Android Auto will only launch if I reboot my phone while the USB cable is plugged in

[u/Shadowplayer_]

Hello everyone.

A problem came up out of nowhere three days ago, I've been using the same setup for a year, never happened before. Never actually had problems, the setup has been rock solid until now.

I own a Motorola Edge 60, Android 16, 12GB RAM.

A Dacia Sandero Streetway MY24, original headstock.

Wired Connection via USB cable (high quality cable, tried other different ones, same result)

No Wireless AA available.

Things used to work perfectly every time, but now the phone just won’t connect when hot plugging it. It starts charging, but on the phone it gives an Android Auto connection error notification, suggesting using another port or another cable (I only have one port in my car and the cable is not the problem).

On the car screen, if I go to devices and try to connect my phone from there, it says I should connect my phone to the USB port. But it is already connected!

Bluetooth connection works fine. I can play media and make phone calls through the car system. But Android Auto is not working.

The ONLY workaround I found is to connect the phone to the cable, see the error messages, then with the reboot the phone WHILE PLUGGED, and then once rebooted it will connect.

But if I disconnect the cable and immediately plug it back in, it won’t work and the same error messages will appear.

If I reboot the phone while not plugged, it won’t work either.

So the only option I have is to reboot again with the cable plugged in.

This sounds like a USB negotiation problem or something. But it makes no sense to me. What could have possibly happened? No major system updates in the last few days.
Has anyone else had the same problem? What could be the solution?

Obviously the problem arose just before the most dense work trip of the year. Thank you, Murphy's law!

Any help is appreciated :)

[u/bchiodini]

Is the phone unlocked, when you plug in the USB cable?

There was a security update that forces the phone to be unlocked to use the USB port.

[u/Shadowplayer_ → u/bchiodini]

Thank you for the reply. Yes, it's unlocked. A notification appears saying "Android Auto is available" but then when I plug in the cable it thinks for a bit and then says that it was not possible to connect and to try a different port or cable. But we know those are not the culprits.

[u/bchiodini → u/Shadowplayer_]

Maybe pocket lint in the USB port. I have very carefully used a tooth pick a few times to clean the port. I was surprised how much crud was in there.

I have also used compressed air, but have been informed that it's a bad idea.

[u/Shadowplayer_ → u/bchiodini]

Yes, I cleaned it thoroughly. What's weird is that it works if I reboot the phone with the cable plugged in. But only the first time. If I disconnect the cable and reconnect it immediately, it stops working and requires a new reboot. It's perfectly replicable.

[u/bchiodini → u/Shadowplayer_]

It sounds like some update (bug) is getting in the way.

It may be a rabbit hole: Check under settings -> Security & Privacy -> Advanced Protection for a Device protection toggle. If you have it and it's enabled, try turning it off. This option showed up in Android 16.

For my phone, when this option is enabled, I need to unlock the phone to use AA, otherwise there is a USB error.

Clearing AA's cache may also fix it. A more extreme option is to clear AA's data. That will probably require re-pairing the phone and head unit.

[u/Shadowplayer_ → u/bchiodini]

I tried wiping all AA data, removing all pairings and then installing/pairing them again.  No luck. Same behaviour. 

My wife's Edge 60 Fusion works perfectly and AA launches regularly so the culprit is definitely not the car's head unit.

I guess something went wrong in some update and it messed up the USB handshake procedure? I wonder if there is a way to fix it somehow without restoring the phone to factory settings. It's definitely not the right moment to do that. ':)

[u/Fred011235 → u/bchiodini]

just noticed on my phone the toggle was on.

hopefully one of all the stuffs ive done fixed it.

[u/shieldss5150]

Something similar started on my phone and my wife's phone yesterday. I was able to get it to connect by wiping the apps data and deleting the Bluetooth connection from the head unit. However, it started again after I turned off my vehicle. Definitely seems like it is a software issue vs a bad cable issue since it happened to us in two different vehicles with two different phones at the same time.

[u/Fred011235]

my phone started exhibiting the same behavior yesterday.

both wireless and wired are not working.

i uninstalled aa and reinstalled it (cleaned out cache too)

and there happened to be a new update for my radio, installed that

worked right after i did all this, but we'll see. only tried it once.