[PacificaLtdMama]

Sounds like an issue with the FireTVs . I sometimes run into this with our home FireTVs, so not certain if this is a Chrysler bug.

Restart each FireTV using the remote control based force restart - hold down select (the button inside the remote’s directional ring) and the play/pause button for about 10secs. After an additional 10sec or so the FireTV should restart.

FireTVs are working again. Internet was not working, had to reset the radio a few times. None of this solved the inability to control the TVs from the front like I had to begin with. Hoping this was the quick fix for me too. Ugh.

 

[sojourner75]

FireTVs are working again. Internet was not working, had to reset the radio a few times. None of this solved the inability to control the TVs from the front like I had to begin with. Hoping this was the quick fix for me too. Ugh.

It may require first resetting FireTVs, then the head unit. This is how my issue was resolved (seemed to clear after head unit restart, but may’ve also been because I had also just restarted FireTVs immediately prior to head unit - see my earlier post).

My assumption here is that the system is using screen mirroring across all three screens. If the mirroring service crashes on the head unit or FireTVs (or all three) it likely causes these issues.

A restart of all three may be the real solution - definitely worked for me.

 

[PacificaLtdMama]

It may require first resetting FireTVs, then the head unit. This is how my issue was resolved (seemed to clear after head unit restart, but may’ve also been because I had also just restarted FireTVs immediately prior to head unit - see my earlier post).

My assumption here is that the system is using screen mirroring across all three screens. If the mirroring service crashes on the head unit or FireTVs (or all three) it likely causes these issues.

A restart of all three may be the real solution - definitely worked for me.

Thank you so much for your continued help!! I will try resetting the screens as well. Do you know if the Pacifica Hybrid Limited with the theater package is supposed to include the 13 integrated games? All the specs show they should be included, but that’s another feature I cannot access / find.

 

[sojourner75]

Thank you so much for your continued help!! I will try resetting the screens as well. Do you know if the Pacifica Hybrid Limited with the theater package is supposed to include the 13 integrated games? All the specs show they should be included, but that’s another feature I cannot access / find.

I had thought so, but can’t find the games, either.

Wondering if these aren’t available with FireTV based theater group and it was a miss on Chrysler’s part in updating documentation. It’s a bummer for sure but hoping they may show up somehow with a software update. As an aside, we may have more options for games by nature of it being a FireTV with an actual App Library.

I haven’t played extensively with the rear screens/apps as we’ve only had the van for two weeks.

 

[PacificaLtdMama]

I had thought so, but can’t find the games, either.

Wondering if these aren’t available with FireTV based theater group and it was a miss on Chrysler’s part in updating documentation. It’s a bummer for sure but hoping they may show up somehow with a software update. As an aside, we may have more options for games by nature of it being a FireTV with an actual App Library.

I haven’t played extensively with the rear screens/apps as we’ve only had the van for two weeks.

Thanks again for all your help/insight and for your quick responses!

 

[sojourner75]

Thanks again for all your help/insight and for your quick responses!

I will say that the stability of the theater package / head unit leaves a lot to be desired. I hope @ChryslerCares is noting and trying to help get bug fixes / firmware updates out because, as it is, it's a loooooong way from what I'd consider "production ready."

In addition to the "service unavailable," I have frequent periods where I need to restart the head unit or FireTVs for audio "listen in" to work from the head unit, and most times I need to repeatedly push the 'Listen' button for a given screen's audio to connect to and play over the head unit. Aside from the theater group, the unit will randomly pop up or reset the driver profile without any interaction.

Needless to say: the system is BUGGY .... VERY BUGGY.

 

[DadBodPacifica]

Ok peeps.

I might have a short term solution for you. Still seems like Chrysler will need to issue a bug fix. It’s a bug. It’s ok. They happen.

Here’s the deal. My guess is the underlying OS on the radio is Android. If not, it may act the same as an Android. Android head unit radios go into deep sleep when cars they are installed in are powered off, but do not completely turn off. Like when your cellphone acts up (Android or iPhone), a restart sometimes sorts stuff out. Problem is, powering off the car or radio from control knobs won’t restart the radio.

After resetting each FireTV in FireTV settings menu and still having the problem, I had the thought above …that I needed to reset the main radio, too. I wasn’t certain pulling the battery cable under the hood would help here so started looking through main Radio settings menus.

And Voila there’s a reset / restart radio. It worked for me and my rear screens are back in business from the front head unit.

