125 replies to this topic

[GCL915]

Few days ago I tried to update my Avic F90BT when all hell broke loose. The update failed, and I couldn't get my unit working. It just kept on rebooting....even testmode didnt work. Here is what I did to do a complete wipe and reset back to factory 2.0

You will need a USB drive and 2 SD cards or 3 SD cards.

1. Go to http://avic411.com/f...hp?f=34&t=24888 and download backup files for your unit. Save it on a formatted (FAT 32) 2GB or higher SD card or a UBS drive (recommended)

2. From above, copy the WINCEIMG.bin and WINCEIMG.cks to a different, formatted SD CARD (NO USB DRIVES)

3. Use another formatted SD card for testmode file. See http://avic411.com/f...hp?f=32&t=25329

4. Disconnect any USB connections connected to your unit (Ipod, USB drive). Power it up. When the pioneer logo comes up, press and hold the menu, map, eject and the reset button at the same time. When you hear a pop sound from your speakers, let go of the eject button but continue to hold menu and map buttons. This will bring you to a blue screen where you will have to enter the service combination. Press the volume knob in this sequence and you will see * signs for each push: Up, Up, Down, Menu, Left, Right.

5. Once there, go to the option that says Update WinCE. Be careful with not to press the knob while trying to move up and down, or you might press the wrong choice by accident.

6. Insert into the unit the SD card that has WINCEIMG.bin and WINCEIMG.cks on it (STEP 2)

7. Select Update using SD/USB (format) option. This will format your FlashDisk removing any corrupted files on there that prevent the unit from loading.

8. Wait for the update to finish. When the prompt says to restart your unit, take out the SD, put in the testmode SD card and restart.

9. If testmode starts normally, you see the windows screen and it does not reboot in couple of seconds, ignore this step. If not, download the latest update from Pioneer, put it on the SD card that contained WINCEIMG.bin and WINCEIMG.cks (format it first) and perform an update. Testmode should be working once this is done.

10. When in windows, plug in the USB drive with the backup you downloaded in Step 1.

11. Go to start, control panel, Storage.

12. Unmount FlashDisk, and press FORMAT.

13. Once formatted, create a new partition and call it part0. Mount it back up.

14. Copy ALL files from USB drive backup to FlashDisk This should take about 40 min or so

15. Take out any SD cards from the unit and reboot.

Thats it! This should solve any problems!

[ill.die.trying]

good job

[GCL915]

Couldn't have done it without all you guys here at the Forum. Thanks!

[hilty003]

where are you getting those files in step 2, i cant find them in the above link? and can i format the sd card on my laptop?

my f90bt just started trying to boot today and gets a black screen and buttons after 10-15 seconds on the boot up screen and im hoping this can fix it.

[poorlilpoop]

I got a question about step 12. ummount flashdisk and press format.
I got to boot into winCE and went to storage.

From the storage, there several options.

On the left side there is "storage info" and right side has "partitions"

under the "storage info" in get 3 info. (option may look like this)
"storage" "partition"

dsk1: sdmlc disk part00
dsk2: sd memory card part00
part01
sdml sdmlc disk part01
format dismount

which one of them, do you unmount and format?

I unmounted dsk1: sdmlc disk, and formated. I also deleted part00 that was there. Then I tried to create a new partition and call it part0.
However, that's when i ran into little problem. How do I type in there? is there some kind of virtual keyboard I don't know about?

I'm soooo close that I can taste it. Maybe I'm not thinking enough and not seeing it. If somone can give me some guidance or help, I would appreciate it.

[GCL915]

where are you getting those files in step 2, i cant find them in the above link? and can i format the sd card on my laptop?

my f90bt just started trying to boot today and gets a black screen and buttons after 10-15 seconds on the boot up screen and im hoping this can fix it.

The two files are there...look carefully...if you download the WHOLE backup from step 1 and sort the files by name, they should be the last two files there. You can format the SD card on your laptop....make sure its FAT32

[GCL915]

I got a question about step 12. ummount flashdisk and press format.
I got to boot into winCE and went to storage.

From the storage, there several options.

