Upgrade from SD/USB (format) freezes at "read progress 100%"

[pvh]

I have the f900bt with factory version 3.0 firmware and maps and the physical parking brake bypass. It has been running well for several years now (had to send it back to pioneer once) but about 6 weeks ago I got nothing but a black screen and some fan noise. I checked the forums here and got the info of how to get the unit into test mode and upload the WINCEIMAGES from a SD card to the unit.

 

Back then I tried several times, and the farthest I could get was the bottom of the screen saying "read progress 100%".

 

So, I gave up and made an appointment to have the head unit removed and sent to pioneer (my shop does that for free, since I bought it there). The day before my appointment it just started working again, perfectly. All my station presets, GPS favorites and history were even still intact.

 

So, 2 days ago it happened again. This time I tried a few different SD cards (thanks to WOOT sales I have a bunch) and the results are still the same.

 

I figure that if I can at least get into service mode there has to be something I can do, but the "upgrade from SD" attempt doesn't seem to be getting me anywhere. I am hoping someone has seen this issue before and knows how to fix it.

 

I searched through the forum and didn't find anything, like I said, so I apologize if there is info out there that I am somehow missing. If so, please let me know, I am not averse to doing my own research.

 

Thanks, and Happy Thanksgiving to anyone celebrating that today.

 

PVH