So here’s the play-by-play:

From main radio, hit the 9 square grid “Apps” icon on the far right lower portion of the screen. Once in Apps, select “All” apps along top window bar if not already selected. Scroll to “Settings,” then use the left menu column in the Settings app to scroll to “Reset.” Click on that left menu “Reset” item. You’ll then have a number of selections on the right, including “Restart Radio.” Click on that / confirm / radio will restart.

After that I was back in business.

Still think this vehicle is friggin’ awesome.

So I would just like to share my experience. Bought a 2022 Touring L with the Uconnect Theatre. When I first got it, I can't control the rear screens from the front and the audio is inaudible. The bluray logo is also nowhere to be found from the sources on the front screen. So I tried restoring everything(Left, Right and Front Screens) to factory defaults. There is an order to do it. The Front screen needs to be reset 1st then the Rear Left and Right screens next. If I reset the rear screens before the front, it goes back to not being controlled from the front. So after full reset to default settings of the rear screens, I was able to control from the front, blu ray and dvd can be mirrored as well. The only thing missing is the blu ray logo from the front screen as a source but I can select the bluray from the rear sceens' input which then I am able to play blu ray/dvd, mirror to the front screen and listen in to the audio of the rear screens. I think mine is solved just without the blu ray logo option on the front screen. Thanks to sjourner75 for bringing this up as a solution.

 

[slameradamis]

So just got our own Pacifica on Monday and this problem showed up on Tuesday. Already scheduled an appointment with the dealer but not very hopeful based on other posts in this thread. I did come up with a workaround to get sound for the rear screens if your kids are too young to use headphones. You still have to manually cue the movies in the back while loading the kids but at least something can play while driving. Here is my rant here along with my workaround...

Uconnect Theater Rear Seat Control - "Service is...

 

[slameradamis]

So I have an update in trying to troubleshoot or come up with a work around. It struck me odd that the display was working for about a day after I got the car from the dealership. The only two things that changed is I signed up for the ATT service and I used a thumb drive to pull up our own movies. It occurred to me that perhaps the issue was an Over the Air Update that was being downloaded to the rear screens once they connected to WiFi. So I did a factory reset on the right rear screen only thinking I would just not connect it to WiFi and live without the online content till our kids were older. Well, I had forgotten that after a factory reset, the first thing the screens ask is to connect to a WiFi connection to do the setup. I went ahead and connected it to the car WiFi and just briefly up popped a message "downloading updates" for a brief moment. I had to stay connected only long enough to go through the setup process and then I turned off the WiFi. I don't know for certain if that was enough time for an update to download.

Immediately after the factory reset and completed the setup process, the screen was accessible from the front again. Oddly enough, the left rear screen was ALSO accessible from the front screen even though I did NOT do a factory reset on it. We drove around for a couple of hours today with the system working just fine. Got back home and then an hour later went to head out for dinner. Climbed back into the car which by this point was completely off and when I turned the car back in, immediately the error message "service unavailable" popped up. So there is something going on when the screens are turned off completely that causes them to lose their ability to connect to the front screen. I don't know for certain but my suspicion is there is an update that the screens download while you go through the initial setup process and that doesn't activate until the car is turned off for a while and then turned on at which point the update is loaded which then causes the screens to no longer be able to connect. This is all speculation of course. If there was a way to block any updates or get around the initial setup screens that require a WiFi connection, maybe I could conclusively determine it is an update that causes the issue.

 

[DadBodPacifica]

So I have an update in trying to troubleshoot or come up with a work around. It struck me odd that the display was working for about a day after I got the car from the dealership. The only two things that changed is I signed up for the ATT service and I used a thumb drive to pull up our own movies. It occurred to me that perhaps the issue was an Over the Air Update that was being downloaded to the rear screens once they connected to WiFi. So I did a factory reset on the right rear screen only thinking I would just not connect it to WiFi and live without the online content till our kids were older. Well, I had forgotten that after a factory reset, the first thing the screens ask is to connect to a WiFi connection to do the setup. I went ahead and connected it to the car WiFi and just briefly up popped a message "downloading updates" for a brief moment. I had to stay connected only long enough to go through the setup process and then I turned off the WiFi. I don't know for certain if that was enough time for an update to download.

Immediately after the factory reset and completed the setup process, the screen was accessible from the front again. Oddly enough, the left rear screen was ALSO accessible from the front screen even though I did NOT do a factory reset on it. We drove around for a couple of hours today with the system working just fine. Got back home and then an hour later went to head out for dinner. Climbed back into the car which by this point was completely off and when I turned the car back in, immediately the error message "service unavailable" popped up. So there is something going on when the screens are turned off completely that causes them to lose their ability to connect to the front screen. I don't know for certain but my suspicion is there is an update that the screens download while you go through the initial setup process and that doesn't activate until the car is turned off for a while and then turned on at which point the update is loaded which then causes the screens to no longer be able to connect. This is all speculation of course. If there was a way to block any updates or get around the initial setup screens that require a WiFi connection, maybe I could conclusively determine it is an update that causes the issue.

