Screen shows climate off but HVAC manual controls still work..

Hey so I had the same issue and mentioned it to my dealership. It's actually posted up on the GM bulletin and they have made a software update for it that they need to install through a USB drive.

Is there a link to the bulletin? Mine is that way too.

Unfortunately I don't think that they make these kind of things open to the public. But I'm sure if you mention to your dealer they can look it up right there. It's covered under warranty. Another one on the bulletin that hasn't been resolved is a metal ticking/rattling noise in the Bpanel driver side where the seatbelt is located. Apparently I'm not the only one with this issue either.

For cars that do not have climate control, the best way is to use the cooler/heater knob to control the temperature in your car. It works very well for me in my Swift and prevents the windows from fogging up if it gets too cold/hot.

However, this is only applicable or possible with cars that come with airconditioning and heating as standard.

there is a TSB for this issue

Not sure about having it only display bars like that. The early ones (2003-2005) are known to have issues which first start as disappearing/intermittent segments and can eventually totally fail (mine's like that now). It doesn't stop the radio or climate control from working of course as you noticed.