Bluetooth Problems AVIC-7000NEX 1.08 Connect / Disconnect, Drops iPhone 5S iOS 8.1

[blacknoi]

I've had a AVIC-7000NEX since August and up until about 2 weeks ago, it was working well.

 

Radio is at 1.08 firmware / latest out as of this writing.

 

Rewind to about 2 weeks ago and 2 things happened, I upgraded my iPhone 5S, from 7.1.2 to 8.1.  We also have had extremely cold for stretches of time for the first time since I got the radio (in the 20's, teens etc some overnights).

 

Symptoms started after I upgraded to iOS 8.1 in that:   Start the car.  Bluetooth tries to connect.  It will connect for a moment (I see my address book), then it disconnects.  1 try.

 

I then go to the settings > Connection and then tap my phone's connection to try and reconnect.

 

It will light up (indicating its trying to connect) and flash bright / dim / bright / dim.  My bluetooth indicator on the iphone will do the same thing.  Eventually it will stop and stay disconnected.

 

So then I try and reboot my phone and it seems to fix it.

 

Troubleshooting done so far:

Delete the bluetooth pairing on the phone and radio and reestablish - same behavior

Wiped iPhone and reconnected - same behavior

wiped and restored from backup - same behavior

After I get disconnected, I disable bluetooth on the phone for about 30 seconds and reenable.  Tap Connect and it still doesn't stay connected.

 

Other points to consider:  I had the issue (it connected then disconnected) and I drove for 5 minutes to stop for coffee.  Get back in the car (did NOT reboot my phone) and bluetooth connects OK once my car starts up.

 

Had the issue another day, drove to work without any bluetooth connection (7am or so).  Work my full day.  Get back in the car around 5pm, start the car and it connects no problem (did not reboot my phone).

 

So it got me to thinking,  we had a cold snap around the same time the issue started to occur (very cold in the mornings, temperatures in the teens and 20s when I leave in the morning, and itd be in the 30s when I left for work in the evening).

 

Could the TEMPERATURE of the radio be causing a problem with the bluetooth chipset in the car?

 

Point to consider:  I tested this theory today in that when I started my car this morning, the bluetooth connected for a split second, then disconnected.   I waited about 10 minutes and then went into the Connections of the radio, tapped on my phone and it paired / connected for the rest of my commute.

 

If the radio's temperature at super cold is causing the issue, then it stands to reason that after a few minutes of the radio operating, that the components would be warmer.  It then could be theoretically concluded that, that is why I could then successfully get the bluetooth to stay connected.

 

I throw this out to the community for thoughts, suggestions or has anyone seen this behavior?  If it'd be helpful I could make a video of the radio behavior when this occurs and post that for a visual.

 

[joemamma1954]

one thing i did was to go to bluetooth settings and remove my phone from the setting and had phone forget the nex. then i paired again using a code other than the default 0000. after this, i never had it disconnect. there were times that i had to go to bluetooth setting (after I would stop at a convenient store and get back in) on phone and hit connect, but it never disconnected on its own. 

[blacknoi]

one thing i did was to go to bluetooth settings and remove my phone from the setting and had phone forget the nex. then i paired again using a code other than the default 0000. after this, i never had it disconnect. there were times that i had to go to bluetooth setting (after I would stop at a convenient store and get back in) on phone and hit connect, but it never disconnected on its own. 

I'll give that a try.

 

For a quick update, this morning it was 26 degrees.  I had yesterday deleted EVERY bluetooth connection on my phone and repaired it last night.

 

This morning it connected OK but it only connected via the phone bluetooth protocol.  Stereo bluetooth did NOT connect (aka i still heard my music through the phone but if i got a phone call, that would route through the radio).  I went into Settings > bluetooth (on the iphone), found the NEX entry, tapped on it and that connected the stereo bluetooth protocol and i was up and running.   That was the first time the radio ever did that (half connect,  phone audio, but not stereo bluetooth/a2dp etc).

 

I'm thinking I'll try to pair my work iPhone (same iphone 5S, running 8.1) to compare behavior over the next few days.  AKA if the temps are the same in the morning (to keep my temperature theory going), and I swap out the phone, that will rule the phone out as an issue... In other words if my work phone has the same issues, i can point to the radio being at fault.

 

Also, I saw in the radio settings there was something about clearing the bluetooth radio memory.  Anyone play with that feature?  I might try it too.

[mab6680]

i dont know about being cold but when my phone dont connect to my iphone5 i go into the bluetooth settings on my phone and just press connect and dont have any issues after that.