Good feedback. I also realized that everytime I turned off the van, it goes back to that message. I understand that the front should not be used to view the rear screens when driving but the audio is also missing and can't listen in when this happens.

 

[slameradamis]

Good feedback. I also realized that everytime I turned off the van, it goes back to that message. I understand that the front should not be used to view the rear screens when driving but the audio is also missing and can't listen in when this happens.

When it is working, the front screen will only show a "slide show" of the rear screens while driving. It will take a snap shot of what is on the rear screens something like every 10 seconds or so. You have to be going less then 3 mph or parked for it to actually stream the video to the front screen.

 

[DadBodPacifica]

When it is working, the front screen will only show a "slide show" of the rear screens while driving. It will take a snap shot of what is on the rear screens something like every 10 seconds or so. You have to be going less then 3 mph or parked for it to actually stream the video to the front screen.

That's exactly how it is with mine as well.

 

[slameradamis]

So last night I went out to the car to move it. My wife happened to leave it on and didn't realize it. Anyway, when I climbed in a message popped up that says "Uconnect has been updated to the latest version". I immediately tried to control the rear screens from the front but no dice. However... Today when we got into the car, it was all working exactly as it was supposed to. It worked perfectly our entire car ride to Walmart and still worked when we got back in the car to come home. My wife is convinced it is premature to declare victory. We shall see what tomorrow brings but at least today we had one day of everything working perfectly.

 

[zacwashington]

I also got an update yesterday. To version FCA-MY22.S24.18-PROD. So far we still get the error message sometimes at startup but it also seems like it clears itself in a short timeframe (30sec) and we then have control of the rears from the front...Prior issues never cleared themselves that fast. FWIW we are running no wifi (but have issue with or without it active) and a USB drive plugged in for video. At time of post it's been less than 24 hours. Hopeful but not sold yet.

 

[slameradamis]

Well, went for a ride this morning and the screen on the left worked fine but the screen on the right had the same issue. There certainly seems to be something with leaving the car for a while, there has to be a timeout function on the rear screens that causes them to do a cold boot when the car has been parked for a while. Notice the left screen is titled "Left TV" while the right is unidentified with "Screen 2". So went from yesterday it worked perfectly to today, only partially working. Ugh...

 

[DadBodPacifica]

Well, went for a ride this morning and the screen on the left worked fine but the screen on the right had the same issue. There certainly seems to be something with leaving the car for a while, there has to be a timeout function on the rear screens that causes them to do a cold boot when the car has been parked for a while. Notice the left screen is titled "Left TV" while the right is unidentified with "Screen 2". So went from yesterday it worked perfectly to today, only partially working. Ugh...

View attachment 50208

So it looks like the update didn't help at all?

 

[slameradamis]

Hard to say. The fact that one is working today and they both were working yesterday I think is a positive sign. We will know more this week I guess as we get more time for testing.

 

[Phasma22]

Purchased my 2022 5 days ago, and since day one the rear screens haven’t turned on. I get the same message as above. So much for the user friendly uconnect 5, should’ve kept the 2020 we had 😩

 

[slameradamis]

Purchased my 2022 5 days ago, and since day one the rear screens haven’t turned on. I get the same message as above. So much for the user friendly uconnect 5, should’ve kept the 2020 we had 😩

There was an update pushed to our car a few days ago and that did make a difference. I signed up for the ATT service so it could download over the air. If you didn't sign up, you will need to connect the car to your home WiFi and hopefully it will download overnight. There is a way to check for updates in the settings menu if you want to hunt around.

That being said, the update only solves one of the MANY problems, namely the screens not being able to be seen or controlled from the front. The message "service not available" still pops up when you first turn on the car but it will go away after a few minutes. You can then control the screens as intended. However... We still have the following issues:

1. Screens turn off randomly on their own while driving. Usually it is the mirrored screen (we play videos on the USB Thumb Drive with audio piped through speakers and mirror Right Screen to show the left Screen). Almost like a screensaver comes up and turns the screen off or something.

2. Audio cuts out... This happens while playing a video from thumb drive with screens mirrored in the back. We use the "Listen" button on the front screen so the audio plays in the whole car (our twins are too young to use headphones plus we didn't even get headphones with the car). From time to time, the audio will stop playing on the car speakers. We have to then "uncheck" and "check" the listen button and it will start playing again.

