up saying it wouldn't shift out of park.
I shut it back off with the power button, waited a moment, and turned it on again. Once again, the Initializing warning and spinning globe appeared in the DIC and again, it would not shift into either drive or reverse.
I powered it off, got out of the car, closed the driver's door - and wondered what kinds of jeers my ICE friends would say. Tense moment. I got back into the car, stepped on the brake (I'd been doing that all along), pressed the power button - and it all came up just fine. There have been no other episodes like that since, but I'd like to know if anyone else has experienced the issue.

Has this happened since the day you posted this, DarkCherryBolt? If it has, please us via email to [email protected] so we can look into it on our end.

Amber G.
Chevrolet Customer Care

 

[DarkCherryBolt]

Hi Amber -
The "Initializing" message only happened the one time. The other issue I see from time to time is that the display will lock up at the "Bolt EV" splash screen that runs when the car is started. This happens 1-2 times/month and I fix it by pressing the Home and Fastforward buttons, rebooting the system.

Mark

 

[SeanNelson]

The other issue I see from time to time is that the display will lock up at the "Bolt EV" splash screen that runs when the car is started. This happens 1-2 times/month and I fix it by pressing the Home and Fastforward buttons, rebooting the system.

I've heard some speculation that this is due to trying to shift into "gear" before the infotainment system has fully initialized. I saw a "wait to shift" message once as the system boots up which seemed to support this.

 

[EldRick]

My car has frequently shown a black center console requiring reboot, and recently gave me a "Conditions not correct for shift" with complete lockup of the car.

It will annoy the hell out of me to waste half of a day screwing around with a dealer for simple entertainment console upgrades that actually take about 3 minutes, so I haven't done it yet.

Chevy, of course, will never actually bother to perform remote software upgrades, in spite of having announced the capability. GM is apparently still totally stuck in old-detroit thinking, which is partially why Tesla is doing well...

 

[njBoltEV]

Sunday upon attempting to start the Bolt, the Driver's Information Center (DIC) display a sort of slowly spinning globe and the label: "Initializing", after some time I got the driver console showing an error condition, but the Infotainment Console remained black.

I shut it back off with the power button, waited a moment, and turned it on again. Once again, the Initializing warning and spinning globe appeared in the DIC and again, it would not shift into either drive or reverse.

Error message "Conditions not correct for shift" with complete lockup of the car.

After trying for an hour, I called GM support and they had it towed to the dealership.

Overnight I received the following email from OnStar: “A critical issue with the engine and transmission system in your 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV has been detected. Please service your vehicle immediately.”

However, after sitting at dealership overnight, they tell me there is no problem found.

What is going on? My Sunday afternoon was ruined and I have lost confidence in the Bolt.

I am very concerned about driving a distance from a dealership, since the car was DOA.

Has anyone be able to get their BoltEV to start after receiving this message?

 

[SeanNelson]

Has anyone be able to get their BoltEV to start after receiving this message?

I haven't seen this, but knowing how dependent the car is on software I wouldn't have it towed to the dealer before doing a complete "reset" on the car. You can reboot the car's infotainment system by holding down the "Home" and "Next" buttons for 10 seconds. For a reboot of the more major control systems, I'd turn the car off, disconnect the positive lead of the 12V battery, leave it disconnected for a couple of minutes, and then reconnect. If you get exactly the same symptoms after that, I'd guess that it's probably more than just a software glitch.

 

[SparkE]

Has anyone be able to get their BoltEV to start after receiving this message?

I haven't seen this, but knowing how dependent the car is on software I wouldn't have it towed to the dealer before doing a complete "reset" on the car. You can reboot the car's infotainment system by holding down the "Home" and "Next" buttons for 10 seconds. For a reboot of the more major control systems, I'd turn the car off, disconnect the positive lead of the 12V battery, leave it disconnected for a couple of minutes, and then reconnect. If you get exactly the same symptoms after that, I'd guess that it's probably more than just a software glitch.

Spoken like an engineer ... . Try, retest, then reboot. And I completely agree. The only issue might be losing error codes (I really don't know how they are stored). Using the On*Star button and asking them to read any error codes in advance of disconnecting the 12V battery *might* be prudent.

 

[SeanNelson]

...I'd turn the car off, disconnect the positive lead of the 12V battery, leave it disconnected for a couple of minutes, and then reconnect.

Spoken like an engineer ... . Try, retest, then reboot.

Exactly!

Using the On*Star button and asking them to read any error codes in advance of disconnecting the 12V battery *might* be prudent.

Excellent advice, IMHO.

 

[kinshuk]

I encountered this problem this morning. I power cycled it 4-5 times and it finally powered on correctly, but it took much longer than usual. It hasn't happened again since then so far.

 

[njBoltEV]

Has anyone be able to get their BoltEV to start after receiving this message?

After towing to dealer and 2 days of diagnostics, they replaced the 12V battery, saying it was faulty and failed under load ...

However, 5 minutes after driving away, the car w/ exclamation mark error code returned.

Back to the dealer, 3 new codes and one was something like an error in a charging switch (circuit) remaining open.

They asked to keep it for another day to contact Chevy about this.

(the saga continues)

 

[SeanNelson]

Your story sounds very much like this one on another forum: http://www.chevybolt.org/forum/243626-post35.html. It required a software update to solve a problem where the car thought it was in service mode and therefore it wasn't charging the battery when it was turned on.

 

[njBoltEV]

Your story sounds very much like this one on another forum: http://www.chevybolt.org/forum/243626-post35.html. It required a software update to solve a problem where the car thought it was in service mode and therefore it wasn't charging the battery when it was turned on.

Nice find, thanks!

 

[Blue Bolt 2023]

Has anyone else seen, upon attempting to start the Bolt, the Driver's Information Center (DIC) display a sort of slowly spinning globe and the label: "Initializing"? A few weeks back, I had the car washed, drove it home, and parked it in the driveway to towel off in inevitable drips that emerge from hiding after the wash and drive. The key fob was in my pocket as I went around opening doors, wiping down the insides, and then the exterior. I went to put it in the garage and it wouldn't start. The "Initializing" message came up on the DIC and when I tried to shift into drive, a second warning came up saying it wouldn't shift out of park.
I shut it back off with the power button, waited a moment, and turned it on again. Once again, the Initializing warning and spinning globe appeared in the DIC and again, it would not shift into either drive or reverse.
I powered it off, got out of the car, closed the driver's door - and wondered what kinds of jeers my ICE friends would say. Tense moment. I got back into the car, stepped on the brake (I'd been doing that all along), pressed the power button - and it all came up just fine. There have been no other episodes like that since, but I'd like to know if anyone else has experienced the issue.

Today, this happened to me with my 2023 Bolt. The initializing screen seemed to pause, but I wasn't paying much attention. When I tried to shift into gear there was the warning that conditions were not right to shift. It wouldn't shut off. I moved the key out of the car and pushed the start button. It turned off. Eventually, I was able to get it to start, but what caused that? The diagnostics on the MyChevrolet app seemed to indicate all was well.