rander1

I tore the whole unit apart, I mean gutted the thing, and there is no switch. I had a Z1 torn apart right next to a Z2 torn apart. I even switched the hard drives and processors and made the Z2 a Z1 and vise versa. There is no switch period...

I was in the same situation and you cannot just swap the drives, either you have to unlock your Z1 HDD or you have to switch the control units also. They are held in by 3 screws under the DVD on the right side of where the hard drive goes. Download the service manual from here and search in the PDF for CC unit removal for explicit instructions.

For those that are interested I did some testing with swapping the CPU's between the Z1 and Z2. I was unable to get a Z1 CPU to work with a Z2 HDD (because I did not hack/unlock the drive). So what I did was swap out the Z1 CPU and HDD and put them into the Z2 chassis and I was able to bypass. (so I have a Z2 with a Z1 CPU and Z1HDD). If you are able to unlock the HDD and load the Z1 data onto your drive and put it into the Z2 without removing anything and it becomes bypassable then ignore this post. If not, then I am guessing that anyone with a Z2 can just make theirs a Z1 by

It is true because I did it. And it may be the fact that the drive is locked, but without hacking and unlocking the drive just a simple remove and replace it will not read the drive. I have all of my music on my Z1 drive and do not care about the backup camera that much to lose the bypassability of it. I am just going to put up with it... So right now I am running a Z2 case with Z1 control unit and Z1 drive.

Well swaping the control units was unsuccessful. In fact if you take a hard drive out of the Z1 and place it in a Z2 it says the HD is un-usable. If you take the Z2 drive and put it in a Z1 it says it's unusable. Also if you take the control unit out of a Z1 and install it in the Z2 and use the Z2 drive is not usable. If you use a Z1 drive and Z1 control unit in a Z2 case it works fine, bypassable and all. Basically, all of the software is contained between the Control Unit and the Hard Drive. You cannot mix and match them. They must be together. The reason I got a Z2 is becaus

nevermind I put it completely back together and it turned on. I think it was because I did not have the hard drive cover on the unit.... I am going to try swapping the CC units again..

well I took the CC unit out of the Z1 and put it in the Z2 and I cant even get the screen to come on. So I put it back in the Z1 and the screen wont come on now for that!! So I put the Z2 cc unit back in the Z2 and the screen wont come on that! So now I have a dead Z1 and Z2. HELP! BTW I am electronic savy and checked all of the connections. I checked the seating of the CC units (It's the processor it seems) and everything is good... I am really lost now

Big floppy you might be onto something, the only difference in parts between the Z1 and Z2 is the CC unit. Ignoring that all the transistors for the Z2 have an A after it. I have a Z1 and Z2 I am going to try swapping the CC units.. assuming I can open this without ripping any VOID stickers...

Guys, I got a Z2 advance shipped to replace a Z1 that I have because of a backup camera problem. I was wondering how I can help as I have not hooked up the Z2 yet and have a non-updated early Z1. I do not own a cable or have the software do read the drive. Any ideas? Is it true I can take my Z1 drive and put it in my Z2?

I am trying to install my pioneer reverse cam tonight and the picture is all screwed up with the reverse cam input. But when I connect it to the aux input the picture is perfect. Using the reverse input the picture is all weird and shows random scan lines and seems dim and sometimes shows double pics horizontally.