3. Screens will turn off and stay off when going from remote start to run. This is annoying... I use to use the remote start all the time to get the car cooled down prior to getting the kids in the car. When I started to load the kids, I would open the drivers door and press the on button. Since I didn't press the brake peddle, the car turns to "accessories" mode and the rear screens would turn on. I finish loading the kids then get in and turn the car to "run" at which point the system would briefly reset but the rear screens would then turn off and there was no way to get them to turn back on again without completely turning off the car.

4. Unable to select videos from USB Thumb Drive from front screen after first video. So the thing about us is we have twins that are two years old. They are too young to be able to control the screens themselves. We bought the car on the premise that we could select the content from the front screen for our kids. What we found out is that if you insert a USB thumb disc with videos loaded up (and assuming your screens are working) then you can select ONE video from the front menu screen. Once that video is over or you want to change to something else, the same process will NOT WORK. You can tap on a different video file all you want but it will not start playing on the rear screens. The work around for this is to put the car in park, then from the front screen, select one of the rear screens to enlarge to full screen then navigate the menus remotely. It is combersum and can't be done while moving but at least it can be done.

In short... The system when it works is great but most of the time I'm constantly apologizing to my frustrated wife and trying to figure out these problems and come up with workaround. The fact that there was a software update that fixed the service unavailable problem gives me hope that Chrysler is aware of these problems and hopefully we will see more bug fixes over time to solve all of these issues. If the system worked as advertised, it would be fantastic. As it stands now, it is the single greatest frustration of our daily routine when getting in the car to go somewhere.

 

[korskarn]

I'm in the same boat.
When I got the van ('22 Limited Hybrid) in February, I was able to play a movie from a USB drive in the head unit, control both screens, mirror them, have the audio in the car speakers.
Now, it acts as if the head unit was unable to detect the rear screens. Turning the screens on/ off on the head unit does not change anything to the rear screen. Changing source does nothing, rear screen remains in FireTv input. Both screen previews in the head unit remain black. Mirroring screen 1 to screen 2 from the head unit results in the screen 2 preview correctly entering the mirror mode, but mirrors the black screen. The actual rear screens don't go in mirror mode.
Both screen previews are labeled screen 1 and screen 2, while they used to be labeled left and right screens.
HDMI input is no longer displayed in the source.
When I had it working, both the head unit and the rear screens never connected to a wifi or mobile network. I had not setup FireTV on the rear screens either as this required a wifi connection.
I starting having issues (different than the current issues, but was unable to play the video from front usb) after I set my cell phone as a wifi hotspot in order to complete the FireTV setup. I used the hot-spot only that time, running offline the rest of the time.

I gave up with the screens for a while. In the meantime my home router died and I replaced it with a mesh system, which brought my driveway within my home wifi range. It was outside the range with my previous router. This allowed the car to get an OTA update through wifi.
And now I have the current issues of the head unit and the rear screen apparently working independent from each other without talking to each other.

I'm a software engineer and what I think is this:

• prior to the '22 model with the FireTV this seemed to be more stable. I think the switch to FireTV broke the integration between the rear screens and the head unit. This integration appears to be still very buggy, and IMO a real piece of sh*t definitely not production-ready. The rear screens appear to work (just did a few very quick tests though) if used standalone, the issues really seem to be with the head unit integration.
• with the current version, the issues I have look as though for some reasons the head unit does not detect the rear screens, and use dummy virtual screens instead, hence the labeling change.

Since the issues arised for me after setting up the FireTv, has anyone tried to factory reset the rear units and then control from the front without setting up FireTV on the rear screens? With no wifi or network connection.

Since my model does not have a bluray player, i was considering a workaround for the lack of bluray player and these issues:
use a raspberry pi 4 as a media center. It would be powered by one of the usb ports. It has 2 hdmi outputs, so one for each screen.
I would set it to mirror the same display on both hdmi outputs: i have 2 young kids who would be watching the same thing.
I could have an external usb dvd drive connected to the raspberry pi.
I could connect audio through bluetooth if possible, or else through the aux port.
The raspberry pi could be remotely controlled by a phone or tablet
Not while driving of course, but my wife in the passenger seat could control it.

But if the front control was working properly, I could have a simpler solution.
Use the same old tablet, but without the raspberry pi. Connect the DVD drive in the tablet. Cast the tablet screen to one of the rear screens (start the cast from the head unit) and mirror to the other rear screen.
This requires the head unit control to work properly though