[Scott P]

how do you have the phone connected to the radio? What I mean is if you go into the settings and go to smartphone settings is it set for IPhone, connect wireless via Bluetooth, or is it set as IPhone connect via USB?

[blacknoi]

how do you have the phone connected to the radio? What I mean is if you go into the settings and go to smartphone settings is it set for IPhone, connect wireless via Bluetooth, or is it set as IPhone connect via USB?

Its connected in settings as iphone "connect via bluetooth".

 

I called Pioneer tech support erlier today and explained the situation.  They said to send it in, as they'd never heard of the issue before.  They said they'll look at the bluetooth chipset as a starting point.   Its still under warranty so I'm going to unearth it from my car tonight and send it back tomorrow.  2-3 weeks turn around to be with my stock radio.

 

I had even updated to ios 8.1.1, no change.  Yesterday was 40 degrees when I left, no issues.  Today was 31 and it kept disconnecting for the first 10 minutes.  Then once the radio was "warmed up", it connected normally, and for the rest of my commute.

[coldconfession13]

I think is a nex issue and not iphone. It disconnects a lot for me on android with pandora. It drives me nutts.

[Scott P]

Do Not Send It In. You will continue having this problem with any NEX radio running firmware 1.06 or higher that is trying to connect to an IPhone using iOS 8 or higher. I own a shop here in Georgia and we do a ton of the NEX radios here, and I ran into this same issue (other than the Temp as it hasn't gotten really that cold here yet). After talking to the normal Tech guys at Pioneer, and a few guys there that aren't supposed to be publicly available, they were stumped and wanted us to continually swap radios.

 

I however didn't like swapping radios so we tested until we figured it out. the problem is that the Iphone and the radio are trying to both auto pair with one another. Honestly once we found the solution I didn't dig any further, but I suspect it has to do with NFC capabilities. Here is what you need to do:

 

1. Make sure the radio is set to connect wirelessly via Bluetooth.

 

2. Go to Bluetooth Settings

 

3. Turn the Auto connect setting off.

 

4. Prosper!

[9512tacoma]

Do Not Send It In. You will continue having this problem with any NEX radio running firmware 1.06 or higher that is trying to connect to an IPhone using iOS 8 or higher. I own a shop here in Georgia and we do a ton of the NEX radios here, and I ran into this same issue (other than the Temp as it hasn't gotten really that cold here yet). After talking to the normal Tech guys at Pioneer, and a few guys there that aren't supposed to be publicly available, they were stumped and wanted us to continually swap radios.

 

I however didn't like swapping radios so we tested until we figured it out. the problem is that the Iphone and the radio are trying to both auto pair with one another. Honestly once we found the solution I didn't dig any further, but I suspect it has to do with NFC capabilities. Here is what you need to do:

 

1. Make sure the radio is set to connect wirelessly via Bluetooth.

 

2. Go to Bluetooth Settings

 

3. Turn the Auto connect setting off.

 

4. Prosper!

 

I don't think it has to do with NFC, the iphone 5s does not have that built in. My iphone 5s has been disconecting frequently since ios 8.1 with my jawbone era. It still might be the iphone software. There is an update for the iphone today to 8.1.2 maybe that might help bluetooh with the NEX.

 

[Scott P]

Like I said I am just speculating as to the cause, as I didn't bother digging too much further once I found a solution. I do know that the problems began once Firmware 1.06 dropped. The connection issue persisted through 1.08. It has been persistent through all of the iOS8 updates. It does not affect Android though. the discovery that the IPhone will initiate auto connecting even when the radio has been told to turn it off, in combination with these other discoveries leads me to believe that there is a conflict in the auto connect process initiated on both sides (the radio and the phone) which in turns shuts down the Bluetooth on the radio. Turning off the auto connect feature on the radio alleviated the issue and all of my clients that had been experiencing this issue, have been functioning fine ever since.

[blacknoi]

So I received my radio back from support about 5-6 weeks ago.

 

The issue occured twice so far but over the past 3 weeks has virtually disappeared.

 

Not sure if its because I'm using my remote starter every morning so the radio is already 'warmed up' by the time I get to the car (we've been in the teens most mornings in January).

 

But there have definitely been times where its been around 30 degrees (where I speculated the issue occured with bluetooth not staying connected) and I've been totally fine.

 

All in all, I'll consider the issue closed.

 

Side note, I got the radio back and there was no "this is what we did" kind of letter.  I guess I was expecting that, but just got a typical shipping label stating my radio was inside and that was it.

 

 

If the issue comes back for some reason, I'll try the 'turn off auto connect' feature.