On the left side there is "storage info" and right side has "partitions"

under the "storage info" in get 3 info. (option may look like this)
"storage" "partition"

dsk1: sdmlc disk part00
dsk2: sd memory card part00
part01
sdml sdmlc disk part01
format dismount

which one of them, do you unmount and format?

I unmounted dsk1: sdmlc disk, and formated. I also deleted part00 that was there. Then I tried to create a new partition and call it part0.
However, that's when i ran into little problem. How do I type in there? is there some kind of virtual keyboard I don't know about?

I'm soooo close that I can taste it. Maybe I'm not thinking enough and not seeing it. If somone can give me some guidance or help, I would appreciate it.

You unmount the
dsk1: sdmlc disk part00 .

Then select it, and press FORMAT

After doing that, press NEW to create a new partition. If you look towards the bottom right hand corner of the screen there should be a little icon there...press it and it will bring up virtual keyboard. Name the new partition the SAME way the original was named...so if it was named part00, name it part 00....mine was part0 thats why I put it on there. Look for that virtual keyboard...you should be good!

[poorlilpoop]

this the mother of all reboot fix. I have tried so many methods and this is the only one that has worked.

I have tried to boot into test mode and replace the gpspara0.bin, gpspara1.bin, gpspara2.bin and gpspara3.bin.
One, most of the time I couldn't even get into test mode. When it does, it kept on freezing. However, I was able to replace those files, but it did not work.

I regrounded all my wires. I removed the hardware bypass and hooked up the ground to the parking brake.
I removed the GPS wire but none of them worked.

Driving 84 miles everyday w/o a radio was going to kill me soon, and all my hopes were lost. I was about to send the unit to be reparied and I don't have any more warrenty left either.

Then I saw this and tried. And WHAM. my radio is back. It's only been a day, but damn. it feels good to have the streo back. Now I just have to fix weird speaker problem my iphone 3.0. Ever since the upgrade, my iphone doesn't play music right on the car.

Thanks so much GCL915 figuring this crap out.

[GCL915]

Hey, no problem....

I hated driving without music too...tried everything else I read on this forum and nothing worked for me...so i figured ill just wipe that sucker clean and reinstall

[-T.J.-]

i'm getting stuck at the part unmounting the SDMLC Disk. i'm getting an error message "cannot unmount store" also cannot format the store and cannot create a new partition.

what to do?

[GCL915]

i'm getting stuck at the part unmounting the SDMLC Disk. i'm getting an error message "cannot unmount store" also cannot format the store and cannot create a new partition.

what to do?

Are you selecting the very top choice? (dsk1: sdmlc disk part00)

Did you pick the (format) option when you updated WinCE from the SD card?

[skhoibidoo]

GCL915,

Thank you so much for the well explained instructions which also work for the F700BT! I had the exact same problem and was able to resuscitate my F700BT.

PS: After formatting the flash disk, I was not able to get into testmode at first. I followed the instruction but it still wouldn't let me in. It would get stuck on the Pioneer screen then would reboot.
Make sure you are using test mode V2.3, that fixed it. I had to do it a few times but it eventually worked.

[MuahMan]

I registered for these forums simply for this thread. I don't know how you figured this out but it was the only thing that fixed my F90BT after upgrading to the latest firmware from Pioneer. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! You saved me from smashing my HU with a 80 lb. sledgehammer. Awesome work. Awesome forums.

Of course now I'm petrified to upgrade to 3.0 when it comes out.

[MuahMan]

GCL915,

Thank you so much for the well explained instructions which also work for the F700BT! I had the exact same problem and was able to resuscitate my F700BT.

PS: After formatting the flash disk, I was not able to get into testmode at first. I followed the instruction but it still wouldn't let me in. It would get stuck on the Pioneer screen then would reboot.
Make sure you are using test mode V2.3, that fixed it. I had to do it a few times but it eventually worked.

I had the same issue with testmode. My problem was that I copied the files directly to the top level of the the formatted SD card (that's how you have to do the firmware updates). For testmode to work you have to drop the "testmode" directory at the top level of the formatted SD card.

[kerosene]

Great walkthrough, worked perfectly.

Thanks for sharing.