Mazda CX-5 Screen Keeps Restarting – What’s Wrong?

Driving has become about much more than just transportation these days. It's also about comfort and convenience. Modern cars have introduced plenty of new features aimed at improving the driving experience. Like the Mazda CX-5's infotainment unit. It provides a handy way to stay on top of your car's settings, controls, and music, but it's not much use if it's constantly restarting.

Infotainment glitch problems highlights

• Reasons:overheating, electrical damage, software problems, connection issues
• Quick fix:manual restart
• Price forrepair:$150 - $800
• Time forrepair:1 - 3 hours
• Howcommon:quite common for modern cars
• DIYrepair:sometimes possible

What's Wrong with Your Mazda CX-5 Screen?

Your Mazda CX-5 screen is part of Mazda Connect, an infotainment unit that allows you to control the car's information and media conveniently. It's designed with safety and ease of use in mind. When your screen restarts constantly, it is usually a result of a problem with the Mazda Connect system.

There are a few different things that can go wrong with the system that will cause it to restart itself.

1) Corrupted Navigation SD Card

Your Mazda Connect has a very useful navigation system. You may or may not know that this system requires a Navigation SD card to run. If the SD card is damaged or missing, you'll be left navigating the old-fashioned way.  

However, if the system is having trouble reading the SD card, it might reboot to try and read it again. This throws the system into a loop of restarting over and over. Two things could cause the system to fail to read the SD card.

• The SD card is corrupted. In this case, the card is present, but the data on the card is damaged to a point that the system can't make sense of it.
• There is poor electrical contact between the SD card and the reader. The system knows that there is a card inserted, but the contacts are too dirty or oxidized for it to read the card.

This is especially common in cold weather. If you have noticed that your screen restarts more often when the temperature drops, then this is the likely cause.

2) Software Bugs or Glitches

The infotainment system runs a lot of different functions like managing music, navigation, radio, and more. These systems interact in many ways, and any one of them can develop a bug or glitch that can affect the whole system.

These bugs can show up in several ways, such as the screen restarting constantly, features like the navigation or Bluetooth refusing to load, or the system being slow and unresponsive.

3) Electrical Issues

The screen in your Mazda connects to a computer that drives your infotainment system. Impacts from accidents or to the screen can cause connections to come loose. Faulty connections between the screen and the computer can cause the system to reboot continuously.

The screen has a circuit board that contains many components. These components can go bad, and when they do screen problems are sure to follow. The cause of the problem could be a burnt-out resistor or capacitor.

The circuit board on the rear of the screen can also suffer water damage from any fluids that are spilled on the dashboard. This can cause short circuits that stop the screen from working properly. You might notice the screen reboots often or flickers for a few seconds before going black.

4) Faulty CMU

The CMU (Connectivity Master Unit) of your car is the computer that controls your entire Mazda Connect system, including the screen. Unfortunately, Mazda seems to have included faulty CMUs in many Mazda CX-5s. If your car has a faulty CMU, you might notice these symptoms.

• Sluggish or lagging system.
• The screen randomly turns off.
• The screen randomly reboots.
• Failure to start.

What Can You Do About This?

There are a few ways to deal with your screen constantly restarting. Keep reading to learn how to diagnose the source of the problem and find out how to fix it.

1) Reset the Infotainment System

If you suspect that you have a software problem, you can try to reset the infotainment system. Updating to the latest version of the software should get rid of any common bugs and glitches that the system encounters. Here is how you can reset your Mazda Connect infotainment system.

• Press the settings button on the home screen.
• Scroll to the systems tab and select it.
• Select the software version you want to update to.
• Select the download option.
• Wait for the update to download and install.

This is the simplest fix and should be tried first. However, you might not be able to update your system if the system is restarting too frequently. If this is the case, you might have to get a professional to update your system for you. Before taking that step, you can try the next method on this list.

2) Remove the Nav SD Card

The Nav card is the most common cause of the screen rebooting. Fortunately, that it is also one of the simplest fixes on this list. To find out whether your Nav SD card is behind the restart loop, you can follow a few simple steps.

First, turn off the system and eject the SD Card. Now boot the system and see if it stays on. If the screen keeps restarting, then your Nav SD card is fine, and the problem is originating from somewhere else.

However, if the system stops restarting, then your Nav SD card is the issue. Don't toss out your Nav card yet though. Before you think of ordering a new one, you should test whether the problem comes from the contacts or your card.

You can do this by getting a bottle of electrical contact cleaning solution.

• Eject your card and turn off the car.
• Apply the cleaning solution to the metal contacts on your SD card. The solution comes with a small brush applicator to help you do this.
• Insert the card into the system and eject it. Repeat this step 2-4 times. This will wipe the solution onto the card contacts and the contacts for the SD reader in the system.
• Insert the card to test it.

If your screen continues to reset after this, then your card is corrupted. You can use your system without the SD card, but you will need to get a replacement if you plan to enjoy Mazda Connect's advanced navigation features.

3) Examine the Wiring and Contacts

If you have the right tools and electrical knowledge, you can open the dashboard to access the screen wiring to look for any loose wires or soldering. If you're not comfortable examining the screen yourself, you can have an auto electrician do this for you.

If you choose to inspect it yourself, you will need to disconnect the battery first. After this, you will have to remove 4 of the dashboard panels to remove the center display and access the CMU. Once you have opened the dashboard, you will see a silver box connected to the screen. This is the CMU, your infotainment system's computer. There are two wires that connect the screen and the computer. Here are the things you should look out for.

• Examine the wires for damage, and check whether the connectors are loose or improperly seated. If you spot any damaged wires, they will need to be replaced. Loose connectors can be soldered back in place.
• Examine the PCB on the rear of the screen. Look for damaged components, like blown capacitors or burnt resistors. Examine for other signs of damage, like water damage. If you find any damage to the board, you will need to replace the screen.

4) Replace the CMU

The Mazda CX-5 has a history of faulty CMUs, and there is a chance that this is what you're dealing with. If examining the wiring has turned up no clues, then you probably have a faulty unit in your car. You will need to replace the CMU.

You can bring the CMU to a dealer to have it replaced. This is the easiest way to handle this, but the labor costs are very expensive. However, if you are more technically inclined, you can order a replacement CMU online and replace it yourself.

Conclusion

The Mazda CX-5 is considered an affordable luxury vehicle by many, but it is plagued with problems with the infotainment unit. Many things can go wrong with it, but a common complaint is the screen restarting.

This is usually caused by a problem with the Nav card. Taking out the nav card and trying the screen again will let you know if it needs to be replaced. If the problem persists after removing the Nav card, then you are dealing with a problem in the CMU. Opening it will reveal whether it can be repaired or needs to be replaced.